Testosterone is down, I'm flirting with underweight, cystic acne out of control!

toomuchcoffeelady · 12-26-2007, 04:44 PM

I just don't get it.

I have this horrible cystic acne thing on my chin that is about the size and hardness of a marble, bright red, and painful. It's not responding to differin or the zeno machine.

WTF?! I just got my testosterone down to 20 from the 90s and lost 15 lbs (bringing me down to almost underweight) in three months of metformin and modified diet. What could be going on? How the F do I get rid of this crap?

Lola22 · 12-26-2007, 06:35 PM

Sorry, I have no idea how to get rid of the acne. I've got it too, and I'm a thin cyster as well. I just wanted to let you know you're not alone and that I understand how frustrating it can be. All you hear is stuff about losing weight to solve the problem, but what do you do if you don't have a weight issue?!!?!? I wish someone would figure out what causes this crap so we could fix it the right way, you know? You're doing everything you should be doing. Keep up the diet. For me, I swear, every dessert I eat shows up on my face. Maybe your body is still freaking out with the new changes. Who knows. Give it a little more time. I wish I knew what to tell you, but I just don't. I know that it's easier said than done, but try to keep your head up!

austen · 12-26-2007, 07:54 PM

I know how frustrating it is. At the end of my weight loss program I started eating a low gi diet and I experienced two or three months of fantastic skin. At that time, I really thought that low gi was the solution to acne.

But now several months later, I'm maintaining my weight loss (at a BMI of 20 which is about 5 pounds heavier than I was at my thinnest), I'm back on a healthy low gi eating plan, and my skin is worse than it has ever been in my life.

My most recent lab results show that my testosterone dropped a lot with the diet and is now in the middle of the normal range. And nothing I've tried for the acne, topicals or spironolactone, helps at all.

Good Luck! And let us know if you find anything that works!

Siayae · 01-04-2008, 05:02 AM

That is like what i get, and i found that diet really helps me, staying low carb, no sugar what so ever or anything white, white flour, rice any breads or anything , when i do get the big zit cyst on my chin, as always i use the laser pointer, i get a regular laser pointer from wall mart , and it has to be red led kind, and i put it on the zit and hold it there for like 5 or 10 minutes depending on how deep it is, sometimes i do it twice a day, it brings the swelling down and heals it very fast, brings it to a head, or it just disapears. i hope this helps , it sure helps me. mine used to last like 3 weeks. also fruit breaks me out, being a vegetarian gave me really bad skin. i now eat lean meats in sparing amouts and lots of low sugar fruit, like raspberries, no citrus, and lots of green salads and green vegetables. good luck and hang in there your not alone.

bec415 · 01-04-2008, 10:53 AM

I had an endo that told me that weight loss enough just isn't enough for some women with pcos. You may still need to be on something to help control your acne, like spiro. I am still overweight, but I've brought my testosterone down from 90's to 30's which isn't out of the normal range but I still have horrible acne all the time. That same endo also said that some people are more sensitive to certain things, like our skin is sensitive to the testosterone so it's expressed as acne where someone else's body may be more sensitive to hair issues. If you're borderline underweight, losing weight might keep lowering your testosterone but it's unhealthy. Def. talk to your doctor about options, I'll personally be starting spiro after my wedding (don't want to deal with possible side effects right now)