Acne may be cured by a simple light treatment, first developed to iron out -wrinkles, as demonstrated a study carried out at a London hospital. The Hammersmith Hospital in -west London tested Lo-w Level Laser Therapy normally used in private beauty salons on 30 patients -who -were suffering mild to moderate acne.

In a period of 12 -weeks their acne had halved. Mean-while, those on a dummy treatment sho-wed no improvement. Findings sho-w that those -with the most severe symptoms displayed the most astonishing improvement, mostly -within the first month of treatment. Under experts conclusions, this is significantly faster than most conventional antibiotic treatments, -which can take as long as eight months to -work.

The study sho-wed that a single fiveminute session could have a dramatic effect on acne for up to 12 months. Physicians used a treatment called pulse dye laser therapy in -which the affected isa is exposed to short bursts of light. The process had been used to combat -wrinkles as it is kno-wn to stimulate the production of collagen.

Tony Chu, the dermatologist -who led the trial, explained that “-we -were brought in to see if the anecdotal evidence -worked in a clinical trial and -we found out it -was very successful. Ho-wever, -we still do not kno-w exactly ho-w it -works and that is an isa -we is no-w -working on.”

The expert said that the treatment appears to be sho-wing the same kind of efficacy as antibiotics, but -without the potential side effects. “-what -we need to do no-w is to see if it -works as -well on acne around other parts of the body, and -work out the treatment -which is most clinically effective”, stated.