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J. Cosmet. Sci., 60, 25–29 (January/February 2009) 25 A rapid method to clinically assess the effect of an anti-acne formulation NEELAM MUIZZUDDIN, DANIEL H. MAES, and THOMAS MAMMONE, Estee Lauder Companies, Melville, NY 11747. Accepted for publication October 21, 2008. Synopsis Historically, clinical evaluation of acne treatment has been based on direct visual assessment and the counting of lesions over a period of several weeks of treatment. However, with advancing technology there has been ever-increasing speed in the effectiveness of these treatments. To successfully assess these faster treatments, acne pathology needs to be evaluated in a shorter time frame. The object of these studies was to develop techniques to evaluate individual acne lesions in a shorter time frame and to assess speedier treatment technologies. Ten healthy volunteers with acne lesions on their upper backs were recruited for the study. Two infl amed acne lesions were selected for each treatment, along with lesions to be left untreated, on each volunteer. Each lesion was marked, photographed, and visually graded. A skin surface microscope (Scopeman) was used to visualize size and to grade the lesions by two experts every day for fi ve days. The sites were treated once a day for the course of the study. There was a remarkable reduction in the size and erythema of acne lesions after treatment with the acne for- mulation as compared to the untreated and vehicle-treated lesions. Individual lesions, both treated and un- treated, appeared resolved in 14 days. This resolution can be noticeably accelerated by topical treatments. We have developed a simple and faster clinical method to evaluate the effects of topical anti-acne technology. INTRODUCTION Acne vulgaris is one of the most common skin diseases in human beings and affects up to 90% of adolescents and young adults at some point in life. One third of these individuals may require medical treatment due to the severity of the condition. A small percentage of these patients will be left with lifelong post-acne scars. These factors contribute to acne having a major impact on the quality of life and being a major socioeconomic problem. Acne vulgaris is a multifactorial disease that has at least four distinct pathological factors. These four factors are excessive sebum production, hyperproliferation of the follicular epithelium, bacterial infection, and localized infl ammation. Each of these components of the etiology of acne is not mutually exclusive of the others. One theory of acne suggests that these components are in fact sequentially dependent. The pathological process starts with the production of excessive sebum. Sebum lipids are a complex mixture of squalene, wax esters, and triglycerides. The triglycerides can be