Long term severe acne cured by running higher test/AI!

[Lionheart1776]

A little back story I've had severe acne on my back, shoulders, chest, neck, and face since I was maybe 13. Bad enough where I couldn't use sunscreen and often had to lay a certain way in my bed depending on the night because of the skin irritation. OTC topical treatments never made much of a dent and god forbid I missed even one shower or treatment weeks of gains could be flushed down the toilet.

So I was put on 100mg of TRT injected weekly about 8 months ago for hypogonadism and anemia by test levels were about about 150-250 ng/dl tested 3 times over 9 months despite a good diet, nutrition, and ZMA/Vit D supplementation at the age of 21.

So my acne got quite a bit worse on the TRT and I finally decided to make peace with it and eventually (this summer actually) take acutane despite concerns over the side effects of it.

While since I'm on test for the rest of my life unless I want my crappy test levels back (HCG therapy or whatever the other therapy is called could bring me up to 400 YAY! (rolls eyes.) I decided to have my other "doctor" up my dose of trt for the next 16 weeks by 200mg to 300mg split twice weekly and my "doctor" had me take aromasin at the dose of 6.25mg on M,W,F as a prophylactic AI dose to start since I already had gyno despite estrogen levels in the high 20's - low to mid 30's on TRT. While in the first week of my new "treatment" my severe acne lost all it's puss and red irritation and is now almost completely gone.

I did more research and I figure I had an estrogen imbalance even thou the blood-work showed otherwise. I could be wrong but, I've changed nothing else, I've also read that the higher test could suppress cortisol levels (mine were somewhat high before but in range.) furthermore the higher test increased my energy levels dramatically and I cut my use of caffeine from 1000mg or so a day to 200mg without setting out to since I didn't need the pick me up anymore (further lower cortisol). I am get labs done around june 20th once my blood levels are stable and will give updates for my fellow acne suffers. I had no before photos due to never taking shirtless pictures when it was flaring up but I will enclose a picture of how it looks now for a physical reference point.

 

[SonnyAz]

Glad you got the acne fixed. 3 years ago I broke out bad across my chest back and shoulders nothing helped. Didn't try your route I recently started Accutane. 5 months in and only a slight improvement I may crush my e2 like you did and see what happens while on Accutane.

 

[Lionheart1776]

Mine was fixed by accident and competently randomly, I though it was going to get worse going in. I will keep you updated on here to see if the results hold as I reach saturation with this test C. I somewhat expect it go come back in the next 3 weeks since one's body chemistry is supposed to be in flux until ones reaches stable levels at 4-5 weeks. I definitely plan on getting the blood drawn with the acne not being present(will play around with AI dose if needed.), I am slightly worried that the acne benefits only present themselves when one's estrogen is below the healthy minimum for men since I started taking the AI in the first week before the extra test could really have kicked in.

Ideally it's the test to estrogen ratio that provides the acne benefits but we'll see, the acne roughly disappeared in sync with my moderately puffy nipples. If crashing it is what gets the job done it will be pyrrhic victory sadly since that isn't supposed to be sustainable. When did yours start? Did it first occur naturally from puberty? Or as a carried over side effect from running a cycle?

 

[Lionheart1776]

I forgot to add in my last reply that it is also possible that the reduction of cortisol levels in conjunction with the estrogen reduction might have caused my acne to heal and disappear. Do you have idea where your cortisol levels sit at? If you haven't had bloods on them or have it fresh on your mind do you live a lifestyle conductive to high cortisol levels? High stress, high stimulant intake, poor sleep quality, calorific deficit, etc? Furthermore I am curios if your acne breakout in any way might have correlated with your levels of cortisol increasing?

 

[Jinsun]

Interesting... Androgens (like testosterone or other AAS) act directly on the sebaceous gland as the gland has an androgen receptor in it (life is cruel that way). So the more androgens you have in your blood serum the more the sebaceous gland is stimulated to produce more sebum (oil). Now with people that are prone to acne this means more and bigger acne. It's exactly how it works in me. More androgens = more acne.

I am trying accutane at the moment at a really small dose. 5 to 10mg ed. It works, even at 5mg's. The doses that doctors prescribe to men; 60 - 80mg's are a nightmare. But with 5 to 10mg's you wont notice almost any sides. I got a little dry lips and some mouth ulcers the first two weeks, but that is now mostly gone and skin is starting to nicely dry out slowly.

 

[AnabolicGuru]

Didn’t you say that you’re on accutane though? Because if so, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the culprit to fixing the acne.

 

[Lionheart1776]

Interesting... Androgens (like testosterone or other AAS) act directly on the sebaceous gland as the gland has an androgen receptor in it (life is cruel that way). So the more androgens you have in your blood serum the more the sebaceous gland is stimulated to produce more sebum (oil). Now with people that are prone to acne this means more and bigger acne. It's exactly how it works in me. More androgens = more acne.

I am trying accutane at the moment at a really small dose. 5 to 10mg ed. It works, even at 5mg's. The doses that doctors prescribe to men; 60 - 80mg's are a nightmare. But with 5 to 10mg's you wont notice almost any sides. I got a little dry lips and some mouth ulcers the first two weeks, but that is now mostly gone and skin is starting to nicely dry out slowly.

That's what I figured too I was completely expecting my acne to be much worse, it's still better than it's been in years on day 8 I but I concede it's more likely than not random and or calm before the storm lol especially considering test can't have possibly kicked in much yet. I very much like the idea of starting a low dose of the accutane and titrating up if and when it comes back, I always been afraid to take it due to some friends having nasty sides and also concerns over it slowing down my gym progress (Have been making INSANE progress and it's so addicting.)

Was that from your from a doctor or off the web? I am worried my doctor will see my pillar traps covered with acne and wonder if they gave me to much of a TRT dose if I ask them for the accutane lol.

 

[Jinsun]

From the web. To lazzy to go to a derm... Plus they would have wanted me to take 60 - 80 mg's. And I am not in a mood to argue with a derm...

 

[Dthcore]

I need to get some acutane.... time to look for a source that has it. Hahhaha!!!

 

[Lionheart1776]

Quick update, the body acne has continued to heal up, I let my estrogen levels run up a bit more to improve strength. During one night when the e-levels would have peaked before the aromasin could fully work, two nights ago I had one pimple show up on my mid-arm (tricep area). It was the only one and has since popped on it's own and left minimal red skin in it's absence.

I've been digging around a lot and there are plenty of others albeit a small minority of people running test only that had the same reduction of acne on cycle. My best uneducated guess based on ****ing around on the internet still seems to point to the ratio of T:E being the culprit. That being said I am not naive so I am going to grab some acutane off the web and try out the low dose as soon as the acne has returned (maybe when test levels peak in the next two weeks?)

I been taking 12.5mg of mk-677 so that may have contributed to how well the wounds have being healing up after they dried out since they used to linger and refill with white puss well remaining red and irritated for days to a week at a time or. Although I am doubtful that 5 days of MK-677 could have reasonably done anything meaningful, but who knows.

 

[Ryan303]

How did this pan out in the end

 

[TShoot]

Interesting... Androgens (like testosterone or other AAS) act directly on the sebaceous gland as the gland has an androgen receptor in it (life is cruel that way). So the more androgens you have in your blood serum the more the sebaceous gland is stimulated to produce more sebum (oil). Now with people that are prone to acne this means more and bigger acne. It's exactly how it works in me. More androgens = more acne.

I am trying accutane at the moment at a really small dose. 5 to 10mg ed. It works, even at 5mg's. The doses that doctors prescribe to men; 60 - 80mg's are a nightmare. But with 5 to 10mg's you wont notice almost any sides. I got a little dry lips and some mouth ulcers the first two weeks, but that is now mostly gone and skin is starting to nicely dry out slowly.

I have found the same to be true. Never had cycstic acne just really oily skin and some back breakouts. 20mg once a week made it go away. Maybe just coincidence but I think not. The levels the docs want to prescribe are way over the top to me. And, they "usually" won't prescribe it (even at low doses) for mild to moderate acne.