25 on HRT for life, acne sucks BAD..what are you guys doing to prevent it? (LONG)

[fizler]

I have had low test since 18 or so, took a few years to get diag right. Anyway now I'm on 200mg/test c a week to keep me around 5-600. I hate the patches/gels I feel they don't work and I live in FL, and never have a shirt on, patches are obvious and gels have a very unique smell!

I read other boards, and have had some good advice like split my shots to M and Thurs to keep my levels more stable. Tan all that. I have done it all!

I've never had back acne until I went on the shots. Its bad and I have been seeing a dermatologist and tried 4 diff anti b's and other things in conjunction at high doses, double what she normally RX's for ppl with acne. I have done all the cyclines and some other ones I can't recall atm.

I shower 2x a day because I sweat like crazy almost anytime I am in the sun, even today when its 55 degrees out. So I am about to start accutane with the guidance from a doctor, with the blood work and all that goes along with it. I've taken it 2x before when I was 15 and 16. However she and I agree that it has very bad sides and I can't take it for life and we need to find a solution.

I'm not sure what dose she is going to start me on, but I'm 200-210lb and float up and down a lot depending on diet/water weight. Anyway when I took it the first time as a kid, I got terrible joint pain and sun burned bad. So I am going to stay out of the sun and use sun screen, that will be hard LOL and run a small dose of deca at 50-100mg a week. Hell why not, deca dick doesn't really apply

She suggested I stop taking shots and go on gels/patch while I run the accutane for 6-8 months!!! I won't lie and say I'm rich and balling like everyone else on the internet, I mainly went on the shots cause its $5.00 a month for a vial vs a hell of a lot more! Plus I think its easier.

Obviously I know orals are out of the question, and as long as my levels are all good I was going to keep doing shots.. maybe even running a cycle of 600mg of prop or something.

So what I am asking it how do you keep it in check, and if you ever ran accutane + HRT/TRT or acc + a cycle at the same time, what was your results!

Sorry for the details didn't want to leave anything out.

[FallenWyvern]

Shots twice a week did nothing? My doc just told me to do that and see if acne gets better.

[fizler]

Shots twice a week did nothing? My doc just told me to do that and see if acne gets better.

It helped. For sure, as did the anti b's but its pretty bad still, not talking 5-10 zits.. like 30 big nasty ones, and 100s of small ones(not kidding, my friend took pics last night, but I deleted them or I would post.)

Lots of tiny ones, which I don't care about, but some of these pop at night and I get blood over everything..gross sorry.

I gave it 4 months at 200mg/week, it was slightly better, but not acceptable.

Only time I could live with my skin was at 75mg/week but my levels were so low, I felt like shit, no sex drive, no energy.. couldn't live like that.

[FallenWyvern]

What are your estrogen levels like?

[Polska]

Your acne is most likely attributed to elevated androgen/DHT levels...

I would try the following:

1) Buy Nizoral 2% anti dandruff shampoo and use it as a body wash for your back when you shower. The active ingredient Ketoconazole is a topical anti-androgen.

2) Start taking Finasteride at 0.5mg a day. It's internal and will cut DHT down. You will look softer (ie lose some muscle hardness) but your acne should disappear.

Both of these methods worked for me

[fizler]

What are your estrogen levels like?

I am at work, don't have the papers infront, but doc said everything was in check. Nothing to high.

Your acne is most likely attributed to elevated androgen/DHT levels...

I would try the following:

1) Buy Nizoral 2% anti dandruff shampoo and use it as a body wash for your back when you shower. The active ingredient Ketoconazole is a topical anti-androgen.

2) Start taking Finasteride at 0.5mg a day. It's internal and will cut DHT down. You will look softer (ie lose some muscle hardness) but your acne should disappear.

Both of these methods worked for me

I forgot to mention I sometimes take 1mg of arimidex to help with bloat, and estrogen levels. Not on any schedule with that. I can tell when its to high!

Won't taking finasteride be a life thing also? I though it was for like hair growth? I use nioxen the shampoo for DHT on my scalp

[FallenWyvern]

Your acne is most likely attributed to elevated androgen/DHT levels...

I would try the following:

1) Buy Nizoral 2% anti dandruff shampoo and use it as a body wash for your back when you shower. The active ingredient Ketoconazole is a topical anti-androgen.

2) Start taking Finasteride at 0.5mg a day. It's internal and will cut DHT down. You will look softer (ie lose some muscle hardness) but your acne should disappear.

Both of these methods worked for me

I just got finesteride. Will try the shampoo next.

[ZonaDave]

this exact same thing happened to a buddy of mine while he was doing a cycle. out of the blue he got hundreds of small pimples all over his back. it was the freakiest thing and it looked like an allergic reaction. what is the ester in the Cyp.?

your TT seems on the low side for taking 200mg/week. are you taking anything else for your TRT?

can you post your latest numbers with ranges?

[Silver-Bolt]

Talk to your Doc about trying Test-E instead of the C. I have read where some people have reactions to the oils used to suspend the Test. If they get acne with Test-E they may do better with C. Same goes for those using C. My buddy was on Test-E and broke out back. Mostly on the back. Doc switched him to C and it cleared up. no other changes.

[Polska]

Won't taking finasteride be a life thing also? I though it was for like hair growth? I use nioxen the shampoo for DHT on my scalp

Yes finasteride is a life time commitment if you're on HRT. It stops hairloss in men prone to MPB, but it does so through the inhibition of the 5AR enzyme, which converts testosterone to DHT. You have higher than average testosterone levels , so you have higher than average DHT levels. DHT is what causes oily skin and clogged pores. DHT (an androgen) is probably responsible for your breakouts. Try washing your back with an anti androgen shampoo like Nizoral 2%. Its worked for me and a lot of other guys, just check the Spa forum out. If that doesn't work you can try Finasteride as that works as an anti-acne solution as well. Though I would try the topical anti androgen first.

[bmit]

I recommend finasteride and nizoral too.

[ArcRoyal]

This is what I use and it works for me as well as everyone I have told about it and actually tried it. I wash well in the showers and use rubbing alcohol on the back brush. I use wintergreencause I like the smell and cooling effect. The alcohol thins the sbum, so it can be washed away, that is feeding the bacterial and it also kills the bacterial. It's cheap and not toxic to your body. You have nothing to lose in trying it.

Also I shower twice a day and apply the alcohol twice a day in the shower. Don't be stingy with the alcohol. The more the better.

[Ntpadude]

I have had low test since 18 or so, took a few years to get diag right. Anyway now I'm on 200mg/test c a week to keep me around 5-600. I hate the patches/gels I feel they don't work and I live in FL, and never have a shirt on, patches are obvious and gels have a very unique smell!

I read other boards, and have had some good advice like split my shots to M and Thurs to keep my levels more stable. Tan all that. I have done it all!

I've never had back acne until I went on the shots. Its bad and I have been seeing a dermatologist and tried 4 diff anti b's and other things in conjunction at high doses, double what she normally RX's for ppl with acne. I have done all the cyclines and some other ones I can't recall atm.

I shower 2x a day because I sweat like crazy almost anytime I am in the sun, even today when its 55 degrees out. So I am about to start accutane with the guidance from a doctor, with the blood work and all that goes along with it. I've taken it 2x before when I was 15 and 16. However she and I agree that it has very bad sides and I can't take it for life and we need to find a solution.

200 mg a week is really high... 100 mg every couple weeks puts me ranging from upper 400's to lower 600's. When I did 200 mg or more in 2 weeks I break out really bad, at the 100 mg I get no acne at all, although I am getting a new blood test here in a couple weeks to examine lifting my levels up to 150 mg every 2 weeks as my sex drive has been good at times, there are some low drive days over that period especially in the second week before the next shot.

Try dawn dishwashing liquid as your skin soap of choice instead of bar soap. Its antibacterial as can be, its anti-skin oil and cleans out pores on your skin better then benzoil peroxide or rubbing alcohol, when done with the shower you will notice a remarkable feeling of being "really really clean" and for me and many others, we see a very rapid drop off in "new acne" forming although old pimples sometimes continue to take a while to heal up. I am very serious... Dawn sometimes leads to excessive drying of the skin in desert states but I live in Florida too which high humidity makes this state one of the places for the best performance of dawn dishwashing liquid to work on acne. For me it worked consistently better then anything else - either over the counter or prescription. I continue using dawn as my shower gel while on HRT and I firmly believe I am 100% free of acne because of it.

[ZonaDave]

I have had low test since 18 or so, took a few years to get diag right. Anyway now I'm on 200mg/test c a week to keep me around 5-600. I hate the patches/gels I feel they don't work and I live in FL, and never have a shirt on, patches are obvious and gels have a very unique smell!

I read other boards, and have had some good advice like split my shots to M and Thurs to keep my levels more stable. Tan all that. I have done it all!

I've never had back acne until I went on the shots. Its bad and I have been seeing a dermatologist and tried 4 diff anti b's and other things in conjunction at high doses, double what she normally RX's for ppl with acne. I have done all the cyclines and some other ones I can't recall atm.

I shower 2x a day because I sweat like crazy almost anytime I am in the sun, even today when its 55 degrees out. So I am about to start accutane with the guidance from a doctor, with the blood work and all that goes along with it. I've taken it 2x before when I was 15 and 16. However she and I agree that it has very bad sides and I can't take it for life and we need to find a solution.

I'm not sure what dose she is going to start me on, but I'm 200-210lb and float up and down a lot depending on diet/water weight. Anyway when I took it the first time as a kid, I got terrible joint pain and sun burned bad. So I am going to stay out of the sun and use sun screen, that will be hard LOL and run a small dose of deca at 50-100mg a week. Hell why not, deca dick doesn't really apply

She suggested I stop taking shots and go on gels/patch while I run the accutane for 6-8 months!!! I won't lie and say I'm rich and balling like everyone else on the internet, I mainly went on the shots cause its $5.00 a month for a vial vs a hell of a lot more! Plus I think its easier.

Obviously I know orals are out of the question, and as long as my levels are all good I was going to keep doing shots.. maybe even running a cycle of 600mg of prop or something.

So what I am asking it how do you keep it in check, and if you ever ran accutane + HRT/TRT or acc + a cycle at the same time, what was your results!

Sorry for the details didn't want to leave anything out.

have you tried splitting your dosage into two shots/week? you sound like you go through T fast. this would explain why your levels are on the low end the day you draw blood.

if you go through T fast your hormone levels will be up and down fast which would explain the imbalance and skin issues.