Long term antibiotics for vanity reasons

[SillyBub]

I'm sure I know the answer to this but hoping any pharmacists/doctors can tell me otherwise!

I'm 2 weeks away from ending a 6 week course of Doxycycline for legitimate anti malarial purposes following a holiday to a malaria area.

Since starting them, I have not had a single spot and despite being 46 years old, I've had facial and arse (nice) spots since puberty started. I've never been without one. It's amazing!

My teen DD and DS have been pretty much spot free too, not that I or they have commented on this.

Tell me why buying more off the internet for long term use for me (NOT DD and DS) is a bad idea and I will do the right thing even though I want to stay this way forever.

Thanks!

You are stupid if you buy off the internet. See you GP or who ever prescribed them in the 1st place.

What if they get really sick with some kind of infection and then antibiotics won’t work?

You are mad. Abs fuck up your body

Look at antibiotics and liver damage

Certain antibiotics are used to treat acne, to be fair, but there are other options...

The biggest and less quantifiable impact seems to be on the gut biome - the relationship of which with overall health is quite profound (if not very poorly understood currently).

Aside from that, you contribute to antibiotics resistance, which is bad for you and for society, and are at an increased risk of things like C. Difficile.

Ok, ok, I'm getting the message, but just to respond to @vodkaredbullgirl , I did get these ones on prescription from an official online pharmacy (Superdrug) for antimalarial use.

I shall enjoy my final 2 legitimate weeks spot free before real life returns 😭

1. you have no idea whether what is claiming to be xx mg doxycycline is actually xx mg doxycycline - it could be talcum powder or anything!
2. the normal gut bacteria will be wiped out by antibiotics, allowing other opportunist bacteria and fungi to grow, leading to thrush and other infections (not treatable by the constant antibiotics you are taking)
3. the infective bacteria that were susceptible to the antibiotic will mutate to develop resistance to that antibiotic, which will produce whole colonies of that species of bacteria which are resistant, so you will then need to take further antibiotics to treat that infection
4. your liver is the organ responsible for removing drugs from your body. By constantly putting drugs into your system you don't need, you are damaging your liver. Long term medicine users usually have yearly bloody tests to test for liver and kidney function. By flying under the radar and self-medicating, you will not have these routine regular check ups and be doing all sorts of damage to your organs without knowing
5. your doctor may need to put you on future medication to treat diseases. These black market medications will not be on your record so they will not have checked for interactions to see if the new medication is suitable or going to have significant side effects

Just buy some clearasil.

Just to reiterate, this was genuine drugs, purchased legitimately for legitimate holiday purposes but the message about long term use had been well and truly received and what I suspected to the case. Thank you.

This was recommended by a doctor on This Morning the other day

https://clinisoothe.com/products/skin-purifier

These may have been. But where are you going to get the next course from? A GP won't write you a prescription (or shouldn't) so you'd need to buy them without a prescription.

I'm not going to get any more (which I would have lied about if I was given the green light I knew, deep down, I wasn't going to get).

You absolutely shouldn't. You should only get treatment with medical advice. Antibiotics have been used for acne for ages, I was given oxytetracycline. There is probably a reason why thats picked over doxycycline for that use which you wouldn't know. There are also topical treatments available which can be better than the systemic treatment of taking orally (e.g. Zineryt).

Because buying a bottle of Hibiscrub and bathing in that once a week will kill any new staph infection before it gets to spots - and cost a lot less than private prescriptions.

Speak to your gp op. It is licensed for use as a treatment for acne and rosacea. It may be that they will discuss a low dose for a little longer as it has had a positive impact on your problem. There may well be topical treatments you can use along side it to reduce the risk of a future flare up that they can prescribe you too.

Roaccutane OP? Dianette? Ask your GP, for some spot assistance.

I can see you've got the message OP so won't pile in on you. But as a ray of light, maybe this will have cleared your system from susceptibility to spots, and they might not return anyway even after you finish taking the antibiotics. You never know!

I was prescribed a long term low dose antibiotic for severe acne when I was a teenager. It's a legitimate prescription usage, speak to your gp and have them prescribe the correct type of antibiotics for you all for these purposes. Also, anyone who hasn't experienced the misery of severe acne shouldn't comment as it is awful to suffer constant open sores on your face and elsewhere and can cause depression.

Sorry - I haven't read all the messages. Have you actually discussed this with your GP and had an answer? If it's quite persistent cystic acne, antibiotics aren't completely out of the question, but obviously that for a medical professional to decide.

Doxycycline and Lymecycline are both used for acne and very successfully too. It’s not vain whatsoever and you should speak to your GP about what you’ve said here, they may prescribe you a low strength course to try and get on top of it.

Dear god don't want to take roaccutane. One of the side effects is that it can cause depression with or without suicidal thoughts, and I've seen it happen to students and friends. It's also linked with foetal abnormalities so definitely be extra careful with birth control to anyone that decides to try it!

Englands chief medical officer has said that antibiotic resistance is owing to be the biggest crisis we have ever faced. It will make covid look like a minor blip. People will start to die again from scratches , pricking fingers on thorns.

Every prescriber should have signed up to be an antibiotic guardian , only prescribing antibiotics when absolutely necessary for the shortest therapeutic time.

Already even diseases which previously were easily treated with antibiotics are now becoming more commonly resistant to antibiotics and the way we are going if not in our lifetimes, in our children's antibiotics will become useless unless we curb their use now. Even now some bacteria have developed resistance to every antibiotic we can use. Every antibiotic.

Everyone of us has a duty not to abuse antibiotics , not to keep some "just in case" , not to use antibiotics that have been prescribed for someone else , not to bypass medical input into their prescribing by buying direct, not to ask for them for trivial reasons, or to treat viral infections . Otherwise medicine, surgery will be back into the dark ages.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378521/

@HowcanIhelp123 oxytetracycline isn’t used as much these days. Please don’t tell people not to use isotretinoin (roaccutane), ok the OP neither needs or would be prescribed that because only a derm can prescribe it, however it is an extremely effective drug and totally warranted in some patients, you shouldn’t scare people.

Get hugely mixed reports on retinoids generally (I take acitretin for my skin). There's lots of talk of hair and mood effects but my biggest complaint with them is that they haven't actually worked for my skin 🤣

I think opinions on medicine downsides can be dangerous on forums, as you get a very skewed sample of people with severe disease responding AND I often feel that suggestion causes many side effects.

Do not do this. Antibiotic resistance is a thing. Look up superbugs and infection spreading in hospitals. They should only be used when absolutely necessary.

Everyone seems to be freaking out here like you were considering taking fentanyl. Bloody hell. If you've suffered from acne all your life and nothing over the counter has helped then why not. Try to get your hands on a 3 month prescription for cream that targets the acne.