Acne medication and pregnancy?

Question

I have been taking prescribed medicine for more than 15 years for acne - including 4 courses of Roaccutance many years ago.

For the last few years I have maintained good skin by taking Oxytetracycline. However, I have just got married and we hope to start a family within the next 2 years, so I have stopped taking the medication in order to 'clean' my system of the drug.

I've only been off it 2 months, but already my skin has got very bad again - even though I'm nearly 32. My face is like an oil slick for most of the day. I am distraught because I had hoped by skin would have dried out by this stage.

Is there ANY medication that is safe to take if you are trying for a baby?

Answer 1

Salicylic acid has no undesirable side effects(although in rare cases people have been allergic to it) and is registered with the FDA for the treatment and prevention of acne. In a natural formulation including nutritional support it can yield long term results. Because this type of formulation works on healing from the inside out it does require 4 to 8 weeks to begin seeing results. A good article to learn more is called "Facial Skin Problems that Feel Like Barnacles."

Answer 2

Tetracyclines should not be used to treat pregnant or lactating women and children under 12 except in certain conditions where it has been approved by a specialist because there are no obvious substitutes. Candidiasis (Thrush) is not uncommon following treatment with broad spectrum antibiotics.

Isotretinoin (Roaccutane) is a teratogen and is highly likely to cause birth defects if taken during pregnancy. A few of the more common birth defects that this drug can cause are hearing and visual impairment, missing earlobes, facial dysmorphism, and mental retardation. Isotretinoin is classified as FDA Pregnancy Category X and ADEC Category X, and use is contraindicated in pregnancy.

The manufacturer recommends that pregnancy be excluded in female patients two weeks prior to commencement of isotretinoin, and that they should use effective contraception (sometimes two simultaneous forms are recommended) at least one month prior to commencement, during, and for at least one month following isotretinoin therapy.

In the U.S. more than 2,000 women have become pregnant while taking the drug between 1982 and 2003, with most pregnancies ending in abortion or miscarriage. About 160 babies with birth defects were born. Consequently, the iPLEDGE program was introduced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on 12 August 2005 in an attempt to ensure that female patients receiving isotretinoin do not become pregnant – as of 1 March 2006, only prescribers registered and activated in iPLEDGE are able to prescribe isotretinoin, and only patients registered and qualified in iPLEDGE will be able to have isotretinoin dispensed.

Consult a dermatologist.

Answer 3

You are correct all tetracylines are contraindicated in pregnancy and although here is no evidence of hazard from erythromycin in human pregnancy, I am not sure that your GP would be keen to have you on it orally anyway as there is a more general rule of thumb that says that no medicine should be taken in pregnancy unless it is essential to the mother or foetus.

A compromise might be to use topical erythromycin, this would combine the safe pregnancy profile of this drug with negligible absorption.