Spiro or Accutane? Hormonal or bacterial? Help??

R

Riane

New member
I have had acne since I was a teenager, getting worse around the time I was 16. I am now 20 years old and I don't know what is up. I have no idea if my acne is caused by hormones or bacteria. I just started a new BCP, Yasmin, but I am breaking out. It sucks. I am set to go back to the derm who wants to put me on accutane, yet set most acne in general can be related to hormones. I am assuming hormones is what did me in...so now I have the option of Accutane or Spironolactone, which he will prescribe me if I ask. I just can't figure it out.

I have mild acne, just bumps on my forehead, not many. Most of my acne occurs just under my cheekbones and down to my jawline. I do get it on my chin as well.

Any ideas?
 
Your description of your acne is classic hormonal i.e. down the chin and jawline. You need to give the bc pill 6 months to a year IMO. Although, I think you will see some changes happening around the 3-4 month marks. I believe that all acne is hormonal especially for females. Some have additional factors contributing like too many toxins corabining with the hormones. My dd broke out right in the beginning with Yasmin and I thought oh oh, here we go again. But she could tell her skin was changing and becoming softer also. By four months her acne was so much improved and a year later - virtually clear and she is glowing. Accutane was a nightmare for her skin but I know many people who it has worked for. Some of her guy frienRAB have skin like a baby's now. I don't get it. During accutane is when the acne traveled down her jaw and neck and chin and that continued when she came off for some reason. She was only clear for one month. The research I have done told me that if she had been treated with spiro first she wouldn't have gotten the massive IB from accutane because the testosterone would have been blocked. Blocking testosterone from reaching the skin is the key to controlling acne. Added antibiotics in the beginning can also help control the bacteria that attack the plugged pores but should not be used long-term cause it kills both good and bad bacteria in the gut and leaRAB to candida overgrowth. It is better to use a topical like clindamycin than an oral. Even that can get into your system. I know it is frustrating.
 
Thank you so much, Skimom! I know I only started breaking out when I was about to get my period...in that same time frame, 12 to 13, and I noticed that when I got older and I changed hormonally with very severe cramps and irregular perioRAB (which I still have to this day) I became worse. I kind of figured it was hormonally triggered, I honestly don't see how it could have been otherwise. The thing is that I don't actually have the acne on my jawline exactly, but very close. I have only gotten nodular type acne on my chin, but it is seldom.

I have just had no one actually articulate the difference to me, though I think it is a surefire sign that when my other hormonal symptoms got worse, my acne got worse.

Thank you so much. I mean that. I will give this birth control a go before accutane, and my ob-gyn gave me an rx for an ultrasound and blood work to see if there are abnormalities of some sort. Thanks!
 
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