144 replies to this topic

[accushame!]

CHANGES I'VE MADE (a bit over 3 months in) :
- Now using 1 pump of BP morning + night
- Switched my Dove Deep Moisture moisturizer (it was discontinued) to Complex 15
- I am getting electrolysis on my face once a week and using witch hazel and tea tree oil for 2 days following every treatment, under my BP.
- Starting tonight, I am going to slowly start spot treating my red marks/actives with AHA and see how that goes.
- I am drinking insane amounts of water to see if it will help my skin adjust to the BP (by hydrating it)

what do you guys think? i don't understand why it is taking sooo long for my skin to adjust to the BP .. i definitely do not think i will ever be able to use 2 pumps. it sucks because i'm almost 3 and a half months in and still have dry skin only using 1/2 pump! very frustrating.

[Timehealsall]

its amazing how some people do not scar at all. Your skin must heal incredibly well. Good for you

[accushame!]

omg lol, i'm shocked to hear you say that.. scars are my biggest concern right now. i don't find my skin is healing well at all, and it seems as though the red marks are never going to fade at this point.. but thank you, it means a lot.

----EDIT

i take this back after seeing the picture from my accutane log. sometimes when you see your face everyday you don't notice all the little changes, but seeing my picture now and one of 3 months ago, i can definitely see the red marks fading (especially on chin!) ... gives me hope

Edited by accushame!, 29 March 2011 - 10:24 PM.

[accushame!]

i was checking out my accutane log and found this pic! this is for anyone who has moderate acne and is doubting the regimen

Edited by accushame!, 25 July 2011 - 05:05 PM.

[squares]

Hey you mentioned you use Complex 15 is that the facial cream or moisturising lotion? I have found it on amazon just not sure! Definitely looks acne friendly!

[accushame!]

i use the lotion, it's doing an alright job so far (considering i upped my BP to 50% more overnight :S )

[Gordon 94]

Wow thats some major improvement for your Accutane log. I look through your new regimen about red marks and scars. Getting electroslysis is a MAJOR thing.. these things prevent infection or bacteria under your skin to create more cystic acne. Oh yeah have you ever tried Vitamin E oil? It helps me a lot for the scars.. it went from red to lighter color and yeah thats all i have right now because i i only used it one week and i started to breakout so i quit.

[accushame!]

Gordon - the initial breakout is normal. it means the regimen is working, as it is getting all of the bad stuff trapped under your skin to come to the surface. you shouldn't have quit. and no i havent used vitamin E oil but i am going to start using AHA soon.


Hey guys, ever since I started using 1 pump morning+night my face has been looking worse, not breakout-wise but just in general. It is back to a reddish color and iiiitchy as hell during the night! (this used to happen to me when I used too much BP) I've been using 1 pump for 2 days now.. I am thinking of using 1 pump at night and 1/2 in the morning until my skin settles down? I might just increase the night applications from now on instead of the morning ones, since too much BP balls up under makeup. (I don't normally wear makeup but I really want to get a job soon and I don't know if I have the guts to work w/o anything on). What do you guys think of that? I suppose it will be okay because I went a whole week only putting on BP at night and nothing major happened. On another note, I am starting to use AHA on my back (for my very light bacne), to see if it works! I can't wait to start using it on my face! But I'm going to trust Joeyicecream and wait til my face is used to the BP first. Have a good day all you beautiful people! <3

[joeyicecream]

hey accushame sorry i did not post back sooner as for ur question about AHA i think its cool to use on ur red marks for me AHA works well on my red marks and evening out my skin tone but makes any actives that i have worse. As for your dryness its pretty common specially considering you upped your bp 50% over night. maybe try putting the moisturizer in ur purse than halfway through the day putting on another application or just doing 1 full pump at night and half in the morning. You should read kat kerfuffle's page (i think there is a link on the acne.org regime board) she is a regime user for like 5 plus years she said it took her skin 5 months to get used to the BP.

[Gordon 94]

I didn't quit the regimen, but i quit the vitamin E oil because i wasn't sure if it clogged the pores...

[kittycatsaysmeow]

I see that you've been on the regimen for a while now, I plan on starting this Monday. So I was hoping you could answer something for me.

I know that BP causes dryness & dead skin. After about 5 minutes in the shower the steam & water softens up the dead skin if I have any, then I can rub it off. I don't do it that harsh but I still have to ex-foliate a bit (with my hands, I refuse to use scrubs) to get all of it off.

The regimen said that gentle is the key.

So my questions are:
Should I still be doing this while I'm on the regimen?
Do you get dead/dry skin like this? If so, how do you manage it?

Thanks in advance(:

[accushame!]

hey kittycat, dryness and dead skin are a huuuge problem for me. i used to be covered in flakes (month 1) and they would literally fall off and get all over my clothes all day everyday. one thing they recommend is gently rubbing jojoba oil on your face to remove the flakes before you get in the shower. i don't think gently rubbing off the dead skin in the shower is a bad thing, as long as you're very careful and avoid any actives. i would probably wait a month, though, before you do this (bc your face will get very raw at first, it might be best to follow dan's advice and barely touch your face, but i know how annoying that dead skin can be) it's actually good to remove that dead layer as your products will soak in better. you seem to know what you're doing and it's good that you know not to touch those evil scrubs!

make sure you use A TON of moisturizer as your skin will get very dry. start veeeerrry slowly with the BP, i know it's exciting and you want to get clear fast and you might be thinking more BP = clearer faster! thats what i thought.. and boy was i wrong. i ended up taking 3 steps back. start slowly (use as little BP as you can) and every week use a tiny bit more. if you notice a lot of flakes it means you're using too much BP. everytime your skin adjusts to the amount you're using (i.e no noticeable extreme dryness/redness/flakes) it means it's time to up the dose! do this until you are using 2-3 pumps.

good luck and keep us updated! you should start a log

[kittycatsaysmeow]

Yeah I've had a bad experience about a year back when I tried a SA regimen. Used it for a week & then in the shower rubbed off a patch of what I thought was dead skin.. had a nice big raw patch on my cheek.

So I'll be sure to keep extreme gentleness in mind for the first month or two at least. & to start slow on the BP until my skin gets used to it.

I made that mistake too when I tried proactive during the summer.. I think that just has to do with their products being way too harsh, especially the evil grainy cleanser.

[i saw the sign]

hey girl! wow your pictures are AMAZING! that's so awesome and i'm so happy for you that you are seeing such great results i read through all of your posts and i have a few questions for you...

where did you get jojoba oil? i'm a dummy and didn't order it with my acne.org package and now i wish i did. do they sell it in stores? i don't want to have to pay the $11 shipping again!

what kinds of shampoo and conditioner do you use that are noncomegenic (sp?) and don't have sodium laureth?

at what step in the regimen process do you remove your make up? about a year ago i started using dove makeup remover cloths and i was absolutely shocked to see how much make up was still on my face after i washed my face with cleanser. so i use them religiously now. i just don't know whether or not to do it before or after cleansing.

also, idk if you want to try this, but this i what i did while on accutane and it really helped with the flakes- i mixed a tiny bit of baking soda with about 2 pumps of cetaphil facewash and used that as an exfoliator on my face and lips. it really worked! i only lightly massaged my face so that the baking soda didn't irritate me and make me red.

i saw you said you are taking doxy right now, i just wanted to tell you about my experience with it. i used to take it right before school with out breakfast (this was like 7 years ago) and it would make me extremely nauseated and a few times it made me throw up. i'd recommend that you always take it with food to avoid this. the only reason i got off of it was that it made me feel so sick.

ah this post is dragging on forever so i'll stop now but i just wanted to stop by and say you look great and ask you a few questions! xx

[accushame!]

Hey! everytime i see your screen name that damn song gets stuck in my head haha i saw the siiign and it opened up my eyes i saw the sign!

aw thank you so much for the compliments, that's why i told you you should keep a log w pictures because it's so cool to see the progress after a couple of months! it's easy to forget how bad the acne once was and sometimes you get down on yourself and pissed off because you think the regimen isn't working anymore and thennn you see the pictures and it's great

- i got the jojoba oil from a natural health store in town. to be honest, i wasn't a fan of it. when i mixed it in with my moisturizer i found it did nothing for the dryness and it made my face look really oily. i think it made me break out a bit as well (it is a 0-2 on the comedogenic scale) but everyone's different and some people on here rave about it. i used it only before my shower when i had EXTREMLY flaky skin to rub off the flakes. if this happens to you, here is what you do (it actually works great for this): pour a bunch of jojoba oil in your palm and massage it (gently) onto your skin in circles. make sure you are using a lot of oil though, so you don't cause irritation. when you've accumulated a lot of flakes on your hands, rinse them off with warm water and repeat the process.

- i use baby shampoo but this should answer your question better. Shampoo Ingredients To Avoid - by Savvy Skin

- i don't think you should use the cloths for a while, sorry to say! you could try cleansing your skin twice in a row or something, to remove the makeup. if you must use the cloths make sure to go suuuuper slowly and gentle. i don't wear makeup usually because i don't have a job/don't go to school (before the acne started i was in college and kept a part time job.. go figure) but when i have to go out with friends i cake that s#$@ on lol. i remove it in the shower when i cleanse my face, but i cleanse it twice (cleanse, rinse, cleanse, rinse) and i rub my face a little more/cleanse a little longer then 10 seconds to make sure all the makeup is off. (ps what foundation/powder do you use?) oh yeah, if you're using the cloths, i would advise you to make sure they're non-comedogenic and that you use them before cleansing. (i.e remove excess makeup w/ cloths and the rest with cleanser)

- i sooo know what you mean about nausea and doxy! burrgghh lol. i don't feel as though doxy is doing much for my skin (nothing at all, really) and that BP is doing all the work. i work makeup last weekend for like 3 days straight bc i was out of town and i broke out on both of my cheeks and forehead .. BP killed those badboys after a couple of days but i wish doxy would've prevented the breakout you know? i don't even really know how it works, i know it cures chlamydia though lmao. very weird that its supposed to do such unrelated things. anyways! i puked once or twice when i took it on an empty stomach so i stopped doing that. i still have a month or so left on it.

- that baking soda thing scares me! lol i'm all paranoid now about putting anything on my face that might irritate it. my skin is really dry once again though since im using more BP

thanks a lot and no problem, ask all the questions you want! making mistakes on the regimen sucks so i'm here to help anyday anytime lady

-

[accushame!]

OUUUCCCHHHH!
i applied AHA all over my face tonight, because i am too stubborn to follow joey's advice and just haddd to try it! well, let this be a lesson. ALWAYS listen to people who know what they're talking about! my face is soo red and burns like a b#$@& i will probably be getting up to greet a few new pimple buddies tomorrow morning i haven't been this red/painful since week 1 of the regimen. ooooh well. i also have a new cyst hanging out on my cheek, and i doubt he's gonna be leaving anytime soon. oh how i love the ups and downs of this regimen

[squares]

Accushame you seem to know lots sooooo.... do you know if Lac Hydrin 5 is any good as a moisturser? I was thinking of using this in place of Cetaphil to help with these damn flakes!!!

I hope your face has calmed down since the AHA??? My skin adjusted to it pretty well minus the break out I had, now I use it every night. Red marks are DEFINITELY fading, even from the dreaded breakout I had (even after me picking) sooo go easy with it and you will LOVE IT.
The flakes do subside just want something for my morning application, and I like the look the AHA gives, quite matte rather than greasy you know?

[kittycatsaysmeow]

Would starting out with just adding a little bit of AHA+ to whatever moisturizer you using help? Like mixing 1 part AHA+ with 2 to 3 parts moisturizer in your hands & then applying?

I'm obviously not going to even order AHA+ until a month & a half/two months. But with PIH being my main problem I'm really looking forward to using it in the future to help fade these red marks.

[squares]

Add jojoba oil to your moisturiser not AHA.

Just a few drops

[kittycatsaysmeow]

Um... I was talking about for her to try so she could adjust to it. I used to do the same thing for a couple weeks when I first started using SA. Kept my skin from burning.