After lurking the boards for about a year, finally decided to officially become a member. I have learned so much great info ( during my lurking ). My name is Robin, I'm a 44 yr. old female. My skin battle has been a roller coaster ride. I did not really have any major skin issues until during the time of my second pregnancy. Up until then I just had your occasional zit, here and there. That was it. During the pregnancy, my skin got pretty bad, but cleared up after the first trimester. I knew I was having a girl, so I kind of wrote it off to to much of the female hormones in my body. After that first battle with acne ( where the choices of treatment are so limited ) it was smooth sailing. I thought I would actually have managed to have avoided acne altogether.

WRONG!!! In 2005 at the age of 39 adult acne reared it's ugly head. Stupid me thought I had actually missed the battle that plague so many people, now I was the one scrambling to fix this!
I got a derm that is very well known here in New Orleans. She was the creator or green cream, always writing articles in the major female magazines, etc. We first tried the convention route. Antibotics, grean cream, prednisone and injections. It helps a little, but no way was I satisfied! After about six months we did 9 mos. of accutane. I was so happy with the results, and suffered hardly any side effects. I maintained the results till May of this yr. buy slathering on benzclin each nite.

Well this may I knew I need more than that. Instead of waiting 6 months for an appointemnt with my preious derm, I made an appointment with the daughter of my childhood derm. She's young, aggresive and so kind. I wanted to do another round of accutane, but she does not treat by using accutane on her patients. My face was never cover in acne, no blackheads, just that lovely under the skin cysts, which whe all now is a bitch to get rid of, so on my first appointment I needes about six injections for the " quick fix " . Then we set up my regimine. I'm going to post it and hope I do it correctly, so it shows when I make any posts. I'm like zit free after six weeks and my skin has never looked better, including the accutane. Ok, I have no clue how to put my regime steps up so they show with every post, so I need some help on this one...

Thanks and I'm so glad I finally signed up!!!

We are all glad you signed up as well! Welcome to the org! =)

Our stories sound similar - except I was clear until about 14 months after the birth of my second child. I would love to hear about your regimine since my acne is also cystic (has to be the worst kind, right?!). I am actually going to take my derms suggestions and get accutane - I am hoping it brings me success. I am scared to death but think I am finally in the right mental place to make a go of it! Would love to keep in touch. Leila