Acne.org Products
Oral Antibiotic
Efficacy
54%
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 they can reduce severe acne in the short term, 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 Minocycline? Rate It:
Choose from 1 to 5 stars
June 27, 2011
Cons:
Horrible Side Effects...
I wish I can recommend monocycline. The second day of taking it, I started feeling extremely dizzy (which was one of the side effects noted) and I thought after a few doses my body would adjust to it. On the third day, I started feeling like I was in a complete zone! It was almost like if I was getting anxiety, and at the same time was experiencing a bit of confusion, which really freaked me out. I am no where close to being depressed or feeling anxious and this medicine gave me a small experience of it. I called both my dermatologist and pharmacist, which both said that I got a rare, but had a reaction to it. It was the capsule that contained 100mg, which was too much for my body at one time. I am now on solodyn 50 mg tablets and so far so good, it's been 3 weeks and no crazy side effect as the previous med, but acne not fully treated yet. My advice is to immediately stop taking minocycline if you experience anything that I experienced!
June 20, 2011
Pros:
-Easy to take
-works well
-great results
-fair price
Cons:
- If you don't have a full stomach before taking the pill your stomach will hurt...ALOT!
-Takes a couple weeks (1 month or so) to see some clearing up
-mood swings (bad ones)
I went to my doctor because i have acne on my back and chest she sent me this cream and this medication, its great! but it takes patients and time to see the great results. like any other medication it has its ups and downs. i'm only 12, but my skin is the age of a 15 year old, acne sucks! this will help alot ! i recomend it, but of course its what your doctor recomends. :) good luck!
May 16, 2011
Pros:
This is not expensive, with insurance mine is only ten dollars.
Mostly cleared up my cystic acne, I only get cystic ones every now and then and they are not as red and swollen, and usually gone within a day or two.
Cons:
I have noticed that I have alot of small bumps all over my forehead which was never a problem area before.
The acne that I get leaves behind worse scars than it did before I was on this medicine.
I have noticed headaches and blurred vision
My scalp was really really dry and flaky. I am constantly itching my scalp now.
I have noticed bright red pimple looking bumps on my neck and collar bone area that I never used to have.
Personally, I would NOT recommend this treatment for acne. Although it has stopped my cystic acne it has given me very bumpy skin all over my forehead and it looks horrible. I have also noticed that I pee so many times a day now, I feel that my bladder has become weaker. I have also noticed bright red bumps on my neck and chest and back. I am going to get off this as soon as possible.
May 10, 2011
Product used: Solodyn (Oral Antibiotic)
Pros:
- Free first month, cheap for first few couple of months if you have insurance.
Cons:
- Fatigue
- Shoulder and chest pain
- Acne got a bit worse. Didn't help my cysts.
I started to break out 8 months ago with normal pimples just on the cheeks. Before this, i was completely clear, never had to wear make up at all. I think it was stress related. Benzaclin cleared it up, but then a week later i had a few small cysts. Doctor gave me solodyn. Made me really weak. My menstrual period started two weeks early, i don't know if it related to Solodyn though. But I always get my period on time. I had to stop Solodyn on my third week becus it was causing me too much tatigue. And gave me few more cysts. Didn't work for me, but might work for others. Goodluck.
April 19, 2011
Pros:
-Cleared up my acne almost immediately, im talking I could see a major difference the next morning.
-Easy to use, just a simple pill.
-Prevented future breakouts.
Cons:
- Dizzyness, Blurred Vision.
- I had a weird expirence read the "bottom line" below.
Ok, I am currently 17 years old and a junior in high school. Mid freshmen year is when I started to get moderate acne mostly around my chin and somewhat on my jawline. I used to use creams that didn't work so well so I decided to go to my dermatologist. I originally wanted accutane prescribed to me but they wouldn't give it to me, they wanted me to use minocycline first. I used 100mg(twice a day) for about 3 weeks and basically had no complaints at all. All the sudden, one day I was at a party with my friends after taking one of these pills and felt TERRIBLE. I had to have my friend drive me home and tell my parents my symptoms. Like I was completely MISERABLE. I had to stay in the next two-three days with a SEVERE HEADACHE, blurred vision(that I am still recovering from and it has been two weeks since I took my last pill, and an on and off rapid heartbeat. I just in general did not feel like myself at all, it was terrible. I have also noticed many other people say they now suffer from depression after using this pill. Thankfully now I have found a routine with creams that has successfully stopped my skin from breaking out. The first few weeks on this I was very happy but this does have some very bad long term side effects which is definitely not worth using. Overall, do I recommend this, NO. It worked like a charm for me until I had those terrible random side effects. P.S Don't worry your acne will eventually go away.
April 14, 2011
Pros:
-Took away some pimples in 2 weeks
-Cost me nothing
Cons:
-Didn't clear up my face
-No food
This cleared up my chin some, but didn't produce remarkable results. I have been taking this for about a month and a half
March 13, 2011
Pros:
worked like a charm for three weeks,
Cons:
but then it didn't.
also a minor side effect.
Started minocycline and saw instant results. My active acne dried up and disappeared; new zits, of which I had almost none, were cute little non-cystic things that came and went within a day. And so (other than post-inflammatory pigmentation) my face was clearer than it had been for months. I became happy and extroverted, wasn't ashamed to have Skype conversations, etc. etc. Then one morning there was a weird sensation in my throat. It felt exactly like the pill was stuck in my throat, like it was clinging to my esophagus Spiderman-style. The feeling persisted for the rest of the time I was taking minocycline. Later my doc would tell me that this was a lump in my throat, a side-effect mino can sometimes cause. She prescribed Carafate for my throat and switched me to Bactrim. But not before, about three weeks after starting mino, I had approximately the worst break-out of my life--seriously about 15 gnarly pimples, all on my chin, a lot of them cystic, a lot of them clustered together into mountain ranges of inflamed agony. Truly wondered what I had done to so violently anger the acne gods. My roommate asked who had given me oral herpes. If it works then bully to you. It gave me just three good weeks.
January 14, 2011
Pros:
Clears acne
Cons:
None really
I took this a year ago and was on a really low dosage (50mg) and it cleared my acne right away and I had no pimples. I went off of it and tried something else but when I went to college my acne got really bad so my dermatologist put me back on it however now 100mg twice a day but it didn't work like it had before except when I took both doses at the same time and now my acne is almost all cleared up. Yay! Acne sucks
September 30, 2010
Pros:
The cons outweigh any pros
Cons:
loss sense of taste. Everything just tasted bad. Not being able to eat led to depression. NOT a good experience!
I would not recommend this drug to anyone experiencing similar side effects. For me, the symptoms showed up with in three days. HOWEVER, the brand name form (solodyn) worked much better for me (no side effects, take only once daily). It isn't covered by insurance though so I had to use rebate cards that only works for three months.
July 25, 2010
Pros:
I worshipped this product for about a year. My acne wasn't too bad, but enough that it bothered me and this product completely cleared up my face. I used it for a year and experienced NO side effects.
Cons:
After a year of using the prodcut, it stopped working. Completely. And my acne came back worse than when I started using the medication!
I loved this product initially but it does not provide a long-term solution by any means! I'm now using Accutane.
Pros:
Inexpensive