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After reading a lot of posts on this forum and the treatment reviews, I'm skeptical about what I've been given by my dermatologist.
I've had acne for 10 years now or so, now 21 and it's still not going away. I saw a dermatologist in middle and high school who would test me on prescriptions but at the first sign of an adverse reaction I would go off them. So prescription meds never really did anything for me, because I never gave them time enough to work.
Been using various OTC treatments for years now. None of them work, really kind of kept me at a steady moderate level, never getting much better and never much worse. It was just a daily hassle really. Wash, medicate, make-up, every day. I've just been dealing with it mostly because most treatments don't show an effect.
Finally, I just want to have clear skin. I want to keep make-up in the bathroom drawer to use on the rare special occasion for it, but no more
I went to a new dermatologist to get PDT treatments hoping they would help me. I've had two treatments and so far no result really, though that's another story, I don't think they're giving me the treatment for long enough (only 4 minutes, not 8-20 like I've read about..) so I do worry that I'm not getting my money's worth there. But I'll deal with that in a week and a half when the time comes.
He met with me for 20 minutes or so and I went over my history with skin problems, medications I'm currently on, told him how nothing really works for me. He gave me doxycycline, duac, and differin.
I have qualms about each of these, and part of me wonders why drugs like these are prescribed so readily. Within days of starting doxycycline, I started breaking out on my body in places I was clear before. My back has always been a trouble zone, and I've never been able to clear it really but never done a whole lot to try because my number one concern has always been taking care of my face first, but my chest cleared up on its own years ago. in less than a week on antibiotics my chest acne is coming back. a little on my arms too. little patches on the sides of my nose near my eyes and behind my ears. initial breakout? who knows. duac dried me out like a prune. could barely move my face after applying it. I can barely handle 2.5% benzoyl peroxide, 5% is just painful. i was switched to clindamycin by my other dermatologist. not as drying. differin i know gives an intial breakout, oftentimes pretty bad. i don't want to get worse you know? from what I've read, it doesn't have a really high success rate either.
I seemingly have the most difficult skin to treat. lots of tiny pimples all over my face (and now more elsewhere, thanks to the doxy!), some bigger ones in the mix. severe in amount, moderate in type. lots of under the skin pimples as well. just.. not good. I keep trying to find someone on here with skin like mine, but to no avail.
i've been on a bunch of different birth control pills, none of them ever made a significant difference. currently on alesse
extremely, EXTREMELY sensitive skin. i'd say 80% of the products out there are too drying and irritating and can make the problem worse within days
trying to make dietary changes. going gluten-free and caffeine free so far hasn't made a difference. i haven't had milk products in years, so dairy wasn't the underlying cause. hasn't made it better. maybe diet does play a role, but I haven't found what it is for me yet
genetics probably is in the mix. i have two siblings with crystal clear skin, but my mom had acne until she was 23 and my dad did in high school. so if I take after my mom, two more years to go.
health wise.. IBS-many years. i firmly believe that frequent bowel movements aren't the answer to clear skin. various sleep problems. some depression (usually in response to life events), very easily stressed. all of these could be contributing to the problem
hormonally, a bit of a nightmare i guess. three unplanned pregnancies in the past 5 years. all while on BCPs. i miss just one--and i can be in trouble.
so in lots of ways.. i'm confused. are differin, clindamycin, doxycycline and alesse going to be the answer to my problem? differin seems to fail a lot of people--worried about that. antibiotics just kind of kill your system and you can become resistant to them.. yeah, that's what i need.. acne that's MORE resistant to treatments.. and BCPs never made a serious difference in my skin. I'm only on the doxy for a month, but i'll stay on the clindamycin for maybe two. I need to add BP into the mix but like i've said.. overdrying. and moisturizer doesn't come close to making it better. I don't want to be on antibiotics for long but I'm worried when I go off them it'll get much worse, so I'm afraid to stop them as well..
I'm frustrated in a lot of ways with dermatologists just prescribing these things even though the side effects include.. they could make your acne much worse in the long run. I know I have to stick it out with the differin for 12 weeks to see a difference, but I'm worried it'll just be another thing I can add to the list of, that didn't do it for me. I'm also concerned about when i go off antibiotics, will I have caused more hard to control damage than I started with? will it make the differin not work as well and give me a breakout like i've never seen before? I wish there was a dermatologist who could be patient with me, get to know my skin and really dig deep to the underlying causes.
accutane. well. given that my skin is incredibly sensitive and easily very dry i think the side effects of accutane may be more than my skin could take. i don't need my face to be falling off for 6 months. given that i am somewhat depression prone, i'm worried the side effects may be more than my emotions could take. so i'd be iffy about starting it. i feel like i may be one of those people who could do multiple courses of it without seeing permanent results. i think the side effects for me personally may be much worse than the benefits.
so, what's the answer really? i think I should have allergy tests, hormone tests, etc, see if there's something behind this that i've been missing all these years. in the mean time I'm just worried that these medications are going to make the problem worse for me than it already is. I wonder why things that are supposed to help never really do. why can't doctors really take the time to attack both the problem and the cause the right way? everything for me up until now has been trial and error. where do I go from here?
