New Research Findings: Combined Oral Contraceptive Pills Can Reduce Acne

A study done in United States of America by Koltun. W et. al.(2011) has found that a low dose combined oral contraceptive can reduce acne, and in some they were able to cure acne totally.  The study was done using 893 healthy women with acne who took ethinylestradiol 20μg/drospirenone 3mg combined oral contraceptive. They were compared with 442 healthy women with acne who were given only a placebo. The Combined oral contraceptives (COC) and placebo pills were given for 6 cycles. The  COC group had three times better acne reduction.


References:

Koltun W, Maloney JM, Marr J, and Kunz M. (2011). Treatment of moderate acne vulgaris using a combined oral contraceptive containing ethinylestradiol 20 μg plus drospirenone 3mg administered in a 24/4 regimen: a pooled analysis. Pubmed. [online] Available at: <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21288628>[Accessed 9 February 2011]

Research Findings: Most effective treatment for acne rosacea

Acne rosacea causes popular pustular lesions on the skin. This can be successfully treated with tropical metronidazole or azelaic acid. Most patients find it easy to tolerate Metronidazole than azelaic acid.  Other drugs which are also effective against acne are,

·        Oral doxycycline

·        Tetracycline

It is still to find out which one is the best among these drugs.