Lexapro withdrawal cause acne?

Hi there! So did the acne completely go away? You said your skin was "finally starting to clear up" in your post, and I wanted to see if it had completely gone away. Thanks!

Hello Anyone who has posted here :)

How long did it take for your acne from the lexapro withdrawal to clear up?

Thank you so much!

Can you give me an update on how things progressed and/or cleared up for you? How long did it take to clear up after you stopped lexapro... was it really gradual?  Is your skin all back to normal now? Thank you.

I have taken lexapro twice before in my life - each time for about 6-9 months. I never had acne as a side effect when coming off it. This is my third time on lexapro.. I have been on 20mgs for a year and recently reduced down to 10mg and working my way off of it. I have the WORST cystic acne ever! I've never had cystic acne before. I'm 41 - its not like I'm a teenager with crazy hormones and super active oil glands. Anyhoo, I have to believe it is just your body adjusting and every person is different. I would recommend doing a cleanse 1 month after you are totally off lexapro and it should help get your body back in balance. Just remember - don't pick / pop them because cystic acne can scar (sigh)

I've been off lexapo for three months now and the acne seems to just keep getting worse. I've always had mild acne, but nothing compares to how bad it is now. I have big, painful, itchy acne mostly on my jaw line. I was on lexapro for five years. Hoping it gets better soon :(

Ok so I have always had some acne, and had to combat it with Proactive etc. HOWEVER when I was on Lexapro, I had no acne at all and it cleared my skin up. I didn't have to wash my face or do anything. However, I recently stopped the medication and I'm having the same problem, only my acne is back and worse tha ever before :( so frustrating...

I also came off an SSRI (citalopram)  about 6 weeks ago. intially i would have pretty severe anxiety for reasons i couldnt describe when i went out howevr that only laster about 2 weeks. After that my penis got extremely sensitive, sensitive to the point of premature ejaculation even though i have had pretty much the opposite situation my entire life. i figured it would go away and after about 4 weeks ish sure enough its returned close to normal. however in the last week and a half ive developed lots of acne, particularly on my forehead and chest wich were both places i never really had problems with before. also ive noticed the skin on my face is extremely oily and tight most of the time, something i havent dealt with for almost 5 years!  similarly i now get frigidly cold hands at the slightest feeling of cold.  im hoping the acne, oily skin and cold extremedies goes away in the next couple weeks but i will inform people of my situation in the next couple weeks. 

i wish my doctor had told me that stopping my ssri even with tapering could mess with my sex life and my skin! im 22 and have been relatively acne free since 18!

I took an antibiotic and switched prescription lotions - that took about a month to fix it. Yes, my skin did clear up completely. The only thing I do now is use st. ives exfoliating wash on my face and use a prescription peroxide wash a couple times a week. No acne - I'm all clear.

So glad to come across these posts. I've been on Lexapro for close to 9 years (20 & 10 mg). About 2 months ago, I reduced my dosage to 5 mg; since then I've had this awful cystic acne on my chin and neck. It's gross, and I have never had acne in my life. I'm so tempted to squeeze and pick at it, but have to stop doing this because I'm already seeing scars. I'm hoping that it will calm down soon. I've been drinking lots of water and washing my face a lot. 

I was on lexapro for about ten years and didn't have an acne problem. I went off it recently for about six weeks, then went back on, this time taking the generic brand, and suddenly my face has broken out terribly with cystic acne. I don't understand why I didn't break out while on lexapro before, and not during withdrawal, only when I went back on! Unfortunately I need the lexapro for ptsd, the symptoms of which came back while I tried withdrawing. I'm 54 years old and was happy with how I look! Now I have acne along with all the typical signs of aging. It's depressing! I don't know what to do!

I know this is a fairly old threaf but I am so happy to have found these posts! I was on Lexapro for six weeks from late January throughout February and a little of March. My acne outbreak started while I was on the pills and as I weened myself off it got drastically worse. 4 months ago I had crystal clear skin, and now I have horrible blood and pus filled cysts all over my face and they HURT and they are constantly popping and draining whenever they feel like it. It seems to only be getting worse. This past week I cut all dairy and gluten out of my diet, and I ordered the Exposed Skincare treatment which should be here in the next few days. I've been adding lots of fruits and veggies to my diet as well as gut healing foods like Kombucha, bone broth, sauerkraut, and other mineral and probiotic rich foods. I'm hoping with all of these things combined that I will start to see results. I've never deal with something like this before and it has definitely had me very stressed, frustrated, anxious, and depressed. I don't even feel like leaving the house because of how embarrassed I am. Anyways, I am super happy to know I am not alone in this, and I finally have a likely reason for this sudden onset of cystic acne. Thank you all for sharing your stories

A really important distinction that no one talks about is the very clear theraputic difference between brand (Forest) and generic (several brands) of LEXAPRO.  If I take brand Lexapro my face stays clear, and the anti-anxiety effect of the drug is great - If taking Teva or another generic brand, it is speedy, the anti-anxiety effectiveness not there, it speedy, like prozac or other SSRI anti-depressants.  I think it is the brand Lexapro that makes skin clear and stay clear, blocking stress and its effect on one's skin - Then, you stop, your body unable to handle and no longer used to coping with all the radicals and chemical stessors flowing anew to face - Thus, the breakouts.  So, my point.  Seems like your body/skin has to re-learn how to cope with situational stressors over time, and, if you were on brand Lexapro and it helped clear up your skin, you should likely stay on it if you want your skin to stay/clear, looking good - reducing to a low/10mg dose solely for skin health!  BUT THE REAL POINT:  GENERIC LEXAPRO AND OTHER GENERICS OF SSRIs LACK THE SAME LEVEL OF THERAPUTIC EFFECT - INSURANCE COMPANIES KNOW THIS BUT DON'T CARE BECAUSE THEY ONLY WANT TO ALLOW SPEND ON CHEAPER GENERICS - BUT YOU CAN MAKE YOUR DOCTOR CALL THE INSURANCE COMPANY TO STATE YOU AS THE PATIENT HAVE ADVERSE EFFECTS FROM GENERIC AND MUST RECEIVE BRAND.  Trust me - You'll never go back once you experience the brand and see the marked difference.

Bingo! Thank you for this information, taking it to my doctor this week. Much appreciated!

I don't think it matters. I take the Brand name , started on 10mg , my skin was super clear , i rarely broke out and after a few weeks my face looked like a war zone . painful cystic acne everywhere. I have now reduced it to 5mg and trying to get off it. My face is still breaking out horribly but im worried that it will get even worse once i stop completely. It really is a shame because lexapro worked so well for my anxiety/depression

I have been off Lexapro for FIVE MONTHS and I am STILL experiencing acne like crazy!!! I've never had acne like this before and also I'mm 33 years old. I look like a meth head or something! Is anyone else suffering like this? Please help...