Title : Treating acne vulgaris patients who are resistant to oral isotretinoin, tetracycline, doxycycline with intense pulsed light (IPL)
Abstract:
Background Acne Vulgaris is a long-term skin disease that occurs when hair follicles are clogged with oil and dead skin cells from the skin. Severe cases were treated with oral doxycycline, tetracycline and even isotretinoin. Nevertheless, many cases were resistant to oral isotretinoin or recurrence occur once the physician stopped the medication. We are presenting three Chinese patients with acne vulgaris resistant to oral medications successfully managed with intense pulsed light treatment. Methods 3 cases with oral medicatons treated acne vulgaris Chinese patients referred by other doctors were studied. All four of them received 12 sessions of IPL treatment in a three weeks interval. Clinical photos were taken in every visits. Two individual blinded investigators were asked to assess and compare with the pretreatment photos. Results There were significant clinical improvement in the number of comedones, redness and active lesions. The scarrings do not have significant improvement in appearance. Conclusion This study suggests IPL is effective in improving the number of comedones, redness and active lesions of oral isotretinoin resistant acne vulgaris patient. However, scarring cannot be improved with intense pulsed light treatment.
