Until recently, sequential antibacterial therapy with topical and systemic agents was standard practice for treating severe acne. Most physicians and dermatologists did not consider antibacterial resistance to be a clinically relevant problem in this indication. However, data presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology [Washington DC, US; February 1996] clearly showed that antibacterial-resistantPropionibacterium acneshave emerged. The implications of this finding to clinical practice were discussed.