For $224, you can banish blemishes with the Zeno.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Zits... pimples... whiteheads... if one of these has marred a date, interview or photograph, you may want to read on.

An at-home acne treatment device that uses heat to zap zits has hit the market, and more than 10,000 devices have been sold to dermatologists, cosmetic surgeons and other doctors, the Houston Chronicle said Friday.

Since it won approval from the Food and Drug Administration for over-the-counter sales June 1, the manufacturer of the Zeno, Tyrell, Inc., expects to ship nearly 100,000 devices by the end of the year, the report said.

Zeno looks like a sleek, silver cell phone and sells for $225, with a $35 tip that needs replacing after 90 treatments, according to the newspaper. But analysts tell the newspaper that it's too early to tell whether the pricey machine will obtain "cult" status as the company predicts.

"I don't want to overblow it," Dr. Suzanne Bruce, a Houston dermatologist who conducted a clinical trial of Zeno, told the Chronicle. "It is not the miracle cure for acne. But it is useful for people who get those large red ones that come up every now and then, or for women who get them with their monthly cycles."

Bruce said she has already sold all 36 of the devices in her initial shipment and is close to selling out another.

Zeno uses a patented technology called ClearPoint to deliver controlled, low-level doses of heat to a pimple, killing the bacteria that causes it, the report said.

Creator Robert Conrad, who battled mild acne for years and wanted to invent a product for people like him, told the newspaper that clinical trials of Zeno conducted last year showed that 90 percent of pimples disappeared or faded within 24 hours of use.

"I got sick of all the creams and lotions out there and waking up with a dirty pillow and even bigger pimples," Conrad, Tyrell's chief operating officer, told the Chronicle. "It's exciting for me to see my baby getting out there."

The report cited American Academy of Dermatology statistics saying that nearly everyone has at least occasional outbreaks of acne between the ages of 12 and 17, and that by the midteens, an estimated 40 percent of people have acne severe enough to require medical treatment.

Moreover, the academy said that patients spend more than $100 million a year on non-prescription treatments alone.

Women, whose hormones fluctuate with monthly cycles and the build-up to menopause, often are pimple-prone as well, the ADA was cited as saying.

Tyrell is developing at least two other products using its platform ClearPoint technology, the report said, including one device that treats cold sores and another that takes care of fingernail fungus.

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