Antibiotic Resistance and Acne: Where We Stand and What the Future Holds

June 2014 | Volume 13 | Issue 6 | Supplement Individual Articles | 66 | Copyright © June 2014


Whitney P. Bowe MD

SUNY Downstate College of Medicine, Brooklyn, NY

Third, when certain probiotic strains are placed in contact with epithelial cells, they are capable of inhibiting inflammatory pathways and thus the production of inflammatory cytokines.14 As chronic inflammation plays a major role in acne, a natural immunomodulator could play a needed role.

CONCLUSION

Antibiotics have played a leading role in the treatment of acne for decades. However, recent issues surrounding resistance force us to question how much longer we can count on these drugs, and whether or not they will maintain their front-line role as safe, effective treatments. It is our responsibility to take whatever measures we can to limit the development of further antibiotic resistance, and those measures are reviewed here. While we fight to maintain the clinical value of antibiotics, we must also continue to search for novel approaches to the treatment of acne. An ongoing search for unique treatments that can be used in concert with or as alternatives to antibiotics will allow us to best prepare ourselves for what the future has in store.

DISCLOSURES

Whitney P. Bowe MD has served as a consultant for Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies Inc, on an advisory panel for Galderma Labs, and as a consultant for Procter and Gamble.

REFERENCES

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AUTHOR CORRESPONDENCE

Whitney P. Bowe MDwpbowe@gmail.com
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