I'm 30 y.o. female, had adult acne for at least 10 years but it got much worse the past 4 (grad school and moving to Louisiana climate probably didn't help). My mother had terrible acne until menopause and I was almost resigned to the same fate after spending thousands of dollars on all sorts of stuff over the years, including dermatologists, with no long-term solution. I've been on BC the whole itme which has helped minimally. I tried spiro alone for a month and saw some, but not much change. What finally worked for me has been topical tretinoin cream (1%, the strongest Rx), WITH spironolactone 100mg in the morning AND a long cycle of minacycline to clear up the rest after the initial breakout/adjustment period was over. During the 3 days before and 4 days after my period starts, I increase to 100mg in AM and 50mg PM. It took about 3-4 months to get to a clean slate but for then for the past 3 months I've finally reached a good maintenance period where I can even miss a day or two of my normal routine / meds and not have a problem- now just waiting for the scars to disappear. It used to be disaster if I so much as used a different face wash. An important note though: For 6 weeks I was taking 100 am plus 100 pm. When I went for lab check, my potassium was on the borderline level. I had eaten a persimmon the day before, which is high in potassium (I didn't realize this until I researched it after the lab results) but still, I want to reiterate the importance of lab checks until you get everything sorted out if your doctor recommends. Heart health > complexion. Anyway, I did notice diuretic effects the first week but after that either my body adjusted or I just stopped noticing the frequency of having to pee. I gained 1lb since starting it but I don't think that is due to the spiro. My breasts were a little tender at first and my husband said they were a little bigger but I can't tell. Def better to take in the AM than evening if you have a choice though because you don't want to wake up in the middle of the night unnecessarily to go to the restroom. At first, my face was embarrassingly dry but this was primarily due to the tretinoin and I knew I just had to suffer through it. Now that my skin has adjusted, another (what I consider huge) benefit of spiro is my hair is much less oily (as is my face). Before I had to wash it every 3 days; now I wash it every 7-8 (unless I sweat a lot, in which case I'm washing on principle, not b/c it's oily). I dread having to give spiro up if/when I get pregnant. You def need to maintain dr's supervision on this med though. This is a long review but hope the info is helpful!

48bf skeptical about taking spiro long term went 8 months using trin/1% anyone taken this at this age

I quit taking Camrese BCP's about 4 months ago, and hormonal acne kicked in. I have cysts on the right and left side of my chin and pimples down my jawline/neck area, hairline, chest, and back. At first I continued to break out, but now on day 16 of Spiro, I am feeling like it may be getting better. I have noticed that my skin and hair is less oily than before Spiro. I did also notice the diuretic affect during the first 3 days. I will mention that my breasts seem to be fuller and softer. I stayed the same weight so far. My dermatologist told me to give it 2 months to see results. I am 38 year old female, 130 lbs. I will report back with an update.

Started taking 50 mg about a week ago. At first, nothing happened. Then I missed one dose and BOOM: my skin went nuts. I'm not sure if it's because I missed one dose or if this was the initial breakout kicking in. I've been taking for four days since and my skin's still bad. If this is the initial breakout, I'm not sure it's worth it.

I just started taking Spironolactone 100mg. Last night was my first pill. I'm praying to god this works for me because I feel like I am out of options! I'm 31 years old and have been struggling with large cystic acne for the past 6 years. I always have at least 1-6 papules on my jaw and chin at a time. Constantly!! then of course, when they calm down, they leave a big red scar! I never had problems as a teenager so it was a complete shock to me that this would happen in my 20s. Why me?? It has completely destroyed my self confidence and my social life. I hate going out in public. I feel disgusting. Even makeup looks horrible because you can still see those areas. I'm just so done! My question is, am I going to have to take this medicine for the rest of my life? I was hoping to start having children (just got married) in a couple years and I know you absolutely cannot take this while pregnant. When I stop, is it just gonna come right back?

Like a reviewer below, I was on the Implanon for the full 3 years until August 2014. After having the implant removed, within a week, I had a breakout that consisted on 5 inflamed cystic-like pimples on the left side of my face starting from my jaw line and moving upward towards my cheekbone. Before the implant removal, I had some mild acne, nothing near what it is today. I wake up with new inflamed pustules and cysts almost daily. I currently use Doxy 100mg daily since October and Epiduo topical nightly with minimal, and I mean MINIMAL (if any) improvement. My derm also prescribed me Spiro, which I literally just filled today, I am over this and over all the medication. My skin is definitely marked with hyper-pigmentation and some scarring. It sucks. My gyno said she has never seen or heard of this kind of change after the implant removal, but I have my doubts since nothing else could have wrecked havoc on my skin to this extent. I am going to try spiro and risk the side effects because I feel awful so anything that MAY help me is worth it at this point. I am concerned about period irregularities and refuse to take any oral contraceptive and go through this again in the future. I am 25 years old btw and have not experienced anything like this until now.

I started this in Aug 2014 and my acne got better but in Nov I started forgetting to take it 5 days in one week and I went back on and forgotten for another 5 days the next weekend. Now it's full blonde crazy around my cheeks and chin and not sure what to do.

I started spironolactone 7 months ago and I still have acne. I started taking it in May 2014 50mg a day. I have NOT seen any improvement, my acne just stayed the same. Big red and inflamed, all over my neck and chin really bad (that is normal for me). Last month my doctor upped my dosage to 100mg a day still no improvement. He said I need to come back and see him in February. I can't believe that is medicine isn't working for me. All the other reviews I've read are so positive and people are so happy. Should I keep taking it for another two months and just keep my fingers crossed or should I just give up and face the fact that this medicine just isn't for me? I'm so disappointed I had the highest hopes for this to work for me. I am a 32 year old woman with acne and I feel like I just wasted 7 months on this medicine. I am really sad but I'm am glad that others are seeing the results I wished I could of had.

Spironolactone: this medicine is the best decision I have EVER made. And I promise, I am not someone that had 2 zits on my face and was upset... I was someone that had large inflamed, painful, hormonal acne constantly all over especially my lower and middle cheeks (12+ zits constantly.) It was awful and I of course have bad red mark scarring everywhere, BUT this medicine has made me ACNE FREE! I started this medicine in mid August 2014 and now it is mid December 2014 and my face is wonderful (besides of course for the scars) I had always suffered from acne in high school, but once I became a freshman in college my acne was out of control. The zits became larger and were spreading like wildfire. This of course continued and got worse though my second year of college. I am now a junior and this fall semester I started this medicine and I am a new and more confident person that doesn't stare at the mirror in despair crying and wishing it would all disappear. If you are a female, please please consider taking this medicine. I had taken blood tests to test my hormone levels, and the results were pretty much normal, but that did not mean my acne was not hormonal because mine sure as hell was and was awful. So please! Try this!!! I am on 50mg twice a day. I have had no side effects, besides wonderful and clear skin. P.S. If I could attach pictures of my previous horrendous acne I so would, but sadly that is not an option! Also, if you would like to read a really great clinical study all about this medicine here it is! [link edited out]

im not kidding to whoever is reading this... please just take it. It has changed my life completely. Im 19 years old female in college. Heres my story: ever since 6th grade I've had a pimple here and there. Then freshmen year in high school BOOM acne all over my face mostly my forehead area and chin, never on my cheeks. I have tried everything in this world you can name from laser treatments topical gels to switching my birth control around like crazy. Even changing my flipping diet!!! Every dermatologist just threw prescriptions at me and honestly i did not what to go out in the world and would cry all day because of it. Worst feeling imaginable. Well i tried a new birth control and things calmed down again but then freshmen year in college the acne hit me all at once. When I'm meeting new people i as afraid they were staring at my face. Lack of sleep, poor diet, and stress I'm sure had an effect but then i was like f it I'm going to a top notch dermatologist. I went all the way to boston and she was the sweetest, nicest and down to earth dermatologist i have EVER met. She was like girl we are getting rid of this and prescribed me spironolactone( she even takes it herself). i have been on it for 3 months and my skin is completely acne free. I have some spots from sun and acne but they are slowly fading and i could not be happier. Please if your a girl struggling just get on this!!! also I'm using differin 0.3 gel to help cell turnover which helps so much. Sorry this was long but y'all needed to hear it!!!!