Ok, I wanted to make a ziana/solodyn log because I did a lot of research on these drugs prior to beginning my antibiotic course and could not find much consumer information aside from a handful of emotional, premature, overdramatic reviews 
with a FEW helpful and honest reviews that gave me hope when I was feeling pretty down and out. Hopefully I can do the same for someone else
First let me start with a little backround info:
I NEVER had acne growing up. Somehow I escaped puberty untouched and managed to get through highschool with extremely minimal breakouts. Its ridiculous honestly, considering my eating habits were poor, i wore cheap drug store makeup, hardly drank water, forgot to wash my face often and yet i was still blissfully clear.
Well things started to change when I was around 18. After having gone one/off BC twice, breakouts slowly started creeping up on me. I had lots of small closed comodones and white heads on my face that would sometimes enlarge and inflame and just cause a mess. By the time I was 20 I was breaking out a few times a week, and seemed as though I would breakout again as soon as my skin started to calm down....Frustrating! After a year of trying many OTC treatments I finally broke down and went to the derm.
My skin:
My main problem is getting red, pus filled papules (?) on my cheeks/chin with some closed comodones on my forehead that rarely give me a problem. I would say my acne is moderate but persistant.
Treatment:
I was prescribed Solodyn for 3 months (65 mg- i am 5'7 120 lbs female) and Ziana. Because I visited my derm right before leaving on vacation to FL my derm had me start the Solodyn and wait until I returned home before I start the Ziana (to avoid problems with sun sensitivity) I started Solodyn June 29th and Ziana July 29th
So far:
When I was prescribed my antibiotics I asked the derm if I should expect things to get worse before they get better and she said not necessarily. She said that often times people will see the medication begin to work, then break out again and assume its not working. She said I would start to see results in 4-6 weeks.
week 1: Things seemed to be settling down the first week. I was still breaking out per usual, but they seemed to subside more quickly and look less red/angry
week 2: Broke out RIGHT as I got to FL which was super embarrassing because I was seeing my on again/ off again BF I had not seen in 4 months 
UGHHH. I was so frustrated I called my mom near tears. I had several active, red spots that I picked at out of desperation and anxiety. Yeah.... DON'T do that. Thankfully swimming in the ocean and getting a tan (with SPF thank you very much) helped calm things down a little
week 3: Less activity then week 2. Still had a few spots surfacing, but not nearly as bad as week 2. By week 3 I noticed the texture of my skin improving.
week 4: I am certainly seeing some results compared to a month ago. My face is much less red and bumpy. Now i just have some small clogged pores, 2 flat red spots on my left cheek and some hyperpigmentation. Im sure there will be some more spots coming to surface the next few weeks since I just began using the ziana but honestly it is almost a relief purging your skin. I stopped wearing makeup since I have a nice tan and don't want to further irritate my skin and render my progress
Products used:
Solodyn
Ziana
"Blue Cleanser" (bought at derms office- its like a cream cleanser)
Aztec Indian healing clay w/ ACV
AHA 12% (not sure if I will continue using this now that I am using the ziana)
Ocean Potion Face Potion SPF 45 (amazing)
Nivea Soft moisturizer (as needed)
Polysporin (for picked spots)
I am trying to keep my regime as simple as possible and keep picking to a minimum (a problem of mine when im stressed) I will continue to update this multiple times a week with my progress. Feel free to ask any questions!
had a few spots come to surface that i ummm.... extracted. i also picked at and inflamed a few tiny invisible closed comodones on my chin and one by my nose 
meh. they were nothing before i messed with them. i annoy myself beyond belief sometimes
anyways, im flying to germany tomorrow, so theres the source of the kinda anxiety that fuels my diesease (picking).
overall my skin is in pretty ok shape. i did my AIHC mask with ACV after my shower/picking spree which calmed down the inflammation.
i am kinda pissed at myself because i have been so good at not picking lately but oh well. im not going to let this small setback render my progress
anyway. im not wearing makeup to the airport tomorrow. i dont really give a f*ck anymore. i just want my skin to heal 
spent the last 24 hrs on planes and in airports UGH. i wore NO makeup and avoided mirrors alllll day, except for once in the plane bathroom where I realized that a bunch of PIH marks were flaky/hanging off my skin....attractive. but i don't care, im happy to see my dead skin cells shedding.
when i finally got to my dad's house in germany i took a shower and applied my AIHC mask. After i washed off the mask i noticed 2 spots on my left cheek. one i extracted, but probably damaged my skin a little by doing so... UGH. retinoids are the bomb but the one thing i CANT STAND is how delicate my skin becomes. the second spot i started to poke at, but i stopped myself before i did any real damage.
not much to say so far. my forehead is totally smooth and clear, but thats not really my problem area. my chin has a few small spots that i picked yesterday that are now healing but my cheeks....ugh. PIH central.
On the bright side when I was washing my face i noticed it felt really smooth and I did not feel any painful bumps like I use to, so thats good news.
So these next few weeks im really going to focus on NOT PICKING! if there is something that needs to be extracted, im gunna do it. I dont count that as picking- if i have a whitehead or mature comodone on my face it has to GO. My real problem is that sometimes I will look at my skin and not find anything substantial to "extract" so i start picking at the tiniest closed comodones and other things i cant even see unless my face is 1 inch away from the mirror... smh. I feel like im "improving" things when I pick, but I know im just causing more scaring and irritation, so that shall be my goal while im away from home. Kick the OCD picking habit.
Sorry bout the bad grammer and what not, im sooooo tired from traveling but felt like doing a quick update anyway.
thank you so much!
sometimes i look in the mirror and get bummed out by my PIH marks, but the truth is ziana is already working their magic on them! i lightly exfoliated my skin today and alot of the marks diminished/vanished plus PIH is better than having painful little knots under your skin, so im not complaining tooooo much 
today when I was outside in the bright sunlight wearing NO makeup my little sister asked "where did your spots go??" generally I don't like it when people draw attention to my skin, but that was one comment I appreciated.
anyway. i think the blackheads on my nose are trying to escape because they are much more visable these days. other than that there is not much to report. i leave for italy tomorrow and will be staying on an old school vineyard with no wifi so i wont be able to update for 10 days. we'll see where I stand when I get back!
Still in Italy but felt like doing a quick update from my itouch so bare w me if my grammer isn't perfect.
Hmm well. For the past week things have been going well. I think my skin is still purging because sometimes a little pinpoint closed comedone, namely on my cheek, will get inflamed. Thankfully even when I do get inflamation it isn't nearly as red or inflamed as it would get prior to solodyn. My dad said my skin looks much much better now then it did just a week ago, which is nice to hear, but yesterday I was in an anxious mood over my so called relationship, so I took it out on two tiny, hardly inflamed comodones on my left cheek and left myself with some scaring. When I say scaring I mean a superficial dark mark that will slowly flake away in a week or two. Nothing to get dramatic about, just irritating that I fcked ul my progress by picking them. And to top it off, this morning I woke up with a spot of inflammation under my right eye that will probably turn into a medium sized comodone. Grrr.
Other then that so far so good. I have been alot better at not picking, only extracting mature comodones which I know some of you think is bad, but because I have olive skin that scars even if I Leave a blemish untouched, extracting helps speed up the healing process. All the hyperpigmentation from last week has faded significantly but ofcourse been replaced my some new spots of hyperpig that I'm trying not to get myself upset over. My Mose doesnt look as splotchy as it did my last update which is great, and my skin feels really smooth which is great because I use to be prone to rough skin texture from having dozens of tiny closed comodones all over. I have been on ziana for two weeks now and really like it. I have extremely minimal peeling and dryness which is great because when I was on tretinoin .01 I had to practically bathe my skin in moistuizet which was totally counterproductive since excess moisturizer would break me out. Although the ziana makes spots appear or come to surface quickly it also helps them go away or mature to the point of extraction quickly too so that is really good.
Overall I am pleased w my progress and am hoping it continues to improve. Will update again on Monday!
Wow! Progress! I am happy to say I have NO active acne 
I am hoping the worst of the purging process is over. Right now all I am left with are some superficial PIH marks that the ziana is slowly flaking off. I am still resisting the urge to use ANY facial makeup, and while it can be embarrasing; I think that it has accelerated my progress.
That being said, I am starting school again next week and would like a tinted moisturizer on hand for the days I feel self concious. So, I think im going to pick up some samples of Clinique's moisture surge spf 20 tinted moisturizer when I get back to the States because it got good reviews on MUA. Hopefully I don't have a reaction to the Clinique tinted moisturizer. I am going to keep an eye on my skin and not introduce any new products to it for a while after I begin using it.
Also have made great strides in not picking. I still murder my mature comodones (which i have none of right now... 
) but when I do it is in a gentle way, not angry/stressed/trance like. And after I extract what needs to be extracted, I stop. I don't go looking for more little spots to pick like I use to.
EDIT: AH! something i forgot to mention. Remember how I said it looked like all the blackheads on my nose were trying to escape and that my nose looked blotchy a few days ago? Well I have about a dozen teeny tiny whiteheads on my nose right now, so i guess my nose is purging out the blackheads. I don't really mind because you can only see then if you are about an inch away from my face. My nose looks less dark now since the blackheads are surfacing/leaving. Woot!
Sitting at the airport. Been on the road for nearly 24 hours because my final flight got delayed 4 hours. Blehh
Skin is doing pretty good. No active acne except for a cluster of comodones/whiteheads on my right temple that appeared overnight. pretty sure its because i got really sweaty last night and woke up with damp clothes/hair/skin. gross. hopefully they go away without getting inflamed 
Heya! I was put on this regimen yesterday! I was also put on spironolactone so we'll see if these 3 will get me clear. I did a little research on the solodyn and have read some extremely negative reviews which makes me nervous, but I'm going to give it a go regardless. For the past 9 months I've been using duac gel and sodium sulfacetamide face wash. It worked SO well @ first but I just stopped seeing results and started seeing more breakouts, especially around my cycle. I'm following your progress, sending you good wishes and hoping I have the same luck! Thanks for documenting!
Heya! I was put on this regimen yesterday! I was also put on spironolactone so we'll see if these 3 will get me clear. I did a little research on the solodyn and have read some extremely negative reviews which makes me nervous, but I'm going to give it a go regardless. For the past 9 months I've been using duac gel and sodium sulfacetamide face wash. It worked SO well @ first but I just stopped seeing results and started seeing more breakouts, especially around my cycle. I'm following your progress, sending you good wishes and hoping I have the same luck! Thanks for documenting!
No problem! Im happy someone actually reads it, haha.
Solodyn has been a very positive experience for me. I am seriously 90% clear after 2 months. The Ziana seems to be working wonderfully as well. The blackheads on my nose are almost all gone, and my skin looks so glowy and clear compared to what it was. I actually feel HAPPY when i look in the mirror! It had been a few months since I had felt like that...I havent gotten a "real" breakout in a while *knocks on wood* but every few days a small comodone will get a little red and inflamed. Something that I woulda welcomed on my face compared to the slightly deep, red, pus filled ones I use to get. Other than that I have some tiny, pinpoint closed comodones scattered along the side of my hairline. Really minor, sweat related stuff. I live in a southern state. Nuff said. They appear/go away fast. The Ziana helps ALOT with that.
I REALLY reccomend you ask about Ziana if you have mild/moderate acne. It wont do much for cystic and nodular though. I am a big fan of retinoids in general and I think this is a great formula.
DON'T be dicouraged if you still break out the first 1.5 months of solodyn. I broke out for about 7 weeks, although they were much less red and inflammed (solodyn) All my purging has been worth the temporary suffering for sure. My pores look much cleaner.
Anyway, im kinda nervous to go off the Solodyn, but to my understanding as long as you are using a topical to decongest your skin while you are on it you will be okay, so make sure you're still treating your skin topically as well.
Only thing though, I noticed my gums have been feeling sensitive lately. Not sure if that has anything to do with the Solodyn?? :{
--MAKEUP BABBLE>>>FEEL FREE TO SKIP--
Hmmm what else. Oh yah! I finally tried that Clinique tinted moisture surge I mentioned earlier. I researched it for days, then bought it a week ago terrified of trying it. Well, it might be too soon to say, but I really liked it!! (and let it be own I am NOT easy to please when it comes to any form of facial makeup) Now, I diddnt apply it all analy with a foundation brush or mask like at all, I simply dotted a tiny bit on each cheek, my forehead, chin, and a tiny, tiny bit on my nose. Im not trying to cover EVERYTHING on my face, I am trying to let my skin breathe/heal but have a little something available to me on days I want to feel radiant. Thankfully the color matched my skin almost perfectly. (I had a friend over all day and I asked her multiple times in different lights if I looked makeupy and she said no, including when we were outside) The best part about it is that it is fragrance/oil free and has SPF 20, making it perfect for acne prone girls of retinoids like me. I wouldnt reccomend it to oily girls though since it is moisturising I will update on the product as well.
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Sorry this post is all over the place! I enjoyed some sparkling blackberry champagne in celebration of being stuck at home due to the hurricane Night!
skin still doing good. i find myself stressing over really small, insignificant spots i would have welcomed on my face 2 months ago. overall my skin definetly looks ALOT less congested. i still have a month of antibiotic left and lotsss of Ziana, so hopefully things keep going smoothly (pun intended)
i genuinely wonder why these two products get such poor reviews. but i want to share some of my personal tips on how to use about both ziana and solodyn, since they are often prescribed together
1. take the solodyn at the SAME TIME EVERY DAY. this is because solodyn is a time released medicine. if you take the drug at 8 pm one night and 11 am the next day there will be a 7 hour period in which you have too much of the antibiotic in your system, making you prone to all the aleged bad side effects people have been reporting
2. if you notice your skin is really red and irritated on ziana, skip a few nights until it feels better again. do not continue to put ziana on "sunburnt" feeling skin! i think this is a huge mistake most people make on their first retinoid. granted ziana is VERY mild and should not cause any major irritation, some peoples skin may be more sensitive then mine (which is also pretty sensitive btw)
3. the label on solodyn says to "avoid dairy for 1 hr before/after taking" for a reason. i wont give you a chemistry lesson, but to my understanding minocycline binds to lactose particles so if you take solodyn with milk, you are basically just flushing it out of your body. I usually avoid dairy for 1.5 hrs bef/aft just to be safe
4. heat can make antibiotics toxic, or in the case of ziana and solodyn, way less effective. so don't store your antibiotics in a hot car, or anywhere else exceding 90 degrees.
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Thats all I can think of for now. I wish I had more tips on Ziana but honestly it is so mild and effective its almost fool proof.
think im having a small breakout. please note that the word breakout doesnt mean what it did 8 weeks ago. but a breakout is still a breakout in my world 
... also have these tiny closed comodone looking things along my hair line. they are tiny and insignificant but im a perfectionist and want them gone. im wondering if the are perhaps sweat related?
lightly extracted some spots on my chin today as well. still doing better at not picking, but i have this blackhead on my cheek i have been dying to squeeze. i do applaud myself to not having done so yet. hopefully i have the will power to leave it alone.
something i like about ziana... some topical treatments i have tried like BP seemed to further irritate my skin. with ziana i like to load up my "problem spot" with the gel. it literally shrinks them overnight
i also wanted to say i never had redness or peeling on this. i was hesitant to go on another retinoid after my so-so (ETA: ok, bad...) experience with tretinoin .01%, but ziana is extremely gentle on the skin.
fck fck fck
was stressed out over "so called relationship" and relapsed back into my old ways of taking it out on my poor, innocent fragile skin.
SO pissed at myself. my skin looked so nice today/lately. On the (slightly) bright side i did not go at my whole face. only a few spots on my right cheek. UGHHHHHHH. still though. I dont know why the I do these things
ANYWAY. im not going to revert back into bad habits just because im stressed. im not im not in not.
Skins still doing good. That "pick mark" is already 90% faded and I have not picked since that day
No real active acne on my face. The only thing that is bothering me is the tiny comodones/whiteheads along my hairline which I mentioned earlier. I have noticed that my scalp has been oily since I started this regime (which i never had a problem with before) so I think that has alot to do with the hairline "acne"
Anyway, I bought some oil blotting sheets and those Clearasil pads with salycilic acid to wipe those areas down when they start feeling "slick". I have been doing this for 3 days and those problem areas are already subsiding.
Still using the Clinique Moisture Surge Tinted SPF. No breakouts! And I have SUPER reactive skin. I'll never forget trying the Palladio wet/dry foundation. Literally within hours I had small painful spots emerging on my cheek/chin.
Anyway, my follow up appointment with the derm is Thursday. I am thrilled with my progress! Hopefully things continue to improve once I discontinue the Solodyn (still have a month to go)
Derm appt was today. I hate how brief those damn things are! I drive for 30 minutes each way, sit there for 20 minutes just waiting, and for what? to talk to the Dr for 5 minutes tops?
Anyway. She said my acne looked "burned out" which is good, but she wants to keep me on solodyn for ANOTHER 3 months because she wants the topicals to do there thing while my skin is still being solodyn controlled. I am pretty happy about this tbh, because while its not a longterm soloution, solodyn is keeping my breakouts at bay while the Ziana decongests my skin.
I also got prescribed another topical, Duac, which is benzoyl peroxide/clindamycin and is suppose to prevent my skin from building a resistance to the clindamycin. I am suppose to use a small amount of Duac in the morning and Ziana at night. Im kinda nervous to add Duac to my regime, but I trust my derm (afterall, solodyn and ziana got horrible reviews yet seems to be working brilliantly for me)
So yes. Skin is definetly improving. Tomorrow I go back to work and will be wearing my Clinique Tint for several hours. I will also probably touch it up with some Meow Mineral to control oil (maybe the Duac will help with that? hmm. its odd but my skin has been much more oily since begining this regime) Hopefully my skin and the makeup play nice for 6 hour shifts.
toodles
Hey all! I was just started on the solodyn/ziana regimen so I think I'll keep a log of it here.
A little background on me: I have been battling acne since I was 13 years old (I am now 23). I have been on a whole slew of antibiotics- tetracycline, minocycline, doxyclycline, Bactrim.. And I was on accutane twice in high school. It worked absolute wonders both times, but the acne would return within a few months of coming off the accutane. After my second round of accutane, I was placed on Bactrim and aldactone, along with benzaclyn and differin topical gels. This cocktail gave me the absolute best skin of my life for about four years. I was weaned off the medication last summer. Then, around September, the acne started coming back. Large, cystic acne along my jawline and on my shoulders, and a forehead and cheeks covered in tiny, yeasty white bumps. After having been on antibiotics for the last ten years of my life, I was hesitant to go back on something. I tried olay's acne regimen, proactive, and then the Clinique three step process with no success. Then in January I broke down and went to my derm. He placed me on doxycycline and retin-a. I have been on both products since January and have had absolutely no improvement in my skin. My skin is now dry, flaking, and super sensitive with hyper pigmentation (I never had this problem before). A month ago, I went back to my derm for a check up. He told me to stick with the meds as he had high hopes for the retin-a. I wasn't so optimistic. I went to my GYNO to get a prescription for birth control, hoping I might get some relief with that, as my acne is largely hormonal. No luck. So yesterday I went to another derm for a second opinion. He placed me on solodyn and ziana. He said to expect a 20% improvement in month one, and and 80% improvement in month two of the course of treatment. So we'll see!
Sorry that was so drawn out, whew.
Anyway. So I started last night. I washed my face with Clinique liquid facial soap for oily skin and applied the ziana gel. This morning, my face definitely feels a bit cleaner, tighter, and more dry. It is a bit red, and I still have two large cysts on my cheek, hyper pigmentation from previous pimples on my cheeks, and lots of tiny white bumps on my cheeks and forehead. We'll see how this goes!
Hello guys!!! I'm soooo relieved to have found this blog and read it. I actually don't blog but this one was worth. A little of my history, I've had acne since I was 11, and have been dealing with it for quite a while. I tried everything under the sun for acne, I even tried accutane and it worked wonders then. But now, it's been almost a year and a half since I've stopped accutane and my face is horrible:(. So I went to see my dermatologist yesterday, she recommended that I start with Solodyn 80mg ( I'm 5'11 and weigh 164lbs ) and topical ziana. I was happy as I left the office knowing that I would be taking care of my acne.... But now I soooooo skeptical and afraid to start with the Solodyn based on the many bad reviews I've read. I'm talking about the enlarged liver, liver enzymes off the chart, hair loss, itching, teeth disolorations and more. I'm 22 yrs old and I really need your feedback in letting me know your personal experience especially the side effects you have experienced if any.... Please help me I need the support!!!!
Also, would you recommend to take multivitamins as well as a good probiotic while on these drugs????? Thank you in advance!!! I'll be waiting for your feedback patiently!