Anti-Androgens and Acne
Androgen hormone of human body is the primary cause of acne in human. The androgens are responsible for stimulating the sebaceous glands, which produces excess oil and consequently causing acne. Hence in order to make any acne treatment work effectively its paramount to minimize the androgen action in human body. One of the most efficient ways of doing this is the usage of anti-androgen drug that can limit the action of androgen hormone on oil glands.
Anti-Androgens – How Do They Work On Acne?
Anti-Androgen treatment is started when the human body starts producing too much androgen. This treatment is best suited to those who have irregularities in their endocrine system.
Usage of birth control pills is not recommended in case of improper functionality of the endocrine glands.
Remember that you keep taking birth control pills if you have been taking anti-androgens. It protects the male fetus when you get pregnant suddenly.
Anti-androgens make the male fetus feminine, because the proper development of a male fetus needs certain level of both androgens and estrogens.
If you have felt the below then you are the perfect candidate for anti-androgen treatment:
• Failure of Oral and topical antibiotic treatments
• Failure of birth control pills in controlling your acne
• Acne returns even after taking Accutane
If you have experienced these then you might be suffering from excess androgen. Your doctor can perform tests for its confirmation.
Acne Products Using Anti-Androgen
If you are interested in taking the anti-androgen treatment then these are the acne products you want to look into:
1) Spironolactone (Aldactone) – this anti-androgen is handy for the people suffering from inflammatory nodules. It also is effective in reducing the oil production in the skin.
2) Flutamide (Eulexin) – It might cause liver damage. Flutamide mainly is prescribed to the women suffering from uncontrollable acne.
But when you receive the prescription of either of the two aforementioned drugs, you got to know their functions inside your body.
If the doctor prescribes you Spironolactone, you will have to take either 25 milligrams or 50 milligrams.
Anti-Androgen Side Effects On Acne
The duration of Anti-androgen treatment can be up to half a year. Doctors recommend certain blood tests in order to monitor the effects of Spironolactone. A person taking this might experince the following side effects and disadvantages:
• Irregularity in menstrual cycles
• Tenderness of the breasts
• Women suffering from breast cancer must think twice before taking this treatment.
At any point of time Anti-androgen drugs must not be taken as miracle drugs and this is because its hard to clean up acne at once. This principle implies to this acne treatment particularly. One needs to have patience for at least three months or six to see whether the treatment is working or not.
Doctor should stop prescribing the drugs once they find that the treatment is not working for an individual. It’s absolutely pointless to keep the treatment going, which is not doing any good.
Like any treatment this one also necessitates professional advice and it’s quite imperative that you consult your practitioner before you go for any treatment. Don’t play god with your own body.
The best way to treat acne is to have complete information on battle against acne. Also it may be a biggest liability for you. None of the books can replace the diagnosis of a competent health care specialist in treatment of acne and you need to keep that in mind.