Wednesday, January 19, 2011

I have terrible acne and my doctor has prescribed me minocycline. Is this an effective drug?

Minocycline is a tetracycline antibiotic that is frequently used for treatment of moderate to severe acne vulgaris. Minocycline only needs to be taken once or twice a day and can be taken with food, but it is also more expensive than the other tetracyclines. Concerns have also been expressed over its safety and a few deaths have been reported. Even among skin doctors, the use of minocycline is questionable. So far there is not a single decent study that has shown that minocycline is better than other tetracyclines. Considering that the drug is expensive and has undesirable side effects, I personally would not recommend it.