Lasers for acne yield 'underwhelming' results - ABC News- Acne News
Saturday, March 31st, 2007Mar 30, 2007 — NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Laser treatment isn’t effective enough to be a solo first-line treatment for acne, although it may be worthwhile for some people to try, researchers conclude based on a study they conducted. Most acne sufferers were happier with the treatment than with standard approaches like topical creams or pills, despite its painfulness, and laser treatments also produced a transient reduction in blackheads, Orringer and his team found. Many studies of laser therapy for acne have been designed so that it can be difficult to tell whether the treatment is having an effect, or if the patient is simply experiencing natural fluctuations in acne severity, the researchers explain in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. The doctors who assessed the severity of acne and number of lesions during the course of treatment weren’t aware which side of the face was being treated. Given that there is little that can be done to treat acne at the early, blackhead stage, the laser treatment could turn out to have preventive benefits, Orringer noted. Nearly three-quarters of patients in the study said they preferred laser treatment to traditional therapies, while about the same percentage said treatments produced at least moderate discomfort. read more
