7 replies to this topic

[littlephishy]

alright. Im giving differin a second chance.
I didnt give it much of a chance the first round xD

5 or so months ago my derm prescribed duac and differin .1. I got online and was so freaked out about all the stuff surrounding differin and the initial breakout that I quit it after a week and just stuck with duac.
I abandoned duac 2 months ago when our insurance decided to be stupid.

I went to the derm last week and she prescribed differin .3. She says it is just right for my type of acne. I kinda failed to tell her that I stopped using the differin .1 months ago I know. tsktsk. but I still have a huge tube of the .1, I figure I'll use that up so my face can get used to it before making the switch.

SO. where I am one week into differin:

my regime:

p.s. my acne is pretty mild to moderate. I have a lot of red marks on the cheek area along with the occasional breakout. pretty clear on forehead and nose. breakouts on chin. no cysts.

morning:
wash with cetaphil cleanser
apply neutrogena on the spot (still questioning this)
moisturize with cetaphil face lotion

night:
wash with cetaphil cleanser
every three days or so ex foliate with baking soda
apply differin (very thin layer)
moisturize

and drink tons of green tea.

-tips and suggestions are loved!


So far things have gone...well not great. but not horrible either. Im not breaking out like a crazy maniac but I am noticing more small bumps than usual. which does scare me a bit D:

I have a few questions

When I apply neutrogena on the spot in the morning it ends up kinda flaking off if that makes any sense. I'd much rather wear it at night but then of coarse what do I do with differin? I dont really want to wear it in the morning because of how its kinda iffy with the sun. would it be smart to rotate every night? on the spot one night and differin the next? or would that be too harsh on my skin?

How long does this initial breakout tend to last? How bad does it get?

Is it ok to switch to differin .3 now? or should I stick to .1 for awhile? In your expierence which is better?

Thankyou!
sorry for the long post :]
I'll keep updating this weekly.

[Thuglife2k5]

i feel ya pain...i was prescribed differin and quit after 5 days about.... that shit hurt my face

and then i heard of the IBs so i was very happy about the quit. My old regime worked so i didnt see the point of riskin going from moderate to severe

if u have mild acne i dont see the point of u using differin.. mild is very easy to take care of no offense...theres tons of natural remedies on here (look up treatment reviews) that can take care of those in a couple nights. Differin could risk an initial breakout and severe dryness. It like cracked the hell outa my skin and my skin became soooo sensitive

its up to u but i didnt listen to my derm...i might be clear now from it or worse..never know but ill jus keep livin forward

good luck

[didi78]

I have been using differin for about 6 months now for occasional cystic acne and breakouts with mixed results.

I think if you rotate it every other night with neutrogena, that should be fine (maybe better), especially because you're at one week of your regimen. I used it every other night for a few weeks to reduce irritation. I know some people who used differin every night in their first week, and it caused crazy peeling and irritation.

An alternative to neutrogena is to use pure tea tree oil, which also has antibacterial properties. I used to use duac, but it caused too much redness and hyperpigmentation, so I stopped and started using tea tree oils in the mornings (with differin at night). tea tree oil does not flake or peel, it just gets absorbed into your skin really well.

in terms of the initial breakout...I got a REALLY BAD one around 4-5 weeks, got about 5 cysts on my chin that took awhile to clear up. I would say that week 4-6 is the worse. You can read about my experience on my log, titled "differin and duac for adult acne" or something like that.

good luck!

[littlephishy]

ughh.
this arnt great.
As I was washing my face tonight I can feel tiny bumps sort of beneath the surface.
noooo.

[littlephishy]

Differin and I are not getting along.

I dont know if this is an IB or what but I have broken out a lot more than usual.
Before using differin I rarely broke out. The problem was the stubborn ones that would just not go away.
well that is no longer the case.
I took a good look in the mirror about 20 min ago and just about burst into tears.
I know, pathetic.
its not horrrrible, I just want to see improvement.
Im impatient.
Im breaking out in the usual areas plus places like my forehead.
:[
I need someone to tell me it will get better.

I probably shouldn't be putting allll this blame on differin.
Last week I was in mexico on a mission trip and there are multiple things that could have aided this breakout.
-it was supeerrrr dusty. I never felt fully clean.
-on the 2nd day my face wash exploded. which meant for the rest of the week I had to borrow random ones that were probably too harsh for my skin.
-I worked a lot with little kids and they were constantly touching my face and hair.

if you have had an IB how long did it last?
Does differin aid in the getting rid of pimples like BP? all my derm told me was that it will change my the way my skin works...or somthing along those lines. but will it help get rid of these existing ones?
Will differin .3 cause I worse IB then the .1?
thanks to everyone :]

[twin]

It will get better, much better. My son's been on differin for 15 weeks now & it's done wonders. He still has a few mild pimples (maybe 4) but other than that his skin is soft & pretty clear. We noticed the IB around week 5-6 then around week 8-9 WOW WEE......his face really started to clear. He has used differin 0.1 & now uses the 0.3. Don't get discouraged. From what I've read your skin literally purges out all the gunk & that sometimes can take a while. You have to be patient.
He uses Olay Gentle Cleanser in the am & pm & puts on acnefree benzoyl peroxide only in the am.

[littlephishy]

If I had posted this two days ago I would have come posting good news. Two days ago my skin was looking pretty good. I had no active acne on my face, just redmarks mostly and my skintone was looking great.

Today, however, isnt so great =/ My face hasnt exploded or anything. I just woke up to find a pretty disgusting whitehead on my cheek and then another two on my chin D: I havent gotten white heads like these in forever. So here I am, my face slathered in bp. I dont really mind them, there not the end of the world but Im super scared this is the beginning of some awful IB. I thought I was getting over the IB becuase my face was starting to look a lot better and it haddd gotten worse before it started to improve. But the IB I had wasnt all that bad. I did break out quite a bit in places I usually didnt...but it was a lot more mild than I was expecting.

So for all you fellow differin users:
how bad was your IB?

[Emily43]

I have been on differin for about almost 5 weeks. I have mild acne a few things here or there, but oily skin and blackheads. So i went to my doc and she persribed me this and said this should take care of it. I had an IB the first week. It wasnt all that bad, (im a picker and pretty much made it much worse than it should have been.) until last week, i was good. But then it was my period week, and i was a little worried. and boy, i was right. i broke out man. im still breaking out a little. but ill tell you, my skin actually feels 100% better then it did. it might not look like it. but it feels better. it got rid of my scars too. overall, im satisfied. i hope everything turns out good with you. good luck.

Emily.