Unexpected Tetracycline side effect

[betsyr]

I've been on tetracycline 250mg M/W/F for 4 weeks now. After the first week I noticed than my normally clear skin started to develop small acne breakouts. By the second week the acne had gotten worse and has stayed the same ever since.

This seems to be an effect of the Tetracycline but I definately was not expecting this since I thought Tetracycline was a drug used to help clear and prevent acne!! I had even joked that one of the side effects of my new treatment might be a better complexion.  That sure didn't happen….

Has anyone else using Tetracycline experienced this? I know it's nothing terrible but if it's not the Tetracycline causing this I'm wondering what else might be going on. At age 44 I haven't had any problems with my complextion for quite some time now! The only other change I have made since starting the A/P is that my doctor also has me on a gluten free diet which I started approx 3 weeks ago.

Any input would be appreciated! And any suggestions on what might help. I've tried face washes but they only seems to make my skin more irritated.

Thanks,

Betsyr

[Maz]

[user=1767]betsyr[/user] wrote:

I've been on tetracycline 250mg M/W/F for 4 weeks now. After the first week I noticed than my normally clear skin started to develop small acne breakouts. By the second week the acne had gotten worse and has stayed the same ever since.

Hi Betsy,

I don't know if this will help, but my daughter was started on doxycycline for her acne a year or so ago and the dermatologist told her to expect that her skin would purge and that her acne would worsen for a period of time before it got better. He was right and it did worsen initially. She's been on a number of acne medications, including Accutane, and it's been the same for each medication.

I've never suffered from acne, but what I noticed when I started antibiotic therapy (tetracycline) in my first year was that my skin did get much more oily than usual. This persisted for many months but then settled down. Although I didn't get acne, the oily skin was noticeable and I put it down to a minor irritation (I was so sick, I guess, I just had bigger fish to fry).

Hopefully, your acne will pass quickly and is just a purging of some sort. The skin is a major organ in the body and toxins are released via the skin…could it be this that is going on for you?

Peace, Maz

 

[betsyr]

Maz,

I have noticed an increase in the texture of my skin, it seems softer and oily now where before it was always dry and I used Oil of Olay products to help w/ dryness and aging issues.

I was hoping that maybe this is a temporary condition and that possible the acne (or just like little white bumps really) might be toxins leaving my system through the pores! I was just suprised to see my complexion worsen instead of improve!

It's just a small thing really and seems silly to worry about compared to the bigger issue at hand! My husband says it makes me look “more youthful” to have acne – BLESS HIM!!!

[Lynne G.SD]

Hi Betsy;
     You mention tiny white bumps.If you scratch one is there liquid or something like a grain of sand in it.If it is hard  it could be calcium deposits.If you have SD that could be the problem.On the other hand it could just be your body adapting to a gluten free diet.I only found out a few years ago that I had Celiac and the diet change led to all kinds of weird goings on.Itching,terrible headaches,dry hair,skin  and nails just to name a few.
          Lynne

[A Friend]

BetsyR,

You might consider what is happening to your skin as a cleansing process of some sort, where your body is eliminating something that it needs to get rid of.  I've read many times that our skin is/can be an eliminatory organ. 

At the moment I can't think of a particular article to paste here, but if you'll do a search or two, articles on this will probably show up. 

Will come back and paste a link here if I see a good one. 

Best to you,

AF

[JeffN]

What comes out if you open one? Clear, pus, the grain of sand like particle, or something else?

[sierrra]

[user=21]JeffN[/user] wrote:

What comes out if you open one? Clear, pus, the grain of sand like particle, or something else?

I'm plugging my ears and singing loudly now.

Sierra

[Hoping]

I was on tetracycline for 3 years and no skin breakout happened. About 4 months ago I switched to doxycycline, and in the recent few weeks I got acne all over my chin. Old ones healed and new ones came out. Today it seemed to have calmed down. I sincerely hope that it's the antibiotic working and toxins are being released. Keep up our hope. It can be a good thing.

[mj47]

Hi Betsyr,

I remember that when I took doxycycline as a kid for acne the dr told me that it would get worse before it got better (& it did).  But, that was treating for an existing acne problem, so I don't know if that rule would apply to you.
My guess is that it is the gluten free diet you're on.  I only say this because I'm gluten free (for 2 years now) and when I first started, I broke out like crazy.  It was a weird break out though.  It wasn't like the cystic acne I suffered from in my teen years (deep under the skin red, angry mountains!)….it was more like my skin was just pushing out debris.  It wasn't super irritated, I would just get a little bump & then little white pieces would eventually push out of it.  Then my skin was as clear as a bell.  It took a while to clear up if I remember correctly…maybe a couple of months.  Sorry if that was TMI, or if it doesn't seem to jive with what you're experiencing.  Just thought I'd share.
Hope your skin clears up soon!
MJ

[carries]

Hi BetsyR! I am on minocycline…and we see the same drs…anyhow, I did breakout at first too! Probably for the first month or so….I thought maybe it was my body adjusting to the meds….and detoxifying itself.  Now, my skin is so clear thanks to this med. I was also on many meds growing up for acne and they all made it get worse b4 better!!! Hang in there!

[JeffN]

[user=1037]sierrra[/user] wrote:

[user=21]JeffN[/user] wrote:

What comes out if you open one? Clear, pus, the grain of sand like particle, or something else?

I'm plugging my ears and singing loudly now.

Sierra

Yeah I know but this is the internet it is not like I can see them.  😯

[betsyr]

Thanks for all the posts! I hadn't check this post in several weeks and I appreciate all the responses. I think the problem may be a combination between the glueten free diet and the tetracycline because I started both at the same time and never had a problem before starting either. It's not really acne, it's just tiny little white bumps like liquid trapped under a little pore. I HOPE it's infection leaving my body through my skin. It usually just lasts for 3 or 4 days out of the month and then my skin is perfectly clear for the rest of the month. I notice this month it seemed to be a little less than last month.

I am going to ask my rheumy next week if she will change my prescription from tetracycline to minocine.  Maybe I won't have the same issues with that and hopefully will show an increase in improvement of my other symptoms.

Carries, I hope Dr. T is willing to let me make the switch in medicine just by calling her office so that I don't have to make that drive during this weather. We have about 6 inches of snow on the ground right now!

[betsyr]

Hoping,

Just a question about the tetracycline. You mentioned you were on it for 3 or 4 years before switching to doxycycline. Did you switch because you didn't feel you were getting the results you wanted from the tetracycline? I am thinking of asking my DR to switch my med to minocine.  Just wondered what you thought about the difference between the two meds?

[betsyr]

mj47, thanks, and no that wasn't TMI 🙂 I doubt if I'll ever feel like I”m getting TMI about these illnesses do you? I think what you experienced sounds right in line with what I am experiencing, so hopefully after a few months it will clear up. Maybe once we get through winter and can actually get outside for some fresh air, swimming and sunshine it will all clear up anyway! Thanks again.

[mkay]

Very strange that we are discussing pimples BUT since we are, here's whats been happening with me….every single pimple I get ends up with a little hard white thing (cyst like) in it…they are very hard and very hard to get out, I would love to get to the bottom of why this is happening because it makes a simple little pimple take longer to heal.  Anyone else have this?!!

[Author]

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