22 hours ago, WittySock said:

I am by no means criticising any of the moderators here!
I am just getting the feeling that there is a pro-alternative health bias in the forums, and while I understand moderators are here to moderate and not be medical or health experts, inevitably other users will often (always?) assign more importance to what they say. And there seems to be a majority leaning in that direction?
It can feel quite lonely around here for someone in favour of science based medicine.

Mods are allowed to support any viewpoints they choose on here. If you're seeing any bias, it's purely coincidental, although I do think most of our team doessupport methods backed by scientific research and results (such as the Acne.Org Regimen, derm-prescribed medications, and zinc and Omega 3 supplementation). I myself tend to encourage people to do whatever works for them, whether it's alternative medicine, diet and lifestyle changes, vitamin therapy, Acne.Org Regimen and products, retinoids, antibiotics, birth control, Accutane, or any combination of these therapies. If someone discovers something else that clears up their acne (manuka honey, caveman regimen, apple cider vinegar, probiotics, oil-cleansing method, etc.), I'm happy for them!

I'm very much pro-science based medicine. Accutane is what finally resolved my acne for me and there's a lot to be said for proper clinical trials of treatments that have been reviewed by scientists and regulatory professionals. However there are a lot of people in the forums looking for alternative treatments for their own personal reasons and for some these therapies will help. There is some scientific rationale to why some natural remedies would work...for example honey, milk proteinsand many plant oils have extablishedantibacterial activity and so can be expected to help reduce the bioburden on the skin. Like DeLovely I am supportive of people trying anything they think might help...helping people recover/maintain emotional wellbeing is an important part of the acne experience.
To find out more about what is going on in the pharmaceutical/medical arena I suggest searching on Google Scholar for acne. You can get a regular email with links to news and scientific articles although often you can only read an abstract unless you have a subscription to the Medical Journal publishers. It takes a long time and a lot of money for a company to research, develop, trial and go through the regulatory process so there aren't a lot of new medicines in the pipeline but there are some!! Occasionally someone will start a thread about new things that are happening.

How each person wants to clear their acne is very personal. I am open-minded when it comes natural remedies and science based remedies. Unfortunately it seems I am very biased on the science based remedy since it has been the only thing that has worked for me in the past (Acne.org regimen, Antibiotics, Tretinoin, Birth control pills, etc.). I am a firm believer that every single person is different and that there are so many factors that go into having acne that it can't possibly be a one cure fits all kind of thing. A person needs to decide how to control their acne based on time, lifestyle and effort they want to put into it because I for sure know it can't be always that easy.

Thanks for the replies. I guess my point was more that as moderators, you have all been 'chosen' by someone to act on behalf of this site. Someone has effectively said 'I approve of this person and trust them to represent this website'. As soon as someone on the forum sees the red moderator badge they see someone in a position of responsibility on the site. That effectively makes all of you the public voices and representatives of acne.org, ,the 'number 1 acne resource'.
So when you have some (I'll change from all 🙂 ) moderators saying stuff like 'you should consult a naturopath', or 'accutane won't work for your type of acne', or 'your faith will help you' etc etc, those statements are from representatives of acne.org and therefore will be taken as endorsed by acne.org, because this person has been endorsed by acne.org. Therefore the statement or advice will be taken much more seriously and with greater weight than if it had come from someone else.
My concern is not that people have differing views, and I have no doubt that all the advice etc is sincerely offered. My concern is that there are representatives of this site (a site ok based on selling a product, but with a scientific, factual basis for those products, and for the articles on the site), who are promoting the very opposite, whist acting as agents of the site.