Background - I have PCOS, which is now under control thanks to diet and exercise (meaning, my testosterone which was in the high range years ago, is now in the normal range on all blood work, my TOM is regular and I ovulate every month). Still, some of the effects of PCOS, such as facial hair growth and cystic acne, had remained. The acne has gotten much much better, but would still pop up every now and then. I also have very oily skin. My dermo recommended spiro every time I saw him, and said there were basically no side effects. Even though my skin was decent, compared to how it used to be, I read the reviews and thought, why not try it and have absolutely perfect skin for the first time in my life? He put me on 50 mg for the first 2 weeks, then upped it to 100 mg after that. For the first two weeks I broke out a little, tiny little whitehead type bumps, but nothing major. As soon as I upped it to 100 mg I suddenly had giant cystic eruptions everywhere on my face - my chin was the worst, it genuinely changed the shape of my face because the bumps were so large. I felt like Cyclops. I also broke out on my cheeks, where I had never broken out before in my life. And none of these pimples ever came to a head, so just giant painful bumps which took many weeks to go away. I went back down to 50 mg, which didn't help, so I went down to 25 mg and the giant pimples stopped forming immediately (still took a while for the ones I already had to disappear). I read all the reviews about how you have to give it time and it gets worse before it gets better and I decided to try again, this time only going back up to 50 mg. Immediately I broke out in tiny little white bumps all along my temple into my cheeks. It almost looked like an allergic reaction, it was so so bad. Makeup did nothing to hide it either. I stopped spiro altogether, and it went away almost immediately. It has now been 3 weeks since I've taken spiro and I haven't had a breakout since. I have some scarring which I'm working on, but for me, this drug was the opposite of a wonder drug. It may be that if I had kept taking it, I would have eventually had the clear, soft skin of a newborn, but it wasn't worth going through months looking like Cyclops to get there. The only positive I can say about this drug is that my skin was not oily when I was on it. It didn't get super dry, just stopped it from being oily, and the pores on my nose did look smaller. But for me, it wasn't worth it. My hormones are not out of balance, based on my last few blood tests, so maybe this works better if you're in a stage where your hormones are out of wack? One final note - when I went off spiro, I immediately started spotting. So it can mess with your cycle a bit.

I took this medication for 1 full year, after 4 months of taking it I noticed improvement with breakouts along my jawline but that is it.

I had horrible deep cyst like bumps. Mostly around my chin area. my doctor put me on this medicine. I started out with 50mg a day. That was working a little bit, but I was still getting a few deep cysts and it wasn't getting rid of the old ones. After being on that for about 2-3 months. He increased it to 100mg a day. after being on the 100mg a day for about 2-3 weeks my face felt great and the cysts were finally going away. Then I started having horrible stomach pains. This was like 10 times worse then regular period cramps. I felt nauseous and like I would be sick. Then I started having bloody bowls. Obviously I did not want to take it anymore, so I stopped. After about a week of being off of it I am still having horrible stomach pains, hopefully they go away soon. I also gained 10lbs just form being on the drug for about 4 months, which I was not a fan of! The symptoms were just not worth the clear skin.

I've battled hormonal acne since age 10 Currently 22. I've been on every antibiotic and topical cream on the market and even did a course of accutane. I tried to fight the battle the NATURAL way for a year with no improvement. In 12/2014 my acne was the worse it's ever been I was depressed and stayed locked in my house hidden all winter. Finally the derm that I'd been seeing for two years finally stopped wasting my time and referred me to an OBGYN to treat my hormonal acne. 4/2015 I started taking Spiro at 25mg twice daily for two months and saw no results until I upped my dose to 100mg drastic change no more breakouts oil production cut in half my skin is gorgeous scars and all and with my scars fading no more huge pores my skin just continues to improve. It's now been 3 1/2 month's and I will continue to take this amazing med that has made daily life a ton better for me. A couple of weeks ago I started doing the ACV and Indian healing clay mask every 3 days and it's a black head blaster and is great at drawing impurities out of the skin. I may look into chemical peels for the deeper scarring I have but overall I'm happy and grateful to have came across this miracle drug my mood is even better depression is GONE and anxiety greatly reduced. The good out ways the bad for me. CONS*: -Some tiredness here and there. -Thirst -Excessive urination at night on some nights after 2nd dose -Some dehydration in the a.m. due to urination at night -Made my period 2 days longer (was 5 days now 7days) but still regular every 25 days. I may switch up my pill cycle to prevent this. Also this started only when I upped the dose to the 50mg twice daily so my body may still be adjusting. I love this med and would recommended to anyone UPDATE: 8-12-2015 So I'm going back down to 50mg a day because the side effects w/ 100mg have become a bit much my period is now irregular and I've been a bit depressed. Going back to 50mg . UPDATE: 8/28/15 At 50mg the depression is gone but my oil production is back up so I'm getting some clogged pores and some breakouts very mild though. I'm considering upping the dose to 75mg as an attemp to control the oil so the clogged pore breakouts stop. 100mg is the magic dose for 100% clear glowing skin but the side effects are nothing but trouble. ****12/4/2015**** I no longer take Spiro for a number of reasons. It may seem like a maricle and fill you with joy to finally have some skin clarity however, at what cost? Smh Spiro is no good in my opinion it alters the way your kidneys function, spares too much potassium, messes with your thyroid, gives you sore breast, depression, irregular periods, dehydration, crazy fatigue and you WILL STILL HAVE ACNE. These are all the things I experienced while on spiro my skin was clearer but never completely clear I'd still get 2-3 jawline pimples around my period they would heal fast but I never got full clarity . Winter's here and now my skin is breaking out more and Spiro is not helping AT ALL and I feel I gave Spiro too much credit when I feel I owe that credit to the summer and the vitamin d(sun) I was getting all summer. The past 3 years I've watched my acne closely and I've notice that my acne is BAD in the winter and VERY MILD in the summer. I decided to try more natural things and recently started taking 6,000IU vitamin d, spearmint tea & peppermint tea along with a kidney and liver detox tea, I'm gonna keep doing this regimn and see how is goes. As for Spiro STAY AWAY

Background- my doctors believe I have an atypical case of PCOS (meaning I don't have many of the symptoms most women with PCOS have, but do have polycystic ovaries), found this out in March 2015. Day 38 of 50mg/day of Spiro & just started my third pack of Beyaz BC pills. So needless to say my skin has been going through a rollercoaster of hormonal changes the last 2 months & I have been so depressed about it. Since starting both meds, I have had at least 2 active cysts on my face at all times (and many other acne spots that are scaring or trying to heal). I feel like I have been living at the derm office with all the weekly injections I am getting (really is the only way for my cysts to diminish). Yesterday, my derm agreed to up my dosage to 100mg of spiro a day. I am PRAYING this is what will do the trick. I know that I need to give the spiro & BC pills time to work (they say 3-4 months?). But I am sure others can agree that acne is so draining, it's all I can think about and has literally spiraled me into being depressed. Any words of encouragement? Do I just need to stick it out for results? Thanks so much for any responses :)

Ive been on Spiro for almost a month. 50 mg twice daily as well as minocyclin 50 mg twice a day and 0.1 Trentinon(spelling) cream at night. I haven't seen any improvements. Some days my skin looks even worse. I'm trying to stay positive. Here's a little background about myself. I'm 30 years old and my skin has never been as bad as it is now. I've suffered from cystic acne since puberty and I've always kept it somewhat under control with anti-biotics, a clean diet and a ton of exercise. I've modeled for some years, and have always had to apologize for my skin. It's caused such low self esteem. I had a horrible back injury this last September, and since my skin has worsened. Rough texture, oily, and painful, and beck acne which I've never had. I'm back to work as a personal assistant, embarrassed of how I look, like my skin is all people see. Turning down modeling jobs. In a nutshell it's causing me to be severely depressed. I have a supportive boyfriend who constantly gives me words of hope. Also, All of your reviews have given me strength, so I thank you! At this point I can say Acne is a disease. I don't wish it in anyone. All I can hope is that Spiro brings me some results SOON! Il keep you all posted!

This drug has helped a lot of people, so I'm a little weary posting this review considering I had a relatlvely negative experience. My acne is hormonal (PCOS). This drug was given to me by my dermatologist who was convinced this would help. I took it from November 2012 to September 2013, only just stopping last week. Not only did this not help my acne at all, it also caused me to be EXTREMELY fatigued. I also had quite a few of the negative side effects listed on the medication's pamphlet, such as irregular, fast heartbeat, dizziness, etc. I always felt like I was going to pass out or fall asleep while driving. I had to quit the gym and I found myself sleeping whenever I could find the time. My job suffered, I gained weight, and I was miserable. Last week I decided that enough was enough, and I stopped the drug. I felt a little better the next day, but every day I get better. I also found that I didn't have to pee a lot on this medicine, no more than I had to before taking this years ago. Try for yourself if I didn't scare you enough! Just make sure it's well regulated. My doctors neglected to tell me about the side effects and I really thought I was terribly, terribly ill. Good luck!

i have struggled with acne since I was 12. I am 21 now and all I can say is I have tried it all! I started at with topicals (at least 30 I have tried already such as retin-A, differen, duac, ziana, climadycin (sp. ?)). Next was antibiotics like soladyn, minocycline, eurthromycin, doxycycline. after that was birth control Loestrin 24 FE and I took that for 4 months with my skin getting even more severe tat my derm didn't want me to depend on that to clear my face up so she put me on Accutane for 5 months at 60 mg, within 6 months I started breaking out again so she put me on another round of Accutane for 5 months at 60 mg again. 6 months later I was breaking out again so this time I went to my gyno and requested ortho-tri-cyclen (FDA approved to help acne) and I was on that for a year with only 50% relief. then I switched to ortho-cyclen and my face cleared up dramtically. however, my iron levels started getting really high so my doctor didn't want me on bc pills anymore so I went back to the derm and she gave me spiro. this drug did begin to clear my face amazingly at the end of the 5 month and I had horrible breakouts the months before (really bad IB). however, my hair started falling out so much on the 100mg that I lowered to 75 mg and it continued to fall out and thin out. I was freaking out so I stopped it cus I cant afford to lose anymore hair! also 100 mg made my period messed up but 75 mg didn't. if your hair isn't falling out and thinning on this med then def keep at it. it took 5 whole months for me to begin to clear up and I didn't see any improvemnets in the first 4.5 months; no joke. I have also tried to cut out dairy, soy, wheat, and gluten from my diet and take vitamins that are great for acne and nothing helped me. Spiro will help you eventually but if your in a situation like mine, pick your hair over your face! I just stopped it and hopefully my hair stops falling out and grows back!

I am 23 years old and just started getting hormonal acne. In high school I had the odd couple break outs that I could usually use some sort of topical solution like differin and they would clear up. My skin would get use to these medications and they would become un effective so I would have to move on to the next treatment. My doctor prescribed me spiro 25mg 3 times a day (75mg/per day).Within the first couple of days I noticed my hair was not as oily and I could go 2 days without showering, which was unheard of before. I lost 3 pounds and I felt very weak and my breasts are super tender. It hurts when people hug me even. My skin started to break out in horrible huge cysts which had never happened to me before. This lasted for 2 and a half weeks. I am probably going to have to get laser therapy to remove the scars these will leave behind. I would cry, not leave the house and get strength from reading other reviews telling me I just had to wait it out. Now that I am in my third week I have noticed my skin clearing up and only a couple new smaller zits. Its also my time of the month so that could be contributing to this. I am going to keep at it for another couple months and wait to see the results. However I feel as though my acne was more manageable before I started this medication. I also researched it up and down (since I had to stay in on the weekends due too my embarrassment of the large pimples that were taking over my cheeks) and found out this medication is SERIOUS. You really need to watch your potassium intake or it could do irreversible damage to your liver and kidneys. I was up set my doctor never mentioned this and am going back so i can get blood work done(this is very important). Also i have read it only works while you are on the medication, its more of a band-aid than a cure. I am scared to go off of it because who knows what my skin will be like. I have also read reports that if you take this drug for a long period of time it can give you cancer. I would only suggest this as a last resort for desperate people. I wish I had been more informed before I started popping these pills.

If you are a woman, and your derm suggests it, I would give it a try. I wish it had worked for me, but it didn't. I imagine if you don't respond well to "low dose" birth control pill, you won't respond to this, either.