3 replies to this topic

[Flyer17]

Hey guys, so I've been on Doxycycline (200 mg a day) for about five months now and I've had some pretty good results with it. I've also been using Retin-A Micro .04% about two nights a week and while I don't think it's made things worse, I don't know if it did anything to really help in decreasing my acne. After months of use, I definitely still noticed itchiness/irritation on my forehead in the days after using Retin-A there, so I've stopped using it on my forehead. It may have also been irritating my cheeks because again after several months of use I notice a few small bumps, some itchy irritation, and redness, but the thing is other than that my cheek complexion is as nice as it's been in about a year (forehead complexion is okay, could be better).

I guess my big question is, as my doctor begins to taper me off of Doxycycline, what, if anything, should I be using to limit acne from coming back? I wish that the Retin-A micro would be a long-term solution now that everything else has settled down, but I'm not sure it's really doing anything and last year when I was using Atralin (a form of tretinoin) I saw little results and in fact I had acne as bad I've ever had it, even after three months of using it. I am also now using CeraVe moisturizer morning and night and I think that's working very well for me in conjunction with the Doxycycline.

Anyone else been in a similar situation?

What did or did not work for you as you came off of Doxycycline or other antibiotics?

Did you notice extra irritation from products like Retin-A while using Doxycycline?

What about stopping the Retin-A and switching to something like Dan's AHA+, like in place of my regular moisturizer two or three times a week and occasionally as a spot treatment, but other than that leaving my skin alone and letting it heal? This is my tentative plan as of right now.

Thank you for reading and for any advice that you can give!

[PaulH85]

The last course of Doxy I did was six months but I actually stretched it out about an extra five weeks when I tapered off. That wasn't something I'd done before and my acne would always come back twice as bad afterwards. In fact, the only time my acne turned cystic was when I finished a course of antibiotics. I read about the approach of tapering off in a thread similar to this and decided to give it a go when the time came. I'd stabilised my acne by the end of the course with the help of diet changes anyway so I can't be sure whether or not thing would have gone downhill regardless of whether I'd stopped dead or tapered off,but I'd like to think that doing so meant there was no shock of sudden changes to my system and my acne hasn't really come back since.

I use Isotretinoin gel as a topical and that's something I've continues post-Doxy. I haven't noticed any difference in the way my skin responds to it now that I'm off the antibiotics, be it a negative or a positive reaction. The role of the gel for me now is just maintenance really, should any spots appear. Always worth having something to hand. I carried on with my prescription for the gel because it makes a difference for me and has a purpose within my regimen. I didn't just want to stop using everything and end up with bad acne again. But it's totally your call as to whether you switch things around in your regimen and cut things out once you're done with the Doxy.

[Flyer17]

The last course of Doxy I did was six months but I actually stretched it out about an extra five weeks when I tapered off. That wasn't something I'd done before and my acne would always come back twice as bad afterwards. In fact, the only time my acne turned cystic was when I finished a course of antibiotics. I read about the approach of tapering off in a thread similar to this and decided to give it a go when the time came. I'd stabilised my acne by the end of the course with the help of diet changes anyway so I can't be sure whether or not thing would have gone downhill regardless of whether I'd stopped dead or tapered off,but I'd like to think that doing so meant there was no shock of sudden changes to my system and my acne hasn't really come back since.

I use Isotretinoin gel as a topical and that's something I've continues post-Doxy. I haven't noticed any difference in the way my skin responds to it now that I'm off the antibiotics, be it a negative or a positive reaction. The role of the gel for me now is just maintenance really, should any spots appear. Always worth having something to hand. I carried on with my prescription for the gel because it makes a difference for me and has a purpose within my regimen. I didn't just want to stop using everything and end up with bad acne again. But it's totally your call as to whether you switch things around in your regimen and cut things out once you're done with the Doxy.

I guess I'm most curious about your tapering process? And what diet changes did you make along the way?

I'll look into the topical isotretinoin, though I'd like to maintain systemically, as well.

Also how bad was your acne before starting antibiotics?

Thanks for your advice!

Edited by Flyer17, 03 June 2012 - 02:32 PM.

[PaulH85]

I totally made up my own rules when the time came to taper off. Prior to that, I knew nothing of it and my doctor had always told me it was fine to just finish antibiotics dead. I didn't know any different, just took their word for it for a long time. I guess I was so wrapped up in the overall condition of my skin that I couldn't see the obvious patterns.
Anyway, I had about a month's worth of pills left when I started tapering off. I reduced it to once every other day for a week, then once every two days, then once every three. Then I took what was left after that once every five or six days. That lot lot of pills lasted me about eight weeks in the end. Best I can tell, in terms of preventing things from going downhill once the medication was out of my system, it worked a treat.

From the age of thirteen, my acne was just mild. It was just the hormonal pimples one may experience as a teenager I suppose. I did several courses of various antibiotics and it seems to make my skin more resistant and then I ended up with persistent, moderate acne for about ten years. Then it was kind of hit and miss after that. I suppose it became mild but I have a real problem with compulsive skin picking so things always looked twice as bad as they perhaps should have. The only times my acne was cystic was when I stopped antibiotics dead.

Over that thirteen year period, I'd tried pretty much every topical and antibiotic I could get. I stumbled upon the idea of checking out the connection between my diet and my acne out of desperation I suppose. I took an intolerance test when I mentioned to my doctor that there was a pattern between what I was eating and the times I was breaking out. So I took the test and it led me to cut out boiled milk, cooked/melted cheese, and processed foods. I also reduced my intake of dairy in general, along with yeast, gluten and spicy foods. Turns out that these things were inflammatory to my system so removing those reduced the inflammation in my skin. After six months of the diet changes, I'm generally acne free. My only issues now are my skin picking and any visible damage I have going on is usually self-inflicted. I'm going through one such phase at the moment which isn't a particularly happy experience, but I suppose I can at least be happy I eventually found a way to stop the acne.