Bactrim/Septra : (trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole) Oral Antibiotic

I took bactrim with duac and retin-a and I had amazing results. After the initial flareup, my skin was clear as day and my skin tone was even as well. My skin hasn't been that clear since I started puberty over 10 years ago. I took a break from the treatment to see if my skin would be fine on its own and it wasn't. Unfortunately, even though I've repeated the exact same treatment, I have never achieved the same results I did as the first time I took bactrim.

Bactrim is the only antibiotic that got my skin back to almost clear in about 2 months. After 2 weeks of taking the medication, I stopped getting any underground pimples and only some superficial whiteheads every once in a while. It gave me no side effects and I luckily did not have an allergic reaction to it (which is something you really need to look out for when on this medication). I am weening off of it now that I started Isotretenoin about 20 days ago (1 pill a day) and I am really glad I had this in my system when starting accutane because my IB was very manageable. However, contrary to reviews I read on here, it took about 3-4 weeks to fully work for me rather than a week like some people have experienced. I would also like to mention that minocycline and doxycycline failed for me, so this was a real miracle worker in my eyes because other antibiotics made my acne worse it seemed.

I have struggled with moderate/severe cystic acne off and on since I was 12 (I'm now a 31 y.o. female). A few years ago I started Bactrim. It completely cleared my skin within 3 months. I enjoyed continued clear skin as long as I took it - about 2 years. I stopped taking it about 6 months ago because I would like to become pregnant, after which the acne returned. If you take this drug, please also take a probiotic as it can cause damage to your gut, especially over long-term use. I'm currently seeing a naturopath to restore my gut flora to a healthy state and hopefully heal my skin naturally. Gut imbalances can cause/worsen acne, so be careful.

I have been on Bactrim for about 5 years now. I am male, healthy, and 23 years old now. I've been struggling with nodular cystic acne since I was a young teen (12-13 years old), I had it all over my chest, shoulders, face, and neck. Currently I am a graduate student, so that will speak to my intelligence. Here is my take- everyone is different. Personally I tried every single antibiotic and topical out there to tame my acne. Nothing worked including acutane. Ever since I've been on Bactrim my acne has been mitigated. Bactrim never 'cured' my acne, but I do strongly believe it drastically mitigates cystic acne. I still have acne, but am concerned about the health effects of staying on it for more years. Now since my acne is minimal I think I will start weaning myself off before I develop some type of allergy. I have tried every topical, Zianna, Epiduo, Benzo-creams. The best thing that works for me is Clindomyicin phospate gel. My skin always looks clearer in the morning after applying before bed. Recently I switched to a top dermatologist in Philly, he used to teach dermatology at the University of Penn. He recommended I start washing my face with HIBICLENSE. This can be bought at a CVS or grocery store over the counter (it is a red liquid). Surgeons use it to wash their hands before operating to kill the bacteria. Now I apply it on my face twice a day while in the shower. I let it sit on my skin for about 30 seconds and then rinse it off. Then I use a neutrogena benzo face wash (no exfoliator beads) after (also good for killing bacteria). I let that sit for about a minute and wash that off. This is the best regimen I came up with after 10 years of combating acne. Meanwhile I still take Bactrim DS twice daily. I also spot treat with a pink sulfur medicine i buy online (nothing works better). Since my skin is looking a lot better now, I will try to wean off the pills, and keep doing my shower regimine, and use clyndomyicin gel at night. Nothing is worth the risk of developing an allergy to this Bactrim I've come to realize from reading so many reviews. Use with caution.

I will be 30yrs old this Nov. & I've been dealing with acne my entire life. 2wks ago I mentioned to my doc that I can't stand it anymore. My face is always broke out, they leave horrible scars & to make it worse.. When it would start to clear up, It would only break out again. Also, I was getting horrible & painful ingrown hairs all over my legs. Being its now summer, I couldn't stand wearing pants all summer. So my doc said "let's try this medication called Monocycline for a week & if it works, we'll go from there." First few days were fine & noticed my face & legs starting to heal up. But then I started waking up in the morning, my hands & arms were tingling & swollen. At first thought maybe I slept wrong & had a pinched nerve. So had my husband rub my shoulders, it got a little better that day. But then the next few days the tingling got worst. One day when I was at work, (at Lowes) watering & attending to my plants & flowers as normal. I started sweating profusely, got dizzy, had a headache, my arms were tingling worse than the last few days. I just did NOT feel good at all. So I went home, went online & looked up symptoms of the medication. Sure enough, everything that was listed as serious, I was experiencing. After talking with my doc, we decided to start something new in a week. I've been on Septra for 3 days & already I can tell my acne & ingrown hairs diminishing. I have had a few headaches & joint pain, but that's something I'm used to. So, so far so good! Good luck to everyone & remember, not everyones body is the same! So for someone who had a horrible reaction, it could work great for another.

I would recommend this for sure. However, this is a sulfa drug-- something that people are allergic to. I have a feeling that a lot of the negative reviews here are from people that didn't realize that they were allergic to sulfa medication.

It cleared me up great when no other antibiotic worked. Eventually stopped working. Try this before going on accutane to give you a head start and you mostly likely won't have an IB from accutane.

When I went and saw my dermatologist for the first time my acne was so severe, with lots of cystic pimples, and scars that she wanted to put me on Accutane, but my parents were against it since I would have to be on bc. So instead of Accutane she perscribed this. The first few months on Bacrtim I didn't see much improvement at all, and I was about ready to give up when my skin started clearing a little by little. After a year my skin has become virtually pimple free, absolutely no cystic acne, and now I feel comfortable not wearing makeup most days. My dermatologist told me at my last visit this spring that I can discontinue the Bactrim when I think I'm ready, which was great news. I'm still taking it, but I may stop it towards the end of the year. :)

I find this a very helpful drug. Although a few days in and I began experiencing extreme heat flashes and i did sweat more when exercising, I'm a guy so it cant be anything nature related. also another thing i experienced was extreme lightheadedness and it doesn't cooperate with soft drinks very much. also when reading about things that can occur like steven-johnson syndrome it is very unlikely so dint worry unless you get exxtreme symptoms... but it works very well!!!

I only took this for 3 months but it did a decent job while I took it. I had horribly, huge cysts (half dollar size) and this helped with all the infection. All my cysts went down in size. Even more awesome, I didn't get yeast infections while on this. I still ended up on Accutane but this helped out a lot while I waited to get on Accutane.