Hi all, Let me start from the very beginning - I used to have good skin, only a few spots here and there, but being 16 I was very fussy and self conscious and wanted perfect skin. I went to the doctors and they put me on dianette (a strong birth control pill) which made my skin beautiful but also made me VERY fat. I stayed on for about 6 months and not being able to tolerate the weight, I came off and ended up getting the worst acne of my life. I tried to treat it naturally but nothing was working, so after a year of bad acne I went on the Yasmin pill, and started low dose spirinolactone too (this being self medicated as my doc would not prescribe it.) this combo worked perfectly, and my skin was as clear as ever and I never ever got any breakout no matter what I ate or what skin products I did or didn't use. After a few years on this combo, and suspecting Yasmin for causing my hair loss and flat, emotionless state and spironolactone for bad side effects, I weaned myself off of both meds and used Angus castus and Spearmint capsules and tea to balance my hormones and skin. This worked ok and my skin did well for about 2 years, and I managed to lose all the weight, however this dramatic weight loss triggered another breakout which kept getting worse and worse. I tried for 6 months to increase spearmint etc tried all different skin products but nothing was helping, in fact everything I did or used seemed to make my skin even WORSE. I had enough and started to self medicate spironolactone again, starting July 11th 2017 at a dose of 50mg. I slowly increased my dosage to 150 mg, and throughout this stage my skin was at it's worse ever, as you all probably know by now, it definitely gets a lot worse before it gets any better. My skin started to improve around the 3 months mark, by which this stage I had increased my dosage to 150mg in the morning (before 3pm is more effective as this is when androgens are at their highest) WITH food, and 50mg at night time with a snack. Taking it with food is very important. I also did a hell of a lot of research and at 200 mg the side effects were quite severe but it was the dosage that worked best for my skin, so I kept reading up on different things to alleviate this. What I found is that LICORICE ROOT (I take the Swanson Licorice root capsules - 2 with my 150mg morning dosage) works synergistically with spironolactone as Licorice root increase blood pressure and lowers potassium - where as spiro decreases blood pressure and increases potassium. So taking the Licorice root with the spironolactone ensures a good balance where blood pressure is not lowered so much, and potassium levels are not increased so much, every thing is balanced perfectly and it reduces the side effects to ZERO for me. I went from taking 200 mg and having bad heacahes, bad dizziness, non stop pissing, palpitations, to being able to take my dosage with none of those side effects and feeling great and healthy with CLEAR skin all by adding LICORICE ROOT to my regime. Try it! Ps it has now been just over 4 months of being on 200mg with the Licorice and my skin is 95% clear, I maybe get one tiny spot every week that you can't see only feel, I only have marks left from the old acne and even that is fading from doing lactic acid peels and using oils. I am positive my skin will be 100% clear and free of marks very soon, and imagine I went from getting 3-4 new cystic acne every day. Try it!!

I had very mild acne through high school and college (which I regret not appreciating at the time haha), but soon after graduating from university I decided to stop other meds (ADHD, depresssion), and the combination of that with finally getting some breathing room after 8 years of very intense schooling, probably released a bunch of toxins and caused my hormones to go into haywire. I tried antibiotics, Accutane, all the creams, facials. Nothing worked as well as spironolactone. I started on 100mg/day, but was really dehydrated, then went down to 75mg. After a year and a half of that dose, I went down to 50mg and am comfortable with this dosage. I and still get an occasional pimple but it will clear up in a day or so, whereas when I wasn't on spirono, I couldn't know when it would go away. However, I feel like I'm dependent on the medicine. I hope to, in the next year or so, go to 37.5 then 25, and eventually go off of it altogether, but I am anxious about the difficulty of that. Also, if you are hoping to get pregnant, you have to be off of this for at least a month before you can safely conceive. So if that is an immediate desire, I would stay away from this drug. If you don't want kids, I totally recommend it. It has redeemed my self esteem, but I'm unsure what the long term effects are. I do have occasional cramps and my periods are sometimes irregular, and I drink a ton of water, but my skin looks amazing. (I also use Rodan & Fields unblemish line, which helped me reduce to 50mg, with Oil of Olay Regenerist, as well as a prescription retinoid). I also think it might aggravate depression in some people, particularly with alcohol. So I would recommend reducing or remove alcohol altogether. In conclusion, I would say try everything else-with regards to foods, sugar intake, etc. before starting this, especially if you are hoping to become pregnant. But if that isn't a desire for you, I would try this incredible medicine. And if you do, be patient. It will work. But continue to listen to your body. *~~*~~*

I'm a 21 year old female that is caucasian and has fair skin that is extremely sensitive. Although my skin is sensitive, I struggle with oily acne prone skin. A couple of years ago I was given Bactrim at a pretty high dose to try and combat my acne. It worked! almost a week in, the acne was gone and the scars were disappearing. It was seriously an acne miracle. Although, every time I went off of the medication my acne returned with a fight. My derm didnt want me to be on bactrim forever since it is a pretty intense drug and isnt meant for forever use. Finally, I asked my dermatologist for me to try spironolactone. I have PCOS and knew my acne must be related to hormones. It was deep and cystic and never was a simple pimple or two. The first week (50 mg) my acne was the same. The second week (50 mg) my acne got worse. During this time I was still taking a pretty high dose of bactrim to get me through the initial breakout phase. After a month the initial breakout started to end and my skin returned back to its normal self (cystic acne like normal) I then upped my dose to 100 mg. My skin then had another initial breakout but wasn't nearly as bad as before. At about 2 months is when I saw some improvement in my skin. Anytime before that my skin was the same if not worse. My skin at this time was softer and my pores were smaller. I started to decrease my bactrim dose and to my surprise I wasnt breaking out as much as I would have before if I had lowered my bactrim dose. Before, my skin would breakout if I went even a day without taking my bactrim medication. At three months my skin improved even more. It was softer and i wasnt getting deep cystic acne but moreso regular pimples like anyone else. At four months my skin was getting softer, firmer, and less oily while having no cystic breakouts and no antibiotic medication. The first couple of months were rough but trust me, you just have to wait! It gets better. My skin is NOT perfect. but its 90 percent better than before.

I tried Spironolactone back in 2014 when my doctor recommended it. She felt I had hormonal acne, and I believe we had tried antibiotics, creams and other topicals in the past. When I was in my early 20s I was on accutane which was amazing except for the fact my hair thinned out a great deal, and there was a lot of shedding and a little bit of dryness (the corners of my lips would crack). Anyways fast forward to now I decided to give Spironolactone another try because I had been doing peels, and doxycycline with some results but I do not like to be on antibiotics because I feel like they interfere with my sleep pattern. Mind you I had been on antibiotics in the past before I tried Accutane. So I think I have almost been on this again for a month but I restarted it on November 11th (I had some pills left over from last time), and I let my doctor know I would like to retry it again. She prescribed 50 mg tabs to be taken once daily, and gave me 3 months worth. At this point I don't think I will make the month mark if I continue to display the clinical signs I have. For the last 3 days I have had hives/red welts all over my body. Saturday they were just on my back where my sports bra made contact, and lower lumbar region, on Sunday I had welts I believe it was on my chest and neck, and on my back, Monday I had them appear on my tummy area, but specifically around my arm pits, and flank area. I noticed getting itchy after yoga last night. I usually start getting a rash, and hives and welts when I am relaxing and about to go to sleep. I am a veterinarian so I know why the drug is used so I figure I get a weird reaction due to a drop in blood pressure. Anyway, this happened the last time I tried Spironolactone 3 years ago. What activated the itchy reaction was eating spicy food. Another weird side effect when I first began this medication is I had a lot of acid reflux. I believe it was because I was not taking it with food all the time. I am taking it with food this time, and I no longer have an urgency to burp. That is the best way to describe that side effect from a few years ago. I know a few days ago over the weekend I had some spicy chicken. Well that seemed to activate things again, and I believe that is why I get hives, and welts all over my body while on this medication. Most people will say don't eat spicy food. I have not eaten any spicy food since Sunday. So when I had a reaction this afternoon just sitting and reading I was very surprised. Today I only took a 1/2 tab of the 50 mg tab. I know it takes awhile for the drug to clear from your system. At this point I am thinking about either alternating days, or stopping all together again. The itching is very uncomfortable, and in order to stop it I have to take an anti-histamine, and apply soothing topicals (hylatopica + vanos ointment). What I would prefer is something natural to cure my natural acne. I have taken dramatic steps to change my diet in the last few months. I eat a small amount of dairy (just cheese), drink cashew milk, and I use almond yogurt. I also try to eat a whole food diet with fruits and veggies. My biggest enemy is soda probably which I love. I am considering replacing soda with juicing because I used my mom's over thanksgiving and absolutely loved it. I did recently see that someone on here recommended using apple cider vinegar as a toner, and because I prefer a natural remedy I am currently trying that to see what results I get. I am so tired of these cystic breakouts on the side of my face, and chin. They take so long to go away and then when they do they leave really bad scars that take forever to fade. Would I recommend spironolactone? not if you have a sensitive system like mine. I don't think they tested it enough to be honest. My dermatologist said she has not had any patients have a similar reaction to mine.

I'm a 35-year-old female and never had acne before in my life. Even during my teenage years, I stayed completely clear while all my friends suffered from puberty acne. Having said this, my life changed drastically beginning of 2017. My derm and obgyn came to the conclusion that I have late-onset adult acne caused by hormonal imbalance. My cheeks, jawline, chin, back, and mouth are covered in painful cysts, blackheads, and whiteheads. Every morning, I wake up to at least 8 or 10 new cysts and zits. My life has completely turned upside down. I can't think of anything other than my face and how disgusting I look. My self-esteem is pretty much non-existent. On October 3rd, I started to take Spiro 50mg for a week, then after a week 100mg, and after the second week 150mg as my derm instructed. I also was prescribed doxycycline 100mg together with the Spiro and a topical Finacea 15% foam. It has been over a month now and I have yet to see any improvement. I still wake up to a dozen new zits and my face seems to be breaking out worse than before. The topical and the doxycycline haven't shown any improvement either. Yesterday, I saw my derm and he said that I should have seen some type of improvement by now and that my acne should not have gotten worse. This comment worried and confused me a bit, since I have been reading on the internet and on here that Spiro takes a while to kick in and that some women have an initial breakout (the whole spiel of it has to get worse before it gets better). Then my derm suggested I stop taking all of the medication and go on Accutane. Now, I made my research on Accutane and it is not something I want to try, especially since my acne is caused by hormones. Accutane would not cure my hormonal imbalance, and so after Accutane eventually my hormonal acne would return. I told him this but he was very persistent about the Accutane. I told him that I would like to continue with the Spiro since I'm not experiencing any side-effects. He then switched the antibiotics to minocycline and prescribed me tretinoin and clindamycin, which I started taking yesterday. Here are my questions for you: Has anyone of you been resistant to Spiro? How bad was your initial breakout? How long did it take to see results? Does the improvement come in steps (from cysts to small zits)? I really want this to work for me!

This drug takes a while to have an impact. I kid you not, I read literally every review left on this site for spiro while waiting for what others referred to as heaven sent results. And I am so glad I stuck it out. My skin was really clear until around 17 and then it slowly got bad. It was deep, cystic, inflamed, and I had the terrible habit of picking combined with anxiety. I hated my face and I have many deep scars from picking at acne. Nothing really worked for the deep stuff but I did eventually find a routine that worked well for surface acne. Then I got pregnant at 30 and my skin completely cleared. I glowed, it was unbelievable how much of an impact clear skin had on my self worth. I joked I would have had kids a decade earlier if I knew it would give me clear skin! I nursed for almost two years and by the end of it was starting to have more breakouts when I got pregnant again. My skin went back to amazing and again there was a slow reemergence of acne but this time I went to the dermatologist as I was insured for the first time in my life. I then was using Aczone twice a day because I was nursing and told when I stopped we could try oral medications. The medication helped with the surface acne but the deep stuff was slowly returning and when I weaned I started taking Spiro. I started at 25mg twice a day for 2.5 months. I lost a few pounds of water weight, looked a bit leaner, and had to pee quite often as well as drink more fluids. I had a few moments of light headed ness, and had heavy breakouts around the second to fourth week and consistently broke out. My husband said 'why bother' quite often when it wasn't working after a month which was super discouraging. I kept reading all the reviews on this site every night and took my pills regularly. Eventually the acne got worse as the surface kind returned. After 2.5 months I went back desperate for a higher dose. The dermatologist switched me to a topical clindamyacin (sp?) and increased the dose to 50mg twice a day. I had a heavier breakout after increasing disease but after about a month the surface acne had cleared and the deeper stuff was coming less often. After two months my skin was back to its glowing pregnancy state! Now I may get a blemish here or there before my period but it is small and quickly healed and gone. I'm so grateful my doctor recommended it to me, as I had never heard of it prior. Spiro has changed my life dramatically. No more hiding because I can't face the public, and I hardly ever use my makeup any more. I wish I found this before I ruined my skin with scars. It is cheap and heaven sent! My best advice is to start with a low dose, slowly increase and STICK IT OUT!

Long time hormonal cystic acne sufferer, got bad in my early 30s - tried to avoid oral meds and anything with a systemic effect, but it got so bad I got desperate. Prescribed by my Derm initially at a higher dose, I think 75mg. Slowly but surely my skin improved, and the course of the next year I was titrating down from 75, then 50, then 25 - then tried breaking the 25 in half to 12.5mg doses (hoping to get off it altogether) and nope, the cysts were back. Even at 25mg it has never been perfect, just "good enough". But when I went back up to 50, I for a high potassium lab back, so Derm now won't let me go higher than 25. After about 4 years at 25mg, my acne has been getting progressively worse again... so, IMO Spironolactone was part of the fix, but obviously (unfortunately) not the whole story...

It has been 1 month and it just looks the same. I think ima give it more time but man i hate my face...

I can't believe it is finally time for me to write a positive review on this site. I've been following acne.org for years because I used to suffer from severe acne. I would have a new pimple everyday. I starte taking 100 mg/day of Spironolactone a few years ago and it significantly helped my acne. However, I should add that it does take MONTHS to kick in and you WILL have an initial breakout. When I first started, i had an initial breakout that led to my skin looking the worst it had ever looked. I was dating a guy at the time who literally told me "I can't be with you because you need to take care of yourself." However, after about 3 months, it did start to clear up a lot. It was never perfect though. It was hard for me to find a derm that would increase my dose to 200 mg/day even though I knew I needed it for clear skin. Finally, I saw an OB GYN this February and she put me on 200 mg/day. My skin cleared up INSTANTLY and has stayed that way since!! I can't believe it!! I used to have over 20 pimples on my face at a time and now (from the time I was 12 until 23). Now, I freak out even if I get one pimple!! I never thought I'd see the day! Moral of the story -- go on spironolactone and be patient because it will work. Also, depending on the severity of your skin, try getting on a higher dose because it make a dramatic difference!

I never write reviews and have been thinking about it for a long time as I've had amazing success so here it is! A little background: I am a 24 year old female and did not really struggle with acne in my teen years. When I was 22 I got off my oral birth control after being on it for 8 years. Within months my skin developed terrible and painful acne around my chin, cheeks and soemtomes jawline. I eat very healthy, work out daily, kept clean pillow cases - nothing worked. I was put on a 50mg dose of Spiro (way too low for my case) and did not see improvement much. 3 months later I was put on 100mg dose and saw about 70% improvement. 3 month later I was requested to go to 150mg. Within about 2 months I was completely clear. I have now slowly gone back down to 100mg and my results are still the same . In all, it took 8 months to reach 100% clear but I feel as if it would have been much quicker if I had stared at the 100mg dose. PLEASE NOTE: I also began using topical Adapalene Gel when I started Spiro which has likely contributed significantly my skin's recovery in combination with Spiro. Adapalene is a Vitamin A derivative (as Accutane is) and repairs your skin cells at an accelerated rate. Here is my current regime and I have been clear for about 8 months: Morning: - Gentle cleanser (I use Cetaphil) -Light face lotion ( I use Aveeno or Olay) - 50 mg of Spiro Night: - More intense cleanser ( I use Panoxyl 10% benzoyl peroxide) - Light face lotion - Adapalene Gel .1% thin layer - 50mg of Spiro