What Causes Severe Acne On Face And Back?

Posted on Tue, 20 May 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 20 May 2014 Answered on

Mon, 9 Jun 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : I have severe acne on face and back. What's the best acne treatment on the market today?

Answered by Dr. Kalpana Pathak (4 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Treatment used so far is inappropriate

Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thanks for writing to us.
The treatment of acne varies according to severity and type of lesions.
The medicines that we prescribe are
Oral retinoid- isotretinoin( drug of choice in severe grade acne)
Oral antibiotics like doxycycline, azithromycin, minocycline, lymecycline
Topical retinoids- tretinoin, adapalene, tazarotene
Topical antibiotics- clindamycin, benzoyl peroxide, nadifloxacin, azithromycin gel etc.

Now if you have severe acne over face and body, I would prescribe a combination of drugs
Oral isotretinoin 0.5 to 1 mg/kg body weight/day
Oral antibiotic like azithromycin 500 mg once daily for three days in a week or doxycycline 100 mg twice in a day or minocycline 100 mg daily( one can use 50 to 100 mg daily). If isotretionin is prescribed, doxycyclone and minocycline has to be avoided.
topical- adapalene clindamycin or adapalene benzoyl peroxide combination
Soap- benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid based soap.

Mupirocin and triamcinolone would not help acne lesions heals.

As anti acne medicines are prescribed drugs, a consultation with dermatologist is required.
Hope this helped.
Take care

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar