Why antibiotic doesn't work forever for your acne?

The typical acne treatment, especially those that are being categorized as mild and moderate acne, is by using topical medications. It can either be purchased from your local pharmacy stores either through off the shelf or prescribed by your dermatologist.

However, for those with severe acne, it seems that the application treatment gels or creams do not do anything to improve the condition of one's acne. Most of the time, acne sufferers with severe acne condition will be recommended to go for antibiotic. Normally, this is the last resort in the medication profession to treat acne, Why? Because antibiotic, such as Accutane, does has its shares of harm in treating acne . Its side effects can be devastating and that is the reason why your dermatologist will use it to treat your acne for a short term period.


Antibioitics, as with most topical treatments, not only kill off P. acnes bacteria but also other friendly bacteria such as those pro biotic bacteria in your GI tract. Antibiotics work, where topical medications failed, because they contain stronger dosage of bacteria killing effects. Even though it works, its effect is never everlasting. In most cases, acne will return after the antibiotics treatment has been stopped for some times.

You would never cured it using this method as it is only treating the symptom of your acne condition, not the cause. That being said, it doesn't mean one should not resort to antibiotic to treat one acne condition which is severe. As a temporary counter measure, yes, we should try this treatment when typical acne treatments do not show any improvement in treating acne. Furthermore, in severe case of acne, the possibility of getting acne scar if nothing is done to treat it (and please believe me, acne need to be treated, it won't go away by itself) is high and believe me, treating acne scar is much much more difficult than treating any type of acne. In short, acne scar condition is almost non reversible. One can only lessen the effect of the scar, and never to get rid of it.

Prolonged usage of antibiotics will make your acne bacteria immune or resistance to its after some time as persistent exposure to the antibiotics will make our body develop a strain of acne bacteria that it resistant to it. When this happens, it is deemed that the antibiotic is futile in combating acne.

Remember that I did mention that antibiotics not only kill P.acnes bacteria but also other friendly bacteria in your G I tract? These friendly bacteria helps a lot in assisting us to absorb nutrients from the food we take. They also prevent fungus and many parasites to occupy the linens of our digestive system. I guess you can imagine what will happen to your overall health with the prolonged intake of antibiotics (to treat your acne) that completely kill off all your friendly flora bacteria. Now, you will not only get the severe acne condition again but also get a lot of chronic infections, among others include stomach ulcers, as an overall poor health system acts as a floodgate to lot and lot of diseases.