Brief Answer:
Doxycycline causes sensitivity to light so the burning may be part of its use. It should not last more than 3 weeks from the last dose (if you do not continue to have sunburn).

Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome to "Ask a Doctor" service,

Doxycycline can cause sensitivity to the sun and this phenomenon is caused photosensitivity. Patients are at risk of photosensitivity while Doxycycline is in their system. Normally Doxycycline should have been out of a patient's system within 5 days from the last dose. Also, it should be considered that longer treatments (if you used it for 3 weeks is much longer than the usual one-week treatment) and overweight may cause doxycycline to stay in the system longer than the expected time periods.

In your case, if you finished doxycycline 2 weeks ago, I would expect it to have been cleared from your system only recently.


On the other hand, a skin that used to be oversensitive to the sun has already had some damage which further makes the skin sensitive to the sun even though doxycycline is out of your system. Thus, I would expect in the next 7-10 days your skin will heal and be less sensitive to the sun.

Meanwhile, you should avoid sun exposure as much as possible to give your skin a chance to recover, otherwise, the symptoms may last longer. Try to avoid scented products on the skin to avoid any possible allergic reaction or local irritation which may make your skin more sensitive.

I hope this answers your query.
I remain at your disposal in case further medical assistance is needed.

Kind regards,
Dr. Antoneta Zotaj,
General and Family Physician

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