Minocycline for acne treatment has been used for decades now, been firstly introduced in 1970s. But are minocycline pills safe to take?
Minocycline is the generic antibiotic drug which can be found on brand names such as Solodin, Minacin, Vectrin and Dynacin. It is used mainly in persons with pustules type of acne such as severe acne cases for whom the normal topical acne creams do not work.
Most of those creams contain benzoyl peroxide, such as Proactive acne cream, which kills bacteria on your skin that causes you acne outbreaks. Minocycline does the same thing, only that is considerably more stroger, so it kills bacteria that causes your severe acne. You should also use it with a topical acne cream.
Normally, been an antibiotic, it has to be prescribed by your doctor, preferably a dermatologist. Minocycline has lesse side-effects than other antibiotics for acne, but nevertheless some persons may experience some of those side-effects, particularly lupus ad joint inflammation problems. Some people may experience side-effects later on in life, such as pregnancy problems in womens, but the cases are rare, something like 1 in 10000.
For this reason, the minocycline acne treatment should be done under the doctor observation and if noticed some minor side-effects you should either reduce the doze taken daily, either you should stop taken it completely.
If the drug is taken for clearing acne, you could start first by taking it at night at first until your body gets used to it. After that, you could take it any time during the day. Most people take it at meals time. Some people during this time may experience hives outbreaks.
You can not take minocycline all your life, just like any other drug. Most of acne sufferers will notice a significant skin imporvement after taking minocycline pills. Normally, you should take the medication for few months, time in which you will notice if the drug works for you or not. In case it doesn’t work to clear up your acne, then a different acne medication may be required and your doctor will decide which one is best for you. Have a read on spirolactone acne treatment, for example.
If your acn condition has improved significatly, then a reduction of the drug is required to avoid build up of the drug inside your body. The easiest way to recognize if this happens is if your skin turns darker, looking like bruises or dark pigmentation of acne scars marks. Usually, those skin pigmentation don’t fade away.
As usual, you should not take minocycline during pregnancy, or any other antibiotic without your doctor prescription. This antibiotic may cause skeletal problems for fetus.
Other possible side effects of minocycline are descoloration of the teeth, though arguably in undeveloped skeletal bodies such in teenagers below 15 years old, and a much more serious one, is pseudotumor celebri or simply brain fluid, which is a serious condition.
