hi, i'm the 3rd participant of the FRSC non-inflamed acne treatment program. first of all, i just want to say i feel incredibly lucky...no--blessed! to be a part. i still can't believe someone would want to due such remarkable treatments on me simply for the greater good of non-inflamed acne sufferers worldwide! thanks SO MUCH to the FRSC staff, especially kim who treated me, and laura & pat who made this all possible!

speaking of the staff, i have never been more blown away by a staff in my life. these are a few of the warmest, sincerest people i've ever met. every person i interacted with-- i have not one negative thing to say about anyone...i can't even say someone was even *slightly* distant. everyone was so amazingly personal...it seemed almost surreal. i was in skincare heaven!

anyway, on to my 11/9 treatment. just as i suspected, i had both inflamed and non-inflamed acne, but definitely mostly non. the inflamed i only have 2-3 of, i think. also, i mostly have my acne on the underside and jawline of my face. this might make it seem less severe, till you *feel* my face. i have the characteristic non-inflamed acne in the sense that if you stretch out the skin, the bumps turn white from the pressure. they're also notoriously difficult to get to w/o intervention. my skin has felt pretty clogged up for months now. (this whole problem started early this summer, but got dramatically worse with my stressful school schedule.)

so i had my face cleansed and then analyzed with the serum test and it was determined that since i have a few inflamed pimples still, we were gonna start with the salicylic acid treatment first...then move on to something else. it didn't take long; kim put the treatment on and told me to hold a small fan she had to my face to lessen the tingling. we did that for a few minutes and then she moved on to the extractions.

i knew my pores were really plugged; to be quite honest, i can't remember the last time i used any kind of mask whatsoever, so i knew a lot would come up. kim confirmed that something was coming up every time she pressed, but what didn't occur to me was how painful this can be when it's your entire face being pushed down with a teeny instrument in a teeny spot. i have a high tolerance to pain, so i was sure i wouldn't sweat it, but it was pretty painful, to be quite honest. i mean, i didn't cry or anything, or force her to stop, but pushing especially into my jawline or any other place where there was less fat and more bone underneath was OUCH. it was a very welcome relief when that was over!

once that was all done we were finished, so i asked out of curiosity to see what kim used for the extractions. i shouldn't have been surprised...what they use is simply a professional version of the extractor they sell at any drugstore. of course, the fact that kim and the other estheticians are trained specifically to do all sorts of prepping for my skin beforehand makes their extractions a lot more successful though, no doubt! she did explain that yes, the cleansing and salicylic treatment helped loosen the gunk in my pores.

i went home with a baggy of products (see my regimen below) that day and a face only slightly red. when i looked closely in the mirror i saw miniscule red dots in a few pores, but nothing blazingly obvious. i also went home with a strict instruction plan of care and info on acne, zinc, and acnegenic ingredients. (see their website for more details; a lot of it's there.) i was, for example, grossed out to find that one of the (many) products i brought had "dehydrogenated tallow phthalic acid amide" in it...which is BEEF FAT! EW GROSS! this is SO sad coming from a glycolic cleanser! ugh!

11/10
this is my first full day on the take home treatments. (as i stated above, you can read what that is below.) i am really liking it so far...except for the fact that i have to wait for 15 min before i can wash off the BP. last night i forgot about that and went to bed significantly later than i thought i would...
i tried the dixie cups the staff gave me to ice my face, but the ice wasn't solid yet so i spilled some on the floor while i was using it. plus, it's not really easy to get the ice on my face with the ice on the bottom of the cup since there's a ridge on the bottom. (i'm sure it'd work much better if i'd frozen them tilted somehow so i can ice more from the side of the cup.) anyway, i just decided to use one of those blue gel "ice" inserts for your cooler? there's just so much more surface area so it's a lot easier.

i really like the products; my face somehow seems brighter already. i initially apply them all to the underside of my face where the acne's the worst, then go upward. i think i have really resilient skin, because the salicylic acid and the BP aren't bothering me. i feel slight tingling when i use the SA, but nothing horrible and uncomfortable like when i used my axelex!

i noticed VERY slight flaking today too, but literally what looked like 3 or 4 tiny pieces of skin coming off. i'm assuming this is from the 1st SA treatment i got from kim. anyway, it was nothing scaly/dandruffy (like when you use too much 10% BP), just a few soft pieces of shedding skin. i noticed this tonight again around a few of my pimples (which were now..."softer?" or "flatter?"), and i take that as a very good sign!

...so i'd say my least favorite product is the BP, but that's only because that's the main thing that makes my neck what it currently looks like- an old lady's, lol! that's only because the skin on the neck is different from on the face, so it gets more dehydrated from the BP. it actually doesn't really look like an old lady's normally, but when i jut out my chin the skin under my face shows thin lines, and i don't really have wrinkles at this point (plus i have a super oily face). i didn't freak out because i saw this using my own BP. however, my BPs a cream and the one i got from FRSC is a gel, so i finally experienced what dan kern meant by "the superiority of a gel."

i also want to say my favorite product is the SPF 30. i know most ppl adore the cranberry cream, and yes, it's great i must say (more than the smell i actually like its consistency), but i am impressed with the consistency of the SPF. i am by NO means a sunbather. i am on the fairly careful side with my skin, despite the fact that it's pretty resilient (i think it's 'cause i'm japanese; the japanese are hypersensitive about protecting their skin from the sun). however, i can't stand the consistency of almost all SPFs! most of them smell, look curdly and spew oil on application-- pretty gross. the only one i swore by is my kara vita spf (and they're known for their spf) since it's so lotiony and lasts an entire 8 hours without reapplication...but i'm not talking about my previous sunblock, i'm talking about the FRSC one. even though it can't boast a continuous 8 hour coverage, i love the lack of smell and the consistency. it slipped on beautifully- very smooth. i *did* notice it made my face shiny though (but NOT AT ALL GREASY) but i don't care since i use mineral foundation on top anyway.

k, i think i wrote A LOT. i was playing catch up and know i'm overdue- sorry! i'll write more on my progress in a little bit. till next time!

Hello and welcome to acne.org! I'm glad to see such positive reviews and that you like your experience so far. I have high hopes that you'll be very happy in the end.

Great to hear that your first session went well! They are amazing there, aren't they? You are right about how incredibly nice everyone is. I've been going there for a year and a half now.

Sounds like the extractions weren't too much fun for you. It should get better over time, when there is less and less to extract. I remember my face being a little sore the first couple times.

Good luck with your treatment and I look forward to following your progress!!

Hey there, I'm doing the FRSC treatment too but long distance. I have a log in the general personal logs section. I just want to say good luck with your treatment and keep us updated!

thanks to everyone who wished me well with my first experience with FRSC! i have now been to the clinic twice (this 2nd time laura herself worked on me) and the experience was again a pleasant one.

i was super busy and super stressed (which = super acne-prone, yuck!) the week following my first appointment. i think that didn't help the situation! i had issues with dryness the first couple days and was very hesitant to use the cranberry cream especially after i started to get worse (around day 4 on the products).

yes, i got worse...but thankfully only for a little bit. the non-inflamed acne became nasty, hard nodules and the couple inflamed pimples i had looked worse. my skin actually looked pretty bad the middle of the following week. i talked to kim about it, but she reassured me that my condition was definitely one route non-inflamed acne can take, and that within a couple days it'd be better. she also encouraged me to use the cranberry cream wherever i needed it; that it absolutely will not cause the breakouts and actually is soothing for inflammation. she actually said that what was going on with my skin was a good thing; the non-inflamed acne was coming up to the surface where it can be treated more effectively.

well, her timing was right on because the next day i really believe my skin looked and felt better. the inflammation and dryness were subsiding and my skin was getting used to the BP- yay!

Sounds like it is going relatively well so far. Yeah, stress can definitely get in the way of getting your skin clear. I tend to get flare-ups whenever I travel, and I'm sure stress plays a role in all that.

Yeah, don't worry about the cranberry cream causing breakouts - it won't.

I went in to see Laura herself yesterday at FRSC. She and the rest of the staff are all very sweet (not that I haven't gushed about that already). I came in after being out of town all week for an extended Thanksgiving vacation so I was a little spotty on my regimen and had just flown in late the night before...

Before I share about session 2, I also have to add that truthfully, my skin does not look remarkably better at this point. HOWEVER, it is still very very early in my treatment. I have high hopes and remain positive that I'll be clear. Hearing the staff say I'll get clear with no hesitation keeps my spirits high too! But the reality is, I woke up early last week (week 3) with a huge yucky whitehead, and a clogged pore later that week. And I have to admit-- I was bad. I don't know what happened; I forgot not to pick. It was just SO GROSS (the whitehead) because first of all, it wasn't "white"-- it was more like greenish-yellow, NASTY! And it was inflamed.
I didn't do anything harsh like smash it open with my fingernails or anything, and actually on the first day I left it alone. It *was* white the first day. The second day when it turned greeny-yellow though, it was so nasty I *very carefully* picked it with tissues. I know, I know- shame on me. I honestly forgot that I had to leave it alone. (In retrospect, I'm wondering if it got infected that 1st day when I didn't realize it though, because the fact that it turned greeny-yellow certainly indicates infection.)
...the amazing thing is that despite my picking, my skin got better. I attribute that 100% to the products! In that past when I picked, it'd often look worse, but this time it definitely ended up getting better. I'm NOT saying that therefore it's good to pick, but with this particular zit it ended up being ok. AND I picked it only after I'd cleansed and toned (meaning my skin was already softened by the products).

The other pimple I had was a more like a clogged pore. Yes, I know zits are all clogged pores, but this one was neither inflamed nor non-inflamed; it just felt like I needed a good extraction. After cleansing and toning, I very carefully pushed around the pore and behold, gunk came out (ick/yay!). No blood, no pus-type fluid, just gunky skin cells.

I suppose I should not be surprised. The white/greenhead came after a night of ODing on Chinese food which I'm sure was loaded with iodide. I couldn't really do a whole lot about that; I wasn't at my own home cooking my own food all week. In general I've tried to stay away from iodine since learning about how it's bad for acne; I even went out and bought almond butter and sea salt (no iodide) before vacation. But it's hard when one is on vacation. It's even harder when your at someone's home. And it's even *harder* when you're staying with your in-laws, LOL.
'nough said!

All that to preface where I'm coming from when I saw Laura yesterday morning. Laura was quick and efficient without making me feel rushed. We chatted about all sorts of things (I listened more than talked- it's hard to talk when extractions are being done on your jaw.) I wished I'd taken ibuprofen ahead of time; the extractions still hurt (although they probably always will as long as they're on my jawline). However, I was really glad to hear she was able to get to my non-inflamed acne! That was the biggest improvement since last time, I think; at my first session I don't think Kim was able to extract anything from the non-inflamed acne. However, Laura was able to get stuff out of the big nodule (actually a close cluster of zits) with this 2nd session. I'm sure it's partly because I've been sticking closely to the regimen at least 95% of the time.

So now I've been bumped to the next level for my home care. Actually, I take that back-- I've been bumped 2 levels because I have been sleeping all night with the BP 5% for a week. (That was an accident- I had been so sleep-deprived from my research paper/exam studying that I fell asleep without washing off the BP...and found out my skin was completely fine.) Anyway, now Laura has me using the salicylic acid both morning & night, plus spot treating the pimples with BP in the morning and using the BP normally (all over) at night.

Later yesterday evening (several hours after I saw Laura) I had a brand new whitehead. *SIGH* I also had a pimple next to my nostril. Today I have a couple new pimples on the underside of my chin too. I guess for me, with every change comes more purging, which equals more initial pimples. However, I'm not too down about it since I saw that after the initial breakout, clarity came...hope it comes again soon!

It's been a week since my last/2nd appointment at FRSC...
I think I mentioned that nothing special's changed with my products; I'm simply using BP morning and night now, although I only use the AM BP as a spot treatment.

My skin has definitely gotten drier...it's also gotten worse. The dryness though, is diminishing, thankfully. My skin feels tight but it's not like the first few days where I had noticeable flakiness even with the SPF over it. As far as the acne worsening, i hardly had any acne on the left side of my chin (the outside and the underside) but now i've broken out all over that area, and the right side is only a little better. at least the horrible hard nodule/cyst thing on that side is significantly smaller!

I'm just trying to be patient; I understand that acne comes in cycles...I just hope they will start diminishing in severity soon (which according to the timeline of 30-90 days, they should). My next appointment is on the 7th; it was originally scheduled on my birthday, the 8th, but I realized I didn't want to be red (if I got red) so I moved it up a day. I hope in that one day my skin won't freak out and start purging itself with giant pimples! There's so many things my hubby and I are scheduled to do that day!

Hang in there, you'll get better soon

ok, i'm literally icing my face as i type this 1-handed...
i just saw laura again for my 2nd appointment with her (but 3rd time at the clinic) and since i came in with a huge welt of a zit on my left side/jawline, she emphasized icing my face, especially there where i need it most. i have been lazy about the icing now vow to do it more often since i'd only been doing it once in awhile.

i've also come to notice that my skin follows the "worst case scenario" situations...as in, my face always flares up after getting treated at FRSC and with a new regimen, AND it gets really dry. the worst of the dryness and flaring have lasted about 4 days with every change...yeck. i console myself by telling myself that my skin's being purged of all the gunk underneath and i just have to be...PATIENT! {{SIGH}}

so i now have little whiteheads all along the edge of both sides of my jaw right now. the huge welt zit has died down a lot but is still there; the huge welt i had on the other side from a few weeks ago is now a small bump.

i'm guessing the whiteheads are due to the new new stuff i got; the Clarate clarify & control serum. i can't be sure, but since that's the new factor to my regimen, i'm guessing something in it is bringing all the pesky whiteheads out. thankfully though, i picked up the mineralogie mineral foundation the clinic sells, custom blended by laura to match my skin. what a difference it makes! and what a difference custom blending makes! i've been using drugstore mineral makeup but of course the match isn't perfect...although i didn't realize how imperfect it was till laura dusted on the right mix for me. it helps alot!

Hang in there. We both started with FRSCC the same week. I find myself going through a bit of purging in areas I hardly break out, as well. I've had some new breakouts since my last post. Thankfully though I haven't experienced any dryness or peeling. Before I started on their products I was dry and flakey all the time. And att least you can get extractions and have them assess your skin regularly. Being long-distance, that's the one part that kind of sucks.

So what's this Clarate serum? Also keep me posted how you like the Mineralogie. Did you just get the foundation or blush color as well?

sorry for taking so long to respond to your questions/comments, HBC. it's been an especially hectic week (last week) since I was studying for my final exam and my toddler got sick...

first off: you're right, my skin's definitely still purging. i'm sad that i have so many discoloration marks where i didn't before from all this purging. i thought they were scars, but according to laura, it's just discoloration that will fade in time. it's finally making sense to me; i always thought that scars=discoloration, so i couldn't understand why going to an esthetician so they could pop your zits for you was any better than you doing it yourself. now i know that there's a higher chance of SCARRING if i do it myself, but whether or not i'll have discoloration isn't an issue- i'll have discoloration since they're pushing the yuck up and outta my skin, a very minor trauma but a trauma nonetheless to my skin.

i've definitely not experienced the psycho dryness that i'd had with the BP now that i'm using the clarate. i use the BP at night only, probably why. the clarate, since you asked, is this serum that looks like it's a compound of a bunch of homeopathic stuff. its 3 main ingredients are water, alcohol, and witch hazel, but it also has lemon peel, tea tree, and grapefruit oil in it. it's a serum, so it goes on and dries really easy & fast. unfortunately it also gets deactivated by the sunblock, so i have to wait before finishing up my regimen which is the hardest thing since it's so easy to forget.

i was really bad last week and picked a couple of my pimples while anxiously studying. i caught myself after it was too late, but immediately did my evening regimen. i was unfortunately pretty ruthless with my face though; both pimples bled. right now they're little scabs on both sides of my chin.

regarding the mineralogie-- love it! it's got a label that says "very water resistant" and it definitely seems that way. plus, i'm looking at my many photos from birthday, holiday parties, etc and my acne isn't showing through except in some REALLY CLEAR, REALLY CLOSE UP shots. in other shots, my face looks flawless (minus the zit-scabs)!

i'll be going to FRSC again the end of this week, so i'll post again soon!

Forgot to add that i only got the foundation. i have my own MAC & Clinique blushes, and since i never break out on my cheeks, i didn't worry about getting any mineralogie blush. laura put a little on me though, since she said applying mineral foundation always makes you look washed out after initial coverage, but it wasn't this amazing blush that made me covet it. i'm sure it's great stuff, but not high priority for me.

Sounds like things are going much better for you now. I think I'll order the Mineralogie when I need a reorder of product. I've been using Everday Minerals for a couple months. I did like the Mineralogie when I had my consult at the clinic and Laura put some on me. It did last all day.

So what year nursing are you in? Almost finished?

I wish I was almost finished! No, I just finished my 1st semester! I still have 3 more to go...but I'm looking forward to next semester-- I'll do my OB rotation then! However, I'm very, very relieved that I'm now on Christmas vacation. I have over a month to recuperate from a stressful and super challenging first semester!

So I went into the clinic again today and was told by both Kim and Laura (Kim worked on me today) that my skin definitely looked better. In retrospect, they're right. If I'm not looking at my face, if I'm just feeling it, I can truthfully say I have less acne. There's a lot less bumpiness for sure. Yay!

My problem arises when I look in the mirror and see the zillions of marks on my chin and jawline. Okay, I know I've only talked about that a hundred times by now so that's all I'm going to say about that.

But yes, I think it's just starting to get better. Laura assured me that especially with the non-inflamed acne, one generally doesn't see results immediately but after about a month or two, the healing/clearing happens pretty exponentially. That is reassuring. I'm hoping over my Christmas break a lot of clearing will happen! I'm sure being able to relax without the stress of school (and only the stress of a kid, haha) will help my skin too.

The extractions still hurt like a b*tch, but I've noticed there's less that need extracting. Kim did my face and a few of them were like "OW!" but it was only a few...and they were all concentrated on my jawline, the most painful area (believe me, extractions on fleshier areas like your cheek or even your forehead is WAY less painful than on the thin skin of your jawline!), but Kim has now "prescribed" for me the Vivant Derm-a-gel which apparently is not only going to soften/loosen the clogged jawline pores, they're also going to lighten discoloration. Yay! I'm told I'm going to love this stuff so I'm looking forward to using it.

I'll let you know next week how my skin's tolerating the Derm-a-gel. In the meantime, Merry Christmas everyone!

Sounds like you are making progress. I know you'll love the Derm A Gel. I've been using it for over a year now and I really like it a lot. Have a wonderful Christmas!!!

Which Kim is this you speak of, willow569 or this another Kim? Willow569 is wonderful. Ive met her

Good luck with your journey with Face Reality Skincare System. Im jealous! I live in the bay area too but I dont drive and my parents arent even willing to drive me to BART to get there

That's a different Kim - she's one of Laura's estheticians (they've hired a few recently). I only wish I worked for someone as cool as Laura!

Well I like you better