64 replies to this topic

[SpecialAgent]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to start this regimen log, specifically because there isn't a lot of info out there now about personal experiences with Aczone. It's pretty new, so I thought hearing someone's experience with this topicla might be helpful to some of you.

I've had acne since I was 11. And hellaciously oily skin. Not just a little shine. We're talking oily eyelids. My entire face. I did retin-a and antibiotics in high school, with some success. Around my early 20s, my acne turned cystic, and my derm and I tried Azelex, more antibiotics, Differin, Cleocin-T, Benzaclin, etc. etc., with no success. Finally, after I appeared in her office in tears, she prescribed Accutane for me. I had crappy health insurance at the time, and so she gave me the entire prescription in samples. I still had to sign the papers and get blood work, but my experience with Accutane cost me nothing except the co-pay for the visits.

Accutane kept me clear for about 3 years, until my husband and I conceived our first child. After I gave birth, I had to steer clear of anything systemic due to breastfeeding, so I tried Pro-Activ. It worked astoundingly well, and it essentially kept me clear until I got pregnant again 20 months later. Still, though, my acne wasn't serious, just more of a nuisance. After my second daughter was born, I got fed up with the Pro-Activ and came here. I tried Dan's BP Gel and had pretty good luck with it, but it didn't help as much with the hormonal acne. After getting a couple of bad cysts on my chin, I decided to try the Philosophy Acne kit.

Um....that was a huge mistake. 4 months later, my skin was worse than ever. I was getting 5-6 new pimples a night. Depressed and miserable, I turned to a dermatologist. (Well, actually, she's a physician's assistant).

She prescribed Doryx, Aczone and Ziana for me.

I didn't fill the Doryx, because it will give me a yeast infection and I just cannot tolerate that.

It's been 8 whole days on the system with these two new topicals, and I couldn't be happier.

I know it's too soon to tell whether or not I'll have an IB, but I've had maybe 3 new pimples in these entire 8 days, and the Aczone has made quick work of them.

My skin feels very smooth, and one again, with makeup, it looks like I'm clear. The red marks from the old pimples are pretty bad, though.

Anyway, I'll update as frequently as I can. I hope to help other folks out there who are trying Aczone, or who are considering it. Thus far, I'm very pleased with it, and the Ziana as well.

I'll also get around to posting a before picture with some progress shots.

[SpecialAgent]

Crap. Spoke too soon. 3 new zits overnight.

On the plus side, they're small. They don't appear as if they'll be anything other than smallish whiteheads.

On the minus side...well...they're zits, and of course I feel that burgeoning anxiety I've been feeling these last four months watching my skin grow worse and worse.

It's only been 9 days of treatment, and I've heard that dreaded IB comes around the 2-3 week mark. I don't remember getting an IB with Retin-A in high school. Perhaps, though, the Ziana is purging my skin.

Still, who wants to be purged? I just want to be clear, like we all do!!

Anyway, I'm posting some of the before pics. These were taken about 2 weeks ago, before I visited the derm.





I'll take some 'progress' pics in a few days. Right now, my skin is mostly smooth, but with A LOT of red marks.

[lrco]

Do u know if its possible to buy aczone online (im not from us)?

[SpecialAgent]

Sorry, lrco, Aczone is pretty new over here, so I don't know if you can get it overseas. I do know, however, that the generic form of this topical medication is just called dapsone. There are dapsone tablets, as well, but Aczone is topical dapsone gel, 5%.

Perhaps the generic topical dapsone is available where you are?

[lrco]

brazil, i´ll call my dermatologist..
but its just dapsone ''by itself'' or there is something else?

[eddy_if]

WOW I think your before picture is pretty mild acne , I am sure you will get significant result from these topicals

[SpecialAgent]

Day 13.

I remain tentatively impressed. I'm coming in on the time where people usually see a resurgence in acne, due to that wondering initial breakout. I have a fairly inflamed pimple on the side of my chin (below the corner of my mouth) and a few smaller pimples on my right cheek. I hate that area of the chin to get acne. It's particularly painful, and seems slower to heal.

All in all, however, my face is remarkably more clear than it was just two weeks ago. The Ziana seems to be lessening the overall redness of the marks left behind.

One thing about the Aczone. It does seem to help stop the total growth of a pimple. This one on my chin has been slow to become inflamed, and the smaller pimples haven't come to the same fruition that they would have prior to treatment.

I think my skin was just so battered by the Philosophy kit. Clearly it wasn't working. Hopefully, the Aczone will assist the retinoid, and I'll get the clear skin I want.

And yes, physiologically speaking, despite the number of pimples on my face, I know my acne was mild. It is helpful to know, however, that I've been on accutane before. My skin has been a problem since I was 11, and I have had cystic acne. So my anxiety concerning my skin is intense. At 33, like all of us, I'm over this, and just want to be confident. I'll take a pimple or two. But not a whole face full, you know?

To be continued....

[SpecialAgent]

Well, it's been 15 days of treatment thus far. The Aczone has stopped some pimples, but not others. I had a pretty inflamed pimple on my chin, and I finally popped it. Right now, I have about 6 actives, and some smaller whiteheads that are drying up. It's hard to leave them alone, and I just want to scratch them off. I know, however, that they're not finished, and I'd just risk a deeper infection.

I have to say that I like the Ziana. It hasn't overdryed my skin, which is hard with some topicals, especially retinoids. Generally, it hasn't been hard to apply makeup in the morning, and though I definitely have some flaking, I haven't had to slather on moisturizer.

Is anyone reading this? Ha.

My digital camera is dead, otherwise I'd take some pics. Pics are nice; to be able to see someone's progress is helpful.

[SpecialAgent]

17 days of treatment. My neck has really cleared up, and I am thrilled by this. The pimples there were small, but numerous, and quite red. It's healed up nicely.

I still have some active pimples on my chin, but my cheeks have also cleared nicely. My chin seems to be purging. Some clogged pores are beginning to surface as pimples. We'll see if the Aczone can remedy them.

The redness of the old marks is diminishing, but still....

So far, so good.

Anyone else taking Aczone or Ziana and have a comment?

[lazer]

i have been on aczone for about a month and i'm loving it. i'm also taking yaz and apply differin every night after the aczone. i was about ready to start accutane but i wanted to wait one more month to see if the yaz would start helping (my skin was horrible when i first started it) so my derm gave me aczone. my skin has not looked better in years. still a few small bumps that have been around for a few months but the painful craters are gone. i noticed nothing really forms anymore, which works for me.
i'm also supposed to be taking keflex but i think it was giving me a yeast infection so i just stopped. everything seems to be going fine without it. doryx just gave me headaches.
it's nice to finally be on something that doesn't make my skin dry and flakey
if you get a chance, please post another pic! i'd love to see your progress. i'm incredibly happy with mine

[SpecialAgent]

Good to hear you're having such good results, lazer. It's such a relief to find something that works, so I hear you.

I didn't do the antibiotics either, for the same reason as you. I also felt like I didn't want to become invested in a treatment that I'd have to be weaned off of. So I thought I'd stick with the topicals.

My skin does look remarkably better, and I'm only coming up on the three week mark tomorrow. If I can remember to reload the digital camera with some new batteries, I'll take some makeup-less photos tomorrow AM.

So you apply the Differin after the Aczone? My derm just told me to use Aczone in the AM, and the Ziana at night, but I've been applying some Aczone to trouble spots at night as well, then waiting a bit before applying the Ziana. Good to hear I could do it twice a day, even with a retinoid.

[lazer]

yup! i'm also supposed to be putting the aczone on in the morning but because of the weird grainy texture, i sometimes skip it cause my foundation sucks and doesn't always go over it smoothly.
i haven't had any problems/dryness from doing it this way.

[Randy_Kitis]

I just started my derm gave me 7 cortisone shot on my cystic one and perscribed Duac Ziana & Minocycline. What should i expect from all of this? And What happend with you and the Ziana? And do you feel this combo sounds affective?

[SpecialAgent]

Hey Randy,

I'm not familiar with duac, but I am really pleased with the Ziana. I want to emphasize that my acne was fairly mild (though distressing to me) and so that might explain why I never had an initial breakout. My face is almost completely clear now, a mere 3 1/2 weeks after starting treatment.

I used to get cortisone shots as well in the cysts I got in my early 20s. I wish you luck in your treatment. I think the thing I love best about the Ziana is that it doesn't make my skin insanely dry like Retin-A did. It's nice to apply (pea-sized amount only!) and goes on easily.

Did you start a log?

[Languages]

Can you post some pictures? :] Thanks.
I wanna try Ziana and Klaron (I have never used a sulfur acne product, so maybe that might work for me).

[SpecialAgent]

I'll try to take some photos tonight after my shower. I already have makeup on now.

Languages, I've hard some good things about sulfur products, especially if you have oily skin, which I do. I asked about a sulfur product, but my derm thought it might be too drying with the Ziana. Personally, the Ziana hasn't been that drying for me, so I can't see the problem with doing them together.

[SpecialAgent]

I'm attaching some recent pics (taken this AM), and I have no makeup on. There are a few actives on my neck, but nothing that concealer can't cover, and a few by my ear on one side, but generally, the clearing I've experienced has been great. Let me know what you think.

[Languages]

Wowwwww, your skin has dramatically changed. I'm in awe, really..I hope I get as good results as you when I go on Ziana next Wednesday.

For future reference:
http://www.dermik.com/products/klaron/default.aspx

Klaron is really gentle and has a low occurance in side effects. And if you look @ the Acne.org reviews of it, they're really good. I'm not sure if that's actually sulfur. Sorry if I confused you.

But yeah, I'mma ask my derm for a combo of these.

[SpecialAgent]

I'm thinking I'm having a premenstrual breakout, which sucks.

I have 4 pimples that pretty much sprang up overnight. It's better than 30, but I just hate feeling the anxiety that comes along with it.

I also hate that nothing short of Accutane (because it's just so strong) seems to effect the hormonal breakouts.

While I'd still say I'm pleased with my results thus far, I'm wondering if something a little more oil-controlling would be better for in the AM. Aczone and Ziana have made my skin a bit oilier, which is stated as a side effect. I'll ask my derm in a month when I go back.

Languages, I think I'm going to look up the Klaron. I know sulfur-based medicines are good for oil.

[Yvette2]

Hey Special Agent,

I was looking for someone who was using Aczone and found your log. Your progress looks great so far. Your acne is mild to start and it already looks like the Aczone/Ziana are clearing you more. Yipee!

I was on Accutane for 9 months in 2007 (low dose) for mild acne also. I was clear 6-7 months in 2008 and the mild acne came back. I'm using Ziana now too, at night. My skin is a little clearer. My Derm. mentioned Aczone to possibly try and I'm curious about it. Not sure though, I have a sulfa allergy and I see it's a sulfone? Not sure if there is a contra-indication with this? I read that you say the Aczone is kinda grainy - doesn't work with makeup well? You sometimes skip it in the morning and use a little at night instead?

Oh, regarding the yeast infections or issues on antibiotics. If you take some anti-candida supplements, they can ward off the yeast issue. A good probiotic (coated/covered caplet) that has atleast 8 or more strains in it - generally two a day on an empty stomach. Also, garlic, neem, and grapefruit supplements work well also. I take a few of these and probiotics and haven't had a yeast issue. I'm on low dose doxycline (Oracea).

Thanks again for your log and any information you can share.

Yvette