A recent study was published in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology claiming that Botox is an effective treatment for acne. Now all the beauty magazines are writing about this and I want to set the record straight.

Botox and Dysport block the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is needed to trigger the release of sebum (oil) from the sebaceous glands. Therefore, it is likely that these products slightly reduce oil production. However, in practice, those of us who have treated tens of thousands of patients with Botox have not seen a significant improvement in these patients.

Botox and Dysport injections are not intelligent ways to treat acne. In order to significantly reduce oil production, large facial areas would need to be treated -- which would result in a paralyzed, unnatural zombie look. The art of doing Botox and Dysport is to relax only certain muscles so that the face remains natural looking and mobile.

In addition, using Botox and Dysport to treat acne is a very expensive way to treat the problem -- vials of the drugs typically cost $450-$500 and injections only last about four months. There are many other cheap and effective acne treatments that offer much more bang for your buck, including the drugstore products Oxy, Panoxyl, Clean & Clear and Neutrogena, which contain benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid.

Now is also a great time to visit your dermatologist to take advantage of the ``discount credit cards'' currently being offered by drug companies to lower the cost of prescription acne products such as Duac, Ziana, Acanya and EpiDuo. The cards offer patients discounts of up to $100 on these prescription drugs and your health insurance will cover the visit to the dermatologist.

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