Tetralysal : Lymecycline Oral Antibiotic

After suffering since high school I started taking Tetralysal for my acne when I was 20, after a month or two this treatment worked wonders for my skin and by month five I had even gained enough confidence to go out without wearing any makeup (something that I hadn't done since I was 15). Towards the end of the sixth month I had started to notice the odd spot cropping up, but it was nothing in comparison to what I had dealt with before, so I put it down to stress and just carried on with the treatment. Then following advice from my nurse I stopped the treatment, in the hope that my skin would stay how it was. Sadly a month later my acne had come back with vengeance and in places that I hadn't had it before, I went back onto Tetralysal for another two months but my skin continued to get worse so I made the decision to stop taking it again. A year after starting to take this antibiotic I am back to square one, if anything my acne is worse now. This was a great temporary fix for me, but the effects were not long lasting. Hopefully I find a solution soon as I have completely lost my confidence again.

I have been on this drug a few times. I had severe acne but in the UK you have to try antibiotics before going on accutane. It had very little effect and over time had no effect at all. After my first round of accutane my acne returned a few years later and I had to go back on this drug. My acne was not as severe this time and it did slightly help but after time this drug losses all effectiveness, and was put on a second round of accutane. A couple of years later and I am back on this drug. Same issues as last time. In my opinion this drug is not meant for people with moderate to severe acne as it has little to no effect, however I recommended it as I can imagine it is useful for people with mild acne or people who suffer the occasional breakout. It also has very little side effects so you may as well try it.

It didn't reduce my acne that much although it helped a little with the redness. I think it depends on the person really, and I was very patient and religously took it every morning at the same time. I don't think it was the antibiotic for me and tomorrow I'm about to start Dianette which is also a contraception drug.

I started taking lymecycline around January for 5 months and after a few weeks my skin was so clear, I only had one or two spots and they were no where near as severe as they used to be. However, around the end of March my spots all came back and they were even worse than before and on places of my face that I never used to get them, so I stopped taking them a few weeks after my spots returned because they clearly had no effect now.

I took two or three courses of this antibiotic (prescribed by my dermatologist) last year, because one just didn't seem to be enough. My skin did improve, but I started breaking out again pretty much straight after coming off of it.