I think I was misunderstood. Jacquelovesu and sohel13, I apologize for not being more clear in my topic, and maybe its best if I backtracked a little here, what I should have done the first time.
I'm a 17yo male in his senior year of high school. I’ve been battling cystic acne for 5 years now. Have tried everything under the sun; went on accutane 2 years ago in 9th grade but after the SEVERE initial breakout 3 days into it, and hearing all the anti-accutane talk... decided to quit 2 days later. I thought it just wasn’t for me.
I was fooled for about 5 to 6 months (starting about this time) last year when, out of nowhere, my acne subsided. It just... went away. Surely I broke out here AND there, but it was very very minimal. My scars healed almost fully, I woke up with a natural high every morning, and I got a taste of the life I should be leading. I can't describe how great I felt in those 6 months. I didn’t have a care in the world (okay... maybe I did, but nothing in regards to my face). My grades went up. It was like a utopia I swear.
Then, around mid June, towards the end of school, out of NO WHERE, my acne came back with vengeance. Cysts and all, completely erasing the months of healing that preceded. I spiraled back into my hole and back into depression. The kicker is: I didn't change one ounce of my regimen. Not anything. One day, it just came back, like it was never gone.
Now, I stand before you, almost 2 months into my course of accutane. Out of options and at my limit, I have given in, praying for a miracle. My new dermatologist understands the position I’m in and swears to me he can do a better job with it. He started me off on the lowest dose (10mg once a day for 2 weeks, then to 20mg), and says this way; my body will easily adjust to the drug all the way up to the maximum (or whatever dose) we decide on.
Of course I’m hoping for the best, who wouldn't. I want my life back like everyone else.
After reading many "no-success" stories mainly from the older people on this board (note: I don’t mean "old", just older than me... like 20-30yo). People whose stories sound a lot like me when they were my age, who are still combating it, and who have just recently figured out their acne may be "hormonal", hence why other "standard procedure" treatments would not affect them.
This is where I hit the brick wall. What exactly does having hormonal acne mean? What makes it different from the "normal" acne and are there any telltale signs of it? What kind of treatments then are executed to treat hormonal acne?
I'm not saying accutane will not work for me, there’s no way to tell. I HOPE it does, I'm praying it does. It's just I’m getting one of those gut feelings that keeps telling me "you're problem isn’t like the rest...". Know what I mean? I hope it isn’t true, but then again... there’s no way to tell.
All I want to be is knowledgeable so just incase accutane DOES fail, I know where to turn. That’s all.
Any help? Thanks for the previous posters and I hope you guys can continue to provide input. Hopefully things are a little clearer now.
Okay... so they say its hormaonal... now what?
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