So... How long 'til the acne goes insane?

[Ender]

I just took my 3rd shot of T and I'm wondering when the acne is gonna start.  I know everybody will be different, but I'd like to know what everyone's experience was.  My face has always been oily; it may be slightly more oily now, but I really can't tell.

I had honestly expected my acne to flare up horribly after a few weeks into T, but so far it's not happened (don't get me wrong, I'm not looking forward to it, but I'd like the heads up).  I'm expecting acne because I had it terribly as a teenager and it never fully went away--it would still flare up on a more-or-less monthly basis (guess what 'monthly basis' I'm talking about  ).  Right now I have no more acne than I would with a normal flare-up--that is, a few blemishes, washing 2-3x daily with antibacterial soap and using 10% benzoyl peroxide (keeps things under control-ish; if I don't do this, my face will turn into an infected mess).  I'm hoping this will continue to be enough and I won't have to resort to the terribly expensive and time-consuming (albeit effective) regimen my dermatologist gave me several years ago when the scarring got bad.

[Mister]

I think it took me about.. oh.. thre emonths?

[Luc]

I have known guys whose faces looked like pepperoni pizzas after a month on T... but mine didn't. Honestly, I had more acne before T, every time the monthly curse thrust itself upon me. I've noticed that even more so since I've had to yoyo between T and... not T. I think it's probably mostly genetic, whether you experience an increase in acne or not. If you have brothers, you could probably judge your proclivity to blemishes from their experience.

SD

[Dennis]

I had to wash my face more, but I didn't get acne problems as long as I was careful. Used benzoyl peroxide and soap. And when I did fail, I only got one or two zits.

Dennis

[Christo]

2 months. I got more on my back 

[Benjamin]

Honestly, I had more acne before T, every time the monthly curse thrust itself upon me.
SD

Same here.  Weird. 

[Lachlann]

Maybe your acne is just stress related? I know mine is.

[Jay]

I have acne where I shave on the sides of my face which always stay there.. My face is a lot more oily now though. And for the first time in my life I had to buy face wash. My first puberty I didn't really have any spots one or two maybe but now I defiantly get more but not that bad to be honest. The ones on the sides of my face stay all the time.. they are now scars I think.. But I get two or three at a time.. I have had a few big spots like boil like. My back has had a couple of spots but I think that's because of my binder to be honest.

I think mine starting hitting after around a month / month and a half..
I would just recommend drinking a lot of water and cleaning your face regularly.

Jay

[Dresdin Storm]

I never had acne growing up and I really haven't had much of it since I have been on T.  I noticed around 3 months I think I would get a little break out every once in a while.  I started using a mask on my face every few days and I haven't had anything since. You might luck out and get nothing.

[Snowdoggy]

After 2 or 3 months. Get the odd ones on my face, mostly blind spots under the skin mainly under my chin where I am getting the fastest and thickest hair growth, some of them get quite large but like Chris said, I also originally got them mainly on my back across the shoulders although that's eased up a bit since I stopped binding after my chest op. Think some of it was because I was sweating a lot more round the areas where my binder fell.

I was told they were supposed to ease off after being on T for over 6 months but I've been on it for around 2 years and am still getting them, I found I get a flare up a few weeks after I have my shot. I also found they got worse after switching from Sustanon to Nebido.

[Scratchy Wilson]

My acne didn't start for a couple months, and eve then it wasn't really bad. It kind of did a slow, downward progression; first it started on my face, went to my neck, and now it's on my chest and back...but not really on my face anymore. My back is pretty bad, I can't tell what is a pimple and what is a scar anymore.

[J.T.]

I had practically perfect skin before T, and pretty much right away (maybe two weeks?) i started getting acne. The insane acne took maybe a month or two to show up. it wasn't until about six months that it travelled to my chest.  i get it on my shoulders too.

acne sucks, but comes with the territory.  try not to touch your face, i notice i do that a lot, i like to play with my facial hair for some reason.

[Ender]

Thanks for the responses, guys.  I'm kinda hoping I'll get acne like Sebastien and Benjamin: actually improving once the monthly curse has gone.  My acne is not due to stress, so far as I can tell; it definitely correlates with hormonal cycles.  Every time it flares up, I look at all the people my age (and by 23, it's the majority) who don't have acne as badly as I do and wonder what the heck is wrong with me that I still have the skin of a teenager, well over 12 years after my first puberty began.  Ah well, at least by now I know how to take care of it so the mass of scars on my back doesn't expand, and the few scars I have on my chest & cheeks don't multiply.

[Jav]

Day nineteen, my acne's seriously crazy, with my cheeks really dry and the rest of the face incredibly oily. Started about a week ago. Well into my hair now. Painful buggers, too... I didn't expect to get acne this fast, especially since I never had the acne the first time around. Ex teases me, she thinks it's cute. NOT.

[Nygeel]

This image is from 6 months on T and shows the pimples I had at that time. My chin is my problem area, and right now I've got a pimple patch there. I also have some on my back/shoulders and chest. I also use a facial scrub with sailic acid and since it's gotten worse I also use a benzoyl peroxide cream thing.

This image is of my skin pre-T. My face was usually clear with one or two pimples.

I have some weeks where I'll have a cluster of pimples and other weeks where my skin is pretty clear.

[Jav]

@Nygeel that's nothing compared to what I have. My colleague, a lovely gay boy, keeps telling me "It's ok, it only took me a few YEARS to clear of the pimples", which is no consolation to me.

[Nygeel]

@Nygeel that's nothing compared to what I have. My colleague, a lovely gay boy, keeps telling me "It's ok, it only took me a few YEARS to clear of the pimples", which is no consolation to me.

Oh, I'm well aware of it. I'm actually really thankful and lucky because all of my brothers had really bad acne during puberty. I just went from REALLY clear skin to pretty clear skin.

[Jav]

I just went from REALLY clear skin to pretty clear skin.

Therein lies the crux of the matter, aye.

[Bahzi]

I've been pretty lucky so far.  I've been on T almost 3 months now.  I started getting back/shoulder acne a few weeks ago, although it's a lot better now that I'm using the benzoyl peroxide wash on it, but my face is actually clearer than it was pre-T, and only breaks out when my shot cycle is almost over, which has led me to do the injections every 12 days instead of 14.  I'm keeping up on it more than I did pre-T by using Stridex pads at work a couple times a day for the bacteria (my job is gross), so that might be a big part of it, not sure.

[Jav]

I had another light-bulb moment last weekend. After I did my shot, I quit smoking after 13 and a half years of intense, a-pack-a-day smoking. So this friend of mine was telling me that she would like to quit smoking as I have, but she often got acne when she tried to quit in the past, and that she was hesitant because of that, AND then it hit me: I was not really getting the HRT-related acne, but just post-quitting-smoking acne. For all you smokers out there - if you get on the HRT and quit smoking simultaneously, you're gonna get TONS of acne, within a week's time of the HRT commencement. And it's going to be real bad.