What birth control do you take? When I was 25 I started having horrible hormonal acne. I tried everything topical for a year or so. Nothing worked. Finally went to a new OB GYN. He took one look at my face and said you need ortho tri cyclen for your acne. This was like 13 yrs or so ago. Ortho tri cyclen had just been approved for acne. I started taking it and within a few months I was clear. And I didn't have to take antibiotics or anything. Now there is Yasmin which may be better than ortho tri cyclen. But I have heard some women say they can't take it for emotional reasons. I have seen Yasmin work though. My daughter who is 16 has a friend who has terrible acne starting in 6th grade. The kind that leaves scars. She even had it on her back. Yasmin cleared her about 95%. I think if they add spire she will clear completely. My daughter has another friend who ortho tri cyclen cleared completely. But I don't understand why your derm won't give you spiro. It is perfect for hormonal acne. I would go see another derm. You need to talk to green gables on here. She is the spiro expert.

Ive been taking ortho tri cyclen for about 14 years now.

im going back to my dr (not a derm, my own family doctor who has known me since i was very young) as he is the only one i am trusting to prescibe medications as he knows my complete past and history. im seeing him for a physical on wednesday and will ask about spiro again then.

the derms ive seen all just say to take antibiotics or accutane which i think is a bit silly considering sometimes my acne is mild-mostly though its persistent and the spots i do have are inflamed.

ive read alot of success stories of women with acne cysts on the regimen and it helped them so i have my fingers crossed. im also removing dairy for a month as a trial too.

if neither of these work and my dr advises against spiro then i will take a round of antibiotics while i start differin (apparently the first 3 months can be a bad breakout)

Ive been taking ortho tri cyclen for about 14 years now.

im going back to my dr (not a derm, my own family doctor who has known me since i was very young) as he is the only one i am trusting to prescibe medications as he knows my complete past and history. im seeing him for a physical on wednesday and will ask about spiro again then.

the derms ive seen all just say to take antibiotics or accutane which i think is a bit silly considering sometimes my acne is mild-mostly though its persistent and the spots i do have are inflamed.

ive read alot of success stories of women with acne cysts on the regimen and it helped them so i have my fingers crossed. im also removing dairy for a month as a trial too.

if neither of these work and my dr advises against spiro then i will take a round of antibiotics while i start differin (apparently the first 3 months can be a bad breakout)

 

Obviously I don't think any topicals are really the right choice for hormonal acne. The causes for hormonal acne are too deep for topicals to handle. But I will say that of all the topicals I've used in my life, the most successful was sulfur-sulfacetamide. I highly prefer that to any retinoid or BP.

is there a shelf/brand name for sulfur-sulfacetamide?

is there a shelf/brand name for sulfur-sulfacetamide?

 

It's prescription only, there are many brands though, Perrigo, Rosaderm, Clenia...

thanks. im going back to my dr for a physical on wed and im going to mention spiro once more. and antibiotics- i know they arent a solution but not sure how much more of this i can stand. its been such a long battle this year and all my acne is now inflamed (even tiny little spots are the red bumps that dont come to a head)

i've been under alot of work stress these past two weeks (which is when my skin's gotten bad) its also day 12 of the regimen so could be purging a little? and have been dealing with something very very sad so lots of tears.

i know stress is probably a large contributor as well.

I'm 28 years old, have had hormonal acne for the past year or so... Mine is as a result of pregnancy and miscarriage. After I had my daughter three years ago, my hormones never leveled out and after my recent miscarriage it took over 2 months just to get the pregnancy hormones out of my system. The OBGYN tried a lot of different hormone therapies including Premarin (DO NOT TAKE PREMARIN if you dont' absolutely have to). It makes acne so much worse, bloats you up, makes you feel crazy in the head. haha

Honestly, the derm put me on Ziana (Retin-A + antibiotic) and that made my skin worse, much worse but now 4 weeks later, it is starting to get much better.

I don't know if Ziana is right for you but its worth a shot. Ultimately leveling at your hormones and getting to the root cause is the best thing... but if you are like me and having a tough time of that, then a prescription might be what you need in the meantime. I say go for the differin.

I also use the Ziana a little differently. I am getting older and my skin is a lot drier and more sensitive than it used to be so for me... this is my regimen.

Morning

Wash my face with purpose, glytone cleanser or Neoclear (depends on what I feel like and use my Clarisonic brush!)

Paula's Choice 2% BHA exfoliant (this helps with the peeling, flaking, etc. that can occur)

Neutrogena Wrinkle Retinol SPF Moisturizer mixed with Philosophy Vitamin C powder (this really helps reduce the red marks left behind and helps heal pimples faster!)

Night

Wash my face with clarisonic brush and cleanser

Paula's Choice BHA 9 (its new and works really well!)

Ziana (30 minutes later)

Cerave Moisturizer with philosophy vitamin c powder (30 minutes later)

If my skin looks particular red or dry- I sandwich the Ziana in between moisturizer. Seems like a lot but its really easy and quick. I know by using all that moisturizer it may reduce the effectiveness of the Ziana a bit... but I think its more important to reduce the redness and not have parts of my face falling off at work!