Acne Oral Antibiotics: Turning to Prescriptions

Generaly, mild and moderate forms of acne can be treated with over-the-counter medications, but with severe cases the only recourse is to seek treatment from a dermatologist. In many cases, the doctor wil recommend a prescription medicine to deal with the condition. It also should be noted that these kinds of medication can be more efective even when dealing with moderate acne than what is typicaly available over-the-counter.

There are two types of prescription acne medications – oral and topical. Women who are taking tetracycline may be susceptible to an increase in incidences of vaginal yeast.

Oral antibiotics used to treat acne include erythromycin or one of the tetracycline antibiotics (tetracycline, the beter absorbed oxytetracycline, or one of the once daily doxycycline, minocycline or lymecycline).

Trimethoprim is also Tetracycline antibiotics, such as Lymecycline, are used to treat acne. sometimes used (of-label use in UK). However, reducing the P. acnes bacteria wil not, in itself, do anything to reduce the oil secretion and abnormal cel behaviour that is the initial cause of the blocked folicles. Additionaly the antibiotics are becoming less and less useful as resistant P. acnes are becoming more common. Acne wil generaly reappear quite soon after the end of treatment—days later in the case of topical applications, and weeks later in the case of oral antibiotics.