Acne Medications

Eur J Dermatol. 2009 Jun 15; Cesko E, Körber A, Dissemond JAcne inversa is a chronic, recurring acneiform skin disease with inflammation of the follicular epithelium of the sebaceous glands and the terminal hair follicle. It primarily manifests in the intertriginous areas. So far, the aetiology of acne inversa is unknown. Smoking, amongst others, is being discussed and should be evaluated as a possible aetiological factor. In this study a retrospective investigation was carried out in 100 patients with acne inversa. The parameters; age, BMI, sex, weight, height, location of acne inversa, quantity of smoking, smoking behaviour and the date of initial diagnosis of acne inversa were considered. In most cases, the acne inversa is located in the axillary and inguinal areas. Overall, 96% of the 100 patients had a positive, long standing, on average almost 20-year, smoking history. On average, over 20 cigarettes are smoked daily. Over 50% of the patients are overweight. Merely 26.1% fall into the normal weight category. Our results suggest that especially smoking, but also obesity, may present an aetiologically relevant factor in the origin of acne inversa.

J Cosmet Dermatol. 2009 Jun; 8(2): 152-8Tochio T, Tanaka H, Nakata S, Ikeno HBackground Previous studies reported that lipid peroxide (LPO) caused by oxidation of sebum is associated with the progression of acne vulgaris, and that therapy with antioxidative ingredients is efficacious for treatment. In this study, we hypothesized that lipid accumulation in comedones induces progression of comedogenesis and inflammatory changes in comedones, and investigated the possible role of accumulated LPO in comedogenesis and its inflammatory changes. Methods We first sampled comedones and the stratum corneum from patients with acne vulgaris. The quantities of LPO, interleukin-1-alpha (IL-1alpha), and NF-kappa-B (NF-kappaB) in comedones and in the stratum corneum from each patient were measured for comparison. Next, comedones were sampled again from the same patients and classified into five groups: microcomedo (MC), noninflammatory open comedo (NIOC), noninflammatory closed comedo (NICC), inflammatory open comedo (IOC), and inflammatory closed comedo (ICC). We measured quantities of LPO in each group. Results The quantities of LPO, IL-1alpha, and NF-kappaB were significantly higher in the content of comedones than those in the stratum corneum. The quantities of LPO in the content of IOC and ICC were significantly higher than those of MC, NIOC, and NICC; however, there were no significant differences in quantities of LPO between the content of MC, NIOC, and NICC. Conclusions We conclude that the accumulation of a certain amount of LPO in the content of comedones may play an important role in the progression of comedogenesis and the excessive accumulation of LPO may be involved in inflammatory changes in comedones.