I registered just so I could share my experience so far. I am 35, and have had ups and downs with acne. I never really had skin issues as a teen, but when I hit my twenties, I had a constant problem with it. Over the years... after several babies, etc... my skin would swing back and forth. Sometimes I'd have a year of cystic acne, another year I'd have the usual bumps with periodic "perfect skin". It's been pretty obvious that my skin is extremely sensitive to hormone shifts Most people thought of me as having great skin, but *I* knew that wasn't the case... I just went into seclusion if I was having a bad month, heh. Anyhow, I had never sought any treatment since it seemed to come in waves (and I'd put it off, thinking it would get better)... but finally, after getting a LARGE cystic kind a few weeks ago after a couple of years of decent skin behind me, I finally decided I'd had enough. Like I said, I'm 35, and it's just ridiculous to be dealing with this... so I wanted to see if there was something that could be done.

I got a cortisone injection into that LARGE friend of mine, and the derm casually mentioned that he wanted me to try spironolactone after questioning me about my skin history. I thought "Uhm yeah, whatever, sure, I'll try it". To be quite honest, I was just thankful that I had gotten help for the gigantic bump on my face... I really didn't think he'd be prescribing me something in pill form. At the most, I figured he'd give me something topical... and of course, I've tried just about every topical thing under the sun (it helped, but never enough). I went home with a spironolactone prescription of 50mg once a day.

First week... I'm overjoyed that the enormous buddy on my face has flattened out and is totally gone. Yay for cortisone injections... I don't have to wait a month in agony for it to freakin' go away already. And oh... hmmm... lots of tiny little cosmetic types of bumps... but nothing that's your usual "Oh my gosh, hand me the concealer please" types of bumps. Second week... my skin has a total transformation, no joke. It's almost as if my pores are tiny now, and my skin has a completely different texture than it normally has. I started taking it a week before my monthly friend... usually, my skin would be totally gross right now... oil slick and with that "break out" sense about it. But no, I've finished my second week today, and all the little bumps under my skin that usually end up surfacing, are GONE. My skin is *smooth* and the oil has been cut back by at least 75%. I am really curious to see what the middle of the month brings... since my skin right now is 10 times better at the moment (during my monthly) than it's ever been in the "good" part of the month. Absolutely amazing. I plan on giving my derm a hug when I see him in a few weeks. I seriously have never seen my skin look and feel this nice in 22 years.

Just wondering for those on the Spiro treatment, what do you use topically on your face? Just a cleanser and moisturizer?

Just wondering for those on the Spiro treatment, what do you use topically on your face? Just a cleanser and moisturizer?

In the morning I only dip my face in warm water for approximately 60 seconds. (dip method) And I only just began using Paula's Choice BHA after the dip. So I don't know how that's working out yet. I think I'll use it every other day. My moisturizer is the Jergens tanning moisturizer... It doesn't appear to negatively affect my skin but probably wouldn't be suitable for everyone.

In the evening I wash my face with purpose to remove makeup, then use an AHA by Neostrata (there are more reasonably priced versions).

So far, this is working great for me... my red marks from before taking spiro have completely faded.

Oh, and I apply ROC night eye cream around my eyes both morning and night. I love that stuff.

Hope that helps.

hi i've got a derm app on 27th and was hoping to discuss roaccutane for my mild but pesistant acne on chin area but after reading some of this i think it sounds great i'm already on minocycline and yasmine just wanted to ask can the doctor give me spiro or does the derm have to keep prescribing (presuming they give me it that is) also how long can you take it i noticed some people say they've been on it 6yrs thanks for any advice or answers

Hi there just wondering, have read most of this thread, i only ever get acne on my chin and have just spent 9months on quite a high dose of accutane that didnt help, thing is my skin is not oily , if you look on an angle you can see about 50 of them all under the skin on my chin and one or two pop up each couple of days and it just keeps happening and happening, im gona ask my derm about spiro, but if my skins not oily will it still help do you think?

Also am wondering if this works it might be something im goin to be on for the rest of my life pretty much, is it hard to get when moving from one country to the next as i want to start travelling in a couple of years but wouldnt want to have to stop it? Thanks

Just an update! I started spiro around Dec. 22nd (50mg). It has totally made my face smooth as can be, it's amazing. I went for a follow up today and told the derm that I still had *very* mild spots on my back and chest, but that my face was totally clear, and has been for weeks now. He upped my doseage to 100mg and prescribed Ziana Gel (60gm) on top of that. He said the gel would help with any fine lines around my eyes (I'm 35), and prevent any breakouts on my back/chest. I am SO happy with the results I've seen... and can't wait to see any additional results from the Ziana.

Just an update! I started spiro around Dec. 22nd (50mg). It has totally made my face smooth as can be, it's amazing. I went for a follow up today and told the derm that I still had *very* mild spots on my back and chest, but that my face was totally clear, and has been for weeks now. He upped my doseage to 100mg and prescribed Ziana Gel (60gm) on top of that. He said the gel would help with any fine lines around my eyes (I'm 35), and prevent any breakouts on my back/chest. I am SO happy with the results I've seen... and can't wait to see any additional results from the Ziana.

Just an update! I started spiro around Dec. 22nd (50mg). It has totally made my face smooth as can be, it's amazing. I went for a follow up today and told the derm that I still had *very* mild spots on my back and chest, but that my face was totally clear, and has been for weeks now. He upped my doseage to 100mg and prescribed Ziana Gel (60gm) on top of that. He said the gel would help with any fine lines around my eyes (I'm 35), and prevent any breakouts on my back/chest. I am SO happy with the results I've seen... and can't wait to see any additional results from the Ziana.

Wow! I can't believe the spiro worked so quickly. Most docs say it will take 3-6 months! I just wanted to make sure you knew though-- Ziana is just Clindamycin + tretinoin (retin-a) gel mixed together. It's the tretinoin that can help with your fine lines & wrinkles, but I'm pretty sure you should not put it around your immediate eye area. I've never tried Ziana, but if it's like Tretinoin cream, it will most likely irritate the sensitive skin around your eyes if you put it there. I'd read the instruction pamphlet to be sure, and maybe talk to your doc if there's a discrepancy between the instructions and what he/she told you. Good luck!

ThatGirl13: I think your being too hard on Peachy. It sounds like she was just trying to help and did not want you to hurt your eye skin.

question about "hormonal acne". when you say you have hormonal acne and breakout along along your jawline, is sthat the ONLY place you break out on ???

I break out about a week before my period (if i do end up getting my period for that month--my body seems to like to skip periods every other month or so), but its not only on my jaw-chin area.

most of my acne are along the jawline, but also upper lip area(small whiteheads), very few on my cheecks, and lately ive been getting more on my forehead. is this still considered hormonal acne?

thanks!!

ThatGirl13: I think your being too hard on Peachy. It sounds like she was just trying to help and did not want you to hurt your eye skin.

Hi Ladies,

I just want to give you all an update......Back in November I went to my gyno to get my hormones tested for possible PCOS. The only symptoms I had were hair shedding (since going of BCP in June), treatment resistent acne, and some annoying chin hair. Well, all my tests came back normal...she did every test for PCOS. So, I went on 50mg of spiro and it took my body a while to adjust to it. It made me dizzy for a few days, but that went away. I took 50mg for about 6 weeks with very minor improvent. Just after the New Year I upped my dose to 75mg for two weeks. After I had a check up with my derm, she encouraged me to up the dose to 100mg. It's been a week or so now and I'm starting to see some clearing. Still not great, but no new major breakouts, just working on clearing some old ones. I'm quite hopeful! I see my derm again at the end of February and we'll see if she increases the dose again. Good luck to everyone!

Does anyone know if your weight has anything to do with how much spiro is prescribed? My daughter is 115 - 120 lbs. and takes 50 mgs. plus what's in her Yasmin. She is insanely thirsty and tired most of the time. She is afraid to increase it because of the side effects. I think a little bit more would help her more although she is so much better now. In your experience do the higher doses make the side effects worse or is she the only one with the extreme thirst problem?

Does anyone know if your weight has anything to do with how much spiro is prescribed? My daughter is 115 - 120 lbs. and takes 50 mgs. plus what's in her Yasmin. She is insanely thirsty and tired most of the time. She is afraid to increase it because of the side effects. I think a little bit more would help her more although she is so much better now. In your experience do the higher doses make the side effects worse or is she the only one with the extreme thirst problem?

I've been taking Spiro for just over 2 months. Started with 25 mg/day. I noticed an improvement first couple of days....thought I was imagining it.......Had a bit of a breakout after a week or two.......once that cleared up it's been smooth sailing.

and I only take 50 mg. and no BCP.

So, to the naysayers.........I'm happy to say you are wrong...........some of us respond quickly! yay

also, been using either Retin-A or Tazorac for over a decade........it never helped the chin acne that came every other month or so. But I have zero wrinkles and rarely got acne anywhere except the chin area.

I would be interested to find out how available Spiro is in the UK. After reading the posts on this site it seems that a large majority of you are from the US?

The NHS in UK is not renowned for spending too much on 'cosmetic' treatments - which I get the impression from my GP that acne is considered as here.

I have mild acne - 'cured' by Dianette - but I have a blood disorder which means I can no longer take it and the oiliness is returning, slowly but surely.

I have an appointment with a Dermatologist next week and may suggest trying Spiro.

Any comments on this greatly appreciated as I want to sort my skin out - sooooo annoying still having bad skin at 39!!

Cheersxx

ThatGirl13: I think your being too hard on Peachy. It sounds like she was just trying to help and did not want you to hurt your eye skin.

Really? I guess she was just being nice when she sent me this private message last night as well?...

Have fun being a miserable old crab. Consider yourself BLOCKED.

Hi, I wanted to add my experience with Spironolactone to the group. I will turn 37 next month and like most others have suffered from acne since my teens. I was diagnosed with PCOS in my 20th but have never done anything to actively treat it.

My acne was seemingly under control over the past 2 years with retin-a .04 when all of a sudden in Oct 06 I had this crazy breakout all over my chin. My Primary doc thought it was impetigo and treated it as such with bactroban and antibiotics with no impact. Finally after 2 weeks of no change they agreed to send me to a Derm. The Derm said it was just a bad breakout that got infected with staph. She put me on minocycline and gave me over 15 kenalog injections. I have had to go back twice more for the kenalog which help a lot but can be very damaging to the skin cells (I have residual scarring from all this).

Although the Derms suggested I try Accutane I knew from my research here that with my hormonal acne it was unlikely to help long term and did not want to go through the side effects just to have it all come back after. I read about Spiro and asked for that. My derm prescribed yasmin bc (started 1 month prior to starting spiro) and then spiro 50mg per day.

About 2 weeks into starting spiro I did have a bad breakout but I'm not sure if it was caused by spiro or being 1 month into taking the Yasmin, I have heard on initial breakouts on BCP. That was when I had my last shot of kenalog and I asked the Derm (again from research here) to up my dose to 100 mg (I had secretly started taking more anyway).

About 2-3 weeks later I simply stopped breaking out. I was surprised because I was expecting at least 3-4 months before this would happen, and frankly was very skeptical it would ever happen. But now that I am 2 months into my regimen, still taking 100mg, I have not broken out at all - at all! That has never ever happened to me before. Even when I had success with retin-a I still got tiny pustules almost every day; they just never really turned into angry pimples. I havenat even had the pustules.

As for side effects, when I started taking spiro and when I upped my dose I felt dizzy for about 2-3 days and was more tired. I went away each time. I probably pee more, but not noticeably so and I take mine at night before bed. I rarely wake up having o go to the bathroom, but I should probably disclose that I have always had an iron bladder. My skin is noticeably drier and I probably don't drink as much water as I should, so I definitely recommend drinking as much water as possible. I go for my second potassium test tomorrow, but am not anticipating a problem.

So all in all, so far this has been the wonder drug I have looked for all my life. I just hope it continues to be that way!

Do ob/gyn's prescribe spironolactone? I've got an appt next week to switch my bcp and was hoping I could get this too if needed.

Do ob/gyn's prescribe spironolactone? I've got an appt next week to switch my bcp and was hoping I could get this too if needed.

Contrary to convention. it is not always true that men cannot take this medicine. Its effect is to block the androgen hormones in the body.. So, if you think you are producing more androgen hormones why not try this medicine even if you're male..

It has side effect such as impotency but we can find solution for that, you're not totally impotent, it's just that you have less androgen, therefore, less agressive. Breast enlargement? Nope, my chest have been better when I've started taking this; it's more masculine.

I am a male and I have take this medicine for two months now with a dose of 200mg. The effect was good I have no more acne. I am starting to work with my scars. IT'S NOT FOR FEMALE ONLY.

I wanted to update on my last post (20th Jan)

I went to see the dermatologist - and he was about as useful as a chocolate fireguard! Said he woudn't prescribe Spiro - as it was too dangerous!? I tried my hardest but he wasn't gonna budge on it. He said just to wait and see - and .. wait for it..... when I am about 40 my skin may change ?!? Huh??! I felt llike banging my head on the wall!!

So until I can think of anything better have decided to self-medicate with Dianette although I shouldn't really take it at all. I started taking it again just two weeks ago and hey presto - the oiliness has just vanished! It proves that it works for me - and with immediate effect.

So doctors... waste of time - well in UK it appears so! Grrrr!!!!!

Right - that's all but I will keep reading these posts as it's interesting and there is no such thing as too much information.

I wanted to update on my last post (20th Jan)

 

I went to see the dermatologist - and he was about as useful as a chocolate fireguard! Said he woudn't prescribe Spiro - as it was too dangerous!? I tried my hardest but he wasn't gonna budge on it. He said just to wait and see - and .. wait for it..... when I am about 40 my skin may change ?!? Huh??! I felt llike banging my head on the wall!!

So until I can think of anything better have decided to self-medicate with Dianette although I shouldn't really take it at all. I started taking it again just two weeks ago and hey presto - the oiliness has just vanished! It proves that it works for me - and with immediate effect.

 

So doctors... waste of time - well in UK it appears so! Grrrr!!!!!

 

Right - that's all but I will keep reading these posts as it's interesting and there is no such thing as too much information.

Hi everyone. I spent an entire day reading ALL of the posts on this thread and I still have questions.

First off.. I started birth control at 16 (orthotricyclen for the most part). Never had a breakout, skin perfect for almost a decade. At 25 I was getting a divorce so I figured I didn't need the birth control anymore (and besides it gave me migraines). After 7 months of being off the birth control I suddenly had massive acne on mainly my forehead. My diet never changed, nor did my cleaning regimen, etc. I tried not taking the birth control for several months. I treated with topical crap from the derm. No help. So after almost a year, I decided to get back on birth control. It helped only a bit. The forehead acne never went away completely. I started on ortho tri and then switched to ortho lo. I was mostly clear for a month art one point and then it went to holy hell again and it has never went back to normal and it has now been months. Im almost 28 now. My face is super oily and I dont know why. The acne is not periodic, it happens 24 hours a day 7 days a week and there is always 10 to 20 spots on my forehead.

So I saw the derm.. she never said if it was hormonal acne or not. It is all on my forehead.. a tiny bit on my chest, shoulders, and nose. From what I read, forehead is not considered hormonal... but it is awfully oily. She prescribed 50 mg of spironolactone once a day and she gave me topical finesca? and differin.

I am 5'4" and I weigh 116 lbs. I react bad to antibiotics and I have bouts with depression.. so she figured this was the best route over accutane or antibiotics. The spiro makes me jittery for a bit and then tired by the end of the day. I have only been taking it 2 weeks. I am not happy about the topicals because it is making me redder and I am still very oily. In fact.. I am positive I look worse. Only thing I can say is that there are a lot of red marks on my forehead, many red lumps, but there are no whiteheads or anything pussy. My pores are huge as well.

Sooo... I am concerned from what I read that the 50 mg dose I take wont be strong enough but given my tiny frame I may not cope with higher doses. I only see one person or 2 pesrsons with success at 50 mg. Is this true that i need more?

Are these damn topicals helping or are they unnecessary and making things worse.. or is the spiro making things worse. Red marks, flaking, etc.

And why am I so damn red.. red marks everywhere but no pussy zits and I know I am worse, What do I do?

Is anyone here have the forehead acne or is it all chin and cheeks?

Alcohol. I know to watch potassium, but I read alcohol on the drug interactions. Does anyone here watch their alcohol intake? What about ibuproferin?

I have no appetite. I have to force myself to eat.

Anyone have success with just spiro and no topicals?

Anyone lose their sex drive? I am so fearful of that happening!!!

Will this oil stop with only 50 mg. I see some of you started on a low dose so i am wondering if it helped at all or if you had to up it before seeing any results

I see a few people that say the spiro worked for a bit, then it stopped. So I am wondering why that happened (if your dr or derm gave a reason) and if you had to up the dose and whether or not that helped.

I understand these things take time to work, but from all 28 pages I just read, the results are all too varying. My derm wont up my dose until she sees me 6 weeks from now but I am told 50mg is not effective and is too low. Also, my derm says 6 weeks and it starts to be effective, but from what I read here.. you all pretty much say it takes months.

I am getting married in May. My fiancA has been in England for a bit so I thank the stars he has not seen my face. If it doesn't heal, I may cancel the wedding. Sorry for the book, but I think I covered all questions anyone may ask. Help!!! Called my derm.. she said ask her these questions in 6 weeks grr!!!

forgot one thing.... my face is even more oily than before. I am not sure if it is because the topicals are making my face react and produce more oil or is the spiro is working backwards.. no clue. But I just showed and hour ago, put on the differin like I was told to do at night... and already I can see little wet spots coming out of my pores on my forehead