Acne Magazine : Skin Care, Tips, Treatment Reviews

Tetracycline, ah, now there’s a name from my acne fighting past.  Back when I wasn’t even old enough to drive and my face started breaking out worse than any of my friends and from there became quite a real problem thanks to my raging hormones, my mom took me to the dermatologists and I was put on the antibiotic tetracycline, which back then was one of the most popular acne treatment medications on the market. 

This was even before Accutane came onto the market – that was just a few years later that it came bursting on to the scene as the savior of those with acne who had tried everything and anything.  That was also before many of the problems that are now associated with the medication were known.  It was also before any of the potential long term problems with tetracycline were known as well. 

There has been some evidence, and I’m not sure how strong, that long term use of tetracycline, or any other antibiotics, may lend a helping hand to the development of breast cancer in women.  I remember the first time I read this and it scared me because although I wasn’t on it for years and years, I was on it for a while, at least a year, and wondered if that could potentially increase my risk for developing breast cancer down the line.

Add to this the fact that my aunt, on my mom’s side, who passed away from breast cancer years ago, was on tetracycline for years as a teenage for very bad acne, and I thought there could definitely be something to this link.  Then I also thought, maybe it’s just an unrelated fact, since women with bad acne who have been put on tetracycline or other antibiotics also typically have hormonal imbalances, and this may be a risk factor for breast cancer in itself.  What do you think?