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.
I think it took me about.. oh.. thre emonths?
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
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
2 months. I got more on my back :-\
Quote from: Sebastien on February 09, 2009, 12:07:11 AM
Honestly, I had more acne before T, every time the monthly curse thrust itself upon me.
SD
Same here. Weird.
Maybe your acne is just stress related? I know mine is.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This image (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y243/Halfway_to_Nowhere/PICT0226.jpg) 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 (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y243/Halfway_to_Nowhere/k.jpg) 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.
@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.
Quote from: Jav on June 24, 2011, 12:07:55 AM
@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.
Quote from: Nygeel on June 24, 2011, 12:10:53 AM
I just went from REALLY clear skin to pretty clear skin.
Therein lies the crux of the matter, aye.
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.
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.
Damn major thread resurrect.
Before T I had gorgeous skin (sob) people on the street would stop me to compliment me. Now it's pretty bad and I feel like I'm at war with it. For a while it was managable, not perfect, but not horrible. Now it's pretty bad. Not pepperoni pizza bad but still noticeable. I have so many little whiteheads and they have been getting worse ever since my beard really started to grow.
I think I have infected hair follicles which is nasty. I have an appointment with my dermotologist tomorrow to talk about it. I'm going to get some Retin - A out of him if it's the last thing I do. I'm a year and a month on T. I started noticing the acne between months 2 and 3.
Yeah, whoo thread res.
FWIW, the antibacterial face wash and benzoyl peroxide that I mentioned 2 years ago didn't really end up working out. I had to go back to the Retin-A that I used to use when I was a teenager. It worked then and it works now. It does take a few months to strip your skin of all the stuff collected in pores. Blackheads and whiteheads will surface, become a wicked all-at-once breakout, and then heal.
Squirrel, if you do get the Retin-A, try getting a script for the generic Tretinoin and go get it filled at healthwarehouse.com. It is much, much cheaper if your insurance won't cover acne meds.
It took a few months for me for the acne to kick in. It's not horrible, but it does bother really bad. I guess it depends on the person. If it starts to bother you, ask your endo doctor to prescribe you something. :)
Well this might help
http://www.steadyhealth.com/Masturbation_acne_in_males_does_exist__t119084.html (http://www.steadyhealth.com/Masturbation_acne_in_males_does_exist__t119084.html)
ROFLMAO well now its your turn LMAO guyz
LOL ;D LOL ;D LOL ;D
ok sorry about that here's a better one
http://www.epicbeautyguide.com/2011/04/3-simple-diet-changes-that-will-help-eliminate-acne/ (http://www.epicbeautyguide.com/2011/04/3-simple-diet-changes-that-will-help-eliminate-acne/)
Quote from: M2MtF2FtM on June 29, 2011, 03:52:20 PM
Well this might help
http://www.steadyhealth.com/Masturbation_acne_in_males_does_exist__t119084.html (http://www.steadyhealth.com/Masturbation_acne_in_males_does_exist__t119084.html)
Un-f-ing believable. Never heard this before. Don't have brothers, my father passed away many years ago, can't ask my uncles, male cousins are not of the pubertal age, and they never had acne anyway... Well, my nephew's just had his voice breaking last year, but he does not have any acne either. Un-again-f-ing believable, but HILARIOUS.
ROFLMAO well now its your turn LMAO guyz
LOL ;D LOL ;D LOL ;D
Any sort of sudden hormonal shift will tend to cause acne to some degree, I've noticed. I've taken workout supplements that boost T and gotten acne which eventually clears. Then going off of them after taking them regularly can result in another outbreak. I've also noticed it when I went on medication that limits certain male hormones or went off of it. I imagine this can be a problem when your T comes in doses now and then. I imagine it will probably be much less of a problem after you've been on T for a while. Once they have an implant that releases it slowly into your system gradually, I imagine this will be even less of a problem.
Quote from: dalebert on July 01, 2011, 12:37:33 PM
Once they have an implant that releases it slowly into your system gradually, I imagine this will be even less of a problem.
well, i am actually on the slow-release T, Nebido... only a few more YEARS of this, my colleague keeps reassuring me.
Quote from: dalebert on July 01, 2011, 12:37:33 PM
Any sort of sudden hormonal shift will tend to cause acne to some degree, I've noticed. I've taken workout supplements that boost T and gotten acne which eventually clears. Then going off of them after taking them regularly can result in another outbreak. I've also noticed it when I went on medication that limits certain male hormones or went off of it. I imagine this can be a problem when your T comes in doses now and then. I imagine it will probably be much less of a problem after you've been on T for a while. Once they have an implant that releases it slowly into your system gradually, I imagine this will be even less of a problem.
This would seem to be the case with myself anyways. My face has been pretty clear still, but my shoulders and upper back are a hot mess the past week. I've started using Proactiv on those spots too, and it's working, but it's still a bit broken out. It's much worse at the end of my shot cycle, even with moving the injections to every 12 days instead of 14. I might end up switching to weekly injections if my doctor thinks it best when I see her at the end of July. If that helps it's worth it to me, because I've been doing P90X and am building muscle pretty quickly, I don't want to have to go the summer without tank tops just because puberty 2.0 is kicking my ass. :P My doctor's pretty cool, when I actually see her. She said if the acne got bad we'd throw whatever at it we could, be it Retin A, or even Accutane.