HasiE82

weid(wo)man, sorry for responding so late but I just saw your comment on my post. Yes, I'm still on spiro. March 3rd will mark 4 months for me. This is what I can tell you: the wait is worth it! I had a terrible initial breakout around month 1 and my acne was worse than ever. To be honest, I didn't have as many cysts, whiteheads, and blackheads until I started my treatment with Spiro. In my case, my acne got worse before it got better. I would have 4 to 5 cysts and every day! And it seemed as if the spiro wasn't working at all. Everything changed for me at the 2 months mark. I stopped having cysts all together and would only get whiteheads (although it was still around 6 or 8 of time at a time, better than having cysts that take forever to heal). Once I hit the 2 months mark, with every day my face got better and I would get fewer whiteheads too. Now, I'm completely free of any spots on my face (knock on wood). My face is much smoother and the only thing I'm waiting for is for the hyperpigmentations to fade. I'm also using tretinoin 0.25% every night and that has been a gamechanger. I have absolutely no blackheads. They are literally all gone (my face used to be covered in them). All in all, I'm so happy with the results and am so glad that I stuck it out. I know how hard it is, trust me. However, these are my experiences and every person is going to respond differently to spiro. I hope it will work for you too. Best of luck and hang in there!

I was wondering if you're still on Spiro and if so, did it start working for you? I've been on it since Oct. 3rd (started on 150mg on the 2nd week) and my face is breaking out terribly. I've yet to see any improvements.

I'm a 35-year-old female and never had acne before in my life. Even during my teenage years, I stayed completely clear while all my friends suffered from puberty acne. Having said this, my life changed drastically beginning of 2017. My derm and obgyn came to the conclusion that I have late-onset adult acne caused by hormonal imbalance. My cheeks, jawline, chin, back, and mouth are covered in painful cysts, blackheads, and whiteheads. Every morning, I wake up to at least 8 or 10 new cysts and zits. My life has completely turned upside down. I can't think of anything other than my face and how disgusting I look. My self-esteem is pretty much non-existent. On October 3rd, I started to take Spiro 50mg for a week, then after a week 100mg, and after the second week 150mg as my derm instructed. I also was prescribed doxycycline 100mg together with the Spiro and a topical Finacea 15% foam. It has been over a month now and I have yet to see any improvement. I still wake up to a dozen new zits and my face seems to be breaking out worse than before. The topical and the doxycycline haven't shown any improvement either. Yesterday, I saw my derm and he said that I should have seen some type of improvement by now and that my acne should not have gotten worse. This comment worried and confused me a bit, since I have been reading on the internet and on here that Spiro takes a while to kick in and that some women have an initial breakout (the whole spiel of it has to get worse before it gets better). Then my derm suggested I stop taking all of the medication and go on Accutane. Now, I made my research on Accutane and it is not something I want to try, especially since my acne is caused by hormones. Accutane would not cure my hormonal imbalance, and so after Accutane eventually my hormonal acne would return. I told him this but he was very persistent about the Accutane. I told him that I would like to continue with the Spiro since I'm not experiencing any side-effects. He then switched the antibiotics to minocycline and prescribed me tretinoin and clindamycin, which I started taking yesterday. Here are my questions for you: Has anyone of you been resistant to Spiro? How bad was your initial breakout? How long did it take to see results? Does the improvement come in steps (from cysts to small zits)? I really want this to work for me!