Acne cleared up on chemo?

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IAmACat
IAmACat Member Posts: 108
edited September 2019 in Chemotherapy - Before, During, and After

Did anyone else's acne clear up on chemo??

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  • Ingerp
    Ingerp Member Posts: 2,624
    edited August 2019

    I haven't heard about acne but oddly enough I think a bunch of us felt like our skin looked pretty good while on chemo. Not sure what was up with that.

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  • GraceB1
    GraceB1 Member Posts: 213
    edited August 2019

    Chemo really dried up the oils on my skin which help with pimples for me. My skin was so dry my eyelids were cracked and bleeding. i hope it doesn't get that bad for you.

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  • Farfalla6
    Farfalla6 Member Posts: 105
    edited August 2019

    Mine did. I never had better skin! It’s like I exfoliated or something. Of course I was super pale, but o had several people comment on how nice my skin looked and what my secret was. Ha! Now almost two months pfc it’s still pimple free but also more coarse/normal looking .

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  • hapa
    hapa Member Posts: 920
    edited August 2019

    I always had bad skin. Better when I was on birth control, but even then I'd get breakouts. My skin looked fantastic on chemo. I just got my first pimple again last week, chemo ended over a year ago. Not only that, but my armpit hair still hasn't grown back! I'll take my wins wherever I can get them.

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  • MountainMia
    MountainMia Member Posts: 1,307
    edited August 2019

    My skin looks great. I haven't had acne issues, but just basic middle-aged blotchy coloring. It's much more evenly colored now. I hope it stays that way! I'm 7.5 weeks past final chemo.

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  • kber
    kber Member Posts: 394
    edited August 2019

    Could be chemo, but also could be the steroids administered with chemo to mitigate some of the side effects.

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  • MountainMia
    MountainMia Member Posts: 1,307
    edited August 2019

    Maybe, kber. I only had 4 AC, and I only had 1 decadron with each of them. Adriamycin is technically an antibiotic, so that could be the agent that helps.

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  • HeartShapedBox
    HeartShapedBox Member Posts: 172
    edited September 2019

    My skin is certainly less oily on chemo, but I actually developed a bit of deep cystic acne my first chemo cycle (probably from nasties trapped under that dry skin). But people keep remarking how great my skin looks, esp how "good my color looks" (chemo seems to flush me a bit and pink up my cheeks). Ah, that healthy "chemo glow".

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  • pingpong1953
    pingpong1953 Member Posts: 362
    edited September 2019

    My rosacea cleared up two weeks after my first chemo and hasn't come back. It's been almost two years and there's no sign of it returning. An extreme solution for sure!

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  • Lauren56
    Lauren56 Member Posts: 2
    edited September 2019

    yes! My skin cleared up completely and felt very soft and smooth. I also noticed I had almost no body odor, even after exercising. I had also started lupron shots when I started chemo so wasn't sure which caused the changes. Now that I'm off chemo, skin is still pretty clear, but typical body odors seem to be back to normal.

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  • IAmACat
    IAmACat Member Posts: 108
    edited September 2019

    My lips were always chapped and flaky to the point where I had to wipe off the flakes with a tissue on a regular basis, but since chemo started, they have been smooth and supple. 

    Edited to add: maybe my lips were making way too many skin cells, and chemo slowed that down.

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