My skin is a mess - hormonal acne
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Anonymous
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I have seen my dermatologist. He gave me antibiotics, Retin A, and a cleanser (the kind that bleached your towels). The antibiotic worked for awhile, but it’s back and worse than ever. The cleanser and retin A don’t seem to make a difference.
I’m not interested in accutane due to the side effects and continual blood draws. Any non MLM suggestions? |
Anonymous
| And it’s mostly my neck and upper chest, though right now my face looks blotchy too. |
Anonymous
| Eliminate dairy |
Anonymous
Done - I haven’t had dairy in over a year. Ugh so frustrating |
Anonymous
| Spironolactone. |
Anonymous
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Same boat, OP. Hugs. It's hard. I've tried everything - eliminating dairy, Retin A, antibiotics.
Ask your derm about Spironolactone. It didn't work for me, but it has worked wonders for other women I know with hormonal acne. |
Anonymous
Agree, spiro works! Can cause birth defects so make sure you have good birth control while using. |
Anonymous
Have you been able to stop taking it and not had the acne come back? Spiro has been recommended in the past on this board, and one of the issues reported is you always have to take the drug to prevent the acne. When you stop, the acne returns. I’m curious if that is only for a select group of people or is that a common issue. |
Anonymous
| +1 on the Spiro. Totally works when I’m on it but the acne comes back if I go off. |
Anonymous
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OP, I'm in the same boat as you. I'm in my mid 40s, and have worse acne now than when I was in my teens and 20s!
I've tried Retin A, Aczone, EpiDuo Forte, and a sulfur wash, all through my derm. And nothing seems to work. I'm now on a high deductible health plan, and each derm visit costs $$$ to try another prescription! |
Anonymous
| Same here and spiro did not work. The only thing that works is breastfeeding. |
Anonymous
+2 |
Anonymous
Have you tried those pimple patches that draw out the acne and help healing? |
Anonymous
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Work on your hormones. Once i got my hormone levels into normal range i had ZERO acne. I didn't even need to wash my face at night and I never had a single black head.
I went on metformin for PCOS and that changed everything. Even helped me get pregnant. |
Anonymous
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I get acne when I eat too much sugar, specifically too much chocolate (because I really don't eat that much sugar apart from chocolate).
Do you have a food trigger? |