Acne is a skin disorder which often strikes at the beginning of adolescence and at some point of adulthood to disrupt our normal life with the sporadic appearance of ugly blemishes. Nowadays with the advancement of medical science it is not hard to find a suitable treatment for any type of acne condition and for last few decades certain antibiotics such as Doxycycline have become immensely popular among individuals who are suffering from mild to moderate acne conditions or those who failed to find any improvement from topical treatments. Doxycycline is an oral drug from tetracycline family which is used as an antimicrobial agent to heal inflammatory acne conditions. This mediation is often found useful if acne has spread over a wide area of your body parts making it inconvenient for using any topical antimicrobial agent like benzoyl peroxide would be quite inconvenient.
Acne lesions are the outcome of the clogging up of hair follicles caused by excess accumulation body oil or sebum along with piles of dead skin cells and proliferation of Propionibacterium acnes bacteria. This natural skin dwelling bacteria is known to cause acne inflammation inside lesions. Doxycycline being a strong antimicrobial agent acts by destroying the P. acnes bacteria deep inside the jammed skin pores.
These bacteria derive a protein called lipase which is essential for their survival. This antibiotic blocks the production of this protein which in turn impedes P. acnes to perform some activities which seem to be essential for their growth and repairment of cells. Being unable to proliferate further these acne causing bacteria eventually get exterminated from acne lesions. This significantly thwarts the infection inside skin pores. This medicine also works to mitigate cellular activities which initiate inflammatory reactions inside our cells.
Thus Doxycycline helps to control the production of acne causing bacteria inside jammed hair follicles as well as it also alleviates the inflammation of acne blemishes which plays an important factor in the removal of acne. Doctors usually prescribe a dosage of 20 mg for six months to treat acne. However, this course of medication entirely depends on the patient's acne condition. It is preferable to take this antibiotic along with other foodstuffs, which helps it to assimilate in a better way. However a few nutritional components like vitamins and minerals prevent the assimilation of this medication.
These are mainly calcium, iron, magnesium, sodium bicarbonate, etc. which blocks the digestion of Doxycycline by our digestive system. Therefore it is advisable that you take all food stuffs containing those food supplements at least two hours before the usual timings of the administration of this oral drug. It has been found that it takes about 3 to 6 months before your acne responds to this medication.
At the initial stages acne condition might worsen in some patients which eventually would improve after prolong usage of the medicine.
Juliet Cohen writes articles for Acne Treatment. She also writes articles for Blackheads and Acne Home Remedies.