Question My 15yr old daughter has been on two different antibiotics in the tetracycline family for the past year to treat her acne. She underwent the Clear Light procedure which seemed to do away with her "little pimples" but now she has developed larger ones. The P.A. in her dermatologist's office wants to put her on another type of antibiotic... 500mg Duricef. With the talk of overuse of antibiotics, I am growing concerned. She had blood work done which showed no adverse reactions from the use of the drugs but I am concerned about resistance down the road after reading some studies. I would be interested in your opinion on antibiotic use in acne. Thank you.
Answer There is a problem of abuse of antibiotics. However, in your daughters case you have only three choices to treat her acne. Retry the Clear Light, Oral antibiotics , or accutane. If the "cystic" acne is not controlled then your daughter will develop scaring of her facial skin. If it were my child, I would consider accutane for 5 months. I have seen very good results with accutane and it is not an antibiotic but high dose Vitamin A. Accutane does have side effects but blood work and parental interaction will reduce any possible severe side effects.
