How many days a pimple takes to go down depends on the severity of the pimple rash and the appropriateness of the medication. If the pimple rash is mild and only folliculitis papules or pustules appear, the treatment effect of improvement or elimination can be achieved in 2-3 days after topical application of clindamycin phosphate gel or fusidic acid ointment. If the acne is heavy, with surrounding redness, swelling, pain, and elevated skin temperature, oral minocycline hydrochloride capsules or roxithromycin capsules and topical application of the above mentioned medications, as well as the combined application of helium-neon laser local irradiation, will take at least about 7 days to achieve improvement or fading effect.