The 2024 AAD acne guideline (Reynolds RV et al., Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology) reduced to its 23 statements, with the two GRADE ratings kept separate: how strong the panel’s recommendation is, and how certain the evidence behind it is. The recommendation-by-recommendation explainer walks through what each one means.
7 strong, 10 conditional, 1 conditional against
of 18 graded recommendations; 3 rest on high-certainty evidence, 11 on moderate, 4 on low. These are counts of the guideline’s numbered statements, not treatments: the 7 strong statements cover 14 named treatments in our treatment evidence dataset, because some statements cover a whole class, such as topical retinoids.
Quick facts
- What it is: The AAD 2024 acne guideline, one row per recommendation
- Records: 18 graded recommendations + 5 good practice statements
- Source: Reynolds RV et al., JAAD 2024 (PubMed 38300170)
- Formats: CSV, JSON
- License: CC BY 4.0 for our table; the guideline itself is the AAD’s
- Checked: September 24, 2026
All 23 statements
| No. | Recommendation | Type | Strength | Certainty of evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.2 | Benzoyl peroxide | Graded recommendation | Strong | Moderate |
| 1.3 | Topical retinoids | Graded recommendation | Strong | Moderate |
| 1.4 | Topical antibiotics | Graded recommendation | Strong | Moderate |
| 1.5 | Clascoterone | Graded recommendation | Conditional | High |
| 1.6 | Salicylic acid | Graded recommendation | Conditional | Low |
| 1.7 | Azelaic acid | Graded recommendation | Conditional | Moderate |
| 1.8 | Fixed-dose topical antibiotic + benzoyl peroxide | Graded recommendation | Strong | Moderate |
| 1.9 | Fixed-dose topical retinoid + antibiotic | Graded recommendation | Strong | Moderate |
| 1.10 | Fixed-dose topical retinoid + benzoyl peroxide | Graded recommendation | Strong | Moderate |
| 2.1 | Doxycycline (systemic) | Graded recommendation | Strong | Moderate |
| 2.2 | Minocycline (systemic) | Graded recommendation | Conditional | Moderate |
| 2.3 | Sarecycline (systemic) | Graded recommendation | Conditional | High |
| 2.4 | Doxycycline in preference to azithromycin | Graded recommendation | Conditional | Low |
| 3.1 | Combined oral contraceptive pills | Graded recommendation | Conditional | Moderate |
| 3.2 | Spironolactone | Graded recommendation | Conditional | Moderate |
| 4.2 | Traditional daily isotretinoin over intermittent dosing | Graded recommendation | Conditional | Low |
| 4.3 | Standard or lidose isotretinoin (equivalent options) | Graded recommendation | Conditional | High |
| 5.1 | Pneumatic broadband light added to adapalene 0.3% gel | Graded recommendation | Conditional against | Low |
| 1.1 | Multimodal topical therapy, combining mechanisms of action | Good practice statement | Ungraded | Not graded |
| 2.5 | Limiting the duration of systemic antibiotic use | Good practice statement | Ungraded | Not graded |
| 2.6 | Concomitant benzoyl peroxide with systemic antibiotics | Good practice statement | Ungraded | Not graded |
| 3.3 | Intralesional corticosteroid injection for individual lesions | Good practice statement | Ungraded | Not graded |
| 4.1 | Isotretinoin for severe acne The abstract says “strongly recommended”; the recommendation table says good practice statement. Why we follow the table | Good practice statement | Ungraded | Not graded |
Recommendation 4.1: the abstract and the table disagree
The guideline’s abstract says “Oral isotretinoin is strongly recommended for acne that is severe, causing psychosocial burden or scarring, or failing standard oral or topical therapy.” The guideline’s own recommendation table lists that statement, 4.1, as a good practice statement: no strength grade and no GRADE certainty. The AAD’s press release also lists it among the 5 good practice statements. This dataset follows the recommendation table. The graded isotretinoin recommendations are 4.2 (daily over intermittent dosing) and 4.3 (standard or lidose), both conditional. The 4.1 record carries this explanation in its source_note field, so it travels with the row.
How we built this
Each row is transcribed from the guideline’s own recommendation table, keeping the AAD’s numbering, its strength wording (strong or conditional) and its GRADE certainty (high, moderate, low, very low). Good practice statements are listed separately because the panel did not put them through formal grading. Nothing is paraphrased into a stronger or weaker claim than the guideline makes. Every count on this page is a count of numbered statements; the JSON file states this in counts and counting_note.
What this cannot tell you
The guideline is silent on several common questions (it makes no recommendation on diet beyond what is listed, and none on many over-the-counter actives); a topic missing from this table is not a recommendation against it. It is written for clinicians treating populations, not for choosing your own routine. General information, not medical advice.
Use this data
The facts in this table (what a guideline recommends, what a label says, what a study found) are not ours to own; repeat them anywhere. Our wording, table and layout are free to reuse, including commercially, under CC BY 4.0. Attribution with a link is all we ask.
Download CSV of the AAD 2024 Acne Guideline Recommendations dataset · Live JSON: /data/aad-2024-recommendations.json for the AAD 2024 Acne Guideline Recommendations dataset (stable URL, CORS open; the same records are embedded in this page as tfa-ds-aad-json) · JSON Schema for aad-2024-recommendations.json (field definitions) · All TipsForAcne datasets
Cite as: TipsForAcne, “AAD 2024 Acne Guideline Dataset: 18 Graded Recommendations and 5 Good Practice Statements”, tipsforacne.com/data/aad-2024-recommendations/ (checked 2026-09-24). General information, not medical advice.