Thyme better than creams for acne

A SIMPLE tincture of thyme may provide a better treatment for acne than expensive creams.

More often used in food as a flavouring, the herb has a powerful antibiotic action that works better at killing microbes than competing products, research shows.

Researchers at Leeds Metropolitan University led by senior lecturer Dr Margarita Gomez-Escalada conducted a study of a range of anti-microbial preparations.

Based in the school of health and rehabilitation science, she and her collaborators tested the ability of a number of products to kill bacteria associated with acne, Propionibacterium acnes.

They tested tinctures of thyme, marigold and myrrh, and compared them to two creams containing benzoyl peroxide, the active ingredient in most anti-acne preparations, Dr Gomez-Escalada said.

In Dublin yesterday presenting her work at the Society for General Microbiology spring conference, she noted that “benzoyl peroxide has been proven in the literature to be very good for treating acne and is an alternative to the use of antibiotics”.

Dr Gomez-Escalada said she asked collaborator and herbalist Helen Compton what she would use to treat acne and she identified the three plants being tested.

Making the tinctures involves soaking thyme in alcohol and diluting it with water. Each tincture was tested on P acnes to measure their ability to kill it. “They all kind of worked but thyme was particularly effective. It was very, very good,” she said.

The thyme was pitted against the two creams and again won. “It seems that thyme has a very strong anti-bacterial activity.”

Dr Gomez-Escalada said the findings were important due to side-effects linked to benzoyl peroxide, including skin irritation. “Herbal preparations are less harsh on the skin due to their anti-inflammatory properties.”