Hi BeccaMarie... first of all, I hear you! Great skin during pregnancy, then postpartum breakouts. I had my first (and only) child almost 2 years ago and my skin hasn't been the same since. Never had acne before in my life but now I do. I am currently on my 2nd month of Accutane and while I'm noticing some improvement I worry that once I'm off the Accutane my skin will go crazy again due to hormones.

Have you looked into Spiro? I haven't been on it personally, but a lot of people have had success with their hormonal acne with Spiro. Do some research and talk to your derm.

Sorry to hear about your other postpartum complications too. Best of luck to you and take care!!! Hugs.

Can you take Accutane again? So sorry to hear that you are flaring up right now...takes away from the joy of having a new baby! I went through that too. Can you see a derm? Spiro helps me...doesn't solve the problem but helps. It works by blocking androgen receptors so it isn't technically a hormone and might work for you. I have a family history that prevents using birth control or HRT so I'm in the same boat. Wish I had more ideas but I'm still trying to figure this out myself.

Thanks for the responses. I asked about spiro, and my doc said that she didn't think I was a good candidate, but we'll discuss at my next appt.

And I ran into a lot of problems with accutane so I would be hesitant to use again, plus now with not being able to use bc (and being married and all) I don't think iPledge would let me by.

Oh, and no new-baby joy here. I had some complications during labor (that almost killed me) and my son did not survive delivery.

We are hoping to get the 'ok' to start trying in May, so maybe I just need to wait for pregnancy skin to kick-in....

I am so sorry to hear about your loss. What a terrible thing for you to endure! I can't even begin to imagine your sorrow! This is a time of grief. Your skin may be worse partially due to your grief. This kind of stress really messes with the hormones.

Getting ready to try again in May means you want to avoid all oral meds I imagine. Here is a regime my new derm has put me on that will most likely be my maintenance regime after doing oral meds. But you could try it or something similar. It addresses the issues of plugged up pores, inflammation, and bacteria. I think the way he put it is you have to address all three or you can't control acne.

He has me on tretinoin cream to restructure the pores, Panoxyl 4 cleanser to kill acne bacteria, and Cleocin-T to also kill acne bacteria. I'm not sure about the Cleocin-T...it is a topical antibiotic so I don't know if that would work for you or not. He has me doing monthly microdermabrasions which he says are key to maintaining open pores for people with resistant chronic acne. They help the topical meds penetrate the pores better.

I hope this helps. You need something to work in your favor right now!

I haven't been on this site in years, but I am back again looking for suggestions.

 

My background:

Acne issues started around 18

At 25ish I did a course of accutane that worked wonders until I had my first child. I had great skin during pregnancy and then postpartum the breakouts started. Birth control kept it well enough under control. I got pregnant again about a year ago, great skin during pregnancy.

 

I am now 4 months postpartum and my skin is awful. Blackheads, whiteheads and cysts. I had a postpartum PE (blood clots in my lungs) so I can't use birth control anymore, and due to other meds I am on, I can't take most antibiotics right now.

 

I am lost as to what I can do to get my skin under control... I just want to cry...

 

I understand how you feel. I had no acne prior to having children and now my skin is horrible. I have scheduled an appointment to see a derm today and hopefully get some relief.

Well if both of you got clear skin while pregnant I would assume it is the progesterone that cured your acne. Since you are having children I do not recommend Accutane (way too scary)! I would suggest the herb Vitex (aka Chasteberry). It is supposed to let your body naturally increase it's progesterone. Based on what I've read the only side effect is that it can tip your hormones in the wrong direction if you already have too much progesterone in your body, you'll know this is true if you get really emotional... but I haven't taken it. I was going to but it got lost in the mail, I think I'll have to pay for it again! Or you can just go to GNC/natural grocery store.