How dermatologists tried to cure my acne

Dermatologists are the skin care specialists that acne sufferers will first contact when dealing with acne. They have some good advice and some, in my opinion, very bad advice. I say this because I have seen 6 different dermatologists during my life and none of them ever succeeded in curing my acne permanently.
In fact, they actually made things slightly worse than it originally was.

Upon first visit, dermatologists will often prescribe topical acne creams for your acne because:

• This is an easy, simple solution which makes drug companies money
• Patients who know nothing are often looking for a cream, so it makes them happy to have something to apply.
• The cream seems powerful and appears to work for individual pimples.

They usually say: "Ok, we will try these creams, if they do not work, please return and see me". This is because they know that the effectiveness of these creams is limited, as they tend to dry up the skin and never really completely stop the acne from forming. The ONLY case in which creams would be effective is if the patient had ONE sudden acne breakout and never again had acne. Of course, this is very rarely the case.

Returning to see a dermatologist

When returning to the dermatologists office a few months later because your face has broken out with more zits than before. He will usually prescribe some form of antibiotic to further control the acne bacteria. These antibiotics are only useful for 4-5 months until they completely lose their effectiveness and then the acne bacteria becomes even more resilant to treatment.

Eliminating acne bacteria

Without bacteria and clogged pores acne could simply not form and therefore you would be free. In addition, the proactiv treatment is a mild one, so it doesn't irritate the skin as much as other treatments. This is key because irritated skin would dry up, die and clog the pores, causing acne.

Philosophy of a dermatologist

The dermatologist philosophy is that p. acne vulgaris bacteria is the sole reason for acne breakouts, and it is by eliminating it that acne will go away. What seems to lack from this equation is what actually produces the bacteria and how the bacteria results into pimples. Everyone has bacteria on their faces, but not everyone has acne.

Finally, dermatologists might prescribe accutane, which is an overdose of vitamin A that severely reduces the amount of sebum that your body produces. Because the bacteria feeds on sebum, after months of taking dangerous quantities of vitamin A, your body reduces sebum production and consequently less bacteria forms on your face.

The scary part is that your body actually NEEDS sebum to function properly. This is why dermatologists will prescribe special steroid pumped medicine for the dry lips you will have during your accutane treatment.

Near the end of the accutane treatment, many people see considerable improvement as the body produces very little amounts of sebum. Unfortunately, after you finish the treatment, your body naturally returns to producing normal sebum levels and consequently, you break out once again. Accutane also damages the liver, which is a key element in having clear skin, so after the accutane treatment, it is even more difficult to combat acne breakouts.

Not all is bad, dermatologists can determine the type of acne that you have, which will aid in dertermining a proper treatment. There are also some very rare dermatologists which will assist you in curing the root of your acne, although this is quite rare.

If you see a dermatologist for your acne, think about the advice he is giving you. Research the effects of the treatment he is proposing, talk to others who have taken it before. Understand WHY he is proposing it and you might be surprised to find that dermatologists often propose band-aid solutions instead of actual cures.

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