Reviews you can trust, from real people like you.
How it works
- Our highly-trained Review Moderation team evaluates all reviews before they're published to ensure they're written by people like you and not a member of a doctor's office.
- This multi-step process takes up to 24 hours from review submission to publication.
- Doctors can't pay to have reviews removed or hidden.
- Reviews are only removed at the reviewer's request or if they violate our Terms of Service.
If you have questions or believe we should re-evaluate a published review, let us know.
Sort by:
*Treatment results may vary
Cystic Acne Cure
My skin was great until 6 then slowly got bad. By 19 I was experiencing cystic breakouts and tried a ton of OTC stuff to clear it up. I have a ton of scarring because of it. I never did clear it completely with otc stuff but the Nutrogena Pore Refining line did help a lot. I also used their Visibly Even line to address hyper pigmentation effectively. I even started using a clarasonic regularly with Philosophy Purity and saw further improvements with minor blemishes. Even so I still got deep, painful, inflamed cystic acne that would never come to a head. Nothing I tried could even touch it.
I eventually gave up on having clear skin until during my pregnancies (at 30 and 32) and while breastfeeding my skin was glowing and perfectly clear. The nice skin kept up through breastfeeding and slowly got worse as I weaned. I joked I would have had kids years a decade earlier had I known it would give me clear skin. Having my skin revert back to "normal" was soul crushing. I didn't want to return to being unable to make eye contact or leave the house for days because my skin was so bad. I didn't want my kids to ask what was wrong with my face or pile on tons of makeup to cover it.
By this time in my life I now had insurance so I went to the dermatologist. He wouldn't prescribe any oral meds until I weaned so I used Aczone cream morning and night for a few years with a trention cream that increased from .025 to a .04 microspheres at night. My skin kept getting more and more cystic acne so after I weaned I got a prescription for 50mg/day. (2-25mg pills, one in the morning and one at night.)
The doctor required I be on some form of birth control because the medication affects your androgen levels and will feminize a male fetus. He also warned me it takes months for it to start to have an effect. We scheduled a blood test checking potassium prior to a 3 month follow up.
Within a week I could tell my oil production was reduced because I could now skip a day of washing and use dry shampoo, where I never would have been able to do so prior. I had a few moments of lightheadedness when first starting and had to pee a lot as it is a diuretic. I also needed to increase my water intake and take the medication with food.
At follow up blood levels were in the middle of the normal range but my skin was worse than before but not a bad as it was pre-pregnancy. We changed topical to a clindamycin astringent in the mornings, trention micro .1% at night and increased the spiro to 100mg/day with two 50mg pills, one in the morning and one at night. Within a month my skin has completely cleared!
It took me 4 months and an increase to 100mg/day for it to work for me. Im so glad I gave it a chance and stayed patient with the process to get to this result! I will never ever willingly give up this medication. This is seriously a godsend and I didn't want to take accutane which was my last ditch resort if spiro didn't work.
If you have hormonal acne you need to try this! Many (including me) have skin got worse before it gets better but it is worth it! Don't be afraid to ask for an increased dose if it's not working after a few months, and if the dermatologist won't prescribe it find another or go to an endocrinologist. It's worth it to stick it out! It takes a long time for this med to work.
I eventually gave up on having clear skin until during my pregnancies (at 30 and 32) and while breastfeeding my skin was glowing and perfectly clear. The nice skin kept up through breastfeeding and slowly got worse as I weaned. I joked I would have had kids years a decade earlier had I known it would give me clear skin. Having my skin revert back to "normal" was soul crushing. I didn't want to return to being unable to make eye contact or leave the house for days because my skin was so bad. I didn't want my kids to ask what was wrong with my face or pile on tons of makeup to cover it.
By this time in my life I now had insurance so I went to the dermatologist. He wouldn't prescribe any oral meds until I weaned so I used Aczone cream morning and night for a few years with a trention cream that increased from .025 to a .04 microspheres at night. My skin kept getting more and more cystic acne so after I weaned I got a prescription for 50mg/day. (2-25mg pills, one in the morning and one at night.)
The doctor required I be on some form of birth control because the medication affects your androgen levels and will feminize a male fetus. He also warned me it takes months for it to start to have an effect. We scheduled a blood test checking potassium prior to a 3 month follow up.
Within a week I could tell my oil production was reduced because I could now skip a day of washing and use dry shampoo, where I never would have been able to do so prior. I had a few moments of lightheadedness when first starting and had to pee a lot as it is a diuretic. I also needed to increase my water intake and take the medication with food.
At follow up blood levels were in the middle of the normal range but my skin was worse than before but not a bad as it was pre-pregnancy. We changed topical to a clindamycin astringent in the mornings, trention micro .1% at night and increased the spiro to 100mg/day with two 50mg pills, one in the morning and one at night. Within a month my skin has completely cleared!
It took me 4 months and an increase to 100mg/day for it to work for me. Im so glad I gave it a chance and stayed patient with the process to get to this result! I will never ever willingly give up this medication. This is seriously a godsend and I didn't want to take accutane which was my last ditch resort if spiro didn't work.
If you have hormonal acne you need to try this! Many (including me) have skin got worse before it gets better but it is worth it! Don't be afraid to ask for an increased dose if it's not working after a few months, and if the dermatologist won't prescribe it find another or go to an endocrinologist. It's worth it to stick it out! It takes a long time for this med to work.
Provider Review