Study Findings:

• Lasers are used to reduce scarring from severe acne and, increasingly, to treat active acne. A small, new study has found, however, that the therapy with one type of laser does not improve the acne itself.

Lasers can be used in one of two ways: To get rid of the bacteria causing the acne or to damage the oil-producing glands. The latter method tends to be more effective. “These are techniques that are only being used by people who specialize in laser. It’s really a new area, and there’s a lot of investigation going on,” Kauvar said. “Because acne is such a global problem, obviously we are looking for things that work better than what we already have.” The study enrolled 40 people aged 13 or older with facial acne who received two pulsed dye laser treatments to half of the face for 12 weeks. The other half of the face received no treatment at all. “Everybody had the opposite side of their face serving as an internal control,” Orringer said. “That’s sort of the ultimate control, because it’s the patient’s own skin.” A separate group of experts who did not know which side of the face had received laser therapy counted the remaining lesions.

Yet another group of experts, a panel of dermatologists, then looked at photographs of the participants to determine if acne had been reduced. In the end, 26 people completed the study, many withdrawing because they were not seeing sufficient results. As it turned out, the experts involved in the study did not see sufficient results in the remaining participants, either. The laser used in this study has been approved and is marketed to treat fine lines and wrinkles. However, it targets the skin more superficially than other lasers, which treat acne by delivering energy to the oil-producing glands, Avram said. Right now, there is more evidence for lasers to be used to treat acne scarring, although they have shown promise for active acne. “There certainly is hope [that lasers can treat active acne],” Orringer said. “We just have to find out which types of systems seem to do the job more effectively… The world of light-based acne treatment is in its relative infancy. It’s going to continue to evolve over the next few years, but it has to be driven by good science, not claims.” (Source)

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