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What is steroid acne?

Yoram Harth, MD
By Yoram Harth, MD | 2020-07-06

Steroid acne

Taking oral corticosteroids, and especially prednisone can cause more acne breakouts.

Those acne breakouts will usually start two weeks after one starts to take steroids. The steroid acne can also be caused by steroid inhalations, bodybuilding hormones, and potent topical steroid cream used on the face of the body for more extended periods. In some cases, taking oral steroids can cause fungal acne asl called Malassezia folliculitis. If this happens, one can use Nizoral shampoo to cleanse the scalp face and body every two nights for 3 minutes

Steroid acne will begin to subside once prednisone is discontinued. During prednisone treatment, effective topical treatment, based on benzoyl peroxide, can be used to control outbreaks. For moderate to severe steroid acne, oral antibiotics like doxycycline, minocycline, and tetracycline should be added to the topical anti-acne routine.

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