Hello All,
After searching the forum, I finally decided to make a thread of my own. I have been suffering from Acne since I think I was 11 or 12. I went to several derms and tried many things but I wasnt very worried because it was mild acne. Then suddenly when I was 15, I started getting huge cysts on my cheeks and sometimes on my chin. I went to the derm and he straight away prescribed me a generic alternative of Accutane. I was scared of the side effects and went to another derm who also prescribed me the same even when I told him I did not want it. He told me it was the only way through. Then, someone told me to try Doxycycline for my Cysts. I had taken Doxy a while back when I had mild acne. With little hope, I started taking Doxy 100mg a day and within a few days, I was stunned to see my Cysts go down. I kept consistently taking it and a few weeks into the treatment, added Adapelene to my treatment. I stopped Doxy about 2.5 months into the treatment. At that time, my skin looked the best in quite a long time. I kept using Adapelene and the Cysts were not coming back. I still had clogged pores and occasional pimples that would go away quick. I had occasional breakouts but a few doses of doxy seemed fine. Then, a few months less than a year since I started taking Doxy, I saw that my skin suddenly started breaking out bad! By this time I had left Adapalene. I was confident doxy would work. But it failed, and I believe I have developed resistance. Now I have atleast 5 Cysts on my cheeks right now. I just started using BP but that would probably not work for Cysts alone.
So, basically my question is that now that I have supposedly become resistant to Doxy, what antibiotic should I use? If I am resistant to Doxy, would I not be cross resistant to Tetracycline and Minocycline since they are the same family? What about Azithromycin
Hey I was prescribed doxy first aswell then it stopped working. I was then prescribed minocycline and had success with that but slowly became immune to it and after a year it stopped working all together. Personally I had side effects on doxy but none on mino. Good luck!
You are going to build resistance to all antibiotics eventually. If you can avoid taking antibiotics I would. They will wreck havoc on your body after awhile. A lot of people have success with BP and cystic acne. You could try the Regime which is sold here on this site. If you just scroll to the top of the page and click on Acne.org products you will see the products sold separate or in kits. You can also take a look at the logs for the Regimen and look at all the success stories.
Im not sure if you are male or female but to me it sounds like your acne is hormonal. You could try spironolactone which is a god send for girls with hormonal acne. What it does is mutes your androgen levels which will stop you from developing acne. it takes awhile to kick in though so patience is important while taking the medication but it will help you stay clear for as long as you take the medication.
if you are male and your acne is hormonal you can look into taking Saw Palmetto which is safe for Males and Females unlike Spiro. Saw Palmetto is over the counter and you can get it where supplements are sold. Its not as effective as Spiro but some people have a lot of luck with that as well. Take a look around this site for logs for spiro if you are female and saw palmetto if you are male and look at the results and the success rate. Its pretty impressive/
If you have cystic acne that is scarring then you should strongly consider Accutane.
Good luck
Thankyou all for the replies. After a bit of research, I started taking Azithromycin, 500mg three consecutive days of the week. I am in the 2nd week and already most of the cysts now look more like dark patches. I am using it in combination with Benzoyl Peroxide in Hydrophase AQ base. This type of BP doesnt dry out my skin when it is applied though drying and peeling occurs afterwards. I'll hope Azithromycin will help me clear up!
Here is a table of antibiotics used in acne (click to enlarge):If you have cystic acne that is scarring then you should strongly consider Accutane.
Good luck
Thank you for this table, the information is very precise.
You are going to build resistance to all antibiotics eventually. If you can avoid taking antibiotics I would. They will wreck havoc on your body after awhile. A lot of people have success with BP and cystic acne. You could try the Regime which is sold here on this site. If you just scroll to the top of the page and click on Acne.org products you will see the products sold separate or in kits. You can also take a look at the logs for the Regimen and look at all the success stories.
Im not sure if you are male or female but to me it sounds like your acne is hormonal. You could try spironolactone which is a god send for girls with hormonal acne. What it does is mutes your androgen levels which will stop you from developing acne. it takes awhile to kick in though so patience is important while taking the medication but it will help you stay clear for as long as you take the medication.
if you are male and your acne is hormonal you can look into taking Saw Palmetto which is safe for Males and Females unlike Spiro. Saw Palmetto is over the counter and you can get it where supplements are sold. Its not as effective as Spiro but some people have a lot of luck with that as well. Take a look around this site for logs for spiro if you are female and saw palmetto if you are male and look at the results and the success rate. Its pretty impressive/
Thank you for taking the time. Just to let you know, I am a male. While I am aware of the effects antobiotics can have on my body, when you have Cystic acne, you dont really care. As for the regimen, its based on Benzoyl Peroxide, right?
Hey I was prescribed doxy first aswell then it stopped working. I was then prescribed minocycline and had success with that but slowly became immune to it and after a year it stopped working all together. Personally I had side effects on doxy but none on mino. Good luck!
I didnt try Minocycline because I think it would be cross resistant.
I was recently started on minocycline for a 4-month course of treatment for hormonal cystic acne. It has definitely reduced inflammation.
Great that it works for you. Tetracyclines are probably the best known antibiotics for acne until you become immune. By the way, what dose are you taking?