Editorial policy

Our principles

Acne information affects people’s health, money and confidence, so we hold it to a high standard. Everything we publish should be accurate, sourced, honest about uncertainty, and written to help the reader — not to push a product.

• Evidence first. Claims about what works must trace to a guideline, regulator or peer-reviewed study.
• Say what we don’t know. Where evidence is weak or mixed, we say so.
• Right care for the right person. We flag clearly when someone should see a clinician in person.
• No invented people. Content is published under the AcneRid Editorial Team byline. We never create fake authors, reviewers, quotes or testimonials.

How we research and cite sources

We rely on sources in roughly this order of weight:

1. Clinical practice guidelines — especially the American Academy of Dermatology’s guidelines of care for the management of acne vulgaris (2024).
2. Regulators — FDA drug labeling, the over-the-counter acne drug monograph (M006), drug approvals, safety communications and recall notices.
3. Systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials, found through PubMed and dermatology journals.
4. Reputable public health and medical organizations — for example the AAD’s public pages, the National Institutes of Health (NIAMS, MedlinePlus) and the UK’s NHS.

Manufacturer materials are used only for product facts such as ingredients, strengths and availability — never as evidence that a product works. Every article lists its sources, with links, at the end of the page.

Medical review

Our goal is for every guide and tool to be reviewed by a licensed clinician with dermatology expertise — a board-certified dermatologist, or a dermatology physician assistant or nurse practitioner. A reviewer checks the page for medical accuracy, safety and balance, and we make any changes they require before marking it reviewed.

What you’ll see on each page:

• “Medically reviewed by [name], [credentials], on [date]” — a named, credentialed clinician has reviewed this version of the page. Where possible we link to a public profile or license lookup so you can verify them.
• “Medical review pending” — the page was researched and written by our editorial team from the cited sources but has not yet been reviewed by a clinician. We show this openly rather than implying a review that hasn’t happened.

Reviewers are paid a flat fee for their time. They don’t receive affiliate commissions and don’t choose which products appear on a page. If a page changes substantially after review, it goes back to “pending” until it is reviewed again.

Product recommendations and testing

We do not currently carry out hands-on product testing. When we mention or recommend products, we base it on:

• the active ingredient and strength on the Drug Facts label;
• the product’s regulatory status (for example, an FDA monograph acne drug, an FDA-approved switch product like adapalene 0.1%, or a cosmetic);
• published evidence for that active ingredient;
• practical factors such as formulation, irritation potential, fragrance, size and price; and
• for benzoyl peroxide products, publicly reported benzene findings and recalls.

We will never say we have tested, tried or used a product unless we actually have. If we start hands-on testing, we will publish our method, dates and photos, and explain the limits of what a small test can show. We don’t publish star ratings or scores, and we don’t publish customer reviews or testimonials.

Staying within FDA rules

• Our over-the-counter recommendations stay within the FDA’s acne monograph (M006): benzoyl peroxide 2.5–10%, salicylic acid 0.5–2%, sulfur 3–10%, and sulfur combined with resorcinol or resorcinol monoacetate. Adapalene 0.1% gel is described as what it is — a product approved for non-prescription use through a new drug application (an Rx-to-OTC switch), not a monograph drug.
• We don’t describe any product or service as a cure, and we don’t promise results.
• Prescription-only medicines, including isotretinoin, are covered for information only. Decisions about them belong with a prescriber.

Telehealth recommendations

Online dermatology services can be a convenient route to prescription acne care for adults. We only point adults (18 and over) toward them. We recommend in-person care instead for anyone under 18, anyone who is pregnant, breastfeeding or trying to conceive, and anyone with severe, nodular, cystic or scarring acne or signs of another condition. When we compare services, we use their published prices and terms and date our comparisons.

How our tools are built

Our tools run on hand-written rules and curated data kept under version control — not on AI generating answers in real time. Each rule or data point is linked to its source, data tools show when each entry was last checked, and the benzoyl peroxide benzene tracker is audited at least quarterly. The routing logic of the treatment quiz is designed to be conservative: when in doubt, it recommends seeing a clinician. Each tool shows its medical review status, just like our articles.

Use of AI tools

We may use AI writing and research tools to help draft, summarize sources or check our work. AI output is never published unchecked: every factual claim must be verified against the cited source by our editorial team, and AI is never used to invent reviews, testing, quotes, people or statistics. Accountability for everything we publish rests with us.

Updates and corrections

Each article shows when it was first published and when it was last meaningfully updated. We review our most-read pages regularly and update them when guidelines, FDA rules or product information change.

If we get something wrong, we fix it quickly and openly. Significant corrections are logged on our corrections page, which also explains how to report an error.

Independence and money

We may earn commissions through affiliate links, and in future through advertising. These never decide what we recommend: no company can pay for inclusion, placement or a better write-up, and we don’t let advertisers or affiliate partners review our content before publication. Pages with affiliate links carry a disclosure at the top, above the first link. Read our full affiliate disclosure.