I'm trying! It's hard when it had started out at one breakout around the chin and now it's my whole face with clogged pores. I have never had acne this bad and I feel like it just looks worse when I try to cover it up with makeup when I have all these bumps. My derm had me bumped up to 100 mg and I asked for an antibiotic but unfortunately my insurance doesn't cover much. Now she out for another week or two so I'm kind of stuck. I've tried the trentinoin topical cream which made it 10 times worse and now am using aczone which isn't really doing anything to help. My skins gotten less oily but now it just has this rough texture to it.
I'm trying! It's hard when it had started out at one breakout around the chin and now it's my whole face with clogged pores. I have never had acne this bad and I feel like it just looks worse when I try to cover it up with makeup when I have all these bumps. My derm had me bumped up to 100 mg and I asked for an antibiotic but unfortunately my insurance doesn't cover much. Now she out for another week or two so I'm kind of stuck. I've tried the trentinoin topical cream which made it 10 times worse and now am using aczone which isn't really doing anything to help. My skins gotten less oily but now it just has this rough texture to it.
I bet you are experiancing that from the topical. I know when I've tried topicals in the past, it always does that to me. I would keep things simple maybe. Cleanser. SPF, moisturizer. And maybe just spot treat the blemishes you currently have. Can you see an esthetician to remove the clogged pores?
I'm trying! It's hard when it had started out at one breakout around the chin and now it's my whole face with clogged pores. I have never had acne this bad and I feel like it just looks worse when I try to cover it up with makeup when I have all these bumps. My derm had me bumped up to 100 mg and I asked for an antibiotic but unfortunately my insurance doesn't cover much. Now she out for another week or two so I'm kind of stuck. I've tried the trentinoin topical cream which made it 10 times worse and now am using aczone which isn't really doing anything to help. My skins gotten less oily but now it just has this rough texture to it.
I initially started off at 50 mg/day, then 75mg and when I upped it to 100 mg/day, that's when I started to notice a real difference. If your derm has just increased your dose to 100 mg/day, give it time for your body to adjust. You can't adjust hormones overnight (as much as that would be nice). I didn't need to take any antibiotics and you may want to hold off on that for now. I'm not sure how effective spiro and antibiotics are in combination but I'd be concerned about the toll on your body and liver.
I would avoid using any trentinoin or Retin A creams for now. I'm not familiar with aczone but chances are it has a drying effect on your skin. When I used Metro Gel (before spiro) it made my skin look rougher and my acne looked more pronounced. If at all possible, avoid wearing makeup so that your skin can breathe. Trust me, I know how hard this is, especially when you want to cover your acne. But I think not wearing makeup will help your skin heal faster. I've found less is more with skin care helped my skin to heal. Use a good sunscreen too; this will help the hyper pigmentation to heal better.
I use Cerave hydrating cleanser, Paula's Choice 2% BHA lotion (only on the trouble spots), Cerave lotion and Vichy sunscreen during the day. Paula's Choice BHA lotion is helping with my blackheads so this might work on the clogged pores.
Check in with your derm when she's back and give the higher dose some time to work. Try and stay positive because stress will definitely make things worse.
I am on it ( 100 mg) over 6 weeks now. I did not experience a horrible IB, but some weird things happened to my skin. Never used to have whiteheads besides the cysts, only tons of blackheads on my nose and lots of closed comedones that were tiny bumps and irregularites on my face. While BPO always helped great with the Cysts and pimples, it never helped the comedones. Now that I want to switch to spiro because I still suffer from extreme oiliness of my skin and I just feel that after over 20 years of BP my skin is kind of fed up. ( my bleached clothes as well ). Anyway, after 3 weeks on spiro my nose went crazy. Many of the blackheads formed into little zits and whiteheads. That was weird and my nose looked terrible. The BP did not really help with it. Well that lasted for about a week, and now... The blackheads have disappeared. All of them. My nose actually does not look too great because I have all those little huge pores on it where the blackheads used to sit, but I hope this will get better with time. Last week my forehead and cheeks were starting to do the same thing with the closed comedones. I bought some Paulas Choice 2% gel and put it on in the morning, an that seems to help great. My skin is by far more dry than it used to be. I feel that something is happening, so I just wait where this leads to. I tried to stay off BP for 3 days but started to break out, so definately my skin is not yet ready
Spiro was a miracle for me.. I have a before and after (1 and a half year) picture here. But my mother just can't understand that i have a health problem. My hormone levels are fine but i seem to be too sensitive to them. So she kept saying that i am stupid to take a hypertension pill for acne, that this is for women with pcos, that my skin is fine, that i will get cancer, i am destroying my kidneys, ovaries etc.. So i decided to go off it. At first it was fine (i don't know if the swimming pool had something to do with that) but gradually i started breaking out again. At first only after eating dairy and know even through i eat basically only salads i continue to break out. Today i started spiro again, 100 mg. She doesn't know but sooner or later she will find out. I can't stand her nagging again and don't know what to do. She can't realise that i can't let acne destroy the best years of my life..
Spiro was a miracle for me.. I have a before and after (1 and a half year) picture here. But my mother just can't understand that i have a health problem. My hormone levels are fine but i seem to be too sensitive to them. So she kept saying that i am stupid to take a hypertension pill for acne, that this is for women with pcos, that my skin is fine, that i will get cancer, i am destroying my kidneys, ovaries etc.. So i decided to go off it. At first it was fine (i don't know if the swimming pool had something to do with that) but gradually i started breaking out again. At first only after eating dairy and know even through i eat basically only salads i continue to break out. Today i started spiro again, 100 mg. She doesn't know but sooner or later she will find out. I can't stand her nagging again and don't know what to do. She can't realise that i can't let acne destroy the best years of my life..
Some points you may want to make to her, if she listens to logic at all.
- There are several clinical studies where spironolactone is specifically used for female acne. It is actually used more for acne now than for hypertension (it is really too weak for hypertension compared to new drugs.)
- One of the reasons spironolactone is used so often in PCOS is because of the ACNE present in PCOS because of elevated androgens
- Spironolactone ONLY helps your acne IF elevated androgens or androgen sensitivity is your root issue. Since it cleared you up, it means you have an androgen issue, which means you have a hormonal issue.
- You can have hormonal issues without having PCOS.
- There is no definitive test for PCOS (sometimes you can have PCOS without the main thing they test for in the ovary ultrasound). Who's to say you don't have PCOS? Many acne sufferers find out later in life they had PCOS all along.
- It is has been tested in an eight year clinical trial for women with acne to have no serious long-term side effects. It really is a MILD drug, it will not destroy your kidneys, it will not give you cancer.
- Clinical studies have found more danger in birth control pills and Accutane than spironolactone.
I hate to say this, and maybe she is just misinformed about the drug and worried about your health, but does she present any signs of jealousy at all? Unfortunately, sometimes mothers have a hard time seeing a younger version of themselves looking better than they do. (See this article: No Longer the Nubile One, written from a mother's perspective). She may subconsciously feel better about herself when you have acne and don't look quite so good. Sad, but often true with parents. My mother is still that way about my weight (she'll get a little too gleeful when I visit if I've gained a couple of pounds).
Green Gables thank you very much for the tips. She is generally negative to drugs and afraid of the side effects ( for example she has to take statins and continuously asks if they cause alzheimer) plus she never really had acne at young age. Only an infection from cosmetics at her 30's when she was already married with children. Now she gets a few pimples if she eats chocolate. So she can't understand what ut is to have acne and acne red marks at your early 20's... I don't think she is jealous. If i was her, i would be jealous of my younger sisters, they're really beautiful and look like her much more than i do. I feel like a walking catastrophe. It's not only acne but several other health issues. For me acne is the top of the iceberg. And since the top is the more visible one, i can't have this and all the others. I just want this resolved to gain the self-esteem i need to cope with the other problems.
Has anyone else experienced flaky, dry skin patches on your face when using sprionolactone. It's not really that bad....but when I apply my make up it looks so noticeable! Wondering if this is from the sprionolactone or my cleanser.
What I've noticed is that spiro has made me less oily but not noticeably dry.
Are you using a cleanser meant for acne or any of the Rx acne creams? If so, it's probably the culprit for the dryness. Switch to a gentler cleanser and a good moisturizer and hopefully that will help the dryness. (I love CeraVe but it varies with each person)
Has anyone else experienced flaky, dry skin patches on your face when using sprionolactone. It's not really that bad....but when I apply my make up it looks so noticeable! Wondering if this is from the sprionolactone or my cleanser.
My skin was less oily but still it was oily after almost 2 years.. i believe your cleanser is dehydrating your skin.
Has anyone else experienced flaky, dry skin patches on your face when using sprionolactone. It's not really that bad....but when I apply my make up it looks so noticeable! Wondering if this is from the sprionolactone or my cleanser.
What I've noticed is that spiro has made me less oily but not noticeably dry.
Are you using a cleanser meant for acne or any of the Rx acne creams? If so, it's probably the culprit for the dryness. Switch to a gentler cleanser and a good moisturizer and hopefully that will help the dryness. (I love CeraVe but it varies with each person)
I'm just using the Benev Crystal cleanser. It's not suppose to be drying! It's not medicated or anything! But I think that's what is causing the dryness! No topicals yet. I'm waiting for the acne to clear like Green Gables did. What cleanser do sprionolactone users use?
Has anyone else experienced flaky, dry skin patches on your face when using sprionolactone. It's not really that bad....but when I apply my make up it looks so noticeable! Wondering if this is from the sprionolactone or my cleanser.
What I've noticed is that spiro has made me less oily but not noticeably dry.
I'm just using the Benev Crystal cleanser. It's not suppose to be drying! It's not medicated or anything! But I think that's what is causing the dryness! No topicals yet. I'm waiting for the acne to clear like Green Gables did. What cleanser do sprionolactone users use?
Oh! Just saw that you recommended the Cerave one. I'm going to try that!
Has anyone else experienced flaky, dry skin patches on your face when using sprionolactone. It's not really that bad....but when I apply my make up it looks so noticeable! Wondering if this is from the sprionolactone or my cleanser.
What I've noticed is that spiro has made me less oily but not noticeably dry.
I'm just using the Benev Crystal cleanser. It's not suppose to be drying! It's not medicated or anything! But I think that's what is causing the dryness! No topicals yet. I'm waiting for the acne to clear like Green Gables did. What cleanser do sprionolactone users use?
>
Has anyone else experienced flaky, dry skin patches on your face when using sprionolactone. It's not really that bad....but when I apply my make up it looks so noticeable! Wondering if this is from the sprionolactone or my cleanser.
What I've noticed is that spiro has made me less oily but not noticeably dry.
I'm just using the Benev Crystal cleanser. It's not suppose to be drying! It's not medicated or anything! But I think that's what is causing the dryness! No topicals yet. I'm waiting for the acne to clear like Green Gables did. What cleanser do sprionolactone users use?
Oh! Just saw that you recommended the Cerave one. I'm going to try that!
Yes, I use the CeraVe hydrating cleanser and lotion and I love it. It's gentle and doesn't dry out my skin. I've tried Cetaphil and that made me break out. Go figure. I would avoid any heavy creams until your skin improves. I tried the CeraVe moisture cream and that gave me cystic acne!
Also, I avoid using any toners while my acne was healing. Less is more here.
I took a look at the Benev Crystal cleanser and apparently the 2nd ingredient is ammonium lauryl sulfate which can be very drying. Hope the CeraVe works for you.
Has anyone else experienced flaky, dry skin patches on your face when using sprionolactone. It's not really that bad....but when I apply my make up it looks so noticeable! Wondering if this is from the sprionolactone or my cleanser.
What I've noticed is that spiro has made me less oily but not noticeably dry.
I'm just using the Benev Crystal cleanser. It's not suppose to be drying! It's not medicated or anything! But I think that's what is causing the dryness! No topicals yet. I'm waiting for the acne to clear like Green Gables did. What cleanser do sprionolactone users use?
>
Has anyone else experienced flaky, dry skin patches on your face when using sprionolactone. It's not really that bad....but when I apply my make up it looks so noticeable! Wondering if this is from the sprionolactone or my cleanser.
What I've noticed is that spiro has made me less oily but not noticeably dry.
I'm just using the Benev Crystal cleanser. It's not suppose to be drying! It's not medicated or anything! But I think that's what is causing the dryness! No topicals yet. I'm waiting for the acne to clear like Green Gables did. What cleanser do sprionolactone users use?
Oh! Just saw that you recommended the Cerave one. I'm going to try that!
Yes, I use the CeraVe hydrating cleanser and lotion and I love it. It's gentle and doesn't dry out my skin. I've tried Cetaphil and that made me break out. Go figure. I would avoid any heavy creams until your skin improves. I tried the CeraVe moisture cream and that gave me cystic acne!
Also, I avoid using any toners while my acne was healing. Less is more here.
I took a look at the Benev Crystal cleanser and apparently the 2nd ingredient is ammonium lauryl sulfate which can be very drying. Hope the CeraVe works for you.
I'm going to try the Cerave hydrating cleanser. I suspected that the ALS in the benev cleanser was causing the dryness. So frustrating!! Why can't my skin just be NORMAL?!
Has anyone else experienced flaky, dry skin patches on your face when using sprionolactone. It's not really that bad....but when I apply my make up it looks so noticeable! Wondering if this is from the sprionolactone or my cleanser.
What I've noticed is that spiro has made me less oily but not noticeably dry.
I'm just using the Benev Crystal cleanser. It's not suppose to be drying! It's not medicated or anything! But I think that's what is causing the dryness! No topicals yet. I'm waiting for the acne to clear like Green Gables did. What cleanser do sprionolactone users use?
>
Has anyone else experienced flaky, dry skin patches on your face when using sprionolactone. It's not really that bad....but when I apply my make up it looks so noticeable! Wondering if this is from the sprionolactone or my cleanser.
What I've noticed is that spiro has made me less oily but not noticeably dry.
I'm just using the Benev Crystal cleanser. It's not suppose to be drying! It's not medicated or anything! But I think that's what is causing the dryness! No topicals yet. I'm waiting for the acne to clear like Green Gables did. What cleanser do sprionolactone users use?
Oh! Just saw that you recommended the Cerave one. I'm going to try that!
Yes, I use the CeraVe hydrating cleanser and lotion and I love it. It's gentle and doesn't dry out my skin. I've tried Cetaphil and that made me break out. Go figure. I would avoid any heavy creams until your skin improves. I tried the CeraVe moisture cream and that gave me cystic acne!
Also, I avoid using any toners while my acne was healing. Less is more here.
I took a look at the Benev Crystal cleanser and apparently the 2nd ingredient is ammonium lauryl sulfate which can be very drying. Hope the CeraVe works for you.
I'm going to try the Cerave hydrating cleanser. I suspected that the ALS in the benev cleanser was causing the dryness. So frustrating!! Why can't my skin just be NORMAL?!
I hope it works for you. Your skin is reacting to an ingredient and sometimes it takes trial and error to figure out what works best. In my experience, a simple and gentle regime really helped.
Does it remove your make up? I read some reviews and some people said it didn't remove all makeup and left a film on the face??
Has anyone else experienced flaky, dry skin patches on your face when using sprionolactone. It's not really that bad....but when I apply my make up it looks so noticeable! Wondering if this is from the sprionolactone or my cleanser.
What I've noticed is that spiro has made me less oily but not noticeably dry.
I'm just using the Benev Crystal cleanser. It's not suppose to be drying! It's not medicated or anything! But I think that's what is causing the dryness! No topicals yet. I'm waiting for the acne to clear like Green Gables did. What cleanser do sprionolactone users use?
>
Has anyone else experienced flaky, dry skin patches on your face when using sprionolactone. It's not really that bad....but when I apply my make up it looks so noticeable! Wondering if this is from the sprionolactone or my cleanser.
What I've noticed is that spiro has made me less oily but not noticeably dry.
I'm just using the Benev Crystal cleanser. It's not suppose to be drying! It's not medicated or anything! But I think that's what is causing the dryness! No topicals yet. I'm waiting for the acne to clear like Green Gables did. What cleanser do sprionolactone users use?
Oh! Just saw that you recommended the Cerave one. I'm going to try that!
Yes, I use the CeraVe hydrating cleanser and lotion and I love it. It's gentle and doesn't dry out my skin. I've tried Cetaphil and that made me break out. Go figure. I would avoid any heavy creams until your skin improves. I tried the CeraVe moisture cream and that gave me cystic acne!
Also, I avoid using any toners while my acne was healing. Less is more here.
I took a look at the Benev Crystal cleanser and apparently the 2nd ingredient is ammonium lauryl sulfate which can be very drying. Hope the CeraVe works for you.
I'm going to try the Cerave hydrating cleanser. I suspected that the ALS in the benev cleanser was causing the dryness. So frustrating!! Why can't my skin just be NORMAL?!
I hope it works for you. Your skin is reacting to an ingredient and sometimes it takes trial and error to figure out what works best. In my experience, a simple and gentle regime really helped.
my favorite cleanser is hylunia cleansing gel. its free of phosphates, parabens, fragrance etc. their entire product line is expensive but its great and their stuff lasts a long time.
http://www.hylunia.com/products/face-care/facial-cleansers/facial-cleansing-gel
my favorite cleanser is hylunia cleansing gel. its free of phosphates, parabens, fragrance etc. their entire product line is expensive but its great and their stuff lasts a long time.
http://www.hylunia.com/products/face-care/facial-cleansers/facial-cleansing-gel
Hey Tracy! I've been trying to PM you back but every time I hit send, my message gets deleted!!!
oh no that is strange! i will pm you now and then if you get it maybe you can try writing back again. my email is khowz2018@yahoo.com as well.