Three-step skincare routine improves adult acne across skin types
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Key takeaways:
- Patients experienced a 51% reduction in acne severity after 8 weeks.
- The skincare regimen also improved tactile and visual skin smoothness, skin softness, luminosity and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation.
A three-step skincare regimen improved acne and post-acne sequelae in adults with diverse skin types, according to a study.
While primarily considered a “teenage” issue, acne can affect patients well into their mid-life, with Yale Medicine reporting an incidence rate of 25% and 12% among women and men, respectively, in their 40s.
“It has become increasingly difficult to get coverage for prescription acne medications,” Patricia K. Farris, MD, clinical assistant professor of dermatology at Tulane University School of Medicine, told Healio. “Clinicians need to be able to offer adult acne patients easily accessible, clinically tested treatment options that are cosmetically elegant and amenable for daily use.”
Farris and colleagues evaluated the efficacy and tolerability of a three-step skincare routine for patients with adult acne, defined as having five to 20 inflammatory lesions, excluding nodules or cysts.
The daily skincare regimen included a cleanser (Acne Clarifying Cleanser, AlumierMD), which was applied morning and night, a serum (Acne Balancing Serum, AlumierMD), also applied morning and night, and a sunscreen (Clear Shield Borad Spectrum SPF 42, AlumierMD), applied in the morning. Patients were also permitted to apply a moisturizer (Cetaphil Lotion, Galderma) on an as-needed basis for facial dryness.
“The ingredients in these products were carefully curated to include comedolytic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, barrier repairing, redness reducing and skin lightening agents,” Farris explained.
A total of 35 adult patients (31 women) representing Fitzpatrick skin types I to VI were enrolled in the single-site, monadic 8-week study. Of these, 33 completed the study.
Adherence to this regimen resulted in 63% of inflammatory lesions and 41% of non-inflammatory lesions resolving by the end of the study. Participants entered the study with a diagnosis of mild acne, with an average of 2.17 on the IGA scale, and exited the study with an average score of 1.06 — a 51% reduction in acne severity (P < .001).
The investigators also observed a 41% improvement in tactile smoothness and visual smoothness, a 39% improvement in skin softness and luminosity and a 27% improvement in post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (P < .001 for all).
The investigators reported no tolerability issues, and the subjects also gave the regimen “an excellent tolerability rating,” according to the study.
Most patients (78.5%) agreed that the product improved their skin’s appearance after 8 weeks of using this skincare routine, with many reporting results as early as 4 weeks.
“This three-piece regimen ... was very effective for treating adult acne patients with diverse skin types,” Farris told Healio. “It also improved post-acne sequelae which is extremely troubling to adult patients with acne.”
Reference:
- Acne (acne vulgaris). https://www.yalemedicine.org/conditions/acne. Accessed Jan. 6, 2025.