33 replies to this topic

[Play_Koi]

Your pic looks good. I'm going to see if being on bc for three months makes a difference. (in the middle of month 2 atm) GL to ya

Edited by Play_Koi, 07 March 2011 - 06:46 AM.

[AllynRose]

Day #37

I'll sound dumb for saying this but... I'm reading all these horror stories about Yaz and I'm getting a little nervous. Today is my fourth day of the stuff, but I haven't experienced a single side effect. I threw up Tuesday morning, but I don't really think that's related. I took vitamins on an empty stomach, which always makes me nauseous. The thought that scares me most is my face exploding if I ever decide to come off it.

As for the RAM, other than my face being way oily and the tip of my nose peeling, there's nothing to report. I suppose I'm sort of breaking out - 3 pimples in one day, after a week of clearish skin. This always happens during my period. Sigh.

[AllynRose]

Day #41
41 days, almost done with 6 weeks and I think my face is breaking out just as it did when I started. This makes me so nervous.

Now I'm reading all these horror stories of people getting worse than ever after coming off Solodyn, Yaz, Retin-A, etc. I'm so scared that I'll be dependent on these things forever.

My insurance company won't pay for more Solodyn so it looks like I'll be coming off that one soon. Even though it appears to have made no difference, I'm scared that coming off it will cause a massive outbreak.

Stress. Stress. Stress.

Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't have done anything to my face at all and just let it take it's course. I don't know. I hate this.

[AllynRose]

Day #43
My dad's in the hospital, so I've been stress-picking like crazy.

My skin is extremely dry so I've been moisturizing a lot. The Retin-A is starting to burn when I put it on again.

Right now I have like 8 mini-marks from picking and 2 big ones, plus one giant pustule. The kind that doesn't get a head and just hurts a lot. I also have two little bumps. I don't know why I'm breaking out so much, maybe stress.

I've been researching diet and acne a lot lately, but it's such a disgusting mess of information. One website will swear low GI foods are the way to go, meaning whole-grain bread but another sight will say that grain is the worst possible food for acne. It doesn't seem like there's any safe food. Red meat, sugar, dairy, wheat, whole-grain, carbs, citrus-fruits are all apparently triggers... What the hell does that leave you with?! Beans and strawberries?!

I've been eating wheat (bad?), potato salad (high GI?) and Nutrigrain bars (dairy and wheat) like crazy.

I'd like to do a liver/kidney cleanse to see if that helps... But I don't really want to spend any more money on things. I'm not too sure how that works, but instead of buying some herbal pills maybe I can just do fruit and water for a couple of days. I've already lost a lot of weight recently so I don't really want to starve myself, but I can't bring myself to eat anything without feeling like I'm causing my next painful pimple.

I feel like I'm going insane.

I'm also worried because I'm still sort of spotting. Damn Yaz.

Current Vitamins / Supplements
+ multi-vitamin
+ fish oil
+ zinc
+ vitamin b complex

After picking.

[Samantha11]

My wedding day is in 67 days ( I only know this because of the registry). I've been on beyaz for two months and started retin a again last night.
Beyaz never really make me break out more but my acne moved from one place to another. I had it on my chin and then it moved to my cheeks. I have marks left which are very noticable. Patience is not in me...I feel overwhelmed by the thought I have to have a perfect complexion the day of my wedding. Both beyaz and retin a state it will get worse before it gets better...so I will stick with this as long as I can...I have also changed my diet to all healthy foods.
The worst thinkg we can do is stress...I wish I had one of those blood tests.

I will keep you guys posted...and cethapil does nothing for me. I have to buy a facewash that is almot $50...ay caramba.

[pokejen]

I'm so glad I found someone on the forums who is really similar to me & that is on a very similar regimen to mine. You are quite a bit further along than me though, I'm only on my 4 week and am having my first real horrible breakout. I have never had it this bad in my entire 20 years on this earth 8 of which have been consumed by some form of acne in varying severity. Your pictures show improvement so it gives my a lot of hope. I'm on retin-a micro, solodyn, & clindamycin, I also have extremely fair sensitive skin, & i happen to fluctuate between 130-135 pounds. I thought that was a really awesome coincidence. I also notice you said you have a picking problem which I am also struggling with. I've heard that it is really bad to pick on retin a but I've done it quite a few times The picking just makes everything worse but I'll just get so stressed and depressed about my face that it seems to be one of the only things that calms me. I also think I feel that it makes them go away faster... which I know for a fact isn't that case. I'll get red marks that last for centuries. The main thing that has been bugging me about the retin a is how difficult the acne is to cover up because of the peeling and dead skin. I used to be able to just cover up what acne i had and go out and be somewhat comfortable with the way I looked but now, especially with this recent breakout, I just can't cover it up and feel comfortable so I'll stay inside my room as much as possible avoiding all other human contact. I'm becoming such a recluse, I even don't want to be seen by my own family or boyfriend of practically 5 years. This really sucks, but like i said before your progress gives me some hope. I look forward to seeing how you continue to do.

edit was because i put 3 week instead of 4

Edited by pokejen, 24 March 2011 - 02:45 AM.

[AllynRose]

Samantha11, I definitely feel your pain... I think the pressure of having a "deadline" for when we need to be clear will ultimately make things so much worse though. You're right, the worst thing we can do is stress... But the funny thing is - even though we know we shouldn't - we stress anyways.
With graduation exactly two months from today, I'm starting to get nervous. I can't imagine how you must feel, weddings are so important. Maybe we should try yoga or meditating because all this stress has got to be toxic for our bodies

[AllynRose]

Day #53
Are 'ya ready for a super long update? Good.

My face was PURGING like mad over the past week. All the little bumps and blackheads seemed to come to a surface all at the same time, which really sucked.

I don't know if it's wishful thinking, but I'm looking at the problem areas (left and right of my chin, lower cheek area) and there aren't as many clogged pores as I remember there being. Maybe the Retin-A is finally working?

Red marks however, are another issue altogether. I hear Retin-A is sometimes prescribed for scarring, but so far I've seen NO DIFFERENCE in the scars both before and during my time with Retin-A. Perhaps I have to wait a little longer, but I'm getting a bit frustrated. The new zits come up before the old marks have a chance to heal, making my face look a lot worse than it actually is. For now I'm using Mederma at night about an hour after applying Retin-A. The two don't seem to cause any kind of issue when used together but I space it out by an hour just in case. Mederma seems to help a little bit, but it doesn't work miracles.

I say this with cautious optimism, but right now the breaking out seems to have calmed down just a bit. No new zits this morning.

Retin-A has stopped burning again, and although I'm not slathering it on like moisturizer I am using a bit more than the thin layer I started with because my face seems to be tolerating it just fine. Absolutely no peeling.

As for the whole Yaz thing, I'm not sure if it contributed to the purging/breaking out or if it's just completely unrelated, but it definitely made me spot for 2 weeks there. I thought it was over with because it seemed to have stopped, but yesterday my body started up with a full blown period flow. Called the OB/GYN but they said not to worry. The nurse told me that by the second month there should be less bleeding, and by the third it should be almost or completely gone.

Dermatologist appointment on March 28, 2011 @ 10:10. 3 days. I can do this. I'm super nervous for my appointment because my biggest fear is that she's going to tell me to just "wait it out". I've been "waiting it out" since December. Granted, I've only been doing Retin-A for 53 days and Yaz for 19, but it feels like I've been dealing with this WAY too long. My doctor is always in a huge hurry so I'm afraid she won't really listen to me, answer my questions or look at my skin all that well. This will be the first time I go without a parent so I'm even MORE worried that she won't take me seriously.

The things I want to talk to her about are:
- getting off the antibiotic (it hasn't made the slightest difference)
- changing topicals (aczone is kind of rough on my skin and hasn't made a difference)
- risks of birth control (if I decide to come off it will I have a horrible break out?)

I may start doing healthy things again. I don't know. I've never stuck with them long enough for it to make a difference, but when I have (briefly) gotten better it hasn't been diet or exercise-related. I don't feel like making my life super complicated for an acne-free diet if it'll just mean the same amount of break outs in the end.

[AllynRose]

Day #56

So today was the big day! I went to the appointment with my dermatologist and got prescribed Bactrim, because she thinks I'm tetracycline resistant. So you know what I did.

Research. Research. Reviews. Research.

There's some controversy on using such a strong antibiotic for acne and of course there's always the health risks (long-term), but I'm going to do it. My face is getting really mucked up with scarring from daily breakouts and I'm really getting sick of it. I'll only be on the antibiotic for 30 days (2x/day) and then 30 more (1x/day) - provided it shows some sign of working. It's only until the Yaz kicks in and my hormones level out.

Things I'm watching out for
- allergic reaction to Sulfa (5% of the population has this allergy)

Things I'm doing to help lessen the burden on my body
- Activia as a probiotic
- TONS of water (Sulfa dehydrates you)
- healthy diet and lifestyle

I worry too much. There's so much pessimism here on the org that sometimes I get sucked in and convince myself things like Yaz is going to screw up my hormones for the rest of my life or Antibiotics are going to make my acne super resistant and I'll be stuck with it forever. My doctor is a good doctor, though maybe a little rushed. She knows what she's doing. I need to stop taking every internet post as fact and just trust the lady who went through medical school and has 20+ years of experience.

Anyways, this is supposed to be a RETIN-A MICRO log, I haven't forgotten - don't worry. My skin is super smooth lately and there aren't as many clogged pores. The red marks and scarring have faded a little, maybe just due to time. If my break outs are completely hormonal (and RAM couldn't help) then I'd say it did really well, because my skin texture is really nice now. They want to move me up to the .1% gel since I'm tolerating this one, but that won't be for another month. Frankly, that's fine with me because my face needs time to HEAL.

[AllynRose]

Day #65

I really don't like using the "Day ..." anymore, because it's lost its meaning. All my treatments were started at different points: the Aczone 3 months ago, the Retin-A 2 months ago, the Yaz 1 month ago, and the Bactrim just last week. I've been told to be patient with all of them. Gr. Patience is not my strong suit.

Since my last update I broke out probably the worst I ever have, cleared up the most I have since this whole ordeal started in January, and then broke out again though nowhere near as bad.

I don't know what to say. I'm trying to be patient and just turn this over to God. I've got so much going on outside of this that I really can't waste time on it. Hence the lack of updates.

Hoping Bactrim helps<3

[AllynRose]

Day #84

Did I abandon this log? No, not entirely. I just put more distance between the updates because:

1) It's become such a convoluted mess of multiple treatments that I doubt anyone will benefit from my log, considering its uncertain what helped and what didn't.

2) I'm busy with school and life.

3) I'm trying not to obsess on my skin.

4) I don't think anyone's reading it.

The past month I still broke out, but it seemed to be a lot less. Instead of 3 bad weeks and 1 good week, it was the other way around. Though the bad week was BAD. Bactrim? Meh, maybe. Or maybe the BC is starting to help.

I'm not a doctor but in my opinion Bactrim would've kept it consistent the whole month. Skin changing during different times of the month/my cycle sounds more like the work of Yaz.

Dermatologist tomorrow. I'm going to ask her to PLEASE let me stay on Bactrim during the ever-important month of May (graduation, prom, etc.). She wanted to lower my dose to once a day, but I DO NOT want to start messing around with this now. Bad time. I also want to know if she can do anything about a purple bump on my chin that I've had since February. I bet she's going to say no though. It's not protruding enough to inject without leaving a dent and I don't know what she can do for the discoloration besides prescribe Retin-A which I already have.

[lullabies]

hey! i was just looking up regimen logs with retin-a and i came across your log, and just wanted to encourage you to not give up! i just started using retin-a about a week ago, and i'm kind of nervous about those initial breakouts.. eek! but i've used a tretinoin cream in the past and it worked well, so i'm hoping it'll work its magic again this time. i definitely know how depressing and hopeless it can feel to have acne.. i've had pretty bad acne for about 4 years now. and before that, i've always had pimples here and there. sometimes i feel like i'll never get rid of it, and can only dream of having clear skin. i hear all these stories about people getting clear and wonder why i can't be one of those people, i look at all my friends with clear skin and wonder why i was cursed with bad skin, and yeah, just know that you're not alone! keep updating and keep on fighting! :)

Edited by lullabies, 28 April 2011 - 11:31 PM.

[g-face2011]

Keep Posting!

[cvd]

Yes --- don't give up! You may think people aren't reading your log or caring but we are! We're routing for you. Because we've all been there (...or we wouldn't be here...). I had skin like yours and suffered for ages. It takes constant adjusting of meds to help calm things down and even then that sometimes doesn't work or you can't stay on the treatment because of side-effects. I found Bactrim to be a godsend and my derm had me on it for 4 years during which she started me on tretinoin cream (...I'm older so I think that's why she has me on the cream form...). Right now I get a flare-up every several months or so that consists of a bad infected cyst or two and usually have little stuff going on weekly...a blackhead/whitehead here and there and occasional tiny pimple...nothing bad. I think my derm believes we have things under control given where we started. But I keep striving for clear skin...I must be vain but I can't understand why I can't have beautifully clear skin! Can you try accutane? That really helped my skin by lessening the severity of acne...didn't totally stop it but instead of having a chin full of cysts I'd only get 1-2 at a time.