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Acne treatments: Emerging therapies for clearer skin
Up-and-coming acne treatments may help clear stubborn acne. Learn more about new acne treatments and what they can and can't do for you.
By Mayo Clinic staffWith the right treatment, you can keep acne under control. But what's the best acne treatment for you? Many options are available, including prescription creams and antibiotics, which target the various causes of acne. But even with the wide range of acne treatments, chronic breakouts may still be difficult to treat.
Promising new acne treatments — such as blue light therapy, diode laser therapy or combination treatments — may be effective acne treatments when combined with other traditional treatments.
Acne treatments target causes
Each hair follicle is connected to sebaceous glands, which secrete an oily substance known as sebum to lubricate the hair and skin. Sebum normally travels up along the hair shaft and then out through the opening of the hair follicle onto the surface of your skin.
When your body produces an excess amount of sebum and dead skin cells, the two can accumulate in the hair follicle and solidify as a soft plug. As the plug grows, the follicle wall can rupture, allowing more oil and skin cells to accumulate. This is the underlying cause of acne. Bacteria can trigger additional inflammation and infection resulting in complications of acne.
Acne treatments usually work by reducing oil production, speeding up the growth of new skin cells and the removal of dead skin cells, or fighting bacterial infection. Some acne treatments, especially combination therapies, work by doing two or three of these.
Laser and light therapy
Laser- and light-based therapies reach the deeper layers of skin without harming the skin's surface. Some laser systems are thought to damage the oil (sebaceous) glands, causing them to produce less oil. Other laser and light therapies target Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes), the bacterium that causes acne inflammation. These therapies can also improve skin texture and lessen the appearance of scars, so they may be good treatment choices for people with both active acne and acne scars.
Several types of laser and light therapies show promise in acne treatment. These include:
- Blue light therapy. Exposing the skin to a low-intensity blue light source is believed to destroy P. acnes. This painless procedure is usually done through a series of sessions. P. acnes multiplies rapidly, however, so ongoing treatment is necessary for best results. Possible side effects of blue light therapy include temporary redness and dryness in the treated areas. A newer type of light therapy that includes a combination of blue and red light may be more effective than blue light alone.
- Pulsed light and heat energy therapy. Together, pulsed light and heat energy is thought to destroy P. acnes and shrink sebaceous glands, which decreases the oil production. The Food and Drug Administration approved an acne therapy that combines pulses of green-yellow light and heat to treat mild to moderate acne, including inflammatory acne. Side effects of this therapy include temporary redness in the treated areas.
- Diode laser treatment. Diode lasers can destroy sebaceous glands in the dermis, the thick middle layer of skin, without harming the outer layer of skin. Laser treatment may be painful, but the pain can be controlled with analgesics applied to the skin before treatment. Side effects of diode laser treatment include temporary redness and swelling of the treated areas.
Still unknown is who would benefit the most from laser and light therapies, the effectiveness of these treatment options and what the long-term risks or benefits might be. Furthermore, laser and light therapy acne treatments can be expensive and may not be covered by your insurance company.
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