How to Treat Baby Acne

Video Transcript

"Hi! I'm Dr. David Hill and today we're going to be talking about how to treat baby acne. Now, when the baby is developing in mother's body, the baby is subject to all the hormones that are coursing around sustaining that pregnancy. We see a variety of hormone effects in new born babies, there's breast development, there maybe some genital development temporarily, and there is acne, just like in a teenager. Acne on babies looks just like teenage acne with small, blackhead lesions, some with whitehead lesions and sometimes even little pustular-looking red lesions. They usually occur on the face, but might also occur on the back or the chest. They can be difficult to distinguish from eczema but if they're blackheads and whiteheads present that's acne, not eczema. There's really very little to do for infant acne. There have been a couple of studies suggesting that a prescription anti-fungal medication called Ketoconazole is helpful, and some doctors prescribe Ketoconazole for the treatment of neo-natal acne. The good news is whatever you do, it is going to go away as the maternal hormones get processed by the baby's body and the hormone effects disappear overtime. I would not use any of the adult acne medicines, I wouldn't get StriVectin or any of the other over-the-counter products and there's really no reason to think that we need to use Retinols, Benzoil Peroxide or the other medications that we use on teenagers and adults for acne. Remember if it's a baby, this is a self-limited process and with a little time, it is going to go away. You might avoid putting creams or lotions on the face unless your doctor thinks your baby has eczema and would benefit from those. So, talking about treating infant acne, I'm Dr. David Hill."