Prednisone Acne

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I was on prednisone for a few months and have finally tapered off now. I have been completely off it for about 2 weeks, yet i still have a lot of acne on my chest and a little on my neck and back.
I am 19 and have never had any acne at all until i was on prednisone. Is it common for the acne to stay this long and this bad?
 
Usually the acne needs a few weeks to go. I it stays I suggest you see a dermatologist, and he can give you something to get rid of the acne..
 
Yeah it can stay around for about a month or so. I just popped the pimples and they would slowly go away. The thing with pred is that it doesn't exit your body immediately after stopping it's use. That means that you will still have side effects until it is gone.
 
I was the same as you, never really had acne, besides an occasional pimple, until using pred--I was on 80mg. Pred gave me terrible acne, large red cysts all over my face; they even protruded into my eyes. My skin is still red and blotchy, more than two years later.

I asked my GI doctor what to do about the acne, if he would write a prescription or refer me to a dermatologist. He told me not to do anything, that it would go away on its own. I thought he knew what he was talking about, and thought he was right; he wasn't.

It still wasn't going away. I tried OTC acne treatments; they didn't work. I asked him again; he was annoyed and again just said it would go away. It didn't and it left scars on my face. I had perfect skin before.

So it's much better to just go to a dermatologist and get a prescription. Oral antibiotics can adversely affect Crohn's. Accutane has an association with inducing ulcerative colitis--not sure how that would affect someone already with Crohn's, but you probably wouldn't be prescribed that; if you were though, it's something to ask your doctor about.

You'll probably be given something like Retin-A. It helped with my acne, and mine was pretty bad. Another thing that really helped was a topical antibiotic gel.

Doctors might think this is minor, but in reality how one looks is related to one one feels; acne, in general, is correlated with increased rates of depression, prednisone itself can cause depression; ignoring the seriousness of depression itself, even if GI doctors are myopically focused on their organ, their disease, depression is correlated with relapse of Crohn's. Plus, as in my case, if you have really bad acne and you think it's just going to go away, it might not; and if it doesn't, your face could scarred for the rest of your life, which, even if you have a high self-esteem, that's going to lower it.
 
I agree with Op 28/18, I went on my own volition to a derma doc, and she prescribed me about 5 total products, Tazorac cream, Benzawash, benzacream, Vitamin C pads, Glywash, and also oral Dicyclomine (an antibiotic that focuses on attacking dermatological bacteria)...my GI and her both said it would be fine with Crohns to do these things, and I have Severe Crohns Colitis....

I was on Minocycline 2 years ago for acne, because I've had it bad most of my life, but mainly ever since I started working out, and mine's due to high hormone levels (testosterone, naturally attained levels from intense lifting), and that was before I was diagnosed with Crohns or saw much of any symptoms (other than a very mild 6 day flare from early 2006 that went away on its own without treatment, again prior to Dx)...I don't trust the Minocycline, it's more potent and more "total body" in it's methods and range.

My acne was there prior to pred, way worse during pred, and tapered very well once I started treatment for the acne (see my first paragraph above), but I also stopped the pred about 2 weeks after beginning the acne Rx's and creams etc.... My worst side as far as skin (other than subcutaneous water retention, ie: Moon face) was Milia, which is NOT acne, but looks kinda like it, I did a thread on that. Those went away on their own, slowly, but I still have a little left on my chest, which got the worst of the acne.

Id say see a derma doc and make sure Crohns takes a front seat in the chosen treatment for acne.

edit: my derma doc wants to give me a go for Acutane and I was hesitant immediately, but she said she won't give it to me until I get an okay from my GI, my brother was on Acutane for a bit and he thinks it gave him IBS, whether or not that's true, the fact remains that it gave him suspicions of it giving him IBS, and if it made him think he's got that (right or wrong), then I sure as hell won't go on it. I read the entire packet she gave me on it, and the risks included blindness, deafness, heart issues, neural issues, psychotic issues, the stuff is about as toxic as the damn pred itself, and my acne products are working okay so far, but there's still progress to go.
 
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This is what I did also. I went to a dermatologisT and told him I'm on Pred for Crohn's and it's giving me acne. He said that since I have Crohn's he doesn't recommend oral antibiotics, but he gave me an antibacterial gel and acne soap. They worked fine, not perfect; and the acne usually disappears after a couple of months of stopping the Pred. But still have some marks on my back....
 
I just wipe my face and chest with alcohol about 10 times a day. Works really well.
 
doesn't alcohol dry it out, which can leave scars?

i have so much acne from the pred ugh, im on 5mg alternating with 7 1/2, i dont know if this much acne is normal. im using tea tree oil but yeah not helping. maybe ill try alcohol.
 
acne

hippie4lyfe said:
doesn't alcohol dry it out, which can leave scars?

i have so much acne from the pred ugh, im on 5mg alternating with 7 1/2, i dont know if this much acne is normal. im using tea tree oil but yeah not helping. maybe ill try alcohol.
Click to expand...

I was on 60mg and down to 30mg and my acne is very small bumps but its like every damn pore. Most of them arent a white pimple so theres no scarring.

If I didn't use the alcohol i'm sure my face would be digusting and I could probably leave an alcohol soaked facecloth on my face and it would still be oily.

By the way normally I have very dry skin.
 
Hello, I have had a very similar experience to your own.
I was on prednisone for several months and when I stopped it I had pretty bad acne. The acne stayed bad until I went to a dermatologist who prescribed me retin a(this stuff really works!) and sulfacetamid(both topicals). In under 2 months, my face had dramatically improved and is still continuing to improve. Anyway, don't be afraid to see a dermatologist.
 
lol i know!!
i reported it after his first batch of 15 posts, jeez!
so it should be gone soon....
 
mmm... more spam but I'm glad they brought this thread back from the dead I have been curious about the topic at hand.
 
I was prescribed Oxytetrclycline (or something like that) for my acne after being on pred and budesonide.
Reading about the antibiotics, im just wondering wether i shud have been prescribed this?
 
Yeah Kskitt, I was put on more or less the same thing (Doxycycline over here, maybe over there too?) and never given a real straight answer on whether it was interfering with my Crohns with newer docs, but the original GI doc that I had when I first started said it's so specific in targeting skin-based acne it's nothing to worry about. I actually had a dermatologist just for some of the pred side effects they were so severe, and had to okay everything with the then-current GI doctor. The derm. Dr. also said it would be okay with the Crohns (not that she has equal credibility to a GI).

Later after a good 8 months or so, I stopped because I wanted to seriously try probiotics. I don't know if it really helped or not, because one could make the argument it was the other 5 creams/washes I was also prescribed (had milia and increase in regular acne as well), or the body didn't have pred in it anymore, thus the skin issues went away on their own? Who knows.
 
BWS1982 said:
Yeah Kskitt, I was put on more or less the same thing (Doxycycline over here, maybe over there too?) and never given a real straight answer on whether it was interfering with my Crohns with newer docs, but the original GI doc that I had when I first started said it's so specific in targeting skin-based acne it's nothing to worry about. I actually had a dermatologist just for some of the pred side effects they were so severe, and had to okay everything with the then-current GI doctor. The derm. Dr. also said it would be okay with the Crohns (not that she has equal credibility to a GI).

Later after a good 8 months or so, I stopped because I wanted to seriously try probiotics. I don't know if it really helped or not, because one could make the argument it was the other 5 creams/washes I was also prescribed (had milia and increase in regular acne as well), or the body didn't have pred in it anymore, thus the skin issues went away on their own? Who knows.
Click to expand...

Well tbh since ive come off the steriods i stopped taking it (without my doc knowing) and my skin is a tad blotchy but tbh a bit of make up sorts it out.
 
The Pred usually makes my skin pretty clear. Been back on it for almost three weeks at 40mg. No noticible acne, but maybe I am past the acne age.

I can't really recall it getting worse when I was on it at 17.
 
Ive been on a course of Prednisone the past couple weeks, and I definetly have more acne they normal on my face. I just try to wash my face more frequently during the day.
 
Prednisone makes me break out on my upper back and chest area. Usually, my face is spared. Well, in the sense of breaking out, but Moon Face or Chipmunk Cheeks- now that's a different story!
 
It makes me break out on the chest and back as well and goes away a few weeks after tapering off of prednisone. I thought I was over all that after adolescence. Being in your forties and getting acne again bummer.
 

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