All About Doxycycline for Acne

Suffering from acne can be painful for more than the surface of your skin. It can be traumatic to your psyche to be presenting a face to the world that you’re not proud of or comfortable with.

If you’re one of those people who feels like they’ve tried everything for acne and gotten nowhere, it may be time to consider doxycycline hyclate for acne.

Before you start any new medicine, it’s important to learn about how it works in general, and if it will work for you. In this article, we will cover doxycycline for acne dosing, how long to take doxycycline for acne, the best time to take doxycycline for acne, and how long does doxycycline take to work for acne.

Let’s find out if doxycycline dose for acne could be a solution for acne that has plagued you for years.

What is Doxycycline?

Doxycycline is an antibiotic that treats acne from the inside out by fighting against the bacteria that causes breakouts.

It’s a tetracycline antibiotic that can also treat other types of bacterial infections, including urinary, genital, and gastrointestinal systems, airway infections like pneumonia, infections caused by animal and insect spread. It also treats skin infections, bumps from rosacea, and of course, acne.

Doxycycline was introduced in 1967, and has remained a very popular medicine with dermatologists. In fact, tetracyclines like doxycycline account for at least 75% of oral antibiotics prescribed in dermatological clinical practice.

Clinicians love doxycycline because there is a low risk of serious adverse reactions, and has an overall excellent track record of effectiveness, in addition to its safety profile. There are two types of doxycycline typically available: doxycycline monohydrate and doxycycline hyclate, which are equally effective according to the CDC.

Doxycycline Monohydrate vs Hyclate 

What is the difference between doxycycline monohydrate vs hyclate? They are so small (literally) that the average user wouldn’t be able to notice at all.

The differences between them are on a molecular level. Doxycycline monohydrate is about 50% the molecular weight of doxycycline hyclate, and the hyclate version is very soluble in water, while the doxycycline monohydrate is only slightly soluble.

Whether you’re going to use doxycycline hyclate for acne, or doxycycline monohydrate will depend on your prescriber, but the only major difference you will likely be able to see is in the cost. Manufacturing and supply chain issues can effect every component of our lives, even the pharmaceutical, if your prescriber is using medicines that rely on foreign manufacturing.  

If for some reason your acne medication cost skyrockets, it might be a good time to check into whether you’re using the hyclate or the monohydrate, and if it’s possible and safe for you to switch. It also could help stabilize your medicine costs to use an American pharmacy that compounds medicines on site, to lower the risk of supply chain interference.

Doxycycline for Acne 

Whether you’re going with doxycycline monohydrate or hyclate, your doxycycline dose will depend on the severity of your acne, and the length of your regimen. Regardless, doxycycline for acne dosing has had over 6 decades of safety and efficacy, providing and excellent and effective solution to stubborn acne.

How Does Doxycycline Work for Acne? 

To explore how doxycycline works for acne, let’s begin by defining the kind of acne that doxycycline treats. 

Pimples are caused by the clogging of hair follicles. The most common perpetrators of the clogs are bacteria, oil, and dead skin cells. Once the clogging starts, so can the unsightly and painful results– nodules, pustules, cysts, blackheads, and whiteheads. 

Now, for many people, pimples could be a minor inconvenience. Perhaps someone has a small hormonal breakout around their menstrual cycle, or a breakout when they’re very stressed about an upcoming test.

However, persistent, severe acne should absolutely call for a powerful solution that works from the inside out, like doxycycline.

The bacteria responsible for acne is called C. acnes, which lives on your skin’s surface. The more C. acnes that sits on your skin, the more at risk you are for breakouts. When it gets trapped in a pore along with other confounding factors, it’s in the perfect environment to wreak havoc on your skin. The clogged pore is damp and warm, perfect for bacteria to grow, causing inflammation, discomfort, and pimples.

Doxycycline kills C. acnes, effectively and safely reducing the amount that sits on your skin, therefore reducing your risk of bacterial infection and breakouts. While doxycycline hyclate for acne is an excellent option for clearing skin from the inside out, you could still have breakouts due to other factors, like clogged pores from dead skin. That’s why it’s important to use doxycycline in tandem with a clean skincare routine.

If you’re wondering does doxycycline cause purging while it works it’s magic, it shouldn’t. In fact, because doxycycline is an antibiotic that only reduces the root cause of acne as soon as you begin taking it, your skin should show continuous improvement.

How Long Does Doxycycline Take to Work for Acne? 

While doxycycline is incredibly effective, it does require a little patience. As with most antibiotics, you want to kill the bacteria completely and help to prevent its recurrence. If you’ve ever taken an antibiotic course, your doctor has probably stressed the importance of completing the entire regimen, even after you may begin feeling better. The amount prescribed should be the amount exactly needed to completely eliminate the bacteria. If you stop taking antibiotics before the bacteria is completely gone, it could come back with a vengeance.

That being said, when does doxycycline start working for acne? The great news? Right away! It will immediately start fighting against the acne bacteria, and is working from within to help clear and heal your skin. How long to take doxycycline for acne will depend on the condition of your skin and your medical professional’s advice, but it’s typical for prolonged therapy of several weeks to months to be prescribed to effectively kill c. acnes and prevent recurrence.

Doxycycline for Acne Dosing

What’s the best doxycycline dose for your acne situation? It will depend on a variety of factors, including your current health, age, weight, and the severity of your acne. There are some standard regimens for doxycycline for acne dosing, but at 7 Cells, we highly recommend finding a dose that is tailored to you and your body.

Our pharmacy compounds premium medications tailored to you, without fillers, to ensure the highest possible chances of success in your acne elimination program.

Best Time to Take Doxycycline for Acne 

The best time to take doxycycline for acne may feel like *right this instant*, but it’s a good idea to consider how doxycycline works for acne and when does doxycycline start working for acne in order to optimize your healing process.

Because doxycycline is an effective antibiotic that works on your skin, it can have some skin-related side effects to keep in mind. The side effects are relatively mild, but in order to maintain optimum health, you need to know if you’re able to mitigate them before you start taking doxycycline. The  skin-related side effects include photosensitivity, so if you’re planning a tropical beach vacation, it may be best to wait on doxycycline until after you come back from your moment in the sun, unless you can stay committed to heavy sun protection the whole time.

Other side effects include heartburn and gastrointestinal issues. Doxycycline can also interact adversely with alcohol if you have more than 1-2 drinks, because alcohol can slow down the body’s immune response, which can prolong the recovery time. So if you have a big eating and drinking holiday coming up, you might want to wait to begin your doxycycline to ensure it’s working at peak effectiveness without increased side effects.

Should I Take Doxycycline for Acne? 

Do you still feel that *right this minute* is the best time to take doxycycline for acne? Are you tired of topical solutions that seem to work, only to disappoint you down the line? Is your medicine cabinet a graveyard of so-called “solutions” that have never really effectively addressed the root cause of your acne?

If so, it may be time to start exploring doxycycline monohydrate or doxycycline hyclate for acne. At Seven Cells, we believe there is no better solution to ailments than the one that eliminates them from the root, and keeps them out for good, which is why our medical professionals are happy to help people begin their doxycycline journey. Our staff will help you determine your ideal doxycycline for acne dosing, how long you need to take doxycycline, and will be here to help along the way.

You can get started today with an easy questionnaire, and have your perfect, individually-compounded dose on its way to your door in just a couple of days.

Learn more about doxycycline here.