Acne and breastfeeding

[heartlanddrive]

Posted this in general health but didn't get any responses so trying my luck here!

Hi,
I'm 28 now and I've always suffered with acne since about 13 years old. After a few years of using different products and trying what felt like everything out there, I went on birth control (the combined pill) and it worked for years!
After a few years I decided to come off bc as I wasn't happy with the other side effects I was having and even then my skin stayed manageable for a few more years until about about three years ago when my acne came back! At the time, I went to the doctors and was put on a range of different antibiotics,none of them helped and so I gave up and tried to treat them myself by trying different skincare ranges.

I then got pregnant and my skin was amazing for the first time ever... Fast forward to now, 14 weeks postpartum and my pregnancy hair and skin has officially gone!

It seems to only affect my chin area but looks awful and is making me not want to get out and meet other mums and go to baby groups etc, which is something I really have wanted to do as I have no friends with babies.

I'm exclusively breastfeeding so I went back to the doctors and was given a prescription for 'Duac once daily' which contains Clindamycin and anhydrous benzoyl peroxide. The GP and pharmacist both said it's safe to take while breastfeeding however, on the leaflet that came with it, it says that the effects of taking this while breastfeeding is not known and should be used with caution.
I don't want to use anything that could potentially harm my son so I'm a bit paranoid now about using it. I was just wondering if anyone has any knowledge about this or has used it while breastfeeding.
Thanks

I can sympathise, bf seemed to do my skin no favours either.

If your acne is mostly on your chin it sounds like hormonal acne which is notoriously difficult to get rid of, especially when you are limited in what you can take to manage it in terms of hormonal contraceptives etc.

I was prescribed BP when breastfeeding and now while I'm pregnant and had also heard some people advise against it. I looked into it and couldn't see any problems with it, the only thing I could think of what that it's quite harsh so if it gets from your face onto the baby's skin it might cause problems especially when they are so small like yours.

BP was very effective on my spots on the rest of my face but didn't help the ones on my chin much, hopefully you will have more success with it, it's definitely worth a try.

Have you tried zynerit which is safe in pregnancy so should be safe for feeding

Thanks for the replies!
@ParadiseLaundry yeah I definitely think my acne is hormonal and I guess my hormones must still be all over the place with it only being 14 weeks since giving birth and breastfeeding too. Luckily this gel is only to be applied at night and my baby is (touch wood) quite a good sleeper so we don't have much interaction at night so hopefully it will be easy to not get any on him. But that is something I will have to actively remember just Incase. I have looked a lot online about BP and I can't find any reasons not to use that, the Clindamycin seems a bit more up in the air though about how harmful it can be. There's a lot of research on how it can effect baby when taken orally but not as a topical gel

@Flashinggreen no I've never heard of that or tried it so I will look into it, thank you!!

I’ve just googled an it's Zineryt got the i and Y the wrong way round!

@Flashinggreen thank you! I had a look and unfortunately it contains erythromycin which I'm allergic to!

Nked Face products are great for acne I think the 10% peels are safe to use during breastfeeding.

@downsouth20 thank you so much! Ive never heard of it so will definitely look it up!