7 replies to this topic

[onthenightrain]

Here is a picture of my face a few days into the dkr. The time when i took it was a good few days in terms of my acne, but still - you can see a wild contrast in the two pics below...

http://img166.imagevenue.com/img.php?image..._122_1128lo.jpg

I decided to stop the regimen for many reasons - it made my acne worse, it left red marks on my face, it slowed up the healing of my skin, it stained sheets and towels HOWEVER careful i was, it dried up the backs of my hands and in between my fingers quite badly and i certainly wasn't prepared to stick with it for any longer than the 5 weeks that i did. Even if my acne did start to improve, with all of the other negative effects it just wasn't worth it at all. On top of that, since starting the regimen i was drinking lots more water (i was usually often dehydrated) and i had gone a long way to stopping touching my face and picking my face. But even with all of that things just got worse

This is a picture of me today. It is about 5 days since i stopped the regimen and my face is looking very bad.

http://img139.imagevenue.com/img.php?image...7_122_765lo.jpg

I have been prescribed retin-a by my gp...will start off using 0.01% and then most likely move up to 0.025% later on. I have also been prescribed tetralysal which will replace the erythromycin which i was taking before. My doctor is going to refer me to a dermatologist and i am considering roaccutane, despite all the side-effects, because i can't carry on like this. I wish i could just have my face like it was before i started using BP ahhhh! I mean it wasn't great and on most occasions worse than that 1st pic i took, but it hasn't been this bad ever before.

So anyway, enough about all that - i am going to start a log here to monitor my progress on retin-a...so wish me luck! I am very worried about the IB but i'm just going to have to stick through it oh and by the way, does anyone have any idea whether the IB will not be as bad/even worse because of the bp i have been using for about 5 weeks?

What i am using:

Tetralysal (lymecyclin) - once a day in the morning

Simple refreshing facial wash gel
Retin-a 0.01% [PM only]
Simple hydrating light moisturizer

[Axsuul]

I'm sorry that the BP has had such a negative impact on you. This also happened to me.. I was on the differin and duac regimen and the duac left creases in my skin, made my skin dry and red, and was overall irritating my skin. I think I was allergic to BP which was causing me to break out (might be applicable to your situation as well). Now that I am off BP, my skin has seen a remarkable improvement. My face is no longer as red and dry; I don't even need to use a moisturizer anymore! Good luck.

[didi78]

good luck with your new regimen! I experience IB (with differin) during my 5th week despite using BP and other products prior to that. I also recently stopped using duac (which has BP in it) because i also found that it made my red marks worse. I replaced it with tea tree oil which fights the same bacteria that BP does, but don't know if that's appropriate for your skin because it seems to sensitive right now. Anyways, good luck!

[Element4444]

Good luck man I hope the retin-a works. I started it a few days ago keep us posted. Take care

[Element4444]

Hey man, add me as a friend I want to track some of your progress since we are both starting it.

[Mans]

Dude, don't give up on BP. Trust me. I stuck with the regime through all the discomfort (dry skin, flaky, red etc) but once my acne was cleared up, my skin was

a) accustomed to the BP so it looked like normal skin when I did use it
b) was clear enough to use bp once a day

and I was clear for a whole year with the occassional use of bp. It's just bad the first few months.

My acne came back though because of what my derm prescribed me (glycolic acid cream) and it's so bad but I'm on BP again. And I am so willing to go through it again because it does work. and the improvement is visible.

[1RoUnDeR1]

clindamycin really helped me during the initial breakout i experienced in the early stages of retin-a - don't be discouraged by the initial breakout because in the end you'll be happy you stuck it out, although accutane may be a better choice because it gives the possibility for a permanent cure and its also like guaranteed to have you 100% clear in 4 months. I was on accutane and aside from dry lips the only thing i experienced was perfect skin.

[AcneAdviser]

BP screwed up my face too, went all dry and nasty flaking brown and cracked and shit but thats coz i used too much. Man pimples are a bitch i feel for you ive been struggling with it for the past 2 years and it went from a few pimples to pizza cheeks but now im finally getting them under control. Ill try my best to help you out.

Remember;
*how you use a product is as important as the active ingredients in the actual product.
* treat your skin very gently always.
*dont pick probe or anything.
*After you do what you need to do, wash, medicate etc just forget you have any skin problems at all and just leave your skin alone.


In the morning:

* Wash your face with a Salicylic Acid facial wash, use "Garner Pure A" coz its gentle.
Wet face with warm water for long enough to get the pores open fully, apply about a bottol cap size of the facial wash to your palm, rub your hands together but not unlil you get a lather just until its spred evenly over all of your hands, start rubbing gently on your face until you work up a tiny lather and then massage it into your problem areas, dont think of it as washing your face with soapy substance instead think of it as a facial massage with some oils that you want to massage well to get it into your pores. Massage this into your face for about a minute then rinse well with warm water.

*After washing face, apply a good moisturizer that leaves a nice feeling after wards, wait a few minutes before the next step.

*Apply a small amount of BP to your finger (about the size of half a pea for a portion of your face the size of the whole of one of your cheeks), massage it in as well as you can to your problem areas.

*Go through your day trying your best not to think about your face or touch it or look at it in the mirror (it looks the way it looks and looking in the mirror wont make it any better)


At night:

* wash your face the same way, wait 20 minutes
* Apply Retin-A as directed (i started on 0.025% and about 3 pea sizes for my wholoe face, i hardly reacted badly to it at all, then 6 weeks later not much of an improvment beside for the areas of my face with no acne having super smooth and evenly toned skin but acne still there, so i went on to retin-a 0.05, but i think my skin is just not sensitive so i need more of everything, now my breakouts have dramatically reduced)


Get back to me in 2 weeks and tell me how it went if no improvment i got other ways that might work.

one other thing, get a hair cut lol shave it to a number 2, chicks dig it LOL.