Clearing Things Up - Here’s What the Newest Science Has to Say on Acne

First Posted: Jun 23, 2020 07:05 PM EDT
Close
Clearing Things Up - Here’s What the Newest Science Has to Say on Acne

(Photo : Unsplash)

As anyone who's ever had to battle acne will know, there is no simple cure for the tenacious condition. The skin is the human body's largest organ, a besieged barrier against the outside world - and it's also still a medical mystery in many ways. 

However, medical professionals keep on digging for new information on Acne vulgaris. Here is what the latest science has to say about it - about what causes breakouts, what could help to fight them, and which miracle cures have been debunked. 

Inflammation Processes Exacerbate Acne

One major finding emerging from several studies in the past few years has been that low-level inflammatory processes can cause or intensify acne

Inflammation refers to the human immune system's response to harmful factors. It can be triggered by a broad variety of stimuli, including pathogens, damaged cells, or toxic compounds. Air pollution, for example, is a complex mix of substances that can lead to such an inflammatory response. 

In turn, chronic low-level inflammation can lead to painful breakouts.  

Essential Nutrient Deficiencies Cause Acne

Recent research has also underlined the central part that nutrition plays in the fight against acne in general - and essential nutrients in particular. Those who have spent any time researching ways to fight breakouts have certainly stumbled across the advice to eat as healthily as possible. For good reason. 

Essential nutrients are substances that cannot be synthesized in the body itself, but must be absorbed with food. The most well-known are vitamins, but dietary minerals, fatty acids, and amino acids also play major roles.

Most important in the struggle to contain acne are the vitamins A and D, as well as the minerals zinc and calcium. 

Old Medication to Ditch 

One recent trend is that doctors are scaling back on prescribing antibiotics to treat acne. As with many other illnesses, antibiotics have been used liberally in the fight against pesky bumps or their painful cystic cousins.

However, science has concluded that antibiotics are not only not always effective, but can also lead to resistant strains of acne-causing bacteria, which make the fight even harder to win.

New Treatment Options on the Horizon

To replace the treatments that are being phased out, new ones are either freshly released or currently under development

In 2019, sarecycline became the first new chemical to treat acne to be approved in several years. Other promising candidates vying for a release in the near future are clascoterone and cannabidiol (CBD).

New studies have also reported excellent results with daylight photodynamic therapy, and gold microparticle therapy. In the former, patients are exposed to artificial white light, which decreases the number of inflammatory lesions - zits, in other words. In the latter, the skin is cleansed and infused with gold microparticles, which are themselves harmless. When activated by laser, however, they destroy acne-inducing bacteria. 

Innovative oral treatments are also becoming more common - such as probiotics to dam in inflammatory processes. Another is myo-inositol, which lowers testosterone levels without the side effects of the traditional treatment with contraceptives. 

And finally, there is another shining light on the horizon: A promising acne vaccine is currently in the works. It's a dream set to come true for those who are currently plagued by zits - and may never be so again in the future. 

See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone

©2017 ScienceWorldReport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The window to the world of science news.
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of scienceworldreport.com

Join the Conversation

Real Time Analytics