Which antibiotic was it op? Dd is the same age and we’re on the same journey, both myself and dh had bad acne so unfortunately dd was v likely to get it too 😩 Her face is actually really well controlled with Epiduo, her body acne is the issue. GP gave dd 6 months of lymecycline which helped a bit, but when we saw the NHS derm she said doxycycline can be better for some people, so she had 3 months of that and it was a lot more effective. So might be worth trying 3 moths of the one you haven’t had?
Doxycycline improved things by 50% I’d say, but still not enough, the NHS derm had said the next step would be the pill or if we didn’t feel comfortable with that it would be straight to isotretinoin. Having read through the leaflets she gave us and doing some research online and seeing some horror stories, it was clear isotretinoin is meant to be given as a
last resort after trying everything else. For girls this does mean they have more options like the pill and spironolactone to try first. Problem was the NHS derm couldn’t prescribe spiro as our trust doesn’t fund it for acne as it’s seen as off label, but because it reduces androgens and I’m pretty sure dd has PCOS like me, we wanted to give it a go before the pill. So she left our referral open while we found a private derm to prescribe so dd could try spiro.
It helped more than the antibiotics but after 2 months she started to get random bleeds then a period every 2 weeks. So after that happened twice she stopped taking it and we arranged a follow up with the NHS derm. We figured at least she’d given it a try and the next step would have to be the pill.
I took Dianette for my acne as a teen and it was what cleared it up, so dd tried that over the other option of Yasmin, which is the other pill that works best for acne. Dd found it a bit scary when we had to verbally agree to understanding the increased risk of blood clots, and it can only be prescribed for 6 months, then they switch you to another pill with a lower risk. I was left on it for over 10 years by mistake from age 16-27!
Anyway, within 2 months it was working great, BUT dd had been getting increasingly more emotional and her mood was very low, which she’d never had before. We had a follow up booked with the NHS derm for after 12 weeks of taking Dianette, and by that point dd’s skin was the best it’s been in 3 years and almost clear. Unfortunately her mood had got so low and not like her usual self at all, she was bursting into tears constantly, felt anxious and paranoid and was starting to worry about her mental health. Maybe naive of me, but because I never had any of those side effects I was quite shocked at this happening. So at the follow up appt the derm agreed with us she should stop taking Dianette. That was a few weeks ago and dd’s skin is still pretty good, but we expect things to get worse again as time goes on. Her mood has slowly been improving and the derm has left her referral open for 6 months to go back if we want to try isotretinoin. She suggested having a break for 2-3 months and then trying Yasmin instead which our GP can prescribe, so dd will see how things go. She also mentioned a couple of other pills dd could try.
I’d definitely get the NHS referral done at the same time as seeing a private derm op, you’ve nothing to lose. Waiting times in my area were less than I thought, 2-3 months rather than the 5-6 our GP said it would be.
Theres a Derm in London I follow on sm who specialises in acne and teens but I can’t remember her name off the top of my head. She runs a clinic where they have the Aviclear laser treatment which is meant to be as effective as isotretinoin without the drugs, but it’s v pricey. As a pp mentioned there’s also the new anti androgen cream Winlevi, it’s not available on the NHS where we are but I’m considering finding another derm who can prescribe it privately. I’ll have to check the name of the derm in London I follow on sm and report back. Sorry that was a long post!