Antibiotic-Resistant Zits?! Read This Before Popping Anti-Acne Pills
Filed under: Skin Care, Beauty Tips, Beauty, Makeup
Acne sufferers, if you're begging your derm for the hard stuff - pills! - proceed with caution. If you don't take them properly, you can actually develop antibiotic-resistant acne that just won't go away.
It sounds like the stuff of a teenage medical fiction horror novel, but antibiotic-resistant acne is actually a very real, fast-growing problem among dermatologists' patients.
Here's what happens: You get a prescription for antibiotics, and the acne goes away for a while, but then it comes back. You take more pills, and nothing happens. Those same stubborn zits keep rearing their ugly heads.
Here's why it happens.
"Using too low a dose of antibiotics, stopping and starting the antibiotics, or taking them only when you have a flare-up all can cause this problem," says Jeffrey Dover, president-elect of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS).
Obviously, this puts some responsibility on the shoulders of derms. Dover urges them to be very careful with how they dose antibiotics. For example, medium or (intermittent) high doses of the popular antibiotic, Doxy, is enough to damage the bacteria, but it gives it the opportunity to develop resistance.
As a patient, you can still protect yourself from developing antibiotic-resistant acne by abiding by the following rules:
Double up with benzoyl peroxide. "Every patient on an antibiotic should also use a benzoyl peroxide product to prevent resistance," says Dover.
Use only as directed. "If the prescription is supposed to be taken for eight weeks, and your acne gets better after four, it's important to finish what you've been given," says Ranella Hirsch, a dermatologist based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Don't play pharmacist. Though you shouldn't really have any spare antibiotics lying around (because you finished the amount you've been prescribed, remember?), don't pop any leftover pills at random yourself, even if you're having a flare-up - see your derm.
If it lives in your house, wash your hands. It's not swine flu, but antibiotic-resistant acne is contagious. "In households where one person has antibiotic-resistant acne, there is a risk of spreading it to other family members via person-to-person contact," says Dover.
Don't share acne cream. As a general rule, avoid sharing topical anti-acne products, no matter what kind of acne you have. Hirsch says that even an innocuous tube of shared zit cream can be tainted with another's infectious bacteria. Picture this: Someone picks her zit (ew), touches the opening of the tube, applies the cream, and repeats the process, the tube could be contaminated. Ick.
connieclear 5-07-2009 @ 4:09PM
My daughter had a terrible case of acne. She was really depressed when her prom was coming up because she was all broken out and didn't even want to go No matter how many doctors we took her to and how many acne treatments/products we tried, nothing helped. One of her teachers in school told her about Clear Remedy, a 3 step treatment that was supposed to cure the 3 causes of acne. We went to their web site http://tiny.cc/GoodbyeAcne and saw that they had a free sample, so we could try it risk free, after being ripped off by so many bogus acne products. All I can tell you that it has worked like nothing else. Her face is now totally blemish free and I can't thank that teacher and whoever invented it enough. Her skin cleared up before the prom, she was finally asked out by the boy she wanted to go with, and all was good. We are so thankful that we found Clear Remedy for her.
Reply
Soccermom 5-07-2009 @ 4:47PM
Before you do something drastic like taking antibiotics or Accutane You need to try Acnezine http://cli.gs/AcneSolutionSystem . My son had terrible cystic acne and was constantly teased in high school about all the pimples on his face. We tried everything and nothing worked until we discovered the Acnezine system for fighting acne. It turned his life around and I can't recommend it enough.
Reply
patricia567 5-09-2009 @ 5:12PM
Acne is not just a teenage problem. I'm 30 and I found a product that I have been using a little over a week now ( http://flawlessskinessentials.com/ ) and I'm starting to see the difference in my face. I have (well, used to have) large pores, scars from acne and bad breakouts of acne. After using this I notice my skin being smoother and my acne slowly disappearing and my pores are getting smaller you almost can't tell when you see me.
Reply
Allnaturalguy 5-10-2009 @ 6:32AM
I was a ten-year acne sufferer, I found a system that cured my acne condition in 3 days the natural way, saving myself from further scarring, and stopped wasting my money on expensive medications and over-the-counter products http://cli.gs/AcneFreeIn3
My acne had totally disappeared in only 3 days! I finally had the clear skin that I had always wanted, and my confidence and self-esteem went through the roof!
Still I worried it might return. As with previous attempts to put my acne into remission, there would be brief moments of success followed by the inevitable disappointment several days or weeks later.
However, this time something was different. My skin was completely clear, and it also felt vibrant, smooth, and healthy-looking. It felt as if my skin had been totally rejuvenated from the inside out!
Reply