Mate if you’ve ever had severe acne you will know three...

Mate if you’ve ever had severe acne you will know three things:

1. You can exercise, diet and wash your face till the cows come home and it makes bugger all difference.

2. You will welcome a 40% reduction with open arms if it comes with low risk and side effects.

3. Your treatment regime will usually escalate over time until you get to the last resort. First it might just be clearasil (benzoyl peroxide) and various face cleansers, failing that you will move to oral and topical antibiotics. If that doesn’t get results you’ll eventually consider roaccutane (tretinoin) but tempered with the side effects of very dry skin, and with the risks of liver damage, birth defects for females, depression and hair loss.

Usually you’ll try a combination of things and different people get different results. If another efficacious and low risk option is available that may not be as powerful as roaccutane but gets you good results, you’ll use it.