Hello,

I'm kind of unclear on whether I have dry skin or oily skin.

I'm 22, and have moderate/severe acne on my face. Been struggling with it for about four of five years now. Took minocycline for awhile and it really really helps but it doesn't get my acne all the way gone. Taken lots of topicals too. And when I run out of pills, it comes back full force.

So, I'm thinking of trying accutane.

Anyways, I see a lot of people on this forum say that acne comes from oily skin.

I don't know which skin type I am.

I'm half italian, and half irish. I tan pretty easily, in the summer everyone will comment how tan I have gotten. I have acne on my forehead and chin mostly.

I have dandruff on my scalp. There is this weird thing on my calves too. There seems to be a thin layer of white on them. If I lick my finger and rub it on my calves, the wetness seems to remove this very thin layer of whiteness, which I just assume is dry skin.

My dandruff and leg don't bother me at all, but my nose does. My nose is red and pinkish most of the time. Pretty much the whole nose and cheeks connecting to the nose are reddish. When I get out of the shower it turns the brightest red. It ithces a lot sometimes. I have to use moisturizer pretty much twice a day or else it gets really ithcy/flakey/red. I rarely get any zits on my nose. If I don't moisturize for awhile, small red bumps form on the area that my nose meets my cheeks. I just examined my nose closely in the mirror and their seems to be small black little bumps all over it (blackheads?).

I put some hydrocortison on my nose/cheeks every week or so and it helps a lot but I hear it is not good to use it everyday so I don't.

Anyways, I'm thinking of starting accutane and I hear it really drys out your skin. Will it make my nose super dry and more irratated than normal? Or will it help my red nose?

Does accutane work for only oily skin?

It seems like I have oily (where the acne is) and dry skin (nose)? But i'm not sure.

About six or seven years ago in high school I had mild acne. Back then my nose never had this redness. My nose got acne too and it was very oily, my friend would call it 'an oil slick.' Now it's just red and dry as hell. Strange. I always thought oily and dry were opposites, maybe not.

Thoughts?


I'll try to post some pictures later.

Thanks!

-J

Hmm, it sounds like you might have combination skin.

Oily skin gets shiny and you can blot off the oil with a tissue. It's possible, though, that your skin is oily and dehydrated at the same time. If you're getting flakes and itchiness, those are signs of dryness. Sometimes your skin will produce more oil to try to make up for the dryness, giving you shiny spots.

Accutane is not only for oily skin, but you have to have pretty severe acne before a doctor will start you on it. There are a lot of pictures of people with severe acne in the Accutane logs section of the forum. If your acne is more mild, there are lots of other prescription medicines you can try. Most acne medications will dry out your skin, so moisturizer is very important.

My skin type is normal, it's not oily at all, maybe a bit dry, but I really think my skin is normal, and I still have acne. I didn't have it before, it only started to appear around 6-8months ago, and from what I've heard, and read so far, you really need to drink apple/orange/lemon juices, or just eat fruits, LOTS of fresh air, and you also should exercise if possible. If you don't move much, or don't "work" too much, your blood doesn't move, and everything is clogged-up inside your skin, so that's why you should exercise, or just do something to make yourself "move a bit". I'm still new about the whole acne thing, and just started to research about it around 3 weeks ago or so. If I'll think of anything else, I'll edit my post, hope this helped in anyway, goodluck