Acne Treatment Cost

You will here find out about the cost of acne treatments, more precisely those topical lotions / serums / creams that are new acne patients' weapons of choice, and luckily sometimes the only one they will need.

Is a topical acne treatment expensive?

Selling acne remedies is a multi-million-dollar industry. The price may range from $6 for a simple cream to $90 for one with a famous name on it. Anyway, there so many efficient products that you can be sure to find one that fits both your budget and your needs. Acne treatment cost may not be such an issue... Let's see.

A useful investigation:

Buy 2 non-prescription creams from your usual shop, one in the lower-price range, and an expensive one.

Chances are, one cream bears the name of a well-known brand while you have never heard of the other. Read the list of ingredients.

Granted, there could be lot if you don't know what to look for, so either you locate someone if a lab coat to sort out what the active ingredients are, or you scan the list for the names benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid. Those are the required ingredients in an effective cream. What does it tell us?

I bet your 2 creams contain both ingredients. OK, the designer cream may also contain « organic cherry blossoms » or « authentic silk fibers » but this is nothing but a trap. It's only there to make you think that cream is more valuable.

In fact, the active ingredients are the same in both creams, so the production cost is basically the same. The only difference in acne treatment cost here, is the cost of advertising. So if you're only looking for efficiency, avoid spending too much money on advertising!

Non-prescription products:

They typically cost $6 to $16 monthly. They help clean the pores by getting rid of dead skin cells, and make the bacteria responsible for acne, Propionibacterium Acnes, less active. Benzoyl peroxide is helpful against whiteheads, salicylic acid frees the pores and protects the skin against lesions – which prevents blackheads – and resorcinol combined with sulphur helps heal small skin lesions.

Prescription lotions:

True, those make acne treatment cost significantly more important: $40 to $100 monthly, plus the required visit to your physician.

Is it worth it? The molecules contained are more expensive, but Erythromycin or Sodium sulphacetamide are definitely more efficient in the fight against Propionibacterium Acnes. Tazarotene ot Tretinoin, two topical reinoids, clean the pores and are efficient against both blackheads and whiteheads.

So what to do?

Many people are not overjoyed at the thought of spending large sums of money on acne treatment, or having to go to the doctor's every month.

That is the reason why most people first resort to non-prescription treatments, which are not so expensive and yet usually quite effective. They buy cheap, unknown brands or more fancy ones according to their budget.

The majority of people only go to a dermatologist when non-prescription solutions have failed, when their acne gets more severe, or when they suffer from acne-related scarring.

Hopefully this short article has answered most of the questions about acne treatment costs that may come to your mind!