Concerned about derms prescriptions
Hi all! I’m a mid twenties female and I’ve struggled with acne for a lot of my life. I usually get a chin pimple or two and can manage it but recently I’ve been breaking out badly all over my chinstrap area in large deep pimples that have been scarring so I decided to see a new derm. I haven’t been to a derm in probably 8 years.
She asked if I’ve ever been diagnosed PCOS and i said no I haven’t. She then asked how I felt about being on an antibiotic and I said it was ok, thinking it would be for a week or so.
She prescribed doxycycline for a month, and wanted to go up to 3 months. I asked if this would affect my birth control and she said “they say that but not really.” Okay, that was weird.
We decided I’d try the antibiotic for a month and come back and see how my skin is handling it. She also prescribed Plexion face wash daily and Arazlo 3x a night to start out.
At the end of the appointment, she said if my scarring bothers me enough she could put me on Accutane. I was shocked to hear how flippant she was about this. My sister was prescribed it after trying 5 different treatments for months on end and was absolutely miserable. I mentioned this and she said “well how does her skin look now?” It made me uncomfortable how lax she was about this powerful drug.
Alls to say - what do you think about these prescriptions? I’m nervous about taking an antibiotic for that long and uncomfortable about the routine given her comments on Accutane. Any feedback is appreciated. TYIA 🥲
Posted Nov 8, 2022, 2:00 PM UTC · edited
The sulfur (plexion), retinoid (arazlo), and antibiotics are all pretty standard acne treatments. The antibiotics are prescribed to help short-term because things like retinoids take more time (3 months).
If you're not interested in taking an antibiotic for that long, you could skip it and just use the topicals, but it'll take longer to see results.
As for accutane, it can be prescribed off the bat if you're getting scarring. Even milder acne needs to be controlled asap if it's causing scarring. Accutane's basically a guaranteed way to address acne. You may relapse afterward, but almost everyone winds ip with no active acne at the end of the course.
The part that would concern me is the birth control comment. I would want to known if something had even the slightest chance of affecting birth control, for obvious reasons.