Acne is a problem that most teenagers go through with shame and ridicule. And to treat this problem, teenagers, with their parents, often resort to oral antibiotics - little do they know that that is just the start of another problem.

Taking oral antibiotics to treat acne is linked with symptoms of pharyngitis, or sore throat, according to studies done by David J. Margolis, MD, PhD, along with colleagues with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia,

Through their study, they found that 10 out of 15 students who were receiving oral antibiotics for acne reported an episode of sore throat in the past 30 days. On the other hand, 47 out of 130 students who were not receiving oral antibiotics, but had acne, reported an episode of sore throat in the previous month.

Under the longitudinal studies, the association between antibiotics taken to treat acne and sore throat were examined. It included 358 female and 218 male participants, of which, only 36 or 6.2% were receiving oral antibiotics for acne, while 96 or 16.6% received topical antibiotics for acne.

Under these studies, they discovered that the use of oral antibiotics was strongly associated with having sore throat, while those who were using a topical type of antibiotic had no cases of pharyngitis reported. The authors of the study added that those who are taking oral antibiotics have three times more odds in getting a sore throat than those not taking any at all.

These research findings are sure to raise some eye brows and at the same time, might convince others that taking oral antibiotics might not be too great an idea to get rid of a person's acne problem.

So how does a person go about in dealing with acne? According to Discovery Fit and Health, there are some easy steps that people can take to deal with the problem.

- Avoid touching the face, and if it cannot be avoided, wash the hands first before touching the face

- Washing the face twice a day effectively cleans out any grime and grease that builds up all over the face

- Taking a shower cleans up dead skin cells that might block your pores

- Sweating it out helps clear out the pores

- Consider changing make up brands if break outs happen after the use of cosmetics

- Try to manage stress levels because when the body is stressed, it produces more oil - oil that can lead to acne