I'm a 17 year old girl. I have moderate acne and have tried many different things. Doxy didn't work for me (I became immune), Retinol broke me out more, but what I'm currently taking (Minocycline) has been amazing! The problem is I am getting dark grey marks once a zit goes away. My derm said this was a common side effect and I needed to get it off immediatly.
So, my next step is BCP (Junel, a generic of LoEstrin) or the Bactrim antibiotic, both of which I am very apprehensive about. I have been looking at the zinc review and am hopeful it might work.
Have you had good experiences with BCP or Zinc? Did you get the same side effect from mino as I did?
Personally, I was diagnosed with pseudotumor cerebrii (idiopathic intercranial hypertension) due to minocycline. So, i guess i can safely say no. Due to minocycline, I've had 5 spinal taps, dozens upon dozens of neurologist, opthamologist and general doctors' appointments, and 2-3 months ago had neurosurgery to get a ventricular-atrial shunt put in my head. they shaved half of my head. I most certainly am not happy with minocyline.
My understanding is that birth control can help if you're on the right one. Talk to an endocrinologist or dermatologist to find out which is best or read around a bit more on the boards. My skin was "okay" on Nuvaring and Yaz, but not perfect. When I switched to Mirena my skin got a lot worse. Yazmin contains a bit of spironolactone, so it might be a good choice.
My experience with zinc is that it helps, but it will not clear my skin. Zinc also seems to keep me from catching colds, so that is the only reason why I really continue to take it. I've found supplements to be rabbit hole, because its so easy to just add one more on top of your regimen without really knowing which are working.
Good luck!