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Hi guys.
It happened.
Well. I should clarify, it's happening. And fast. And it's more painful than I ever thought it would be.
Resistance.
I noticed that there aren't many storys out there of long term antibiotic use. I mean longer than a couple of years. I've seen 2 years. I actually saw a comment of a seven year user, but I can't think of many that have gone on this long. Well here is one. I'm nearer 11 years.
I should explain. I'm a guy. I had bad acne age 14-17. It wasn't scarring, but it was all over. forehead was covered, chin, cheeks, the whole lot. People would have looked at me at the time and said it was moderate. It wasn't damaging, but I had no confidence and it hurt. I used to just be incredibly shy. I dealt with it in my own way. I showered twice a day, and used to cover my face in antiseptic cream, thinking it'd make a difference. The difference was barely noticeable.
Then, a routine trip to the doctors for some other illness and I was prescribed erythromycin in the form of Zineryt. I didn't expect it to work. But oh my god did it. From the first application, my acne started to clear. My clogged pores vanished, the bumps flattened out and within two weeks, my skin was baby soft. I had the best year of my life. Right before going to university.
However, in the first few weeks of uni, I noticed the topical wasn't destroying spots anymore. They'd stay after application, and then more appeared. I was distraught. I ran back to the doctor, who prescribed me Dalacin T. I couldn't go back to how things were. Not in my first year away from home, trying to make friends etc. Dalacin did nothing and the slide continued.
On my third trip to the doctors in about 8 weeks, I was prescribed mino. After 10 stable weeks, I was still sure it wasn't working. But looking back, I'm sure it was. Just not as effectively as the Zineryt had at first. I was getting 2-3 spots at a time, nothing major, or like how it used to be, but not as good as the zineryt. I could cope though. Over the next six months, it got better. I'd get maybe 1 or two spots a month. Normal skin.
I worried every day that went by, that it would end. I read horror storys on line, where people's acne came back worse. It was working well, just a few spots a month for about 18 months. After about 18 months I had a few more spots for a while, so I decided to start the regimen as well. I didn't realise that it could be beneficial in preventing resistance at the time. It was just a coincidence that I was starting up something that was beneficial. I did it because I wanted even clearer skin still.
I was still worried everyday. After another year or so, my skin was still good. It was stable. Just a few here and there, same as everyone else. No. It was better than others' because my spots would be gone in a day or so on account of the antibiotic.
As time went by, I'd collect my prescription again and again, thinking; just a bit longer, I'll grow out of it and then just stop needing all this. Just a bit longer.
From time to time I'd miscalculate how many tablets I had left and be short over a weekend, maybe miss three or four days. Every time, my skin would get a bit worse. three or four spots over the weekend, instead of the month. So I picked my prescription up again. Carried on.
The minocycline continued to keep my skin calm. No lumps or bumps. Just a few spots here and there. Nothing to worry about as the rest of my skin was so smooth. In secret, I'd sometimes put a bit of blemish concealer on the marks of dead spots to make my skin even more flawless.
I was confident. I could enjoy the feeling of sun on my face without being self concious. I could look people right in the eye and tell them what I thought.
This carried on through the next few years. I had scares. I was in Thailand on a long holiday and I was convinced the Mino was failing. I had a lot more of those small bumps on my forehead than usual, you know, the ones that are more like lumpy clogged pores but can't be squeezed. I don't think anyone but me would have noticed though, and a few weeks after returning, they faded away.
I finished Uni. Travelled and got a job. A public facing job, working on creating new business for an scientific company. I had the occasional blood test to make sure I was okay. Not annual, but every now and again.
By this time, I'd been using minocycline for 5 years. I was worried it was losing effectiveness as the 1 or 2 a month had become 1 or 2 every 10 days. No one would have noticed.
I carried on. The spots became more regular. 1 or 2 a week. But who cares about 1 or 2 a week. Especially when they're gone completely in a couple of days. And you can chuck a bit of sneaky concealer on that I mentioned earlier. It could have been the stress. Me being relaxed about touching my face. Anything really. Nothing to suggest it really was failing.
6th year, 7th year. More time passed. I tired of the endless morning and evening regimen, worrying about bleaching bedclothes at other people's houses etc. But it was working. Even if it did seem to be ageing my face. I'd rather have dry skin than full of spots I thought. I couldn't just stop what was working. Especially as it seemed that in the trials where I did stop.things got a little worse. I needed to just see out the phase of bad skin.
Around the 9th year, my prescription suddenly changed to Lymecycline, without consultation. The note at the chemist just said "better treatment". I assumed it must be almost the same as the Mino. So I started taking it. Things seemed fine. Six months later, I had a few more than usual, nothing to worry about. Then around Christmas this year, I really started to notice a change. More regularity. Few spots every 2 - 3 days. Sometimes small. Sometimes the odd bigger one. It was starting to concern me, but I thought it could be a blip.
January was slightly worse, but still people would have thought my face was clear. February, slightly worse again. It's a blip, it must be. I upped my regimen use and it helped a bit. March was slightly worse than the month before. April the same again.
It seemed to be escalating. We're almost at present day now.
Around about the beginning of May, I started to notice the skin around my temples was becoming uneven again. Like the non-spot filled skin when I was 17. All clogged pores and lumpy. I nuked it with bp. Hopefully if it was a resistant strain, that'd kill it.
My skin was red and peeled a little for a week or so, I couldn't really tell what was going on underneath.
When the skin finally recovered, the bumpiness remained, except now it had spread further down the side of my face.
I tried everything, washing delicately, a scrub to clean out the pores, eating a tonne more fruit for a few weeks, cutting dairy.
It became real. The Lymecycline was no longer working. The acne was resistant.
I booked an appointment with my GP. I tried to convey my anxiety but I don't think it got through. She just asked if I'd like to switch back to Mino. I did. I was desperate. 10 years with great skin and now returning to the crushing anxiety that acne causes, not being able to look people in the eye, putting off social events, having days where you don't want to leave the house. I'd been there before. I can't explain the anxiety of it. She also prescribed me with epiduo, a topical retinoid and bp. She couldn't see really what I was fussing about, only four or five spots and uneven skin. It wasn't the worst day, typically. I had seen how much it was advancing though, and it was really gathering pace.
I used the epiduo immediately. I'd always thought Roaccutane was a last resort if things ever got bad again. but I'd almost forgotten what it was like to have bad skin, so I thought things would never come to that. If I had any success from epiduo, it'd be a good sign that accutane could work if I needed it, I thought.
I tested out the epiduo, but my anxiety was through the roof. As soon as I applied it, the thought of months of building up a tolerance, praying that at the end it'd be worth it, but still being worried that I might lose control again was too much.I was borderline collapsing at work with anxiety. I started just walking round in a daze. Every time I tried to concentrate, I'd be distracted about the situation. I could feel my skin getting worse.
Present....
I've been on Mino for two weeks now and things continue to get worse. I have three to four active spots on my cheek under my eye. A few on the other side. Some under my nose. a couple on my forehead. A lot on my neck and a lot of red marks. The clogged pores and uneven tone is everywhere though. Even the skin that looks clear has minor inflammation around some pores, the kind of spots that are under the skin, waiting to arise. I'm already afraid to go outside in direct light and things are still getting worse. There's no telling how bad it could get. It's bad enough as it is.
May face is oilier than ever, I can literally see the outline of my face in a tissue after dabbing it and my face itches, probably new spots forming.
I'm seriously struggling to cope. I've had a cumulative 11 years of not having to worry. I know I should be grateful, but I don't know how to deal with it anymore. Especially as this time I'll be dealing with it at a time when everyone else has already found a way to deal with it or grown out of it. I have two to three new spots a day now. It's just starting to be noticeable at work. Acne has haunted me all these years and now it's returning. It's been my biggest fear.
I have another doctors appointment tomorrow to lay it all out, the anxiety, the worsening skin, my fears about what long term antibiotic use has done to my gut, to my liver.
The underlying problem has been there this whole time. Perhaps even exacerbated now by my poor gut flora and any potential liver issues, along with the state that years of BP has left my skin in. I feel like I've been an 11 year ticking time bomb. Antibiotics have been a mask and now I'm having to deal with the consequences of that mask slipping.
I've talked too long already, and I don't suppose anyone will read this, but I figure it's best to get this story out there in case somebody, somewhere, finds it of use, like I might have done. Acne is bad, really bad. But imagine if you thought it was gone. You thought you were over it. I can only think of it like post traumatic stress syndrome. I'm being dragged back to a really painful time in my life, when I'd finally learnedto stop worrying about it.
In the short term, wish me luck with mino. Maybe it'll work again, like it did over a year ago, pre lymecycline. I doubt it though. 100mg twice daily for two weeks has made no difference, in fact, it seems to be accelerating the decline.
Long term, I have no idea how this will pan out.
But I'll probably need you all to help me through.
Thanks for reading.
J, I'm sorry you're dealing with this 
Really try not to stress. Stress makes it so much worse, believe me. Try to find time to yourself, maybe go for a walk or do yoga or meditate, if you enjoy those activities. Find time to relax. That's my 2 cents.
Wishing you the best.
N
As hard as it may be for you to hear, you have to slowly ween off of all antibiotics. If you were to need them for a true medical emergency, you could very well find yourself in a troublesome situation. You are probably going to go through a rebound phase where your acne worsens tremendously. Use topicals, try to lower your stress, try to look at outside factors such as diet and such, etc.
My thoughts are with you
Hi, dakiramir, this is probably going to sound absolutely crazy to you, but have you ever tried not washing your face at all? Give "caveman regime" a look on google- you basically never touch or wash your face for weeks at a time. It's done wonders for my complexion and you can find a lot of stories online as well. And it really sounds like your body is just trying to heal itself from all the antibiotics. Also- if you eat sugar and caffeine that could also be a huge HUGE factor in messing up your body and making it break out so much. Quitting sugar and caffeine and other high glycemic foods has made a huge difference on my skin- much more than limiting dairy, or wheat, or any other food. I also hear a lot of success stories from taking probiotics, after people are on antibiotics for a long time (can't speak from personal experience on this one though) . Again, I know I may sound crazy, but please think about it. My heart goes out to you.
leelowe1,
When you say slowly ween off how slowly do you mean? I tried weening off of mino by taking one a day for at least 3 weeks, then one every other day for a few more weeks. My acne was slowly getting worse and worse. By the time I got down to taking it a few times a week I had the worse breakout of my life. I'm now back to taking two a day.
This is going to sound a little crazy, but have you tried taking something for your anxiety? It would help you with your stress level and remove it from the acne equation. It would make it easier to go about your day without worrying about a few spots, perhaps normalize your life regime. That would help reduce stress on you and stress on your skin.
Be careful with the way you are reducing your medication. The best way to ramp down is to ask your doctor or pharmacist you want to slowly get off the med. They can give you the same pill in sets of lower and lower dosages until your body can adjust. When you cut back by taking a pill every other day it can cause irregular spikes and lows in your system. This up and down can confuses and stresses out your body making a breakout worse.
Definitely get some probiotics! I've had the worst luck with my gut being messed up from antibiotics, and recently, a bad bout of salmonella. I strongly recommend Acidophilus. Not only is it great at helping your gut get back on track, it doesn't need to be refrigerated. Name brand or store brand it's all great.
Hi guys, Thanks for the replies. Ididn't see many as I was suffering quite a lot of anxiety, and reading about things was making things worse (tends to be how the internet works). Ithought I'd update on this as it's always frustrating to not find out what happened. I was referred to a dermatologist, primarily because of the anxiety that my declining skin was causing. The Minocycline was just starting to help but the dermatologist recommended accutane to try and break the cycle. I saw another dermatologist (supposedly one of the best in the UK, who confirmed this as the best way to go and both said how wonderful accutane is).Long story short, I had to stop the accutane after 4 months (I started on 20 mg for a month, then 40mg for two weeks, then 40-60 for the remaining 10 weeks or so).The accutane cleared my skin completely within a month. First few weeks were a little rough. I stopped however after shedding a lot of hair and experiencing terrible dry eyes on waking and throughout the day. The dermatologist told me it would go away after my course and wasn't too much to worry about, just use drops and gels.I'm now six weeks post my last pill. Everything was going quite well, side effects seemed to be easing, but in the last few days my eyes have become severely dry 24/7 once again. I've now had four days where my eyes and throat have been incredibly dry and no eye drops/warm compresses seem to help. I have to now pray that my eyes recover, but six weeks post is already a fair while, it's looking like a may be one of the unlucky ones amongst all the lucky ones. If everything recovers, I'll be back to let you all know. After all the issues in my original post, I'm not sure how I'llcope with permanent eye pain as a result, especially as the reason behind my acne anxiety was because I didn't want to face anyone with bad skin. Bad red and painful eyes for life will be much worse. I hope this post is of help to someone. (summary - My skin is clear but my eyes are very very worrying).
Hi. Nice to hear that accutane is helping u. I have severe acne and keliods for past 8yrs. I have taken antibiotics for 8 years.. And accutane thrice in between.. Accutane is not a cure for me. I'm 26 now. Still pimples on my face. Its embarrassing.. I have decided that I'm not going to take antibiotics anymore.. And accutane is dangerous... We are so young, and we are forced to take all these drugs.. Most of the people have a a clear skin and health.. Y are some people like us have to deal With acne? My dad had bad acne in his teens, but its cleared up later.. Many of my cousins have acne on face.. So there s no question whether acne is genetic.. It is!
Thanks Coolcrack. The jury is still out for me. If my eyes go back to normal, and my hair stops falling out,I'll be pleased with the course I suppose. I had quite a lot of redness and quite shiny skin on my course, along with the red and irritated eyes. That has all been slowly returning to normal over the past few weeks and I was starting to get hopeful that I'd be back to normal soon, but the eyes have been a setback. This is the thing I've learned(I can't change the way I reacted to my declining skin, I developed a complex from having it under control for so long and had a breakdown because I couldn't control it anymore and genuinely thought it was going to be the worst thing ever to happen to me) but clear skin is worth absolutely nothing without your health. Nothing at all.
On the genetic front, I completely agree. My dad had bad acne into his 20s when it calmed down, but he still suffered a bit into his 30s. By the time I came along, he didn't have to worry anymore and he's been able to be successful, confident and hasn't had to worry for years. In fact, he's in his late 50s now and barely remembers it. And that was without any cream or meds. We all see celebrities in magazines and on tv with perfect skin, when in truth, they're quite often suffering the same as the rest of us, it's just airbrushed out or extremely well covered, or maybe they're on low dose accutane or whatever. And from having years of clear skin, I know that from the other side, when you meet someone who has troublesome skin, it really is barely noticeable. Especially as we get older and more mature.And I'm not just saying that. It's seriously hard, and not advice that I was able to follow myself, but it's way better to try and accept your skin for what it is.
I actually sometimes wish there were more role models with acne, like airbrushing was less used and make-up was used less, that way, we'd all feel like it was a much more acceptable part of life. I actually saw a picture of a famous footballer recently, who I've seen in adverts for moisturisers and the like, the sort of guy who's skin looks absolutely perfect. The picture was of him socialising in his teens and you could see he had a bit of acne, not a lot, but it goes to show, even the people who have great skin now, might not always have done.
You are right.. People these days are sold lies about beautiful skin on TV and movies.. These is what's creating the pressure on normal people like us.. I'm now totally fed up with acne.. I have tried almost everything for acne.. Still pimples r on my face.. Some big.. Its hard.. Only hope is that.. In our religion, its mentioned: every disease has a cure! So just have to keep hoping... One thing I noticed is that, I have spend so much time and money looking for a cure for this acne... I wish I could have spend those time on a lot ofproductive things in life..
I have a doubt.. Its related to masturbation and acne.. Do u think there s any connection between these two?
I honestly don't know my friend. If I'm being honest, I think it's just something that will happen one way or another. I personally think that sometimes it can be made worse with all the trying different solutions and not knowing which one is right for your skin. I know it's not much help so far as advice, but when I was 16-17, I used to cover my face in antiseptic cream every night (I'd never heard of the regimen) and looking back, I'm fairly sure that it contributed to all of the closed commedonal acne I had, even though I think it helped the larger spots. Regarding the masturbation, I think if it had that much of an effect, you'd see a lot of male porn stars with bad facial acne, but I don't think you really do. I just think that between the ages of early teens and early 30s, there's a period in which the body changes. I'm 28 now and my beard is still developing so there's probably more going on under our skins than we realise, and for varying amounts of time for everyone. I know guys who could grow full beards between 18-20 whereas my face is still changing now.it just affects everyone differently. My two cents also, is that when I found something that completely cleared me, I became a total slave to it. Antibiotics every day and a 20 minute regimen morning and night for 8 years straight,no matter how late I was running. It was the reason that it had such an effect on me when it started to fail because it was out of my control.I'm 100% confident that in a few years, things will be better for you. Your friends at the moment recognise you for who you are despite the acne and don't expect any different. It's only us that judge ourselves for it. It really means very little to everyone else.
On 11/23/2015, 7:58:34, dakiramir said:Hi guys, Thanks for the replies. Ididn't see many as I was suffering quite a lot of anxiety, and reading about things was making things worse (tends to be how the internet works). Ithought I'd update on this as it's always frustrating to not find out what happened. I was referred to a dermatologist, primarily because of the anxiety that my declining skin was causing. The Minocycline was just starting to help but the dermatologist recommended accutane to try and break the cycle. I saw another dermatologist (supposedly one of the best in the UK, who confirmed this as the best way to go and both said how wonderful accutane is).Long story short, I had to stop the accutane after 4 months (I started on 20 mg for a month, then 40mg for two weeks, then 40-60 for the remaining 10 weeks or so).The accutane cleared my skin completely within a month. First few weeks were a little rough. I stopped however after shedding a lot of hair and experiencing terrible dry eyes on waking and throughout the day. The dermatologist told me it would go away after my course and wasn't too much to worry about, just use drops and gels.I'm now six weeks post my last pill. Everything was going quite well, side effects seemed to be easing, but in the last few days my eyes have become severely dry 24/7 once again. I've now had four days where my eyes and throat have been incredibly dry and no eye drops/warm compresses seem to help. I have to now pray that my eyes recover, but six weeks post is already a fair while, it's looking like a may be one of the unlucky ones amongst all the lucky ones. If everything recovers, I'll be back to let you all know. After all the issues in my original post, I'm not sure how I'llcope with permanent eye pain as a result, especially as the reason behind my acne anxiety was because I didn't want to face anyone with bad skin. Bad red and painful eyes for life will be much worse. I hope this post is of help to someone. (summary - My skin is clear but my eyes are very very worrying).
It seems you will always have something to worry about. Your eyes will clear up, this time of year is notorious for people to get dry eyes. I think you are just latching onto this as something else to be self conscious about. Nobody cares if you have red eyes. My eyes were dry for a year or so after I stopped the tane. Your body is just taking time to adjust and the weather isnt helping. Give it time.
Thanks for the reply Jones. The encouragement is very, very much appreciated.I think you're right. I also really hope that you're right about the eyes. Did yours gradually improve? Were they red much? Mine were feeling so much better and then did a 180 and I'm back to red eyes 24/7.
Dry eyes are very very common, even for people who don't take accutane. Mine were dry throughout the course and I got used to drops, then I slowly just kept forgetting to put the drops in after, then when I ran out of drops I didn't want to go buy anymore, and it just went away. Like a lot of things, if you don't focus on them they go away without you even realizing it. I would just talk with your doc, he is probably going to just tell you to use someone otc. Don't get hooked on drops that have other shit in them, your eyes can get dependent.