Cephalexin : Oral Antibiotic

First off, you can not give something a bad review because you're allergic to it. That's like giving a remote a bad review because you put the batteries in up-side down. With that being said, I suffered with cystic acne since I was in high school. I'm 24 now. After trying about 6 prescriptions in high school, I gave up, hoping that it would go away as I got older. It didn't. When I started college I started searching again and seeing a new dermatologist. We tried a few things including bactrim and minocycline, which I was allergic to, (and didn't give a bad review). Well, I've been on cephalexin for 3 months, and I also use retin-a topically. My skin is completely clear. Completely. My daily regimen consists of washing my face in the morning, and twice at night with Basis bar soap (3 dollars at drugstores). I use Dickinson's witch hazel as an astringent (4 dollars at drugstores). I take the cephalexin once at night. And I use the retin-a every other night. And I use super gentle moisturizer, one with absolutely no fragrance, oils, alcohol, anything of that nature. My confidence is great now. Being able to sit around with my boyfriend with no makeup on is amazing. And he still tells me how pretty I am. Keep in mind that this stuff DOES take a long time to work. I've been on it for 3 months and my skin just cleared up about a week ago. =]

I'm 26F and I was put on 500mg 2x daily and the results have been great. I'm not sensitive to antibiotics and haven't had any noticeable side effects (although the exhaustion thing does ring a bell). I'm on the cephalexin and onexton (clindamycin + benzoyl peroxide) and within 2 weeks my skin is almost completely clear and my scabs are clearing up. Before that I tried several other drug store common options, trying to give each of them the time for my face to get used to them and still had about 15 cystic spots and 20-50 comedones and postules. I'm also doing my best to not touch or pick at my face at all to let my acne run it's natural course. I've switched to a non-comedogenic powder foundation. So far I'm very happy with the results! I have a follow up with my dermatologist in 3 months, so I'll keep an eye out for the side effects and plateaus.

This is definitely an antibiotic worth trying if you are struggling with acne scabs that won't heal. It brings down inflammation very quickly and helps stop the oozing and leaking from open sores. This is an antibiotic for various infections including SKIN infections. For me, it is a miracle in healing my skin, even though it does make me tired. I have realized though that I have to back off it for a while and only use it when I am having a particularly difficult time healing otherwise the effect sort of plateaus and I don't get the same great results. I take 500 mg twice a day. My doctor did not want me to use too often either bc of becoming immune to it. I only get cysts and/or watery kind of pimple things on my chin. They hurt and take forever to heal and keep filling up and have to be re drained or popped to bring down the swelling. This truly makes them start to heal within a day. They are not gone immediately obviously but I can see the redness and swelling reduced very quickly. Because it helps heal the skin quickly, it does reduce the amount of scarring.

I'm a 31 year old male and have been struggling with acne for years. I started using Dan's regimen 4 years ago which improved my acne dramatically. A year ago, however, I started breaking out with the large, deep, cystic pimples I've always been prone to. No explanation for that yet. A family doctor put me on cephalexin as a hold-me-over until I could see a dermatologist. I was skeptical, having been put on minocycline years before with no improvement. Taking cephalexin, however, has been a minor godsend. (I've continued using benzoyl peroxide as well). I've developed 3 cysts since taking it but each was progressively less severe than the ones before and they healed even faster. This respite has allowed my remaining spots to fade significantly without just piling on more cysts on top of them. Acne sufferers know that at desperate times they'll take what they can get, which is why I'm rating this highly as an effective, yet temporary, fix for moderately severe acne.

Cephalexin really helped me heal almost immediately of severe swelling, throbbing, and oozing of my acne. I really saw an improvement on the texture of my skin; there was not so many bumps anymore.

An O.K. product, but I've only been using it for a month now. As with most antibiotics, stomach discomfort is a common side effect. Personally, I cannot take it on a completely empty stomach. I am prescribed 500mg capsules to be taken twice a day. I try to take them at the exact same time everyday and night (11 am & 11 pm) bcuz I've noticed a flare up if I take the product at different times. I suppose that everyone is different, so side effect response will undoubtedly vary; however, you should expect some effect on you stomach and/or GI tract by taking this product for more that 3 months. I use to think that I would never have to take an oral antibiotic, after taking clindamycin (topical) for over a year and having it work miracles on my skin. But after bouncing around to different products (retin-A, differin, erythromycin), I've realized that my skin is very difficult to treat, and topical medications were simply insufficient. My description: 22 year old male (latin/white). Extremely oily skin - combo skin (t-zone can get dry). Moderate acne for the last 5 years. My routine: Morning - Cetaphil Foam Wash - awesome btw Aczone Keflex (cephalexin) Night - Cetaphil Foam Wash Tazorac 0.1% gel Cetaphil lotion - moisturize as needed In addition, I take a multivitamin (high potency), Fish Oil (360mg twice a day), Zinc (50mg), Vitamin D (3000 IU), as well as drinking plenty of water and avoiding cheese and sweets. I also try to get as much sun as possible. Hope my review helps someone out there decide whether Keflex is the right product for them.

My dermatologist switched me to this after a lack of results from Minocycline and this is the clearest my skin has looked, but I did experience a lot of nausea and exhaustion after first starting cephalexin. I'm not sure if it's directly been caused by the meds or not, but it's definitely been worth it if it means I don't need to go on accutane!

So my doctor started me on this antibiotic after I received weird side effects from Minocycline, which wasn't working anyway. I am so happy I did! I have been on this for a little over a week, NO side effects for me! I also just started my menstrual cycle since then and haven't had one breakout yet. How is that possible? I have strugged with acne since I was about 15, and have tried several products. My skin is clear right now. Of course, I still have plenty of old scars from picking and such (bad habit, i know), but I can deal with those later. Right now, I am happy that my skin is actually clear! I should also mention that I do not use this with any prescribed skin products. However, I do use a lemon/honey mask a couple times a week, which has been helping heal old scars. This has helped tremendously. I hope it's not too early, to give Cephalexin credit, but I know my skin.... and in one week of taking it, my skin feels amazing!

It' s always hard to tell. Maybe my acne would be worse if I wasn't on it, but it's not good enough for me to be happy with this antibiotic. Also, it's causing me to get yeast infections :-(

Bottom line - it works for cystic acne, i think most antibiotics work for cystic acne. You cannot use topical creams or methods to cure cystic acne. Its under too many layers of skin and the only way to penetrate it is through medicine. My face is clearer now than its been in awhile, i have been on this medication for around 5 weeks. My blemishes are even less noticeable. Its also very affordable if you have decent prescription coverage