Young teen with acne - oral antibiotics

[Notcontent]

My dd has started developing acne and because we have a family history of it, the doctor has prescribed some oral antibiotics for her.

The antibiotics are tetracycline and I am not usually worried about side effects for things like that, but I was reading the information leaflet and it says they are not recommended for children under 12 as they can have an effect on tooth enamel and bone development.

DD is 13 and obviously the doctor would not have prescribed this for her if she thought it was inappropriate, but it just for me worried as DD hasn’t stopped growing yet.

Does anyone have any experience of this?

Two of mine were on them.. from 12 and 13 if I remember correctly.
DD2 was short anyway and has stayed petite (5 ft 3) but her brother is 6 ft so I don't think it stunted their growth in anyway...they are how they were meant to be.

I worked well for the acne and having it early meant they are not scarred. Neither has a single filling yet... now aged 25 an 22 so I don't think it damaged their teeth either :)

I think the issue with teracycline is staining of calcium-rich tissues (i.e. bones & teeth), rather than impairment of development. If she has all of her adult teeth already then short courses of tetracycline shouldn't really cause a problem. I presume she's not going to be showing her bones to anyone, so discolouration of those probably isn't such a worry.

www.ebmconsult.com/articles/tetracycline-stains-teeth-mechanism

It is a long term thing though, years rather than weeks.
I took it for rosacea for many years. DS took it for acne from around 13 to 16. It can stain undeveloped teeth. I was always a bit worried but in fact he's 23 now with perfect teeth.

Thanks everyone - I am feeling more reassured now. She doesn’t have any undeveloped teeth so that should be ok. The plan is for her to take a low dose for three months and then see how she goes...