How do you manage patients with acne? In this short video, Dr Helena Rosengren gives her practical advice for treating acne and acne scarring in the primary care setting.
For further information on treating acne, you may be interested to learn more about the HealthCert Professional Diploma program in Aesthetic Medicine.
In the video, Dr Rosengren talks about the first-line treatments she uses in her own practice for the management of acne. She says her first choice is usually to begin with topical treatments rather than antibiotics.
"I'll use a good cleanser and scrub - medical-grade, not something usually available over the counter at a chemist," she says. She goes on to explain what active ingredients she looks for in topical skincare products for acne, including their purposes.
Dr Rosengren says that she then usually provides her patients with advice for counteracting flakiness, redness and skin sensitivity that may result from the acne or as side effects of the topical therapies.
She says she will typically wait six weeks and then review, and sometimes it's necessary to try more treatments such as LED light therapy, peels, or microdermabrasion. She also gives advice on what to do if patients aren't seeing results from the first-line acne therapies.
Dr Rosengren then discusses how she treats scarring after the acne has cleared.