Dermatologists Report Cutting Back on Antibiotics to Treat Acne

Holistic health and lifestyle coach Chris Gibson says in a Nov. 5 press release that he believes antibiotics are a problematic treatment choice for acne. He speaks from his own personal experience and from the most recent Galderma Quality Report for Dermatology and Managed Care.

The Galderma Quality Report says that a new survey of dermatologists found that 50 percent are using fewer antibiotics in the treatment of acne because of their concern for antibiotic-resistant pathogens. This number is an increase of eight percent from 2004. Between 2002 and 2004, the use of oral and topical antibiotics in the treatment of acne decreased five percentage points.

Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), an antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection, generally infects primarily hospital patients who were elderly or very ill. However, health experts have more recently found that anyone may be at increased risk of contracting this staph infection if they have had frequent, long-term or intensive use of antibiotics.

According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS), one very effective antibiotic commonly used to treat staph infections, including MRSA, is methicillin. However, some staph bacteria have developed a resistance to methicillin and can no longer be killed by this antibiotic. The resistant bacteria are thus called methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus or MRSA.

Gibson says that as parents become more aware of the problem with over-prescribing antibiotics, they are also becoming concerned about reports of MRSA infections in the nation's schools. He says that "you have your family doctor saying we don't want to over-prescribe antibiotics. Then you take your teenager to a dermatologist and typically one of the first options has been antibiotics. With the drug-resistant 'super-bugs' in the news, no wonder parents are anxious. Just look at the numbers involved. An estimated 80% of teens have some acne, so imagine the volume of antibiotics being consumed if only a fraction of these teens get prescriptions."