So I'm 18 weeks pregnant with hormonal acne from PCOS & had to stop spironolactone obviously (although this is truly the best medication for hormonal acne! I weighed 125 while on and was taking 100mg... ). Now I'm using benzoyl peroxide 2% along with proactive, as well as tea tree oil and it's not working! I still have horrible break-outs, mostly around my cheeks. Basically, what RX medications work best for women with hormonal acne that is also safe during pregnancy? I was thinking possibly an antibiotic. Thank you so much in advance!
Ugh that is hard. Topicals don't work well with hormonal acne and when you're pregnant it's even worse. This happened to me and I was using finacea and clindamycin and honestly it did nothing. The only thing that stopped the acne was taking Keflex, which is a Category B antibiotic. I know a lot of people aren't comfortable with that though. I will say it's good to baby your acne. Remember it has to heal into normal skin and not scar, so treat it gently - no harsh, alcohol based products etc. Good luck.
Hi There - I had horrible horomonal acne during pregnancy and breastfeeding. I just weaned my 14 month old this week and it is finally starting to clear up with the help of antibiotics and differin. I have a prescripition for Diane 35 but I am waiting a few months to see if by some miricle my hormone will settle down on their own. I just want to say I know how hard it is to feel so awful and frustrated about your skin, but not be able to do anything about it without having horrible anxiety, guilt and fear that it is affecting your baby. My Ob/GYN would not prescribe anything orally and the only thing she would give me (even when I was weaping in her office) was topical clyndamcyin in reversa (which I think is a Glycolic Acid based product). It did help initially because I have never used topical antibiotics before, but after a few months, was back where I started. I just kept telling myself that once the baby was born and weaned, I could continue my quest for clean skin. It is short term pain for the best long term gain ever - a healthy baby. I invested in a lot of make-up to get me through the days. I thought that I would stop breast feeding after a few months, but I managed to last, like I said 14 months, despite sometimes feeling like I couldn't even leave the house and sometimes hid from visitors because my skin was so bad (not to mention painful). Talk to you Dr. and see what they say. My only fear with taking antibiotics orally (or anything else for that matter) is that it may not be that effective and you will have passed the meds on to you baby for little or no gain.