OTC acne products as good as prescription meds

Over-the-counter (OTC) benzoyl peroxide cream clears up acne as well as prescription antibiotics - and at a fraction of the cost, according to new study findings released Friday.

UK investigators found that roughly 60 percent of people with mild to moderate acne said they noticed an improvement after using OTC benzoyl peroxide cream for 18 weeks.

This is the same rate of improvement reported by people who tried antibiotic pills, antibiotic creams, and creams that combined an antibiotic with benzoyl peroxide, the researchers note in The Lancet medical journal.

Benzoyl peroxide "worked just as well in terms of how people with acne thought their acne had improved, or in terms of reducing the number of red spots," study author Dr. Hywel C. Williams told Reuters Health. "Neither were brilliant, but they were about the same."

Moreover, the benzoyl peroxide used in the current study was one-twelfth the price of one of the oral antibiotics, Williams noted, and "more convenient" because it is sold without a prescription.

Importantly, benzoyl peroxide also sidesteps the growing problem of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, which can occur when people take oral antibiotics, added Williams, who is based at the University of Nottingham.

To investigate how well cheap OTC acne treatments measure up to prescription antibiotics, Williams and his colleagues asked 131 people with mild to moderate acne - with at least 15 inflamed lesions and 15 non-inflamed lesions on the face - to try one of 5 acne treatments for 18 weeks.

The treatments included two types of oral antibiotics (oxytetracycline and minocycline), benzoyl peroxide lotion, lotion that combined the antibiotic erythromycin with benzoyl peroxide, and erythromycin and benzoyl peroxide administered separately.

To rate improvements, the researchers photographed participants at the beginning of the study, and asked them to compare their face after 18 weeks to the picture, as well as count the number of lesions.

People using topical lotions were more likely to report skin irritation. Nausea, upset stomach and headache occurred more often in oral antibiotic-users.

Williams explained that both benzoyl peroxide and antibiotics likely work by killing a bacteria that can cause acne.

He added that these findings may surprise some experts. "I was always brought up to believe that tablets (oral) antibiotics were much better, but this study suggests not when they were compared on a level playing field for people with mild to moderate facial acne," he said.

"It may be different for more severe acne," he added, "but that goes beyond our study."

One of Williams's co-authors has acted as a consultant for a company that markets benzoyl peroxide products.