Given that acne is by far the most common disease in the world, I’m constantly surprised at the amount of misinformation there is about acne treatments. There are so many commonly held believes regarding treatments, which have no scientific or medical validity, but continue to be passed on from individual to individual. More worrying is the possible consequences of trying some of these options. Here are list of common acne treatments that categorically do not work:

1.Household cleaning products, even when diluted, should not be used to treat acne. There can be severe adverse reactions including chemical burns from pursuing this route

2.Similarly cleaning powders are ineffective for acne

3.Washing up liquid does not work for acne

4.Home facial saunas will do nothing for your acne, but will certainly aggravate, already sensitive skin

5.Sticky tape left on the skin overnight and removed in the morning will certainly remove dead skin cells and excess oil, but is likely to damage the sensitive skin, and may cause an allergy to the glue

6.Prolonged exposure to the sun or using a sun bed will not help your acne, and can be dangerous if you are also taking oral medication of certain types. For example taking certain antibiotics in tablet form, will make your skin highly sensitive to sun light

7.Sudocrem is an excellent treatment for nappy rash, but highly ineffective for acne, primarily because it contains a mixture of greases and oils which are bad for acne

8.Taking high doses of vitamin A or B will not directly help your acne, and may cause other side-effects

9.Squeezing your spots is universally not recommended in combating acne. Doing so will prolong and spread the acne to other parts of the affected area

There are many other ‘not recommended’ acne treatment regimes, many of which will worsen an already difficult condition. Avoid these shortcuts and stick with a programme overseen by your medical professional, or one which is based on solid scientific and medical evidence. If you do this, you’ll succeed in overcoming your acne condition.

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Accutane is possibly the most effective acne fighting drug on the market, a very potent weapon against any acne that has been failed by other forms of treatment. It is generally prescribed for moderate to severe cases of acne that have not responded to other treatment, or acne that has been present for several years.

While most other acne-controlling drugs are based on antibiotics, Accutane is based on a natural derivative of vitamin A, which is itself effective against acne, as previously mentioned. Unlike vitamin A, however, the human body is capable of purging Accutane from the bloodstream relatively quickly (nine days is normally the maximum that it takes) and so it does not build up in the same potentially harmful way that vitamin A can.

Accutane is effective at ‘curing’ around half of the acne sufferers who take it, and these people will normally have to do nothing else as far as dealing with their acne problem is concerned.

However, in the first few weeks of treatment with Accutane, around one in five sufferers will initially see their condition deteriorate a little, while a very small number (around 0.2%) will see their condition get much worse before it begins to get better.

After that, the ‘normal’ patient needs treatment for around four to six months, while a very small number will need to repeat the treatment course once again after that initial period.

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