36. What about topical dapsone (Aczone)

Doctor Jacob here, and we're talking today about a topical therapy for acne called Aczone, which is the trade name for topical dapsone.

It's formulated as a gel and it comes as a 5% or 7.5% gel. The 5% is meant for twice a day application, and the 7.5% is meant for a once daily application. It has a modest effect on acne, mostly on the inflammatory types and it can be used for example in place of topical clindamycin for an inflammatory type acne. It tends to be non-irritating and it's generally good stuff, but it's kind of expensive and I haven't seen it do any better than a topical clindamycin would do for acne, so I don't generally prescribe a lot of it on a routine basis. However, it does have its role in some cases. I tend to think of this as not part of a core of acne treatment products, but rather as something to potentially add on if we're nearly clear of acne using a current topical treatment approach but not quite there yet - there are still a few breakthrough pimples, breakthrough zits, this is something that I would go to at that point to add it to your topical treatment regimen, maybe a once daily 7.5% gel or twice a day 5% gel, and then we could potentially get everything controlled. It's extremely safe though, not irritating and it doesn't color or bleach your clothing like a benzoyl peroxide would. The only downside of this one is it tends to be expensive, and even on many patients' insurance plans sometimes not fully covered as a drug.

So that's topical dapsone, also called Aczone. It's a good additional or adjuvant therapy, but in my opinion not a great monotherapy.

I'm Doctor Jacob, we'll see you next time.