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GRAND BLANC (WJRT) - (09/06/06)-- A drug-free treatment for acne is having great results for a lot of patients.
HealthFirst reporter Leslie LoBue explains that it's a laser designed to zap acne, and each treatment takes only about 15 minutes.
The fact that it's drug-free is really important to a lot of people, especially those who are wary of accutane, which has most recently been linked to liver and heart problems.
The laser technique has made a big difference for Cindy Ensign. "So far, it has been nothing but beneficial for me."
"It sends down a certain light spectrum and it is absorbed by this bacteria and it actually kills this bacteria," explained Dr. Kimball Silverton, from the Silverton Institute, in Grand Blanc.
There are, of course, other ways to treat the acne causing bacteria, but the laser is an option a lot of patients at the Sliverton Institute. are happy to have.
Cindy has been on accutane twice and has also used antibiotic treatments.
"Just going back on the antibiotic was just something I didn't want to do, and having been on accutane twice was just something that I didn't choose to do."
Accutane is actually a high dose of vitamin A, but the FDA requires label warnings about birth defects, a long known, very high-risk side effect.
Questions continue to swirl around a potential link between accutane, depression and two recent teen suicides.
So far, 72 cases of depression have been linked to accutane, which some debate is a small number, considering the number of prescriptions written for the drug since it's been around.
"Side-effects that have actually occurred - it's extremely minimal, and yes, if you want a definitive treatment to make my acne go away and never come back again, accutane is still the gold standard," Silverton explained.
The laser treatments cost about $40 each and you do have to go back several times to get rid of a breakout.
Silverton also says that good old benzoyl peroxide is an effective treatment for a lot of people. The stuff you can get at drug store is pretty much the same as higher dollar products like Proactive.
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