Well this sucks.

I only posted this earlier today and I'm already back here to say I have a huge cyst on my chin. I'm actually devastated?? I have a dermatology appointment tomorrow morning and I was so excited to go in and be cyst free but this is the first major cyst I've had since being on spiro. I have no idea what to do besides wait it out. I keep reading spironolactone reviews and success stories and I know everyone says to wait it out and that it'll get better but I'm just so fed up with my skin acting like this. It's already three times the size it was when I first discovered it. I don't know what to do. Whenever I get a cyst literally nothing I do to it helps.

I went to my dermatologist today and he was really impressed by my progress. He didn't seem concerned at all by my current breakout situation, which seems to be going down anyway. He said I'll most likely experience breakouts sometimes but it'll get better the longer I'm on spiro. He gave me a prescription for a whole years worth of spironolactone. He really thinks it's working that good! I also got cerave AM moisturizer. I'm so excited to start using it because it has lots of niacinamide which is great for redness and can hopefully minimize the appearance of my pores. I just used it for the first time and it's the first sunscreen I've ever used that doesn't make me feel smothered or oily. I think I'll feel great about reapplying it every two hours. I've always had a hard time with that because it always made me feel so smothered but this sunscreen is like no other. I'll post another progress picture this Sunday.

I want to be very in depth about my experience on spiro. Before starting spiro I read a ton of reviews and stuff but I feel like a lot of people have very short reviews of their experience on spiro. I've always wanted to hear about what dose they're taking, when they saw results, etc. Everyone is different but it's encouraging to see someone's journey that ends in success, so I want to share my side effects, results, and ups and downs during my treatment in hopes that I am truly on the path to fixing my skin. Especially because spiro is still not a widely known treatment for hormonal acne, so I want to track my progress and experiences for those people who were like me and read a ton of experiences and reviews for spiro before taking it.

So far I've been on spiro a little over two months, and I've personally only experienced mild side effects. I've had episodes of vertigo and lightheadedness, and problems with migraines, before starting spiro and I was worried that spiro would worsen these things but I haven't noticed any changes at all.

I have noticed my hair is thinner. Not on my head, but from my waist down. My hair isn't as dark and thick as it used to be, and I wasn't very hairy before starting the medication so I didn't expect changes but I got them. My hair on my head seems softer though. I don't have problems with oily skin/scalp, but my scalp does feel more soft and clear since starting. I have dealt with dermatitis though (gross!) but I've recently noticed it's clearing up. It was mild before the spiro but it's even better now but that could be a coincidence.

I don't experience excessive thirst though, and I'm on a high dose of 200mg a day. I've heard of some people taking only 25mg and experiencing dehydration. I was worried I'd have to carry a water bottle with me everywhere, but it hasn't been much of an issue. I stay hydrated anyways so maybe it's just that.

My period has only responded to the med once and that was a week into taking it. I was on my period a week prior to taking spiro, and a week after taking it I got it again. Nothing was unusual about it, other than the timing, and it's only happened once. I was expecting it though, so I didn't worry too much. It's been fine ever since.

Also, spiro is known for making your boobs get bigger but mine have generally stayed the same, but I am still early in treatment so that could change. There's also no soreness that I've experienced.

Lastly, I've lost a noticeable amount of weight. I'm 4'11 and before starting spiro I was 103lbs. I can't give my current weight unfortunately because I don't have a scale, but some people have noticed my weight loss so maybe a loss of at least 5lbs.

I'll definitely post if there's changes.

Wow I'm already back with an unfortunate update.

I found a cyst forming on the left side of my jawline. It's small but knowing how cystic acne works, it could get bad very quickly. I iced it so hopefully that helps. I just hope the spironolactone keeps it small, and makes it go away fast. The breakout on my chin is going away quickly. It got bad one night and started getting smaller the next day. I really hope the spiro starts to take full effect soon. I started seeing results so quickly in this treatment, I'm scared of my progress diminishing and going back to where I was before. It's almost as if my skin changed since my last period. Right before my period my skin was at its best and now I've got two cysts. No regular acne though, so the rest of my skin is still healing and looking alright. Trying to stay patient and positive.

I can't believe I forgot, but I'd also like to mention that my back and chest have basically completely cleared up since almost the beginning of spiro. That's what helps keep me motivated to push through when I'm having my doubts about this med. If it's able to clear up both my chest and my back, it's gotta start working 100% for my face eventually. At least I'm on the right track, and I'm certain now that my issue is hormonal. I've only had one cyst on my shoulder since starting, which is going away now. I used to get small cysts on the center of my chest, but now it's clear and my pores on my chest are visibly smaller. I know you can't change the size of your pores, but they look so much better than before.

Thanks for sharing. Interesting read. Have read about spiro on the internet but never a blog which is so much more helpful. All the best. Keep patient and positive.

Sorry I'm posting so much today but I'm so excited!! I took the before picture on Sunday, and the second picture today and is it just me or is the redness really fading that quickly?? I currently have one little active cyst on my jaw but the rest is actually looking better? The spot by my nose is super red, but it's because I've been exfoliating with a glycolic acid toner everyday, so it's surfacing, and it's actually helping speed things up. (And yes that is a Christmas stocking in he second photo lol)

Yes that defo looks less red. Great news!
Be gentle with your skin and let the spiro do the work. When I was on Dianette I had lots of flare-ups and good and bad weeks in the early months but then it started working and has been really effective ever since. Keep positive.

I think I've been going a little overboard with the glycolic acid toner and it's making me break out a little bit. Nothing huge, but just little bumps so I'm going to stop exfoliating for a few days and see if that helps. By the way, this is my current routine.

Cerave foaming face wash
Mario Badescu glycolic toner
Cerave sa moisturizer
Or
Alba botanica Hawaiian moisturizer
Cerave am moisturizer spf 30

I also use Mario Badescu buffering lotion to spot treat any flare ups I get. Can't say it works as great for me as it does for most everyone else with cystic acne, but it doesn't hurt to try.

Update: 

adding this to my skincare routine today to maybe help with the redness and irritation. 

Update:

Unfortunately, I woke up today to two small cysts. One on my chin and one on my left jaw. I think the one on my jaw is from a really old cyst that's surfacing though. It's small but it's on top of an old red mark, so it looks worse than it currently is. Good news though, is that the breakout I previously had on my chin and jaw are already down and going away. You can hardly see the old one on my chin, and I thought it'd leave a mark forever but apparently not.

These breakouts are happening on my jaw/mouth area though, which is the key spot for hormonal acne to flare up. I haven't had anything major happen above my jawline for a while, so hopefully jaw and chin breakouts are the last I'll get before the spiro really kicks in and clears it up.

I did a spot treatment for the redness which I think ended up making everything worse, so I'm done with that. I'm going to just let my skin heal and be patient. So no pictures for the rest of this week, but hopefully it'll look better by next Tuesday or so.

I've decided I'm going to update maybe every two weeks or so, rather than every time I notice a change in my skin. This'll be my last update until maybe the 27th?

Anyways, besides one cyst on my shoulder, I currently have three cysts on my face. One on my chin, one on my jawline and a possible one on the right side of my nose. I'm so sad. I thought my skin was getting better but it's just gotten bad again within the past three days. The cysts aren't very big, but they are painful and definitely noticeable. I'm trying to stay positive. It's weird that like two weeks ago I was dealing with regular acne, but since changing my routine it's gotten better for a bit, and now because my period should be any day now, I'm getting cysts. Hopefully I don't get anymore. I hope I can come back with a positive update next time. And hopefully someday I'll stop getting cysts before my period. Oh the joys of being a female. ):

oh i still in 22th day on spironolactone and i had a very very bad ib in this week. it is so awfull please answer me is that normal? my skin go to worse day to day. I hate my skin actually

12 hours ago, sara1990 said:

oh i still in 22th day on spironolactone and i had a very very bad ib in this week. it is so awfull please answer me is that normal? my skin go to worse day to day. I hate my skin actually

I keep reminding myself that it's not unusual to experience breakouts for the first few months of treatment. Don't get discouraged. I know the waiting sucks, but 22 days on spironolactone is nothing. Give it time. From everything I've read and been told about it, you should give it, at the very least, six months to determine if it's working for you. I'm one of the more fortunate people who experienced results quickly. Though my skin still has a long way to go, and I'm sure to have breakouts for another few months, I'm getting better. If spiro truly ends up working for you, you won't regret waiting because it'll be worth it. I've read so many stories from people who had success with spiro and a lot of them mention they experienced an initial breakout for a few months. I'm sorry there's no quick fix, and it's easy to get discouraged, but if your acne is purely hormonal the wait will be worth it. 

3 hours ago, DesperateVegan said:

I keep reminding myself that it's not unusual to experience breakouts for the first few months of treatment. Don't get discouraged. I know the waiting sucks, but 22 days on spironolactone is nothing. Give it time. From everything I've read and been told about it, you should give it, at the very least, six months to determine if it's working for you. I'm one of the more fortunate people who experienced results quickly. Though my skin still has a long way to go, and I'm sure to have breakouts for another few months, I'm getting better. If spiro truly ends up working for you, you won't regret waiting because it'll be worth it.I've read so many stories from people who had success with spiro and a lot of them mention they experienced an initial breakout for a few months. I'm sorry there's no quick fix, and it's easy to get discouraged, but if your acne is purely hormonal the wait will be worth it.

thank you sa much for your answer. i know the initional break out may take a long time but i am worry about scars of this horrible ib. it take a long time to disapear red marks and scars maybe never go. i belive i have hormonal problem cause my acne. i try to be positive and patient to see results. sorry for my weak english. Good Luck

7 hours ago, sara1990 said:

thank you sa much for your answer. i know the initional break out may take a long time but i am worry about scars of this horrible ib. it take a long time to disapear red marks and scars maybe never go. i belive i have hormonal problem cause my acne. i try to be positive and patient to see results. sorry for my weak english. Good Luck

There are ways to minimize the redness. Giving your skin time to heal is the most important step to clearing the post-acne redness, but things like chemical exfoliants and sun protection have helped me reduce redness. I thought I'd be left with huge purple/red marks for a long time, and even some indents on my skin, but I've learned a lot about skincare and it's helped me a lot in the healing process. Maybe try to find a gentle glycolic acid toner and a sunscreen to speed things up. I'd suggest cerave am moisturizer with spf 30 because it's noncomedogenic, and has niacinamide which is brilliant for redness.

I hope you start healing fast. Good luck to you too.

I feel really embarrassed coming back here right now to update. I know I said I wouldn't until the 27th or something but I don't think I'll be continuing this thread.

I really don't think spironolactone is working. I do this every single time I try a new treatment. I think it's working for a month or so and then I realize it isn't. I was clear for almost an entire month and now within the last week or so I've had several major cystic breakouts. I know my period is like a day away, but on spironolactone this shouldn't be happening, no matter what time of month it is. My breakouts are smaller and go away faster, but I'm just feeling so discouraged. As much as I try to read positive reviews and experiences on spiro, I just don't think it's the answer for me. Maybe I need to pair it with a birth control? My breakouts are obviously reacting to the medication, but I feel like this is as good as it gets. My worst fears about this medication are coming true. I got a month of clear skin, to have it ripped away and replaced with a giant cyst on my cheek, four on my chin, one on the side of my nose, two on my jawline. I'm going back into my dermatologist as soon as I can. I'm probably just going to have to try accutane.

If I do continue on spironolactone, and I manage to stay clear for a long period of time, I will come back and update. I just feel too embarrassed always coming back with something negative to say, after praising spironolactone for the results it no longer gives me.

Okay I've decided to stick with the spironolactone. I apologize for my posts being so up and down and emotional throughout this entire thread. After struggling with severe cystic acne for so long I just want it to be over with.

I'm not happy with the current state of my skin, but I got overly emotional and cried to my mom about how awful I'm feeling. She told me she really does think spiro is working. She's seen me struggle for years with this, and she's spent thousands of dollars on chemical peels/face washes/creams trying to help me. I really owe it to her to try my best to make it through at least a few more months of this medication. I really think my issue is hormonal. If there was a topical/ingredient that existed that would get me clear, I most likely would have found it by now. I don't believe that if I went and got another new skincare routine to try out right now that it would work any better than spiro has. So far spironolactone is the only thing that has truly given me any results. The breakouts I was talking about in my last post are already all going down, besides one on my chin that's being stubborn, but even that one is technically small compared to the ones I used to have all the time. The redness is really making me sad, but I'm trying to just pull through and wait it out. The first month of spiro I really thought it was an overnight miracle. It's just so scary to me that my skin was clear one month and now it's not.

I've searched the internet for more spironolactone success stories. I did come across some good cystic acne success stories with spiro, and they were really uplifting. So many people have been in my exact position. So many people with severe cystic acne have had success on spiro, but a lot of people do point out that it took around six months for them to see any results at all.

I'm not giving up on spironolactone. If I were to stop taking it, what else would I turn to? Just go back to trying a ton of face washes and toners and spot treatments?? That obviously hasn't gotten me anywhere.

Since starting spironolactone, my pharmacist recommended taking my dose at 9am and 4pm. Since reading more about it though, I think I should start taking it twelve hours apart. I'm going to start taking 100mg at 8am and 100mg at 8pm. I think doing this though might make me break out for a while though just because it's a different time than I usually take it.

I'm still going to be updating less. If I update every time there's a change in my skin I'd be here every other day or so. My skin feels like it's changing so rapidly now. One day I get a cyst and by the next day it's going away but then I got two more that start to go away within two or three days and then I got another one and so on. I'm definitely not complaining that my breakouts are going away faster, but the fact that I can still get like seven cysts in one week is very discouraging, not gonna lie. So I'm probably going to do monthly updates or so.

As someone who's suffered so long with cystic acne, I feel like I owe it to everyone else searching for success stories to tell mine. Whether it actually does end successfully is yet to be known, but if I ever do get clear I want to let everyone know that there is a way to get better and that recovery from this is possible.

Update whenever you want. Sharing can be so therapeutic for you, help you to rationalise and just generally help you cope when times are tough. You don't always have to have something different to say. If you need to off - load then do just that!!! All the best on this journey. God bless moms eh!!!

1 hour ago, Juwalker said:

Update whenever you want. Sharing can be so therapeutic for you, help you to rationalise and just generally  help you cope when times are tough. You don't always have to have something different to say. If you need to off - load then do just that!!! All the best on this journey. God bless moms eh!!! 

Thank you so much. Yeah, my moms amazing. She's trying the best she can, and sometimes I feel like my stubborn skin frustrates her more than it does me. Acne.org has helped me so much throughout the years. I most likely wouldn't be continuing spiro if I hadn't read so many good things about it, and talked to such kind and encouraging people. Thanks for following along. You have no idea how much I appreciate the encouragement. I really needed it.

Hello my friend. Please continue to write and share. I read your updates and try to learn english for knowing your experiences of spironolactone. I still break out and get new cystic. but i am hopefully and i know one day finaly i will wake up acne free! i try to be patient. i belive that we can  defeat acne

4 hours ago, sara1990 said:

Hello my friend. Please continue to write and share. I read your updates and try to learn english for knowing your experiences of spironolactone. I still break out and get new cystic. but i am hopefully and i know one day finaly i will wake up acne free! i try to be patient. i belive that we can  defeat acne

Thank you so much! I'm so happy people are liking my posts. Cystic acne is awful, but I do believe there is an answer out there for all of us. Don't worry, I don't plan on abandoning this anytime soon. I will continue to update. 

Mini-update: 

I'm back to say that this stuff is an absolute life saver. Like I said in my last update, the redness and inflammation from my most recent breakouts have been really getting me down. I decided to go and find a chemical peel. Regular chemical exfoliants don't seem to do a whole lot for my redness, but I've gotten actual chemical peels before which have noticeably reduced my redness and inflammation. I got this one because I tried an oatmeal cream of theirs before and liked it. I've used this probably five or six times now and it's definitely helped even out my skin tone. I've used it all over my cheeks and also as a spot treatment. The really severe cyst I had on my jaw is nearly flat now and there's definitely less inflammation. 

This definitely isn't a long-term solution, or really a preventive, but I think when I'm finally 100% clear I'm going to use this to clear up any remaining redness. It's so weird that like two days ago I was crying because I felt like my progress was ruined, and now I'm back to feeling positive again. 

Good to hear you're more positive . As the song says "Life is a roller-coaster, you just gotta ride it!! " Thanks for product review.

Hello I'm back with an update.

This update isn't about my skin though. Like I said before, I want to track my full experience on spironolactone, and sometimes side effects happen and I want to share them when I experience them.

For around four days now, I've had light period cramps, but no actual period. I'm around nine days late, and I have a feeling I'm not going to actually get one? I've only had my usual light lower back/lower abdomen cramping, but there's been nothing else. I'm not exactly complaining though, and as far as I know, losing your period while on spironolactone isn't uncommon or dangerous.

But on the side, a minor skin update:

I have two tiny cysts right now that have been small for days now. I've been chemically exfoliating and they're surfacing and growing away. I did get a few regular breakouts along my jawline, but they're going away and I'm not concerned about them. My redness is also reduced. I don't feel like posting pictures yet. I'm going to wait a few more days for that.