Acne Treatment for Women - Aczone by Dr. Sharon Orrange/Primary Care Physician: at DailyStrength Doctors and Advisors

Dr. Orrange received her BA in Biology at the University of California, San Diego, and a Masters Degree in Health Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. She received her MD from the USC Keck School of…

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LOCATION: Santa Monica, CA, USA

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Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, Division of Geriatric, Hospital and General Internal Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California

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Acne Treatment for Women - Aczone

Posted in Acne by Dr. Sharon Orrange on Jul 08, 2011

A topical treatment for acne has shown great results in women. Topical dapsone gel 5% (Aczone) did significantly better in terms of reducing or clearing acne in women than in men, according to a recent study. Aczone was initially approved in July 2005 so several studies have documented its effectiveness for acne and a consistent theme has been that women do better with it than men.

Almost 3000 acne patients over the age of 12 used topical dapsone gel (Aczone) twice a day for 12 weeks. Aczone reduced acne lesions by 48% with almost half of the treated patients having compete resolution of their acne in 3 months. In women these results were more significant than in men. Aczone is effective in both inflammatory acne (papules or pustules) and non- inflammatory acne (blackheads) though papules and pustules respond better. Side effects, mostly dryness or redness, didn’t differ between men and women.

Aczone, topical dapsone gel, is an antibiotic with anti-inflammatory properties. It is not clear exactly how it works in the treatment of acne. The authors of this study suggest dapsone may suppress white blood cell recruitment and inhibit generation of oxygen free radicals. What has your experience been?

Dr O.