Hi everyone,
I see a lot of people on the board asking about different remedies they are thinking of "trying". There is also a thread on "telling your story", but does anyone have a success story that they would like to share with everyone. It would be a great pick me up for everyone when there are so many of us who are struggling with this. Thanks!
I had really bad acne when I was in 10th grade. I had really painful cysts that left eraser-sized pus heads when they came to the surface. SOmetimes they looked yellow. My doc. put me on tazorac gel, the strongest kind. It dried my face out completely and brought up everything to the surface. it was gross, but at least i knew that my cysts werent just sitting there. i couldnt believe how much junk was in them. My face looked about 80% better after 10 months of treatment. A few months later, though, it started coming back, and he gave me minocycline. he tapered off that, and soon my breakouts were only before my period, so we just used the antibiotic then for a couple months. He, then, switched me to retin-a micro and orthottricyclen (currently) which is starting to help with my oilness. (hard to say b/c im pmsing but skin better than it has even been around this time) I am still a bit bothered by my indents, but i know i got frustrated and picked a lot. If you are really bothered by them, Id talk to your dermo. I think retin-a helps a little with that,but more dramatic solotions probably do the trick.
I am! I have been using differin and klaron for topicals and taking doxycycline 100 mg once a day and I am on Yasmin birth control. I am 95% clear now.
I am!
Ive tried EVERYTHING in the past and ive finally found something that works for me without having to be on anti biotics for the rest of my life! (coz when u come off mino ur acne comes back even worse!)
Im now using proactiv....and taking a bunch of vitamins religiously that are good for acne.
They are :
vitamin B complex
vitamin B6
Vitamin c with rose hip
aloe vera
zinc
vitamin e
Honestly...for some1 whos tried everything, this really works!!!
Ive only gotten 1 spot in the past month (and that was coz of my hormones
crishors7- My acne wasn't ever that bad. It was mild but really persistant and leaving little red scars around my chin and jawline. I did get cysts but not very often maybe one in a month but they never came above the skin and went away quickly. It was mainly whiteheads. But now I don't get any pimples on my chin so the scars are getting to heal.
I don't think I'm beating mine. I thought I was, but now I'm not so sure.
My derm put me on Retin-A-Micro .001%, Duac Gel and Plexion Cloths. The first 4 days were pretty bad. My skin all peeled off like it was supposed too. My face was smooth and I felt like it was helping. Except my face was EXTREMELY red. So I quit using the Duac Gel in the mornings and just kept the Retin-A and Plexion clothes. My face got less red but when I reached a week and a half into it, I started breaking out. Is this normal? I'm thinking about just scratching this whole regime altogether and to just start using soap and water. I'm frustrated
how did your dermatologist diagnose you, i mean in terms of what type of treatment to put you on? did he/dhe judt look at your face?or did they examine it?
I swear he just glanced at my face and just prescribed me the stuff. I'm like 100% sure he already knew in his mind what to prescribe me before he even met me. Which sucks. And I told him before that I used Retin-A Micro before (I borrowed it from my sister). Except that Retin-A was at .04%, not .01%. And that really screwed up my skin so I figured he wouldn't put me on any Retin-A and give me at least some type of lotion stuff since my skin is sensitive. But nope. He said it's supposed to make your face peel. Which I understand. But my skin is like really red from it too.
my drmatolgost basically did the same thing, just glanced at my face and wrote up prescriptions. he doesnt know if i have sensitive skin or nething. arent they supposed to do a few test in terms of your face before going ahead and prescribing treatments?i think i'll just find another dermatologist, at least someone who is willing to examine my skin before giving me a binch of stuff to use
Yeah, I know right. I guess it's all about trying to find a dermatologist that really cares. And preferably one that has had actual acne before so they know what the heck works, and what doesn't.
My follow up is in like a week and I don't know what I'm going to say. As of right now though, since I decided not to keep using the Duac Gel, my skin has actually improved. But that really doesn't change anything.
I am. Never had more than a zit at a time in high school and that was rare. I usally had dry skin though, but it was easily taken care of. I wish that was my only skin problem today. My life would be so much different as most of us here realize their livs would be a bit better as well. I tried minocycline (monocycline?) at first. Nothing. Then I tried some other pill along with differin gel. Then I got on Bactrim which has been great. Although I suspect it hasn't helped my skin that much in the scarring process, but still. I'm still on it taking it twice daily. I am also on clyndamycin gel (was on the lotion, but too greasy for me) and am on tretinoin cream at night. I like what is happening. Every 3 weeks or so I break out, but then it gets better and my face looks actually better than it did prior to the breakout. It's frustrating, but it's progress. I'm on one of those breakout periods right now and it's taking a particularly longer time to get by it. I was switched to another regimen for no reason whatsoever, but I switched myself back on to the old good one. No sense in taking a risk like that. I occasionally use Mederma for scarring on my cheeks but I can't always do this as it seems to irritate my skin if I use it too close to existing pimples. I don't have a whole lot. I actually counted them back in the spring and the number I got to was 49. I'm at 19 little to semi little ones. So, I figure in about 3 months I'll be about good to go. I'm trying to drink lots of green tea every day...5 cups a day. I heard it is supposed to be good for skin and complexion in addition to the other health benefits it is believed to be specially good for. Don't know...I'll try it though. I use Cetaphil also at night before applying the tretinoin cream as most people are instructed to do.
I sometimes wear a ProActiv sulfur treatment mask (only a tiny bit on certain areas around the temples where I just broke out the other day for some reason) at night all night long.
The worst part about this is no one knows how to cure these skin conditions. What is curable anymore? The other worst part is that you don't know if it will ever get like it once was or at least to where it isn't on your mind most of the day. It crushed my confidence badly. I want us all to wake up tomorrow and have a dang miraculous turnaround for the better and have most of our acne/other conditions vanish.
determinedtowin-- is that the same thing as accutane?
Yes.
To the others my derm is the same. He has no time when I asked him about skin resurfacing and I was in there 2 minutes and I had to ask him to look at my back then he said "oh yeah we'll keep you on it" he works 9 hours a week and gets paid loads so why should he care?!
Anyone beating their acne? 
Re: Anyone beating their acne? 
