Simple treatment works for acne

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

An over-the-counter treatment is as good as antibiotics in the treatment of acne.
Antibiotic treatments for acne have raised concerns over antibiotic resistance, so there's a need for alternative approaches. Researchers at the Universities of Nottingham and Leeds, UK, looked at five different treatments for acne: two oral antibiotics, the topical antibiotic erythromycin, benzoyl peroxide (an over-the-counter treatment) and a mix of benzoyl peroxide and erthyromycin.

Benzoyl peroxide proved to be as effective as the antibiotics, and is 12 times cheaper than minocycline, one of the oral antibiotics. And treatment with benzoyl peroxide was unaffected by pre-existing antibiotic resistance, which reduced the effectiveness of the antibiotics. It looks as if benzoyl peroxide, with or without erthyromycin, could be a good approach to the treatment of acne.

Source
The Lancet 18-31 December 2004

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