Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Which acne prescribed medication clears skin the fastest and works best? (Benzoyl peroxide, Tretinion gel, clinamycin phsophate gel)

Hi Brenda,

Are you doing a science project testing the effects of various acne medications on acne? If so, that is an extremely interesting project, and we would love to help you get set up! Or are you instead asking for personal skin treatment? In that case, I'd recommend you consult a doctor to figure out the best prescription for you.

However, if you're doing a science project, please post back, and we'll help you develop your experiment!

scibuddyAK

Yes this is my science fair project, it would be a lot of help Thanks so much!

Hi there
The question of how to control acne and bacteria in general is a very interesting one and a rich topic for science projects. Also, the relative merits of specific treatments is amenable to experimentation.

As a follow up to your question, I'm wondering if you can give us more details about how you are thinking of developing your project, the approaches are you thinking of taking, and how's it going with your project so far? Feel free to write a long message (like mine!) with your ideas and current thinking or what you have done so far. This would help us to help you with experimental design, formulation of your hypotheses, etc.

Also, there is lots of information and suggestions on one approach to this project idea in one of our projects on the website:
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ?v=&s=acne
(be sure to look at all the tabs, not just the first one).

Note however, that there are other approaches that could be taken on this project idea as well.

Ben

Hi Brenda!

Sorry for the late reply! Yes, the link to the ScienceBuddies project that Ben provided would be very helpful for you in starting out your project. Some things you may want to consider are
1) What does acne medication specifically attack? (For example, if it's bacteria, as currently believed, you would want to test that certain bacteria with the medications)
2) Which medications would you test, and what would your controls be?
3) How would you define "fastest" and "best" (i.e. what time range, and what qualifies as best?)
For help in designing a study, this ScienceBuddies link will likely be very helpful to you: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... sign.shtml

I hope this helps you get started on your project. Once you iron out the experimental design, usually everything else falls into place! Please post back with any more questions you may have.

Thanks,
scibuddyAK

Thanks for a reply! I am currently researching bacteria that I can grow and purchase. There are certain bacteria that is not safe to use in a lab and I need a bacteria that I can use and that is bio safety level 1. Also for my experiment I have thought of growing acne bacteria but in different plates use different amounts of each medication I have written in my question. I really don't just want to use any bacteria, that is why I have been currently researching. Both of you are a really big help ! and I could use a little more research on my medications that I will be using, but I need more help on the research of bacteria to use. I will look at the links you have provided for me so I can write out a procedure and have a better idea of my experiment.

sadly I am not aloud to purchase P acne bacteria, and I would really like to use a acne causing bacteria so maybe I can take the bacteria off my makeup brush?

I think using bacteria off of your brush or of some acne is a very interesting idea. In fact, part of the question there will be the method to culture and maintain the bacteria, and how to measure it and study the bacteria before versus after treatment. Even what types of bacteria you get could be interesting to learn about. Here on our website has info about working with plates:
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ates.shtml
Maybe the biology lab at your high school has some options?

Another possibility would be to design some kind of experimental procedure to see how well acne medicines could work on people (i.e., do acne medicine tests on people). This may be MUCH more difficult due to ethical considerations and recruiting volunteers but also more directly looks at the effectiveness of the medications for people.

However both of these ideas (plating bacteria from swabs taken from acne or experimental medicine trials on human volunteers who have acne) have potential ethical and safety issues. In fact, any experiment working with bacteria will involve some potential safety concerns. You are very wise to be thinking about this already One think to consult on our website is the scientific review committee process:
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... _src.shtml

Keep us posted as you start to develop your methods and experimental design

Ben

Hi Brenda,

Yes, I agree that swabbing bacteria off a makeup brush would probably be a good idea. However, as Ben mentioned, it is important to look into safety regulations and make sure your project complies with all of them. That being said, I wouldn't recommend testing medications on people at all. That creates a lot of ethical controversy and probably is against the laws/rules, as well; human subjects always come with a great deal of liability/other issues you shouldn't have to deal with. I'd highly suggest looking into swabbing bacteria off something else (not a person; a makeup brush is a good idea). I will come back with more insight when I find something feasible for you! In the meantime, I think you can begin drafting your procedure--pick out some medications and decide on your control, and we'll go from there!

Good luck,
scibuddyAK