I am 36 years old and have survived 23 years of Acne with the help of every prescription and over the counter concoction known to man. As well as heavy makeup. God bless Dermablend I have oiy skin that is dry on top, so it feels somewhat leathery. I have no wrinkles. When I started the Obagi program, I had several cysts along my jawline and above my lip. I also have quite a bit of hyperpigmentation both from acne scars (all over but predominantly on my cheeks and forhead). I had 3 very dark areas of Melasma around the top of each eyebrow. I am fortunate in that, alhthough I had cystic acne (3 course of Accutane, which didn't help by the way), I somehow managed to avoid pitted scars. I have no idea how but I thank God a lot for that. My scars are either red or very dark brown spots.

I entering my 4th week on the Obagi Nu Derm System. My cysts are gone except for one. I am experiencing tiny whiteheads or clogged pores I guess, along my lipline but it's nothing I can't handle and they clear up quickly (although crop up in another spot the next day it seems). I only have 2 red acne scars left and I can't believe it. My melasma has faded but is not gone yet. I am however, as red as a tomato allll the time. I've seen "during" photos of other people and I am far redder than they were lol. Anyway, I thought I'd post here and be brutally honest about my progress. If the Obagi continues to work, great, if not, I intend to post that also.

My Obagi routine is as follows:

AM
Cetaphil gentle skin cleanser
Let skin dry for 15 minutes and applye Obagi Clear
Obagi Exfoderm Forte
Obagi Sunfader sunscreen

PM
Olay daily facial cloths (the kind you have to wet)
Differin Gel 1% on any areas that need it
Obagi Clear
Obagi Blender mixed with Tretinoin .25%

I just completed a Makeupartistschoice.com 18% TCA peel on my chest and back but it hasn't peeled much yet. The few scars I treated on my back are very brown and crinkly looking. One spot on the top of my shoulder did peel and is a lot lighter, probably 80%. I'm curious to see if it will get lighter as my skin continues to heal.

I will be performing a stronger TCA peel on my face tomorrow and will be taking time off to heal from that. I am hoping it will remove most of the remaining melasma and the 2 remaining acne scar/spots.

The Obagi has made my pores appear much smaller and my skin is not as oily. I used ot have to blot every hour or so but now I can go 4-5 hours without blotting. It reminds me of when I was on Accutane. less oily skin was the only benefit Accutane gave me actually. Anyway, I realize it is simply the treatment but it's still really nice and I hope it lasts. I intend to use Obagi maintenance for as long as it works for me.

Thanks for sharing Dolly.

I was told about Obagi a few years back but never tried it due to the cost. Do you mind if I ask how much you are paying for your products?

Hi there, I paid full price the first time (ugh) but once I figured out how fast I was going to go through the "Clear", it's used twice a day, I started scouring Ebay and Amazon!

There is a great seller on Ebay dt100k and he has very good prices. I have purchased multiples of the Exfoderm, Clear and Blender from him because the prices were about 60% of retail. You can email him because I think he can't sell blender and clear on Ebay since they are prescription strength. He sent me an order form for future orders and he seems to carry every Obagi product. There is also a inexpensive seller on Amazon but you'll have to search. I think the name might be maymay? I'm not sure

I also think you don't need to buy the whole system. I don't use the Obagi cleanser or toner and I have read other posts of people just using blender and not using clear. I can see that working. the only reason I use the sunfader and not any other sunscreen is because it has 4% hydroquinone in it also.

I'm just amazed at how little makeup I have to wear right now. I am so red though lol and my skin is peeling like crazy. I can't believe I didn't mention that in my first post but then again, after going through Accutane, it doesn't phase me I guess. I'm much more shocked by how good my skin looks overall. which probably says a lot about how my skin usually looks lol.

Let me know if you need any more help!

Tonight after work is my TCA peel. I am scared to death. I had a test done on my neck at the jawline yesterday and it is so red today, like a crazy bright clay red. I've been warning my husband for weeks but I still don't think he knows what to expect.

Today I woke up shedding like crazy from the Obagi, even my eyelids. Since I started, I've gone through phases where I feel like I need to back off of the entire regimen for a few days because of all the redness and shedding, but at the same time, my skin looks so good I'm afraid to stop you know? I am not wearing any foundation on my cheeks today and i can't even remember the last time I did that. Not since I was a teenager at least.

I know that somehwere i have before pics. Pics of me without makeup on are VERY rare lol but my husband took some on my birthday. I'll post those with my after pics as soon as I go on Obagi maintenance. Or maybe before then, with some pics of me "during" the treatment. hmm, maybe i'll take a few quick pics before my peel.

I forgot to mention that this stuff makes your skin quite fragile. If I mess with the clogged pore type zits at all, they trun BRIGHT red and take forever to heal. I also apparently scratched myself while I was sleeping about a week ago and I woke up with a dried blood scratch mark. I don't have sharp nails so it's pretty weird. Ayway, just thought I'd share that.

Thanks for the progress report and interesting information! Good luck in continuing to experience clearing skin. I have read great things about the Obagi system.

So! I didn't get to do my peel because I am starting a new job Monday(yay!). I was recently laid off and had no intention of returning to work so quickly but my dream offer from my dream employer popped up late Friday and I can't refuse. Thank God they contacted me before I had the peel done. It was scheduled for 5:30 PM Friday. eeesh. Anyway, I might be able to wrangle some time off later so i'll do the peel then.

I've been continuing with the Obagi as usual thought I AM tapering off a bit so I look more presentable come monday. I can't really predict which days I'll have less peeling so better safe than sorry I guess. I did wake up with a few whiteheads on my forehead this morning but thankfully they were quite small. My skin is also quite a bit lighter which was really apparent today since I laid off the retin A last night, only applying it to my forehead and outside area of my cheeks (keeping it away from my nose and chin which are the areas that are the dryest). It was nice to see my face a normal color lol. I do think the hydroquinone is working really well after seeing how uniform my skintone is. I only have one red acne spot left and it's about 70% lighter. I can still see it but its coverable now with makeup. I'm just amazed and I sure hoep it lasts.

stopping by real quick for an update. I am at my new job right now. yesterday was fine. My skin looked SO good with hardly any flakes and no acne at all. Today I have no acne either but my skin is flaking off around my mouth. not too cute. The peeling seems ot come in phases and every evening and every morning when my face is wet I can literally roll off the dry skin. Even though I do that though, my skin still goes through these days of peeling. Today is definitely not as bad as it was when though. When I started I had zits AND was shedding all over the place lol.

my skin is so transluscent around my outer cheeks and the bridge of my nose that I can see tiny veins. I don't like that. I'm guessing those are broken capillaries? I think you can get those zapped. I'll have to check that out. What is really amazing though, and something I can't believe I've been too busy this week to fully appreciate, I have no acne right now. None! I honestly can't remember the last time my skin was clear because nothing ever worked. I'm not even sure it's ever been this clear before. I can remember times when I was happy because I only had 3-4 zits, instead of a faceful, but I don't recall being happy because I had no zits at all. It's crazy. Plus my skin is so soft. the texture has changed so much that I'm wearing highlighter on my cheekbones. I have never done that because it only highlighted my uneven skin texture. It's made me kind of excited about makeup again ) Andnot just foundation lol.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again. I sure hope this lasts!

gah spoke to soon. went home last night to two new painful zits on my forehead and a small one on my chin. Oh well ( Thankfully I'm not peeling as much today. Also my melasma appears to be completely gone, as is my last red mark. I should have more time this weekend to really check out whats going on. right now I've been applying my Obagi while watching the news at night and my husband and i have been so tired we konk out right after. not much time for inspection lol.

dollyfolly how's it going I'm so happy for you! I could never finish the nu-derm program but still use Clear every once in a while

I'm sure you're done with you nu-derm course, what are you using for maintenance?

Thanks