Accutane As Acne Treatment: Part 3

In addition to oral and topical compounds, acne patients have been subjected to many procedures in search of a cure. Back in the early 1900s, German physicians treated their acne patients with X-ray therapy. Initial studies showed this type of therapy to be extremely effective. This led to X-ray therapy being used on tens of thousands of patients, who later developed multiple skin cancers and cancer of the thyroid from the radiation. To make matters worse, at a later date, dermatologists who tried X-ray therapy found that it had no effect - good or bad - on their patients' acne.

Another acne treatment of long-standing yet dubious merit is ultraviolet radiation. We receive ultraviolet radiation naturally from the sun. However, starting in the 1950s and continuing through the 1980s (and occasionally, today), physicians administered artificially generated ultraviolet light treatments to their acne patients. Like the X-ray treatments, this, too, has proved to be an unfortunate therapy; as we now know, ultraviolet radiation increases our risk of cancer and accelerates the aging process. And, to top it off, it is not particularly effective in the treatment of acne.