Doxycycline
Results
Side Effects

Doxycycline is an oral antibiotic that works by fighting bacteria in the body, including in the skin, and also reduces inflammation. It should...

Doxycycline is an oral antibiotic that works by fighting bacteria in the body, including in the skin, and also reduces inflammation. It should be used only short term (max. 3 months).

It is usually prescribed at a dose of 50 to 100 mg once or twice per day.

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4
35.1%
3
21.8%
2
12.1%
1
10.5%

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September 26, 2011

Pros:

Cleared up my entire face except for blackheads on my nose.
Nice and simple.
Free (in Europe, if you have health insurance).

Cons:

Worked only once.
Yeast infection.
Prescription needed.
You can't drink alcohol.
Sun issues.

Worth a try but only if your family doctor / GP gives you a prescription.
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September 25, 2011

Pros:

Made redness decrease
Less blackheads
Reduced body acne some

Cons:

Noticeable side effects, like sleep pattern changes and horrible sensitivity to the sun. I am pale to begin with and I had the worst sunburn of my life on my HANDS from one day at an outdoor job. It feels like your skin is on fire whenever you are in the sun. Stomachaches for a solid half hour after taking each pill. Plus there is the fact that I hate taking pills to begin with, and this is a twice a day medication.

I have invested a lot of money into getting rid of acne, and I think this is decent in reducing acne. If you have light acne, it is so not worth it. This reduces my acne but is nowhere near eliminating it, and I take it with a topical treatment as well.
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September 23, 2011

Pros:

Got rid of blackheads

Cons:

Gave me worse acne. Cysts, whiteheads, the whole shebang. Made me tired. Scarring.

I tried it for 2 weeks with Ziana and a benzoyl peroxide wash. When my acne got worse, I quit using the topic stuff. I was just on the pill for 3 weeks and my acne got worse. I quit it and my face is still recovering. Gotta go hit up my derm yo.
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September 20, 2011

Pros:

Works well for cystic acne
Extremely cheap ($2.87 before insurance)
Easy to use (compared to topicals for body acne)

Cons:

Intense stomach aches
Sensitivity to sun
Cannot take with certain foods high in calcium or iron
Does not work forever
Can cause antibiotic induced diarrhea
I personally have found it to be less effective for body acne than for facial acne, but not completely ineffective.

Doxycycline is a great but temporary solution. It will NOT work forever. I have been using it for a month, but a few years ago, I was taking it for over a year and it simply stopped working at all. Probiotics are a must. Eat plenty of yogurt, but make sure you eat it 3 hours before or after your dose. Antibiotic induced diarrhea can have very serious complications, and once it starts, it can be difficult to fix it. Increased sun sensitivity definitely happens. It was not as severe for me as it is for some, but I did notice it. Basically, sunlight feels like its burning your skin. You will definitely want to avoid excessive sunlight if you notice this feeling. If you are going to use doxycycline, I would start discussing other options with your physician. In my case, I have body acne, as well, so topical solutions aren't a very effective option for me. I am strongly considering Accutane after this round of doxycycline treatment. Either way, be prepared for this treatment to stop working, sometimes sooner than later. It works slowly. People here are saying they saw results within 2 weeks, sometimes within days. That is not typical. Generally, you won't see significant results for 4-6 weeks. Doxycycline does, in itself, have some mild anti-inflammatory properties. To be honest, ibuprofen has been a more effective anti-inflammatory for me. It also stops working slowly. If at any time after 6-8 weeks you notice your acne is beginning to return to the same level as before, don't wait to start discussing other options. I have also been on minocycline and have found doxycycline to be vastly more effective. My acne: Severe cystic acne on face and back. After 1 month, I have almost no active cystic acne left.
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September 14, 2011

Pros:

-Cleared cystic acne almost entirely!
-Significantly improved back acne
-Results seen within two weeks

Cons:

-Extremely sensitive to the sun!!!!! (I got terrible sun poisoning on my hands for the first month... just from driving in the car to and from work)
-Yellowed teeth
-Consistant slight red flush to the face
-Yeast Infections
-Scalp sensitivity
-Must not take on empty stomach

If your acne bothers you very much, especially if you have cystic acne, I would definitely recommend taking this antibiotic. With that said, I do think that you should be very aware of the side effects! My skin is not completely clear from this antibiotic, but it has improved. That is why all of the side effects were worth it to me. And my side effects were horrible. Right away I got a very severe case of sun poisoning on my hands that lasted for 3 weeks. And that was with applying SPF 70. You must not go out in the sun if you are taking this medication (I am on 100mg). If you are going to spend a day at the beach, my derm said to skip the medication that day (it leaves your body in 24 hours). I even had to wear gloves driving to work in the morning! Yeast overgrowth is a big problem if you are taking this antibiotic long term. Talk to your doctor about potentially taking a probiotic. Another significant side effect is yellowing of the teeth. I have always been known for having extremely white teeth without whitening them, but they are definitely a light shade of yellow now. My mother warned me of this so, I was expecting it. Lastly, take this medicine with food! Taking it on an empty stomach will cause you to feel very sick. I did not have the problem of throwing up at all though. I took 100mg a day for a while, so one pill in the morning and one pill at night. Now I just take 1 pill (50mg) with dinner because I am out in the sun a lot and can't handle taking it in the morning. Ance isn't as clear as it was, but still better than before starting Doxy. Hope this helps!
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September 10, 2011

Pros:

Works Very Fast! Its my fourth day of using doxycycline and it has significantly reduced the redness on my face and raised areas
ITS A LIFE SAVER!

Cons:

NONE
In order to avoid the sickness that the earlier reviews mentioned is do NOT take doxycycline with dairy products with 2 hours of consuming dairy. This will not only reduce the effectivness of the medicine but also make you feeling sick

Remember to wear sun protection, as the only real problem with doxycycline is that it the skins ability to absorb light is reduced = potential for burning!
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September 9, 2011

Pros:

None

Cons:

Horrible yeast infections

It didn't clear my acne at all and caused yeast infections that i had to fight for at least 6 months. The worst time of my life. Maybe it does help somebody, but I would never ever recommend it to anyone. Bactrim, in contrast, cleared my acne overnight. But unfortunately, it's also an antibiotic.
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September 7, 2011

Pros:

Absolutely none.

Cons:

Made my acne a million time worse.

It did NOT work for me. I took it twice a day for 3 months and it made my acne awful. At the end of the 3 months, it wasn't as bad, but it was still bad.
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September 6, 2011

Pros:

Cleared a lot of acne in the short amount of time I was taking it.

Cons:

Side effects were brutal

This antibiotic worked great for the 4 days I was taking it. I saw many of my pimple vanish. On the 3rd day I developed a blinding, nauseating headache. at first I didn't attribute it to the Doxycycline. I took my next dose along with some tylenol for the headache. despite multiple doses of tylenol (which always gets rid of my headaches) I had the headache all day, it was incapacitating. The next day I woke up unable to swallow anything but small sips of water. I went to the ER and they scoped my esophagus and I had ulcerations from top to bottom. They sent me home, but I returned 2 days later weak and dehydrated because it hurt too much to swallow that I couldn't drink enough water. I had to stay in the hospital for 2 days with an IV. I still couldn't drink much or eat. The symptoms lasted 10 days. 10 days of eating practically nothing and only taking a sip of water at a time and even then it was in agony. Beware the side effects of this medication.
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September 2, 2011

Pros:

None

Cons:

Hard to take. Must be taken twice a day, without a meal, and can't be taken within 2 hours of a meal.

I took Doxy with Differin for two months. It made my acne a lot worse so my derm switched me to Mino afterwards. Both did absolutely nothing for me but make my skin worse.
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