New acne treatments and acne break-throughs
Acne is a distressing condition, but sufferers can take some comfort from the knowledge that researchers, dermatologists and scientists beaver away in laboratories to develop new acne treatments. Once developed, the acne treatments go through extensive clinical trials and testing programs. If the new acne treatment passes this stage, the drug or procedure is approved for use by specialist dermatologists, family doctors or over-the-counter at pharmacists or the drug store.
Azficel-T (Laviv) acne treatment 'improves' acne scarring
Testing of a new acne treatment, azficel-T, produced major improvements in scarring caused by acne, according to a report tabled at the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery's annual meeting in October 2011.
Called Laviv, the new acne product developed by Fibrocell Science has recently been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treating moderateacne scarring. Laviv is a form of cellular gene therapy that is injected into the acne-scarred area. Laviv the first of this type of treatment approved for acne-related conditions.
A recent randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled trial showed that four months after the treatment had finished, a statistically significant higher percentage of patientsresponded to treatment with azficel-T than to treatment with the controlled placebo. Both patients and clinicians agreed that the treatment produced positive results.
Here's Fibrocell Science's announcement about the independent clinical study.
Acne vaccine in development
Researchers at the Division of Dermatology, Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA, and the Department of Dermatology, Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System Veterans Affairs, Los Angeles, California, have developed a vaccine for inflammatory acne. The vaccine has already been tested on mice but researchers have yet to establish if it will also work on humans.
New acne cure linked to coconut milk
A promising new acne treatment could be available soon thanks to a breakthrough in bioengineering. Lauric acid is a natural product found in human breast milk and also in coconut milk.
A new, experimental smart delivery system consisting of ‘nano bombs’ capable of delivering this coconut milk based lauric acid directly to acne-causing bacteria, has been developed by a graduate bioengineering student from the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.
One of the problems with current acne treatments is that they often have undesirable side effects, including redness of the skin and burning, but the coconut milk based Lauric acid treatment avoids these, according to the researchers.
On to acne prevention >.
