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Getting Acne Frequently. Reccommended For Water/laser Tratment. What Can Be Done?

Posted on Wed, 21 Aug 2013

Question: I never had acne when I was young. I started getting it a little bit torwards the end of high school. I am 22 now, and back then when it appeared, I figured I would try proactiv and other stuff like benzoyl peroxide...what a horrible mistake that was. I get acne frequently now and breakout kinda bad sometimes. I figured out just using warm water is better for my face than any other cleaning product, even soap. So do you have any suggestions for getting rid of acne altogether? Because my skin used to be flawless and now I have some scars and acne. So I am hoping this can be reversed without the 4000 dollar trratment that I had offered to me once before. I was reccommended for water/laser tratment and they said it would make my acne go away forever basically. Any other ides than that?

Answered by Dr. Monika Choudhary (1 hour later)

Hi XXXXXXX ...,
Thanks for writing in to Healthcare Magic!
The pimples are due to collection of fatty secretions, local acid formation and bacterial infection which leads to formation of comedones-the black heads.
Best method is to wash the face with lukewarm water and soap(you can use medicated soaps like-savlon/dettol) but not the face wash or other very soft preparation.
You should dry the face by wiping it out with thick cotton towel, rub with pressure so that any retained greasy content get expelled from the skin pores.
Cream Benzoyl peroxide(Pernox/Persol 2.5% gel) twice a day for 45 days is a standard advice but because you had bad experience you may avoid it if it was a hypersensitivity reaction. If no effect then you can try the drug for full duration. You should wipe the face frequently free of oil using the moistened paper towels.
Laser therapy is effective but the general measures if applied diligently are no less that too at almost no cost when compared to laser.
If still the problem persists then you can go for long term doxycycline or erythromycin course and the tretinoin therapy in the supervision of a dermatologist.
Avoid fattening foods, fried foods and fast foods for best results.
If you have any further query please let me know I would try to answer it for you.
Wish you a great health!

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar