4 replies to this topic

[volcom3453]

Please read and bear with me...I need some good advice from the experts!

I'm 19 and have had acne problems for probably 4-5 years now. At first it wasn't too bad but it got to the point where my face and body had cysts. It wasn't nearly as bad as some severe cases but nonetheless I had obvious acne and painful cystic pimples. So, I was prescribed retin-A at first and also benzoyl peroxide. It didn't really work as well as I hoped, and I was prescribed Tazorac cream and 100mg of minocycline probably summer of 2006. I applied tazorac to my face and back and took 2 pills a day. At first I got pretty dry and flaky skin from what I recall, I remember it peeling a lot during the day. It probably took a few months before any results, but eventually in late spring of 2007 my skin was pretty much completely clear.

I can't quite remember if my skin stopped flaking, but probably in late may or June of 2007 I decided I would stop using the tazorac cream and just only take the pills over the summer. Surprisingly, I had very few breakouts and my skin looked pretty good all summer with the exception of one breakout after prolonged exposure to sunlight. However, my chest started to break out and my dermatologist advised that I try cream on it. I applied the tazorac cream to my chest and I think all my chest/shoulders acne (which was a good amount) was probably gone in 2-3 weeks. So I thought, cool, now this stuff does work pretty well. Anyway, I went off to college in the fall of '07 and my skin didn't start breaking out some until September I'd say. I started getting a few cysts on my forehead and just some pimples here and there so I visited my derm in early december and she put me on differin because I confessed I hadn't used the tazorac in months. I used differin and BP on my face and it seemed to get better within a month and I was back to being pretty satisfied with my skin.

I have been using minocycline, BP, and differin on my face, and tazorac on my body (weird I know) for this whole time since December of '07, but my face is not nearly as clear as it ever was when I stopped using tazorac.

So I have a few very important questions---
I just started taking Leukic Hardcore pills to help increase my strength, but I think it might have made my acne flare up recently since it is an anabolic activator (increases testosterone ). Does it make sense that a recent breakout of mine could be attributed to this? I have got some jawline acne recently and was wondering if this might be the cause, and if so, I will stop using it.

My second and more important question is that I am seriously considering changing back to tazorac for my face because of the previous results I had with it, but I am really really worried that if I go back to it that it will make my face break out terribly and will take a long time to work and I will flake and everything. But, it really keeps my body clean so I was wondering if it really might be worth going back to and do you think it might actually only take like a week or 2 to kick in and prevent breakouts?

My face is red too and I am wondering if the differin, benzoyl peroxide or pills do it to me??

I am really in a bind about what to do just because I don't want my skin condition to get bad again. Any advice is greatly welcomed and sincerely appreciated. Thank you to anyone who took the time to read this and respond with some insightful comments. Thanks a lot! Hope to hear from anyone!

-VC

[volcom3453]

Someone please reply!!! I really want some answers...I took all the time to type that out too..

[{DC}]

First of all I just want to know out of sheer curiosity, how did you apply Tazorac to your back?

Yes using things that boost testosterone can definitely result in acne. Acne is an androgen mediated disease. Just look at people who use steroids, not all get acne but those who are sensitive to testosterone(androgens) do.

Tazorac is more powerful than differin so thats why you probably are not as clear using differin.

While you were on Tazorac the first time with Minocycline were you also using BP as well? Or was it just the Taz and BP?

Does your skin flake with Differin and BP now?

Tazorac may not cause an IB due to Differin being a retinoid too. But no one here or anywhere can give you a guarantee either way. You will know once you resume Tazorac treatment. But since you have been on Differin for a while, which is a retinoid too, I suspect that if you do get an IB it would be mild.

Minocycline wouldnt make your face red. Although it does make your skin more sensitive to sunlight. BP and Differin is probably whats casuing your red face. So you have been using Differin and BP now for aroud 8 months??

Did Tazorac make your skin red?

[volcom3453]

First of all I just want to know out of sheer curiosity, how did you apply Tazorac to your back?

Yes using things that boost testosterone can definitely result in acne. Acne is an androgen mediated disease. Just look at people who use steroids, not all get acne but those who are sensitive to testosterone(androgens) do.

Tazorac is more powerful than differin so thats why you probably are not as clear using differin.

While you were on Tazorac the first time with Minocycline were you also using BP as well? Or was it just the Taz and BP?

Does your skin flake with Differin and BP now?

Tazorac may not cause an IB due to Differin being a retinoid too. But no one here or anywhere can give you a guarantee either way. You will know once you resume Tazorac treatment. But since you have been on Differin for a while, which is a retinoid too, I suspect that if you do get an IB it would be mild.

Minocycline wouldnt make your face red. Although it does make your skin more sensitive to sunlight. BP and Differin is probably whats casuing your red face. So you have been using Differin and BP now for aroud 8 months??

Did Tazorac make your skin red?

Hey,

Thanks so much for the reply. Such helpful insight you gave me. I am pretty skinny and limber so I can reach pretty much anywhere on my back with either hand. It's been probably 7-8 days since I took the leukic pills and I think the breakout it caused is finally started to subsist a bit. I'm sure the breakout I had was caused by it and that was just a dumb decision.

I was on mino and taz and only applied BP to my body normally. I don't think I applied it too often to my face. My face was pretty dry looking and stiff for the first month or so on differin but now at most there are a couple little dry patches on my face from differin after I get out of the shower but if I moisturize it then I look fine. Tazorac did make my skin quite red for a while, but I actually think the peeling skin and redness died down in the last months before I stopped it.

With all that you know now about my success with tazorac on my face before, and currently on my body, do you think I should go back to applying the tazorac on my face in the near future if the differin doesn't clear up my recent break out? Looking forward to hearing from you, and thanks again for the reply. I really appreciate it!

[{DC}]

Yeah, Differin is milder for sure but combined with BP it will take time for your skin to adjust and the redness to fade. If you dont feel as though differin is clearing you as good as Taz did definitely go back to the derm and get Taz again.

Most people get relatively clear from Taz from the reports I have read, it seems to be the most effective retinoid of the lot. Plus you know it cleared you well in the past, so it should clear you again.

In fact if your already using Taz on your body I would just start using it again on your face...but thats just me. And use BP to spot treat inflammed pimples.