Acne - Advanced Acne Treatment
Options
Some acne cases require more advanced treatment
methods. In some individuals, the motivation isn't just the severity of
the acne as much as the desire to avoid side effects from medication.
Whatever the motive, advanced acne treatments offer an alternative that
is attractive to many. Among the most popular are light and laser
treatments.
In decades past UV was used as a light source. It has the beneficial
effect of killing the Propionibacterium acnes bacteria that plays a role
in acne formation. But, when studies showed that UV can increase the
odds of skin cancer, the treatment became much less popular.
Other forms of light don't have that problem.
Blue Light
One form is called 'blue light therapy', where the name derives from the
color of the light used. The main effect is to kill the bacteria, but
there is some effect on the skin oil. It can cause a slight dryness. The
narrow band light contains a negligible amount of UV wavelengths.
Patients receive treatments twice per week over a period of about a
month. It's effective on forms other than more severe acne, such as
those that produce nodules or cysts. The latter can actually be made
worse with blue light treatment. Improvements ranged from complete
remission to about 40% decrease in the number of lesions, in several
studies. About two-thirds saw between a 59% to 67% reduction of
inflammatory acne lesions.
Pulsed and LHE (Light Heat Energy)
Other forms of light therapy, such as LHE, have similar effects - they
kill acne bacteria - but do so by a different means. LHE also tends to
decrease sebum (the natural skin oil). Excess sebum production is
considered one of the major factors encouraging acne development. This
green light tends to shrink sebaceous glands.
The therapy is approved by the FDA for treating mild to moderately
severe acne. Both inflammatory and non-inflammatory acne can be reduced
by two treatments per week over a period of one month. Drug-based
treatments tend to take two or three months or longer.
In some cases, though, light treatments are combined with the use of
prescription medications.
ALA (5-aminolevulinic acid)
ALA is a compound applied to the skin. It doesn't have any of the
antibacterial properties of standard acne treatments like Accutane. It
works by making the skin more sensitive to light, thus increasing the
effectiveness of light treatment.
It's kept on for 15 minutes to an hour, during which the patient
receives blue or red light treatment. The jury is still out so numbers
are sketchy, but early results suggest the treatment is safe and
effective.
Lasers
Normal light contains waves that scatter in all directions. Laser light
is called coherent because the waves all move in an organized train in
the same direction. That's one of the reasons lasers can do all the
things they're used for.
The chief difference, though, between different lasers (just as it is
with other forms of light) is the wavelength. In the case of acne
treatment lasers, one popular type produces waves of 1450 nm
(nanometers, a billionth of a meter). This type is particularly safe and
effective.
In one study, one treatment reduced acne lesions by nearly 40%. Two
treatments decreased them by nearly 60% and with three the number rose
to over 80%. There is some mild pain associated with the treatments,
however, so a topical anesthetic is used during the procedure.
Click Here To Visit The Official Site
To your success!
P.Robertson
www.myacnefree.com
|