• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.126-135
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• 2017

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of Sae-ssack(sprout) therapy on atrophic acne scars. Methods : Twenty patients had atrophic acne scars on the face were treated with Sae-ssack therapy. Sae-ssack therapy consists of a total of three treatments, a first-stage Sae-ssack acupuncture, a second-stage texture treatment, and a third-stage anti-pigmentation therapy. The evaluation of the treatment effect was made by the Korean medical doctor who did not participate in the procedure, and the PGA(Physician's Global Assessment), QGASC(Qualitative Global Acne Scarring Grade System) and patient satisfaction were used as the evaluation index. Results and Conclusions : According to the above indicates, the Sae-ssack therapy was evaluated to be effective in the repair of atrophic acne scars. There were no visible or consistent side effects and patient satisfaction was also very high.

• CELLMED
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.9.1-9.5
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• 2022

Acne vulgaris is a common dermatological condition affecting the pilosebaceous units and having a multifactorial etiology. In Unani terminology, acne vulgaris is referred as Busoor Labaniya, characterized by white lesions on the face, nose, and cheeks; on squeezing, release cheesy material. In conventional medicine, mild cases are best addressed with topical regimens, but more severe cases require systemic medications. Retinoids (retinoic acid, adapalene, isotretinoin, tazarotene), benzoyl peroxide, clindamycin, erythromycin, and azelaic acid are a few examples of topical medications, whereas systemic drugs include antibiotics (Doxycycline, minocycline, erythromycin, azithromycin). In the Unani System of Medicine, numerous single and compound drugs have been used to treat Busoor Labaniya. These drugs are considered harmless and do not have any major side effects. In Unani system of medicine, acne vulgaris is effectively managed with natural medicines as well as therapeutic regimens with minimal side effects even after long-term usage. Acne vulgaris is usually treated with systemic blood purifiers along with topical Unani drugs. Hence, clinical studies with proper scientific parameters are needed to be conducted to establish and validate their efficacy in the prevention and control of acne vulgaris.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.1390-1395
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• 2022

Acne is a chronic inflammatory disease of the sebaceous gland attached to the hair follicles. Cutibacterium acnes is a major cause of inflammation caused by acne. It is well known that C. acnes secretes a lipolytic enzyme to break down lipids in sebum, and free fatty acids produced at this time accelerate the inflammatory reaction. There are several drugs used to treat acne; however, each one has various side effects. According to previous studies, sulforaphene (SFEN) has several functions associated with lipid metabolism, brain function, and antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activities. In this study, we examined the effects of SFEN on bacterial growth and inflammatory cytokine production induced by C. acnes. The results revealed that SFEN reduced the growth of C. acnes and inhibited proinflammatory cytokines in C. acnes-treated HaCaT keratinocytes through inhibiting NF-κB-related pathways. In addition, SFEN regulated the expression level of IL-1α, a representative pro-inflammatory cytokine expressed in co-cultured HaCaT keratinocytes and THP-1 monocytes induced by C. acnes. In conclusion, SFEN showed antibacterial activity against C. acnes and controlled the inflammatory response on keratinocytes and monocytes. This finding means that SFEN has potential as both a cosmetic material for acne prevention and a pharmaceutical material for acne treatment.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.421-427
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• 2016

Acne is known as the most common skin disease. It commonly occurs during adolescents, but it is also present in children and adults because of air pollution, drug abuse and so on. In addition to the hormonal, genetic and environmental factors, Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) have also critical roles in outbreak of acne by inducing inflammatory mediators. Increase of sebum production provides an ideal environment for P. acnes that induce inflammation on the skin by activation of monocytic cells and stimulation of inflammatory cytokines. In this study, natural extracts were investigated for anti-inflammatory effects against inflammatory acne by P. acnes infection in terms of reducing cytokine production. Eucalyptus globulus extracts effectively suppressed mRNA synthesis of inflammatory mediators such as $TNF-{\alpha}$, $IL-1{\beta}$, IL-2, and NLRP3 in P. acnes-activated macrophages. Moreover, Eucalyptus globulus extracts inhibit activation of transcription factors, $NF-{\kappa}B$ and NFAT, which are known as key regulators of inflammatory cytokine production. This study suggests the potential of using Eucalyptus globulus extracts as alternative agents for the treatment of acne.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.700-703
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• 2010

In this study, plant extracts including Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. and Phellodendron amurense were studied to test possible application for cosmetics and skin related medicine. Anti-oxidation effect of plant extracts was measured by DPPH free radical scavenging activity and it was insignificant at low concentration, however, it was as good as vitamin C, excellent anti-oxidation agent, at $1000{\mu}g/ml$. Anti-bacterial effect was tested by disc diffusion method, and plant extracts showed mild anti-bacterial effect for normal skin flora, Staphylococcus epidermidis while it indicated strong anti-bacterial effect for acne inducing Propionibacterium acne. Therefore it had powerful potential for anti-acne material because of selectivity. Anti-atopic dermatitis effect was tested by hairless mouse and plant extracts recovered damaged skin to near normal condition after 14 days of treatment. IgE concentration in treated mouse was decreased 16% compared with control. From the research, plant extracts indicated strong anti-acne and anti-atopic dermatitis effect, and showed strong potential for cosmetics and skin related medicine.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.19 no.7
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• pp.1397-1403
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• 2018

Today, modern people perceive skin care as part of their physical health care, and acne is a common skin disease problem that is found on the face. In this paper, an effective acne detection algorithm using CIE $L^*a^*b^*$ color space has been proposed. It is red when the pixel value of the component image $a^*$ is a positive number, so it is suitable for detecting acne in skin image. First, the skin image based on the RGB color space is subjected to light compensation through color balancing, and converted into a CIE $L^*a^*b^*$ color space. The extracted component image $a^*$ was normalized, and then the skin and acne area were estimated with the threshold values. Experimental results show that the proposed method detects acne more effectively than the conventional method based on brightness information, and the proposed method is robust against the reflected light source.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.220-229
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• 2020

Objectives: Although Acne vulgaris is a chronic skin disease, which its standard treatment causes therapeutic limitations and some common adverse effects, medicinal plants can be effective in treatment with low adverse effects as combination therapy. Myrtle (Myrtus Communis) has some beneficial properties, which has been administered topically and orally for some skin diseases in Persian medicine. This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of Myrtle formula and 1% clindamycin topical solution. Methods: This was a split-face clinical trial that was done on 55 patients with mild to moderate acne vulgaris for 16 weeks. The patients received topical Myrtle solution to the right side of the face (group 1) and clindamycin solution to the left side (group 2) twice daily for 12 weeks. All participants were examined for the acne severity index (ASI) and total acne lesions counting (TLC) at certain times during the study. Then, they stopped using them for four weeks. They also did not take the drug in the final four weeks of the study. Results: Forty-eight patients completed the study for 16 weeks; 40 (83.2%) patients were female and the rest of them were male. The mean age and standard deviation were 25.62 ± 7.62 years. After 12 weeks, the percentage changes of comedones, inflammatory lesions, ASI and TLC were significantly reduced in both groups (p < 0.001). The percentage change of inflammatory lesions and ASI decrease was significantly higher in the group 1 (p = 0.03). There was no significant difference in the incidence of side effects between the two groups. There was a more significant decrease in sebum percentage change in the group 1 (p = 0.003). Conclusion: Myrtle lotion was effective and safe for the treatment of mild to moderate acne vulgaris.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.32 no.3 s.58
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• pp.201-208
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• 2006

Propionibacterium acnes have been recognized as pus-forming bacteria triggering an inflammation in acne. The present study was conducted to evaluate antimicrobial activities of Dryopteris crassirhizoma Nakai against these etiologic agents of acne vulgaris and application possibility as a cosmetic resource. D. crassirhizoma crude extract and hexane fraction was prepared and its anti-acne effect against Propionibacterium acnes was investigated with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and paper disk diffusion method. The MIC of D. crassirhizoma crude extract and hexane fraction was 0.008 mg/mL and 0.001 mg/mL, respectively. This implies that D. crassirhizoma extract may be an efficient anti-acne ingredient for cosmetics, as a crude extract. The paper disk diffusion assay showed that its anti-acne effect was similar to that of triclosan. The cytotoxic effect of D. crassirhizoma extract was determined by a colorimetric MTT assay using HaCaT cell line and D. crassirhizoma extract exhibited lower cytotoxic effects. Finally, we examine the stability of D. crassirhizoma extract to temperature and pH. The D. crassirhizoma extract was very stable to high temperatures ($25{\sim}121^{\circ}C$) and to wide pH range ($pH\; 2{\sim}11$), suggesting its utilization for cosmetics.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.437-442
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• 2020

Activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome is critical for host defense as well as the progression of inflammatory diseases through the production of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1β, which is cleaved by active caspase-1. It has been reported that overactivation of the NLRP3 inflammasome contributes to the development and pathology of acne vulgaris. Therefore, inhibiting activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome may provide a new therapeutic strategy for acne vulgaris. In this study, we investigated whether auranofin, an anti-rheumatoid arthritis agent, inhibited NLRP3 inflammasome activation, thereby effectively treating acne vulgaris. Auranofin suppressed NLRP3 inflammasome activation induced by Propionibacterium acnes, reducing the production of IL-1β in primary mouse macrophages and human sebocytes. In a P. acnes-induced acne mouse model, injection of P. acnes into the ears of mice induced acne symptoms such as redness, swelling, and neutrophil infiltration. Topical application of auranofin (0.5 or 1%) to mouse ears significantly reduced the inflammatory symptoms of acne vulgaris induced by P. acnes injection. Topical application of auranofin led to the downregulation of the NLRP3 inflammasome activated by P. acnes in mouse ear skin. These results show that auranofin inhibits the NLRP3 inflammasome, the activation of which is associated with acne symptoms. The results further suggest that topical application of auranofin could be a new therapeutic strategy for treating acne vulgaris by targeting the NLRP3 inflammasome.