A little about me-
I'm 23 and my acne started freshman year of college. I thought it was horrible, but managed it. Around the middle of my junior year it was finally under control (only broke out around my period) using duac and retin-a. For about 2 years I was virtually blemish free. I started taking birth control and could leave the house without make up. This past feb. Or so I stopped taking bc and was fine until about two months ago.
Now, my acne is the worst it's been. I started taking spiro 100 mgs almost a month ago with my same bc and combined with aczone in the morn and tazorac in the evening. My face may be even worse than when I started it at this point. What is most frustrating is that my blemishes keep popping up in the 2 same areas ( on both sides of my chin just below the corners
of my mouth). Right when one goes away, another emerges right next to it!
I'm so embarrassed to leave the house thAt I basically stay in every weekend and dread going to work and interacting with people. I'll do anything to avoid face-to-face contact. These past two weeks ive cried and felt ridiculous .
I use the same gentle cleansers and moisturizers that were successful in my past experiences. My diet has not changed. The only thing I can think of is hormonal changes (my period was abnormally heavy the month before starting spiro) . I know how the drug is suppose to work, I think I just need some encouragement to stay with it. How long should it take? When should I give up?
A little about me-
I'm 23 and my acne started freshman year of college. I thought it was horrible, but managed it. Around the middle of my junior year it was finally under control (only broke out around my period) using duac and retin-a. For about 2 years I was virtually blemish free. I started taking birth control and could leave the house without make up. This past feb. Or so I stopped taking bc and was fine until about two months ago.
Now, my acne is the worst it's been. I started taking spiro 100 mgs almost a month ago with my same bc and combined with aczone in the morn and tazorac in the evening. My face may be even worse than when I started it at this point. What is most frustrating is that my blemishes keep popping up in the 2 same areas ( on both sides of my chin just below the corners
of my mouth). Right when one goes away, another emerges right next to it!
I'm so embarrassed to leave the house thAt I basically stay in every weekend and dread going to work and interacting with people. I'll do anything to avoid face-to-face contact. These past two weeks ive cried and felt ridiculous .
I use the same gentle cleansers and moisturizers that were successful in my past experiences. My diet has not changed. The only thing I can think of is hormonal changes (my period was abnormally heavy the month before starting spiro) . I know how the drug is suppose to work, I think I just need some encouragement to stay with it. How long should it take? When should I give up?
What birth control are you on? Some birth controls have an androgenic form of progesterone which can make acne worse in the long run.
I am on 100mg spironolactone without a hormonal BC (I use a copper IUD). I did not see results until month 4. I was completely clear at month 6.
If you have a cyst that keeps coming up in the same place, sometimes the only solution is to get a cortisone shot from your derm. A bad cyst will "impact" a pore and make it almost impossible for that area to ever heal.
Heyy your not alone in this my story is similar to your except i use accutane and was probably on of the bigest mistakes ... I wish i would of known bout spiro befour .... I started sprio about 2 minths ago and still didnt see any improvment i feel desprate at days .. I started at 50mg and about a week ago he put me up to 100mg all thats left is to wait and see ... Im sure we will get through this iv seen such good reviews bout spiro and the key to it is to stay patien 
let me know how your face progress !!!
The BC i'm on is Lo Loestrin Fe ..it's the lowest dose of estrogen that is available in a BC pill. Ive been on it before and had no problems with acne at all.
As of now i'm trying to be patient. This week I had one day of waking up without new blemishes emerging over night. I;m hoping that one day was a good sign...but still feeling ugly!
Thanks for the quick responses, and any more are much appreciated. It is helpful to see that i'm not the only one in this frustrating situation!
Did anyone else have a horrible initial breakout? If so how long did it last? I feel that I am having the worst breakout of my life for the past month!
Almost any change can trigger a breakout. Stick through it. I didn't experience one, but my acne was so bad I doubt I could tell if I had one or not.
I think you might need to change the birth control. Low estrogen pills don't work well for acne. You need one with 30 to 35 mg of estrogen and one whose progesterone is low in androgen activity or antiandrogenic. Yasmin has 30 mg of estrogen and it's progesterone is anti androgenic. Ortho tri cyclen has 35 mg of estrogen and it's progesterone is has a very low androgen activity. If you don't see results I would change. Try doing a google search for best birth control for acne. There is a website that give all kinds of info about them. But they all say you need at least 30 or 35 mg of estrogen. If your birth control is high in androgens it may not be enough to tackle the extra androgens that it is producing. Try googling what birth control is best for acne.
I've now been on 100mgs spiro for almost 8 weeks to date, and I know I've had the WORST breakouts of my life! When I first started spiro I felt that everyday brought a new breakout. They were usually confined to my chin, but I was also starting to find 1 or 2 on my forehead and occasionally even cysts (like never before). It was (and still is) horrible! The one TINY bit of encouragement I saw for myself around week 7 was there were 4 days in a row when I actually said to my boyfriend, "Maybe the spiro is starting to work." Although now I'm breaking out like crazy again, I look to those few days where I felt mild improvement. DId anyone else experience just a few days of improvement?
Starting month 3-
Went to derm today...since I'm having no side effects from spiro I was told I can up the dosage to 150 mgs. I'm no longer on BC in order to figure out if the spiro is working, one hormonal treatment at a time. A little change to topicals as well.
- 50mgs spiro 3 xday
- duac in morning (spot treatment) with cetaphil moisturizer
- aczone and tazorac at night
When i first started this whole treatment I had a ton of skin colored clogged pores on my chin and lower cheeks combined with 3-4 inflamed lesions.. Now it seems the majority of them have emerged and become active ( very red inflammations ) and painful. I know I'd rather the skin colored, but at least I now know why my initial ( and still occurring) breakout is so bad. The sides of my chin are so red from past blemishes and painful from about 7-10 active ones. yikes! Since my ib has lasted for 2 months my derm is trying to speed the process by adding the duac and a stronger tazorac. These will make my skin peel more and hopefully have quicker turnover..so looking forward to flaky skin yay! :/
Still hoping and being as patient as I can! Please oh please need some progress!
I think the ib may be less to do with the spiro as it does with the tazorac. Since I had so many clogged pores the tazorac has been slowly bringing them to surface and become active. It's less flattering of course, but i think that is the reason I'm sticking with it. I see many less of those tiny skin colored bumps, so hopefully everything will calm down.
Wow, it's amazing you are sticking with it. I hope it works for you in the end. Does your derm say this is normal? Mine says he has written over 1,000 scripts for Spiro and has never seen anyone's acne get worse, or anyone complain of an IB.
Eek..I've been on aczone/tazorac before. I did it for a month before I decided it was making my skin worse! I felt so depressed and my skin felt like it was on fire! I'm glad you're sticking it out. But know that tazorac works for some people, and doesn't work for others. Many people would disagree with me giving up on something within a month, but my advice is to know your skin.
Only you know if your skin usually reacts quickly (good AND bad) to products. For me personally, my skin can breakout quickly if I add something to my regime that my skin doesn't agree with. At the same time, if something works for my skin..it usually improves within a month.
With that being said, others can take multiple months to see results. Many times these people also experience IBs with each new medication. Know your skin.
I finally found my cure through Spironolactone/Birth Control/Vitamin D3/Saw Palmetto/Zinc combination..my topical is Acanya. Feel free to look at my log http://www.acne.org/...ane-didnt-last/
I would suggest taking pictures (just to see any improvements). You don't have to show anybody and it really helps to see how far you've come.
Eek..I've been on aczone/tazorac before. I did it for a month before I decided it was making my skin worse! I felt so depressed and my skin felt like it was on fire! I'm glad you're sticking it out. But know that tazorac works for some people, and doesn't work for others. Many people would disagree with me giving up on something within a month, but my advice is to know your skin.
Only you know if your skin usually reacts quickly (good AND bad) to products. For me personally, my skin can breakout quickly if I add something to my regime that my skin doesn't agree with. At the same time, if something works for my skin..it usually improves within a month.
With that being said, others can take multiple months to see results. Many times these people also experience IBs with each new medication. Know your skin.
I finally found my cure through Spironolactone/Birth Control/Vitamin D3/Saw Palmetto/Zinc combination..my topical is Acanya. Feel free to look at my log http://www.acne.org/...ane-didnt-last/
I would suggest taking pictures (just to see any improvements). You don't have to show anybody and it really helps to see how far you've come.
I do like your concept of 'knowing your skin' and that is something that I am trying to figure out. Up until 5 months ago I knew my skin like the back of my hand. I rarely had a breakout and when I did I knew what caused it. Then all of a sudden something changed and now I feel like I'm starting from scratch. I am being patient because I don't want to have to retrace my steps. I'd rather know for a fact that something wasn't working before giving up.
I saw some encouraging results this week... less active ones emerging and quicker healing from older ones.
Also I have been taking pictures probably for the past month or so. I will try to post them soon.
Thanks for your suggestions!