Mild to moderate acne can be the pits, but when you have severe acne that covers your face or body it can be unbearable. Large acne pustules and cystic acne may sometimes not respond to traditional acne treatments, like applying benzoyl peroxide creams or using antiseptic toners regularly. Severe acne is often genetic and can leave you feeling helpless and worried about how you are going to heal your skin. You might even consider trying an antibiotic medication for acne, like Doxycycline. However, it is important to know how using Doxycycline for acne treatment will react with your body, and what types of unpleasant side effects could occur. This will help you make an educated decision about whether taking an antibiotic for acne is worth the risk or not.

So, how does Doxycycline work exactly? Doxycycline is in the same group of antibiotics as tetracycline, and helps reverse and prevent harmful bacterial overgrowth that contributes to severe acne. While it sounds great to take a pill once a day to keep your skin crystal clear, it may not be as simple as it might seem. Some bacteria in the body is beneficial to proper bodily functions and digestive health. A strong antibiotic like Doxycycline does not discriminate between healthy and unhealthy bacteria, so when you take it you might discover that it is killing off the good bacteria in your body while clearing away your acne. Although you can always take supplemental probiotics to help replenish the loss of healthy bacteria in your body, it is important to consider whether you want to take this risk or not.

Using Doxycycline for acne treatment can also cause your skin and eyes to become a lot more sensitive to sunlight. This could mean more sunburns and sun damage if you do not wear a strong sunscreen daily, and could negatively effect your vision if you do not wear the right protective eye wear while outdoors. If you are light or fair-skinned, your risk of skin cancer may increase from taking Doxycycline. Talk to your dermatologist to find out if she thinks using Doxycycline could cause your risk of skin cancer to increase, and ask your eye doctor if it might worsen an existing vision problem.

Taking an antibiotic for your severe acne may not feel like the ideal treatment, but when you have suffered with chronic, severe acne for a long time it can seem like a miracle that taking a pill can eliminate your skin problem for good.