Hi! Nice to see such a thriving community. Just what this problem needs
Anyway i thought i just tell you my treatments of my acne.
It started when i was about 20 or so and continues until this day (now im 25). I live in Holland btw oh and im male.
When my acne started it just exploded completely. Looking back i think i went into some sorta half-depression, cuz it caused me to be very unmotivated, disinterested etc. I was stupid enough to listen to my parents who told me all the bogus stuff that is also mentioned on this website. Then i was sick of it and just went to my doctor.
He first hooked me up with Inderm and Benzoylperoxide (then under the brand name Benzac). Inderm is a prescription lotion (in Holland) that cleans the skin and also reduces the bacteria a little. BP y'all now. This did not work.
Then i went angrily to my doctor who referred me to a dermatologist. This dermatologist then gave me (besides the Inderm and BP) also something called Minocin (brand name). This is a pill that removed the yellow things but was otherwise moderately effective. He also hooked me up with what Dutch people call a "skin therapist".
This skin therapist (that i still visit now) was a true lifesaver. She regularly cleaned my skin of all the black spots, that otherwise (so i have been told) would have resulted in more severe acne spots. She also removed the "ripe" yellow acne spots. Afterwards she puts stuff on it that prevents scarring and that disinfects. Better than doing it yourself in front of the mirror i guess. I noticed improvement quickly.
This skin therapist also gave me something called Exfolderm. This is a creme that contains acids that remove part of the upper layer of your skin. This reduces the thickness of your skin. In Holland this drug is STILL not available, but fortunately my skin therapist was good enough to illegally bring it from Belgium. I used this in the morning, and i used BP at night. The creme was moderately effective, but its best use was without a doubt removing all the small skin pieces that the BP left behind. I guess it completely dissolved them or something hehe.
This therapy of 4 medicines was pretty effective in the sense that i reduced my acne. But i guess i was a severe case so some redness remained.
Then i became intolerant to Minocin. I do not know why this happened. Each time i took it, i became dizzy and fuzzy in the head. So then my dermatologist prescribed Doxycycline instead of Minocin. This was quite effective in combination with the other 3 medications and the skin therapy, although i still had some red spots and a skin that was very dry. The disadvantage was that it was a LOT of work. But once i got into the routine it was ok.
Then after i think about 3 years my dermatologist told me i had to stop Doxycycline because i might become intolerant to it or something. Dont really remember. This was a big problem since the acne immediately came back in a big way.
Then my dermatologist prescribed Roacutan (described on this site as Accutan). I also stopped all the other medication but i continued with skin therapy. My body had no problems whatsoever with Roacutan and after about 4 months my skin was completely, i mean completely rid of acne. I expected problems with the medicine (mainly cuz of internet stories about it) so i started having a very healthy diet and started to sport and work out very often. I think this helped but i have no proof of this. Before i started with the Roacutan my liver was in worse condition that during use hehe. I did stop drinking alcohol though. I can not describe the emotional relief that this produced, i have never been so happy in my life. Like a weight that was removed from my shoulders.
After 6 months i stopped using it (this was last december 2002), completely clean. Unfortunately it came back in end of March 2003. My dermatologist tells me this is just unfortunate because i belong to the small minority it does not work with. However i no longer believe this. My skin therapist also told me that at LEAST less then 50% of her clients do not get cured permanently from acne with Roacutan.
My skin therapist then hooked me up with another illegal product from France, called Lysenil. This is a lotion that contains, according to my skin therapist, several elements that are also in BP and Exfolderm. It also cleans your skin of dirt (amazing what the skin collects on a busy day). In France you can just buy this in every drug store without prescription but it is not allowed in Holland. This worked only moderately in the absence of the other medications and because my acne is severe.
Now i am on a new regimen: BP, Exfolderm, Inderm, Lysenil, an anti-bacterial skin soap, and skin therapy. The anti-bacterial soap is also provided by my skin therapist, but i do not know if it illegal or not.
My dermatologist will now hook me up with a low dose of Roacutan. It is a low dose because the particularly fierce sun from this summer might damage my skin. It is also to prevent the usual fallback that acne patients have after the summer, due to a thickening of the skin, caused by the sun in the summer. After the summer he will give me a high dose again.
My life has changed dramatically from my acne. My character has changed from being very extrovert to more introvert and shy. I am also quite insecure. The only thing i am happy about is that i have only very few scars. My skin therapist tells me that this is because of her treatment, i believe her, but cant actually varify this. I just hope that if a God exists, he will soon relieve me of this terrible acne.
Hehe sorry for the anti-climax, cya later.
PS if you have questions or remarks please dont hesitate to contact me, i wish i had someone i could have corresponded with about acne when i was younger

On the 23rd i started with this weird combo of medication, and now i actually see results. And thats only after a coupla days. The red spots are much less pronounced and there are fewer bumps. I can actually feel my skin hurting when i put on the BP or the fruit acids in the Exfolderm. The weird thing is that i notice that my skin almost immediately became dry. I remember that when i used BP before my Roacutan medication my skin was rarely dry, so i guess some effect of the Roacutan remains. I am still waiting for the results of the blood test to start Roacutan. Apparantly that takes 3 weeks bah!

Around 3 weeks ago my dermatologist prescribed me 20 mg per day of Roaccutan. He said he could not prescribe more because the sun was still too bright for that. He did not know if my blood was ok by then. He said that i should expect a major outbreak since the summer is over, so he just prescribed me this (small) dose to get the stain out. Boy was he right! My face had totally exploded. Not so much big bumpy whiteheads, just red spots everywhere. There were also some very big red bumpy ones on my cheecks. Especially on my right side, the side i sleep on. That was about 2 weeks ago. That explosion scared the crap out of me, so i started using 40 mg / day without consulting him. (also because the sun was no more bright). Together with the other medications and creams this worked pretty well but the red zones remained. After i visited him yesterday he prescribed me 40. Today it looks pretty good, most of the small red spots are gone or smaller, and the big bumpy ones on my cheecks are no longer bumpy, and are becoming more purple. I know from my first experience with roaccutan (last year) that that means it is about to be gone. I am just worried about alcohol. I know i cant drink a lot of alcohol with it, but i am cheating. I really dont know what the combo of alcohol and Roaccutan does ... does anyone know?