Is Taking Isotretinoin (aka Accutane) for Acne Worth It? We Got the Answers
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POV: You have severe acne and have tried everything — every lifestyle and diet change and every over-the-counter (OTC) product on the planet — but it won’t fricken’ go away. Ugh.
What if we told you that there’s *another* option — a prescription called isotretinoin (formerly known as Accutane) that some experts refer to as a “cure” for acne?
No, r...
Sleep Away the Sniffles: The 7 Best Hypoallergenic Mattress Covers
We include products we think are useful for our readers. If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission. Here’s our process.
You’ve got allergies, which means you’ve got bottles of antihistamines, a collection of steroid nasal sprays, and humidifiers aplenty — but without a hypoallergenic mattress cover, you’re missin’ out on a key way to reduce your symptoms.
Ready to ditch the dust? We’ve got you ~covered~ (sorry, had to). We dug into the latest research, searched hig...
Realizing I Can't Do It All Made Me a Happier, Healthier Mom
I used to try to do everything my kids asked. Then I remembered that there's only one of me, I only have two hands, and that's okay. I don't have to do it all.
I'm washing dishes at the sink when two of my three kids ask for a refill on their snack. The words themselves are polite, but there's an urgency that's unique to children and the acquisition of food (their pleas imply if it doesn't appear in front of them rightthisverysecond they're going to spontaneously combust). At the same time, m...
How to Know if You Have an Infected Cut—And Ways to Treat It
Sometimes you have to pay attention to how you feel—not just how bad the cut looks.
Some cuts heal quickly while others take their sweet time—the location of the cut, how deep it is, what caused the injury, and how you treat the wound can all cause the healing process to take more or less time than usual.
A cut might not look pretty while it heals, but that doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong; as your skin recovers, it goes through a few stages involving different colors and textures ...
10 Psoriatic Arthritis Symptoms You Need to Know, According to Experts
The chronic disease often starts with psoriasis—but not always.
Most people think of psoriasis as a skin condition marked by red, flaky, scaly patches of skin, but many people don't know that there is often another side to psoriasis: arthritis.
About 30 percent of people with psoriasis end up with psoriatic arthritis, according to the National Psoriatic Arthritis Foundation. The inflammatory arthritis condition affects a person's joints, tendons, and ligaments. Psoriasis and psoriatic arthrit...
10 Uterine Fibroid Treatments to Consider, Including Fertility-Sparing Options
No symptoms? Doing nothing is an option too.
Even though uterine fibroids are extremely common, what to do about them isn't exactly straightforward. Many factors go into the decision to treat these benign muscle tissue growths, from when and how to try removing or shrinking them to whether they even need to be treated in the first place.
"We think about 50% of women have them, but about 50% of those women aren't symptomatic," says G. Thomas Ruiz, MD, ob-gyn lead at MemorialCare Orange Coast M...
What Is Ankylosing Spondylitis? Doctors Explain This Type of Arthritis
The condition can often look like run-of-the-mill back pain—but it shouldn't be ignored.
Up to 70% of adults around the world will suffer from back pain at some point in their lives, according to the World Health Organization. And while it's easy to brush off that constant ache in your posterior as just part of getting older, there could be a more serious explanation behind your pains.
Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a type of inflammatory arthritis which primarily affects your spine—and leads...
Rheumatoid Arthritis Rashes: 5 Types of Skin Irritations Associated With RA
It's not just a joint disease. Here's what to look for.
Many people equate rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with joint pain—and that makes sense, since this inflammatory disease attacks healthy tissue in the joints, leading to swelling and reduced mobility. But the systemic effects of RA aren't limited to the joints. Your skin may be susceptible too.
Skin rashes are more often associated with psoriatic arthritis, but people with RA can develop rashes as well. One type of rash, in particular, can pop...
'I Tried CGRP Inhibitors for My Chronic Migraines After Other Treatments Failed—Here's What Happened'
"After years of dealing with debilitating migraines, I tried something very new."
I was sitting in my neurologist's office, as my doctor and I reviewed the long list of things we'd already tried to treat my chronic migraine—supplements and hard-to-pronounce drugs, abortive and preventative medications, near-misses and flat-out failures. Now, she was suggesting one more treatment option—a final push to get my head pain under control: injections.
I was about two years into my migraine journey a...
11 Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment Options, Explained by Doctors
What to know about your choices after an RA diagnosis.
Getting a rheumatoid arthritis (RA) diagnosis can be overwhelming, but you don't have to panic. There are more treatments than ever to alleviate your symptoms, prevent worsening of your condition, and improve your quality of life.
Even better, your options span multiple categories of treatment, from medications and holistic remedies to physical therapy and surgery, meaning you can pick and choose with your doctor which treatments work bes...
What Are Uterine Fibroids—And What Can You Do If You Have Pain and Bleeding?
How to know if you have them and when to seek treatment.
Hearing that you have a growth in your uterus is understandably unsettling. Although uterine fibroids are usually benign, they can be problematic—causing pain or heavy menstrual bleeding, says the federal Office on Women's Health (OWH).
In the US, as many as 26 million people of childbearing age have uterine fibroids, says the US National Library of Medicine. More than half of these people experience symptoms.
What exactly are uterine f...
What Causes Nocturia? 13 Reasons You're Constantly Getting Up to Pee at Night
To break the cycle of middle-of-the-night bathroom visits, consider why it might be that you urgently need to pee
If you're waking up repeatedly in the middle of the night to urinate, one of the biggest questions on your mind is probably why? We can't change or improve health-related problems if we don't know what's causing them, so pinpointing the source of your late-night urges to use the bathroom—also known medically as nocturia—is an important first step to reducing all those night waking...
What Is a Cytokine Storm? Doctors Explain How Some COVID-19 Patients' Immune Systems Turn Deadly
The immune system is there to help us fight infection, but sometimes it wreaks more havoc than the disease itself.
The news cycle is heavily saturated with stress-inducing information about COVID-19, but one of the most worrying aspects so far has been the huge disparity in the way the novel coronavirus presents itself: Why do some people have no symptoms (or only mild ones), while others are so sick they require ventilation?
There isn’t a definitive answer, but many experts suspect our own i...
Is bloodletting still used today?
Removing specific amounts of blood in a medical setting can actually help patients with certain hereditary conditions
Maybe you’ve wandered the floors of an art gallery in the past, cringing at some of the medicinal practices depicted in paintings from the Medieval era: patients covered in leeches, drinking or eating questionable-looking substances, and being subjected to intentional head wounds or casual amputations. If so, you’ve likely also come across art showing the historical practice o...
How to stop a night cough with OTC medications and home remedies
If you’ve ever had a respiratory illness, you know this feeling: You lie down in bed, eager to catch some much-needed zzz’s, when suddenly you’re hacking away, tossing and turning, and watching your chance of getting a good night’s sleep fly out the window.
What’s worse, viral infections aren’t even the only reason for nighttime coughs. Everything from upper airway irritations and postnasal drip to acid reflux and other common health conditions can leave you coughing at night instead of snooz...