New Treatment Zaps Acne but Not Healthy Skin

A new light treatment that eliminates acne-causing skin bacteria without burning, redness or irritation may be a good alternative to topical lotions and oral antibiotics for patients with moderate breakouts.

The Food and Drug Administration last week approved the ClearLight system for moderate cases of inflammatory acne vulgaris, which is harder to treat than the superficial pimples some people suffer and which can leave permanent scars. As many as 80% of all people develop acne at some point, most frequently in adolescence when hormonal changes increase the amount of oil produced by the skin’s sebaceous glands and create blockages of the pores.

With the ClearLight system, patients usually undergo twice-weekly treatments for four weeks at the dermatologist’s office. During those visits, the affected skin of the face or back is exposed for 15 minutes to a narrow band of blue light, which destroys the Propionibacterium acnes bacteria without harming surrounding skin.

Unlike other types of light treatments that have been used on acne, such as UVB light, ClearLight doesn’t age the skin and doesn’t appear to cause skin cancer.

The product offers an alternative for patients worried about the side effects of oral isotretinoin (Accutane), which requires that they be monitored through regular blood tests. It’s also designed to offer a choice for those whose skin is irritated by common treatments, such as Retin A, which causes drying and redness; or benzoyl peroxide, which can overly dry the skin; or those for whom antibiotics don’t work well, said Dr. Alan Shalita, a dermatologist at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn.

In some patients, acne-causing bacteria have become less sensitive to commonly used antibiotics, such as tetracycline, doxycycline and minocycline, he said. As a result, dermatologists sometimes combine them with topical medications such as benzoyl peroxide.

ClearLight, made by an Israeli firm, Lumenis Ltd., makes a non-issue out of antibiotic insensitivity. However, Shalita said it may turn out to be even more effective when applied in conjunction with other acne-fighting products, such as antibiotics, Retin A and related products or benzoyl peroxide.

In the clinical trials led by Shalita, researchers used the light treatment on 28 volunteer patients, treating half of the face. After one month, they compared the untreated halves of the faces to the treated halves. About 70% of the patients improved by at least 50% on the treated side; about 30% improved on the untreated side, which may indicate that the treatment had a systemic anti-inflammatory effect, Shalita said. Most patients continued to improve for at least one month after they finished the treatment; they maintained the improvement for up to three months.

A drawback of ClearLight is that it requires frequent visits to the doctor’s office. But Shalita said doctors may be able to modify the treatment regimen to make it more convenient.

Dr. Richard Glogau, a dermatologist at UC San Francisco, said the light treatment could be valuable for patients “who find other things too irritating.”

Shalita agreed that ClearLight isn’t suitable for all acne patients.

“This is a totally different treatment for acne that’s going to be helpful. Is it for everyone? Probably not,” said Shalita, who said he has no financial interest in Lumenis.