I’m a researcher, not a clinician, so where my information comes from is everything. Every clinical claim on TipsForAcne.com is traced to one of the sources below, and linked in the article so you can check it yourself.
Every clinical claim here is traced to
American Academy of Dermatology
US clinical guidelines of care for acne vulgaris, plus patient-facing guidance on treatments and skin care.
Cochrane Library
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses with formal certainty-of-evidence ratings, my go-to for “does this actually work?”
NICE (UK)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline on acne vulgaris management (NG198).
NIH: NIAMS
The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases: what acne is, causes, and treatment overview.
MedlinePlus
The NIH National Library of Medicine’s consumer health reference, including drug information for common acne ingredients.
U.S. FDA
Drug labeling, over-the-counter acne drug monographs, and safety communications (for example, on benzoyl peroxide and isotretinoin).
PubMed
The index of biomedical literature I use to find and link the underlying trials and reviews.
British Association of Dermatologists
UK dermatology guidance and patient information leaflets.
What I don’t count as evidence
- Brand marketing, product pages, or “clinically proven” claims without a published study behind them.
- Other blogs and content sites, including well-meaning ones.
- Social media posts, influencer routines, and before-and-after photos.
- Single small studies presented as settled science.
Not experts, but expert research
Nobody here is a dermatologist. No article on TipsForAcne.com has been reviewed by a clinician, and none claims to have been. The expertise on this site is in the sources, and in how carefully they are handled.
Said plainly rather than disguised. You won’t find a generic “medically reviewed by our expert team” badge here, because that badge is usually decoration. What you get instead is the expert material itself, handled with care: the guideline, the systematic review, the trial, the drug label, read at the source, quoted accurately, linked on the claim, with weak evidence labelled as weak. Expertise you can click on beats credentials you have to take on faith, and if something matters for your skin, take the source to a clinician who can apply it to you.
Every source link, checked monthly
Last check: . All 517 outside links in 110 published articles and pages were checked. 514 work. 3 had gone dead and were fixed (listed below).
Sources move and disappear: government agencies retire pages and publishers change addresses. When a source dies I don’t quietly delete it or leave a broken link. If the same document lives at a new address, the link is updated. If it is gone, the link points to the Internet Archive copy, and the article says so next to the link. Every change is logged here and on Corrections & Updates.
Fixed in the latest check
- October 3, 2026: a source on clinics.elsevier.es, cited in Forehead Acne: Causes, Hair Products, Hats, and What Helps, had moved. The links now go to the same document at its new address.
- October 3, 2026: a source on fda.gov, cited in Clascoterone (Winlevi) for Acne: How It Works and Trial Results, had been taken down. The links now go to the Internet Archive copy, labelled as archived on the page.
- October 3, 2026: a source on fda.gov, cited in 6 articles (Teen Acne Routine on a Budget: Cheap Drugstore Basics That Work; Simple Acne Routine: A 3-Step Morning and Night Plan; Salicylic Acid vs Benzoyl Peroxide: Which Is Better for Acne?; Salicylic Acid for Acne: How It Works and What the Evidence Says; Blackheads vs Whiteheads: Open vs Closed Comedones Explained; Benzoyl Peroxide for Acne: Strengths, Evidence and Benzene Facts), had been taken down. The links now go to the Internet Archive copy, labelled as archived on the page.
Check log
| Checked | Links | Working | Dead found | Fixed | Waiting for a hand check |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 4, 2026 | 517 | 514 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
The same numbers as data: /data/source-check.json (CC BY 4.0).
Spotted something I’ve got wrong?
If you can point to a guideline, trial or label that says otherwise, send it over and I’ll fix the article and log the change on the Corrections & Updates page. Get in touch.
Medical disclaimer: Content on TipsForAcne.com is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of a board-certified dermatologist or other qualified health provider with any questions about a medical condition.
Cite this page: TipsForAcne, “Our Sources & How Every Claim Is Checked”, tipsforacne.com/sources/ (updated ). Free to quote with attribution and a link to this page.