Cephalexin : Oral Antibiotic

Brand:
Reviews
3.7
116 Reviews

Active Ingredients:
250 mg, 333 mg, 500 mg, or 750 mg of Cephalexin.

Inactive Ingredients:
Cellulose, D & C Yellow No. 10, F D & C Blue No. 1, F D & C Yellow No. 6, gelatin, magnesium stearate, silicone, titanium dioxide.

The list of ingredients above is provided for informational purposes only. Always check the actual product label in your possession for the most accurate ingredient information due to product changes or upgrades that may not yet be reflected on our web site.

5
28.4%
4
35.3%
3
20.7%
2
10.3%
1
5.2%

Used Cephalexin : Oral Antibiotic? Rate It:

Choose from 1 to 5 stars
May 13, 2021
Life-saver!!!

I am a 36yof that began suffering from HORRIBLE cystic acne a little over a year ago. I have never had any acne issues that a little application OTC acne spot treatment wouldn’t cure. I would only occasionally get a bump on my chin near the time of my menstrual cycle....until a year ago. 

 

My dermatologist initially prescribed topical Benzoyl Peroxide-Clindamycin, along with Spironolactone 50mg. No improvement. 

 

She, then, added Doxycycline 100mg twice daily for 90 days to the mix and increased Spironolactone to 75mg (1.5 tablets). Not really any improvement. 

 

Followed-up again and received Spironolactone 100mg, continue with Doxycycline and new order for Tretinoin 0.1% cream. I could tell the cream was doing great on areas where I did not have bumps, but it delayed healing in the areas with existing bumps. 

 

I recently had surgery, where I was prescribed Keflex 250mg to take for post-op infection prophylaxis. I did not have one single bump the entire course of the Keflex! 2 days after completion of the 10 day treatment plan, I woke up with 2 new, painful cystic bumps!!!! 

 

I got some more Keflex, started it that night, and woke up the bumps basically dried up. They are no longer painful. Without Keflex, it would take well over a week to see any improvement. 

 

Since continuing Keflex therapy, I’ve not had another one in WEEKS! I’d rather take it anyway, as I don’t have to avoid the summer sun while taking it, like I would Doxycycline! 

December 20, 2018
Works great for me

I typically have clear skin with a few blemishes here and there but nothing serious and they go away within a day or two. However, once every 8-12 months I get one or two big cystic pimples, one being almost two inches in diameter. Whenever these pop up I head to the doctor and get a prescription for this and it works great, I typically take 4 pills a day for a week. Within a few days its reduces in size tremendously and its gone by the end of the week. 

September 6, 2018
Worked pretty fast with retinol
Iv been having terrible on and off cystic acne breakouts for about 3 years now. I'm 20/f. Tried everything yadyada. This is my 2nd antibiotic I'v tried and it works great! Although I am also using tretinoin cream and clindamycin retinol as well. Cleared up my cystic acne in about a week. Iv been prescribed 3 months of this and I'm at the end if my 1st month. Iv only gotten a few small pimples since taking it but I'm hopeful it will clear me up fully.
July 10, 2018
Loses its touch
The first time I tried cefluxin I was prescribed 500mg/2x. I started with no additional probiotic and rarely ate yogurt. The acne I had from Lithium vanished within a week, and it stopped hormonal breakups my BC didn't fix. 3 months after taking it, my digestive system was wrecked. I couldn't digest food without having the most intense stomach pains for over 3 hours. I stopped and 6 months later switched to 250mg/1x. A month later, my stomach had the same horrendous reaction, even with the use of probiotics this time. I caution people who are taking this for extended periods of time, the reaction I had to the overuse of antibiotics was enough to send me to the ER the first time.
May 15, 2018
Holy Grail
I have been dealing with acne for about 6 months now, I am 23 years old. I've gone to the dermatologist several times, ate extremely healthy, changed my pillow case every other day, got on birth control, and nothing seemed to work. When I went to my 3 month checkup at the dermatologist she agreed the topical cream they gave me wasn't doing what they were hoping. She prescribed me these pills and I have to take them twice a day for three months. I'm at week 2 and I'm amazed. I used to be too self cautious to wear no makeup around my friends/family and now I embrace it. I still have some scarring but I know it'll clear up within the next few months on this medication. Please note..... these pills smell awful. I am at the point where I don't care about the smell as long as they help my skin. If you are suffering from acne, try this! It seriously worked. I thought my acne was never going to heal.
August 3, 2015
Works great for me
I'm 26F and I was put on 500mg 2x daily and the results have been great. I'm not sensitive to antibiotics and haven't had any noticeable side effects (although the exhaustion thing does ring a bell). I'm on the cephalexin and onexton (clindamycin + benzoyl peroxide) and within 2 weeks my skin is almost completely clear and my scabs are clearing up. Before that I tried several other drug store common options, trying to give each of them the time for my face to get used to them and still had about 15 cystic spots and 20-50 comedones and postules. I'm also doing my best to not touch or pick at my face at all to let my acne run it's natural course. I've switched to a non-comedogenic powder foundation. So far I'm very happy with the results! I have a follow up with my dermatologist in 3 months, so I'll keep an eye out for the side effects and plateaus.
This Was Helpful

29 user(s) found this helpful

Report
February 18, 2016
That's so great. I'm starting it today....I really hope it helps me. How's your acne now?
June 23, 2015
Not Happy
I was prescribed 500mg 2x/day with a 30 day prescription, which seems pretty standard according to these reviews but is a long time for antibiotics! My stomach is sensitive to medication at times, so I took every precaution when taking this. I only took it with meals, and I added probiotics and extra yogurt in my diet. I didn't notice any side effects within the first week, but I also didn't see any improvements. Most of my acne is on my chin/jawline, and they're usually painful. During this time, one of the aggravated cysts started to hurt less, but that's part of the natural cycle anyway, and another one appeared on my jaw. But on the 8th day of taking this medication--oh my god. I woke up feeling very nauseous, before I had even taken the medication. I assumed it wasn't a big deal, ate breakfast and took my first dose of the day. Over the course of the day, my nausea and sour stomach got worse. It was like a hangover, but I hadn't consumed any alcohol. I wasn't hungry, I had cold sweats and I was very, very tired. By 7/8 pm I was so nauseous and I had to commute back from work and by 10pm I was in bed with the lights off trying not to throw up (but I hadn't eaten anything)! I didn't take my evening dose, and by the next morning I was 100% better. My derm was not very helpful when he prescribed this to me--he was very dismissive and didn't really offer me any other options besides the topical meds that haven't worked for me in the past. I'm seeing a new doctor soon, because I've been really disappointed with the dismissive nature of dermatologists. Don't take this if you're sensitive to antibiotics, because even doing everything right, I had terrible side effects.
This Was Helpful

4 user(s) found this helpful

Report
June 29, 2016
It is recommended that you wait at least 2 hours between antibiotics and probiotics. However, if you want the antibiotics to work unchallenged, wait to start up probiotic after all antibiotics have been taken.
June 5, 2015
Worked amazingly well
I actually went on this a week before a major surgery on doctors orders. I was so distracted with the idea of surgery that I didn't notice until later that it caused my acne to COMPLETELY go away. It was awesome, unfortunately it only lasted while I was on the medication, a mere week. (The effects lasted about 2 weeks.) I would like to get on this again but I'm not sure if a doctor would prescribe it specifically for acne.
This Was Helpful

10 user(s) found this helpful

Report
April 28, 2016
They definitely will! I used an app called Dr on Demand. I highly recommend it; you basically put in your information, insurance if you have it (without insurance it's $40) and all of your symptoms whatever they may be. Then you instantly connect to a doctor using FaceTime or video chat. It definitely beats going to urgent care when you know what's wrong with you like a sinus infection, strep throat, etc. I called the other day and the doctor prescribed me cephalexin 500mg every 6 hours for ten days. She sent the script to the pharmacy I provided and it was ready to be picked up ten minutes after we hung up. I've only been using it for a couple of days but it's already working tremendously well. Anyways, I hope this helps and I'm glad your surgery went well!
May 5, 2015
Side effects
My dermatologist switched me to this after a lack of results from Minocycline and this is the clearest my skin has looked, but I did experience a lot of nausea and exhaustion after first starting cephalexin. I'm not sure if it's directly been caused by the meds or not, but it's definitely been worth it if it means I don't need to go on accutane!
This Was Helpful

15 user(s) found this helpful

Report
June 29, 2016
How long did you take ceph, if you stopped taking did your acne return?
March 21, 2015
Didn't do a thing...
I took Cephalexin twice a day for two solid months and it didn't do anything at all.
This Was Helpful

6 user(s) found this helpful

Report