Hi everyone, I apologize in advance for how lengthy this post is going to be, but I'm pretty desperate for answers.
All throughout middle school and most of high school, my skin was crystal clear without even trying. toward the beginning of my senior year in high school, I started getting more and more breakouts. After thinking long and hard about my battle with acne, I remember that I began taking birth control at the age of 16, per the request of my mother, but I stopped taking it eventually for no reason other than I just didn't have a purpose for it. It was around this time that my acne began but unfortunately I can't remember for the life of me whether the acne began while I was taking the birth control or if it began after I stopped taking it. I also can't remember what birth control I was even on.
Hi there!
I have very similar acne to yours! I broke out on my right cheek horribly back in Oct 2016. I had struggled with severe acne back in high school when I was about 15 but that was normal and it calmed down in about a year.
I figured that the Oct. 2016 breakout was due to being in an academy program, being away from home and my normal laundry detergents, and the stress of having a new job on top of grad school. However, when I got back my face got worse. I eventually developed a cyst that kept coming back under my right eye on my cheek bone. Enough was enough and I went to see a dermatologist for the 1st time ever.
When I got there he took one look and said "hormones" and prescribed me spiro 25mg 2x a day. This was in Dec early Jan. I started and all was well until about week 3. My skin purged! I literally broke out on both cheeks, nose, and my chin. However, this is very common as the derm told me. I have been on it for about 8 months and I truly think it has helped me. I could show you before and after photos if you'd like!
I think you will enjoy this med because it does regulate androgen production which was the cause of my acne.
good luck!
-Meg
Thank you for the reply, I really do appreciate it! Most of the people in my day to day life can't really relate to me in regards to struggles with my skin so this site has become so resourceful for me. I'm glad to hear that you're having good results with spironolactone so far and I'm going to remain optimistic about it. So far I've only been on it for 8 days and haven't noticed my skin worsening or improving but I fully prepared myself for an initial breakout. I also think that the 25 mg that I'm on right now isn't a high enough dose for me to even notice a change, but I understand that my dermatologist wants to be cautious and increase my dosage slowly.
Best of luck to you you as well!
Hey I've been on spiro for around two months now. Most people say you shouldn't see results until around six months but it worked really quickly for me. Unfortunately, I am currently breaking out because of my period, but I was clear pretty all of last month. Which is a miracle, because I'm used to having lots of active cysts at once. I never thought mine was hormonal because my acne was so consistent, but it turns out spiro has worked well for me. Better than anything else I've ever tried, and I've tried so many things. All you can do is give it a try and be patient because though it's working for me, I have a feeling I'm not even seeing my full results yet. (Hopefully it continues to get better the longer I take it. Fingers crossed.).
Good luck.
Btw within the first week of taking it, I was only on 50mg a day. That's when I started tonoticeresults.
Thanks for the reply! I'm definitely going to be patient and stick with it because I'm hopeful it'll work for me. I had a terrible breakout last week (not sure if it was related to spiro or not) but luckily it cleared up within a couple of days. Did you notice a decrease in oil production on 50 mg? I go back to my dermatologist in 2 weeks and I'm sure she will increase my dosage to 50 mg since I haven't experienced any side effects, but I'm really hoping I'll see at least a little bit of oil reduction!