3 months of hell

[matahari]

Originally Posted by SUFFERING654

Thanks. Any suggestions for what you think happened to me yesterday? Besides the obvious that I acted very foolishly and destroyed my skin from just scrubbing out of anger. But my skin is very red, blotchy, and scaley and somewhat shiney in those areas. I have a dermatologist appointment today to celebrate my 3 months of using retin-a micro. Boy is my dermatologist gonna get a shock when she sees thats i'm like 10 times worse than when i first walked into her office maybe 6 months ago.

I think what happened is simply the fact that your skin was already seriously irritated & dry, and you scrubbing your face might have taken off a layer of skin of something… which explains the redness and stinging. As for the scaly/shiny areas, it might be because you stripped all the moisture from your skin. You should be alright in a few days if you just lay off the topicals and let your face heal. When you wash your face, just use your hands to do it; don't use any type of scrubbing device... (But make sure to wash your hands with anti-bacterial soap first!). When drying your face, don't wipe... blot it gently with a clean soft towel. Also I would suggest changing your sheets & pillow cases right away because there is probably Retin-A residue all over them! (Plus changing them regularly prevents acne bacteria from spreading) The Cetaphil moisturizer will help heal the dryness... it might sting a little when you use it, but that's to be expected. Talk to your derm about oral meds instead of topicals. I have sensitive oily skin and I have really bad reactions with prescription topicals (Retin A, Differin, Sulfoxyl, etc.), so you might have the same problems with them.

[SUFFERING654]

thanks very much. it had crossed my mind that i might also have some underlying skin infection because at one point my cat clawed part of my face and the claw mark stretched from the corner of my lip down my neck. i put neosporin on it and the cut on my neck went awya in a few days but the the part of the stratch on my face was still there and looking bad. my regular docter gave me bactroban cream and that cleared it up in about a week. I got a scarep on my face from doing something stupid but in any case it was about 2 months ago and it ehaled but now theres a red patch of skin that looks pretty bad. actually when my face is red and irritated it almost looks better than the very very very few tiems my skin has been a softer tone because it makes that one spot stick out badly. do you think using the retin-a micro or perhaps other acne medications may have made it not heal properly or that possibly i've had some skin infection the entire time that effects my facial healing? Time never seems to heal anything for me anymore. it just makes things worse

[matahari]

Originally Posted by SUFFERING654

you think using the retin-a micro or perhaps other acne medications may have made it not heal properly or that possibly i've had some skin infection the entire time that effects my facial healing? Time never seems to heal anything for me anymore. it just makes things worse

I dont think its a skin infection from the cat scratch, but using certain acne meds. In some cases, they do more bad than good when you have sensitive skin. I dont think your skin can heal up very well when its dry, red & irritated all the time. Since I have stopped using the harsh topicals, my face not only looks better, but heals better too. Also... avoid popping & picking at all costs!!

Good luck at your derm appt! Dont let them rush you out the door... talk to them about any and all options to treat your skin. Dont leave there unless
you are happy with what they give you (You did have to risk your life on icy roads to get there ). You might want to ask them about Accutane as well, but be aware that you should rdo alot of research on it if you decide to consider it.

Hope everything works out!!

[SUFFERING654]

Once again thank you very much. Is cetaphil perscription or over the counter?

[matahari]

Originally Posted by SUFFERING654

Once again thank you very much. Is cetaphil perscription or over the counter?

Cetaphil is over the counter... you can get it at pretty much any drug store in the cosmetic department for about $4.00- $6.00 a tube. Just make sure that you get the one for your face because they sell the one for your body that looks exactly the same.