Oral Antibiotic
Efficacy
56%
Based on All Available Studies
Strength of Evidence
Note: Should never be used on its own and for a maximum of 3 months.
Oral Antibiotic
Acne.org’s Real World Take
Antibiotics should be used for a maximum of 3 months, provide only moderate benefit and only to some people, and may lead to side effects and strains of resistant bacteria. Studies do show doxycycline can reduce severe acne in the short term, and as far as oral antibiotics are concerned, it’s usually the go-to, but approach with caution and stay your own advocate.
Oral Antibiotic
How to Get It
Have a dermatologist? Make an appointment to get this medication. Don't have a dermatologist? See The American Academy of Dermatology Physician Database to find one.
Used Doxycycline? Rate It:
Choose from 1 to 5 stars
October 5, 2020
No funcionó para mi
Durante julio comence un tratamiento contra el acné (leve a moderado), la dermatologa me recetó 100mg de doxicilina por día, y un tratamiento tópico de adapleno 3 veces por semanas. Al principio sentía que si me estaba funcionando, de hecho redujo la inflamación de mis lesiones. el primer mes me llene de granos gigantes, eran muy dolorosos y mi piel estaba muy sensible, pensé que estaba en la fase de purga, de la que la mayoría de las personas hablaban. sin importar seguí con el tratamiento y mi piel se puso aun peor. Ya en el segundo mes comence a tener dolores de estomago y se hicieron mas frecuentes, mi piel seguia igual, se supone que el tratamiento era por 3 meses, ya cumpli los tres meses pero no veo ninguna mejora, de hecho siento que me dejo peor mi piel en comparación a omo estaba en el inicio.
July 2, 2018
doxy and tretinoin
I'm a 15 year old girl who has, unfortunately, suffered from mild acne since I was 11. However, my acne has progressively gotten worse since the beginning of this year. I started using epiduo which, I believe, ruined my skin even more. I developed really bad hyperpigmentation all over my face and was always covered in pimples, mainly whiteheads and cysts. I finally went to a dermatologist in April and upon looking at my face, he recommended accutane or an antibiotic plus topical treatment. He told me that with the antibiotic/topical treatment, there may only be a 20-30% improvement. Nevertheless, I decided to trial the antibiotic/topical treatment because I was and still am wary and afraid of accutane. I was prescribed 100mg of doxycycline and 0.05% tretinoin cream to use at night. During the first two weeks of treatment, I only used the tretinoin every other day because I do have extremely sensitive skin (I blame the Epiduo). Also, I wash my face with cetaphil cleanser, moisturise with the cetaphil dry skin cream and use SPF 30 daily. Here is a brief summary of my progress thus far:
Month 1/2: Lots of peeling and dryness in the first week. Saw improvements in skin texture, not that many little bumps but still had at least 5 pimples constantly on my face. Slight improvement in hyperpigmentation but I was picking my acne so this wasn't unexpected.
Month 3 (current): reduction in number of pimples on face, improvement on skin texture and hyper pigmentation has started to fade. I have my dermatologist appointment soon and I am hoping to continue this treatment for at least 2 more months because I have read many reviews saying that the skin didn't clear up until 3-6 months into the treatment.
I will be posting any follow up reviews. Hope this helped !
May 26, 2018
It Cleared My Acne But Stopped Working For me After a While
I gave this product a three because it generally did help with my acne. I have had acne since I was in middle school, I am now 20. My family Doctor perscribed 100mg of Doxy as a short term solution but I ended up staying on the drug for over a year. within 1 month of taking the medication my acne was noticeably better, I wasn't breaking out with any new spots. After 7 months on the drug all my acne was pretty much clear. I decided to stop the medication at this point but my acne started coming back. After 2 months of being off Doxy, I went back to it because my acne was all coming back. I used the drug for 4 months but I was still breaking out. I went back to my dermatologist and told her my issues and she doubled my dose only for 2 weeks to see if that would make any difference. Within the first week of her doubling the dose I had many negative side effects, I decided to stop taking it all together.
November 20, 2017
Worked but only temporary
Last year in August I started doxycycline because my acne was so severe! I was also prescribed a .025% tretinoin cream and aczone 5%. I took doxycycline everyday twice a day for 6 months and let me tell you..this skin regimen completely cleared my skin in 3 months. I was the happiest I had ever been especially since it was my senior year in high school. I got off the pills in February and stayed with the topical treatments. My skin was clear and they prescribed be .05% tretinoin gel as well as the aczone. Skin was clear but then end of September my skin broke out like crazy. I am back to the severe acne I had before. I am still struggling with it now and I genuinely don't know what to do. I eat healthy and work out. I just started my 3rd month of birth control so maybe thats another reason why i broke out because my body is adjusting to it but still. Doxycycline is only temporary and won't last forever ): I am thinking about starting it again because I can't deal with my face now. Being a freshman in college and going out almost every night is fun until you see people looking at the bumps on your skin, even if its covered with makeup.
May 18, 2017
Early days yet
Early days yet. I went to my GP a week ago about my acne rosacea and he gave me a referral to a dermatologist, as well as something (Doxycycline) to treat my skin til I go to the derm. I've only been on it a week but I haven't experienced any side effects and I always take it with food, never on an empty stomach since you can develop stomach ulcers. Anyway, I'll keep you guys updated about my success and wish the best for me.
Akae8
January 31, 2018
How did the doxycycline go? Did it help you please?
January 3, 2017
Cleared my skin (for a couple of months)
Cleared my skin completely.. to the point I had baby skin again.. unfortunately just like with any antibiotic, acne comes back after you stop taking it
January 1, 2017
be patient and it will work
Hello everyone, I'm 13 yrs old so if you are not a teenager then you probably have a different skin type to me but i'm also middle eastern ( Kurdish to be precise.) I was previously on a acne drug called tetralysal and it didn't really do the magic on my skin, so I went back to my local doctor and she prescribed me tetracycline/doxycycline 1 tablet a day, at the start,the drug didn't really kick it and i had a few yellow breakout that left a scar but as i reached the end of the month my skin hadn't had a major breakout for about 2 weeks and with daily washing my face is much more clearer and my mum has noticed a difference in my skin but unfortunately i have acne scars,there not major but there is some red scars which really does bother me. I would recommend this if your acne isn't as severe but if you have really bad acne then go on accutane. Lot of people say do not drink or eat dairy products as they do your skin hell, but i've been enjoying full fat milk and lots of chocolate and it has not made a difference to my skin at all so is probably all a myth. please do not use heavy facial scrubs on your face EVERYDAY as it will leave your skin feeling rough and not smooth, it will also scrub off a layer of skin which is vital to preventing acne , so make sure you gently scrub your face and only scrub once a month in the t-zone,chin and nose.DO NOT SCRUB EVERYDAY. also does anyone know what to do about my scarring? will it go because im 13 and im still growing? Many thanks
naz
btw doxy will not work in a month it will take time
October 27, 2016
No results yet
I have been on this a month and saw no results so far. My dermatologist has me on it for two months so I'll see what I happens.
December 19, 2017
Howd it go
October 16, 2016
Worked, and then relapse after a year
I took this for about 6 months after a severe cystic outbreak (this outbreak was a relapse after accutane). Definitely cleared up my skin like a miracle, results were almost instantaneous that even my doctor was surprised. No purge, all inflammation just went down and my face was smooth. I could see my skin and the contours of my face again. (NOTE: I simultaneously eliminated dairy and sugar, and took probiotics after the antibiotics gave me a yeast infection). Here I am, about a year after completing the 6-month course, with a relapse of cystic acne. Not as severe as before doxycycline, but still pretty bad. Even though it worked at that time, I'm never taking antibiotics again, just because I felt like I was poisoning my insides for 6 months. And seems to be a temporary solution for me because here we go again with another bout of breakouts.
August 19, 2016
Not for me, but maybe worth a shot
I was prescribed this after I had a very bad experience with Minocycline (headaches, and possibly pseudotumor cerebri).
I got headaches right off. I tried it for a couple of days, but it still was giving me head pain. I don't know if I'm just not meant to take antibiotics (I've heard doxycycline is related to minocycline) or what, but after what happened with the minocycline I wasn't willing to risk staying on a whole week.
It didn't work for me, but that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work for you.
August 22, 2016
Did you find anything that worked for you? I have peri oral dermatitis and I have to take either minocycline or doxycycline...... I CANNOT tolerate Minocycline and Doxycycline is tolerable but I feel so strange on ti and I don't like it.