20 replies to this topic

[ohsailor]

the story so far
the last time I had a log here was in 2008, and my skin was far worse with inflammed spots, uneven skin tone and just a whole lotta nastiness. I started on finacea which improved the whole situation and I gradually drifted away from acne.org

fast forward a couple of years, and I've stopped finacea (whilst it was fabulous, the side effects of dryness were negating any of the reduction in scarring/acne) and I've been up + down with various treatments, finally settling on avene diacneal (recently reformulated to triacneal)

I find it works quite well but unfortunately, I've given into my redbull addiction over the last few weeks (that stuff is worse than heroin, I swear!) which has caused several spots to emerge and just generally worsen my skin. so to counteract, i've decided to go back to my old self and start up the vitamins again.

i have been a vegan since 2008 but i struggle with an eating disorder so diet is hard for me to work on regards to acne because i am very self limiting about what i allow myself to eat.

about me
in brief, i live with my girlfriend (together for over a year) work in a call centre in the uk (about as thrilling as it sounds) and i love watching csi, topshop, h+m, tori amos and shopping.

my current regimen
AM
wash with avene soapless gel cleanser.
apply powder, eyeliner and blusher ONLY.

PM
wash off makeup with avene soapless gel cleanser.
apply avene triacneal lightly all over face.
take vitamins [zinc, multi vitamin, vitamin b complex, calcium + vit d, Perfectil]

rules
no sugar free redbull.
drink fluid as much as possible.
always apply topical every night.
avoid touching my face.
use new towels as often as possible to dry my face.
limited fruit [apples and citrus break me out]


14/07
currently dealing with a bad spot on my cheek, where usually I'm clear, which is the result of my recent fall back into redbull addiction. trying not to get depressed about how much this spot seems to show through my makeup because the rest of my cheek is clear
some spots on my chin don't seem to be active any more after attacking them with triacneal. hopefully this continues to be the case.
overall though, my skin tone is very discoloured and uneven. many areas of redness and red marks. triacneal helps but its not enough. i want to change my topical - or add to my regimen - but my skin is so sensitive that I'm petrified.
i'm considering using a aha/bha but in the uk, the options are limited.
lots of investigation and research will soon commence.

but on a positive, day 4 without sf redbull is almost completed. hurrah

Edited by ohsailor, 24 July 2011 - 12:42 AM.

[May853]

Hi,

I've been using Diacneal since April (I think) and it's pretty good stuff. I'm using that alternately with Atralin b/c it's not gotten me quite to where I'd like to be. But it definitely has helped my skin tone with regards to unevenness. You are aware of the possibility of an initial breakout? I had one and it was rough, but perseverance is key with retinoids.

Best of luck to you.
May

[ohsailor]

Hi,

I've been using Diacneal since April (I think) and it's pretty good stuff. I'm using that alternately with Atralin b/c it's not gotten me quite to where I'd like to be. But it definitely has helped my skin tone with regards to unevenness. You are aware of the possibility of an initial breakout? I had one and it was rough, but perseverance is key with retinoids.

Best of luck to you.
May

thanks for the reply

I've been using triacneal since december 2010 so I've been past the point of the dreaded initial breakout but thankfully in my case, I never suffered badly with that.

I'd be interested to know how atralin is working out for you.....



15/07
no new spots today.
skin isn't bumpy so hopefully nothing should emerge soon either.
was very dry this morning but didn't use moisturiser (probably should look into finding one but every single one i've ever tried has broken me out.)
red marks were okay - the large red dot on my cheek is still quite prominent but better than yesterday. my skin tone is so uneven and dotted with red marks.
i'm unsure as to whether the dots everywhere are actually acne or rather clogged pores?
i'm trying not to use SO much triacneal + instead just cover my skin lightly - i think because it has a moisturising ingredient in it, using too much has been clogging my skin (+thereby causing more acne) rather than working correctly and reducing red marks. when i get some bad acne, i tend to slap on the triacneal rather heavily which i think has the opposite of the intended affect and makes my skin worse.

still not had any redbull.

[ohsailor]

16/07

skin is uber dry today. which becomes more apparent when i put on my powder. i'm trying to drink more which i hope will improve the dry skin. i know triacneal has the retinoid aspect which increases the likelihood of dry skin but my paranoia around moisturisers of any kind means i will have to put up with the dryness and use manual exfoliation again.

the red marks are okay - didn't look too red or blotchy when i got out of the shower. but natural light is my enemy because they always look so obvious. and car mirrors need to be avoided at all costs!

i may be purchasing cleanance k today although i'm still unsure :/ i have heard wonderful and also not-so wonderful reviews.

my skin is improving so much with not drinking red bull. just have a nasty pepsi max habit i need to try and kick. just love that stuff so damn much!

[ohsailor]

18/07

so, didn't get cleanance k as i didn't have time over the weekend. but i'm planning to pop into the store to get some.

yesterday, the red marks did not look good. they just seem to be everywhere. and they're not even actual spots - they're just red dots that have never been spots and do not turn into them. is this clogged pores? helppp!

they are okay this morning (how does that happen? that they look fine one day and then very visible the next?) but i'm sure they will be obvious again tomorrow.

skin is still dry and my eyes are very dry too. this has been going on for a while - my eyes get sore and irritated easily. they are very pale and sensitive (much like my skin!)

no new spots which is a relief - i would bet quite some money on the redbull causing my most recent breakout. that damn stuff.

[ohsailor]

19/07

have been reading a thread on here about going makeup free. has inspired me to try this approach again, hopefully soon.

i used to be makeup free but fell back into the trap of makeup (even if it is only powder + blusher) and it is so hard to convince myself to go without it when my red marks are so obvious and there are so many. i need the powder to try and make myself look acceptable and semi-attractive.

who knows when/if i'm going to summon the courage to try this again?

on another note, i'm trying to ditch 'normal' tea + start drinking peppermint. i'm hoping this might help, along with eliminating the artificial sweetener i use far too much of. not sure it will necessarily help with my red marks but maybe skin tone?

red marks are not great today. hate hate hate natural light!

[ohsailor]

so, bought the cleanance k + will be starting tonight.


& to coincide with this, i can feel the onset of some spots emerging - that familiar feeling of a monster growing.

ffs.

[ohsailor]

20/07

well, my face looks a mess today.

pizza face, i think would be an apt description.

i used cleanance k last night for the first time - i far prefer the application of cleanance as opposed to triacneal - it is much smoother + i really like the consistency.

i woke up with a pustule - which i don't think is connected to the cleanance as this was emerging prior to last night.

my red marks just look dire today.

i don't know what i was thinking about ever going make up free.


plus, i'm really emotional today so that isn't helping my thoughts about my appearance either.

hopefully better news tomorrow.

[ohsailor]

22/07
a word for my skin right now?

hideous.




that is all.

[May853]

22/07
a word for my skin right now?

hideous.




that is all.

Sorry things are looking so glum.

I can't say for sure about the Atralin yet, b/c I'm only just starting it. And only in the last 2 weeks have I been doing it very regularly. Still too early to tell. Someone on another part of the forum mentioned that they had switched from Diacneal to a stronger retinoid. Not Atralin, but one with tretinoin and also some antibiotic in it. Anyway, she said she was very happy she made the switch. And 9 months after she did, she said she's still seeing improvements. I'm hoping I'll have a similar story to tell. I'm struggling to find a good cleanser. I'm on the last third of that stuff in my sig, and so I might be trying something that's not medicated. Add that in gradually too, I guess.

[ohsailor]

22/07
a word for my skin right now?

hideous.




that is all.

Sorry things are looking so glum.

I can't say for sure about the Atralin yet, b/c I'm only just starting it. And only in the last 2 weeks have I been doing it very regularly. Still too early to tell. Someone on another part of the forum mentioned that they had switched from Diacneal to a stronger retinoid. Not Atralin, but one with tretinoin and also some antibiotic in it. Anyway, she said she was very happy she made the switch. And 9 months after she did, she said she's still seeing improvements. I'm hoping I'll have a similar story to tell. I'm struggling to find a good cleanser. I'm on the last third of that stuff in my sig, and so I might be trying something that's not medicated. Add that in gradually too, I guess.

i'll be very interested to hear how you get on with atralin oh, finding a new product is a nightmare quest. i always get really nervous before i buy one as i get so worried it will break me out!

thank you for your kind words.

23/07

not good again today. there are more spots and the redness is not decreasing - i am hoping that this is a purging phase - not giving up just yet. i'm sure it is purging. fingers crossed anyway.

wearing less make up today - just a layer of powder applied with my brush rather than a pad. my skin looks so obviously scarred but i can't imagine constantly piling on the makeup does my skin any better.

have resisted the urge to buy pepsi max in the weekly grocery shop. my girlfriend is convinced that the pepsi max makes my skin worse - i don't want to agree with her because i love pepsi so much but i think she may be right! as always!

so its just water, tea and squash for me from now on!

hopefully tomorrow i will see a slight improvement or status quo (anything but worse!) i did take some photos of my skin but i am too paranoid to post them. maybe soon?

[ohsailor]

25/07

status : skin is okay. chin is looking quite bumpy and red but nothing too major. the pustule on my cheek has healed quite well, with the assistance of cleanance k.

the rest of my skin is benefiting from a change in how i wash my face. when i used to use finacea, as it caused me intensely dry + flaky skin, i used a body puff to wash my face with my cleanser. i have continued to use this and i fear it could now be aggravating acne/redness as i don't actually need to exfoliate this much any more as the intense flaking ceased when i stopped using finacea.

so now i am just using my fingers to cleanse although i am doing it twice because after reading a post here, i don't think washing once will take off all my makeup.

i am hoping washing like this will mean that my skin will not get so aggravated and have more potential spots emerge.


in other news, i managed to survive the whole weekend without pepsi, as difficult as it was. it is hardest to try and get through work without any pepsi max. i miss it dammit!


no new spots anywhere, so hoping that with the few changes i've made (using cleanance k, cleansing my face twice in the evening to remove all makeup, not using the body puff to wash my face + also cutting out the pepsi max) might help this situation.

i'm hoping any purging period for using the cleanance k might be over shortly. fingers crossed.

[May853]

so now i am just using my fingers to cleanse although i am doing it twice because after reading a post here, i don't think washing once will take off all my makeup.

Ha, I must have read the same post. Started doing the same thing a couple of nights ago. I don't now why I didn't think of that before...

I have nothing bad or good to report with the Atralin as of yet. But I will keep you posted.

Also, I am starting to use Cetaphil Daily Cleanser at night to remove my makeup. I will only be using the medicated thing in my sig in the mornings until I run out. I'm thinking using fewer medicated products might be a good thing.

Cleanance K is a moisturizer or like a spot treatment? Or is it a substitute for the Diacneal/Triacneal?

May

Edited by May853, 26 July 2011 - 09:24 AM.

[ohsailor]

so now i am just using my fingers to cleanse although i am doing it twice because after reading a post here, i don't think washing once will take off all my makeup.

Ha, I must have read the same post. Started doing the same thing a couple of nights ago. I don't now why I didn't think of that before...

I have nothing bad or good to report with the Atralin as of yet. But I will keep you posted.

Also, I am starting to use Cetaphil Daily Cleanser at night to remove my makeup. I will only be using the medicated thing in my sig in the mornings until I run out. I'm thinking using fewer medicated products might be a good thing.

Cleanance K is a moisturizer or like a spot treatment? Or is it a substitute for the Diacneal/Triacneal?

May

yeah, i think you are probably right. i get tempted by medicated products thinking that throwing lots of chemicals at my skin might mean that the bacteria is killed but i think it gets too overloaded + my skin ends up rebelling against me!

cleanance k is a gel type cream which has bha + aha in it > it exfoliates and is supposed to prevent blemishes. its not a substitute to triacneal/diacneal because it has no retinoids in it but i started to find with daily usage of triacneal that it was clogging up my skin and (i think) causing more spots.
i'm still not sure on my feelings about cleanance k though > unsure of whether it is causing any more spots


27/07
there is now a horrible red spot on my parafiltrum (the space between my top lip and my nose) which looks horrific. the spot at the side of my mouth looks nice and inflammed and i have a whitehead on my chin.

i, literally, look AWFUL.

i'm going to persist because i fear changing my regimen too soon (i have only been using cleanance k for less than 10 days) could cause further problems + i guess the purging can last a while?

i'm still abstaining from pepsi max. congratulations to me


i feel horrible right now. my skin is a mess.

[ohsailor]

right, thats it.

i'm giving up tea drinking unless its herbal. no artifical sweetener. i'm throwing it all out when i get home.

i can't stand this.

[May853]

Hey, sorry things aren't that great. If you are purging, though, it will almost without a doubt get better. I remember that feeling. And if you didn't really have an IB with the triacneal, then maybe the Cleanance is giving you one. I've got a couple that are bugging me as well, one of which I made worse by thinking I could extract it.

I also use a BHA/AHA product. I am not sure if it is doing anything at all, b/c I'm using so many other things. It's a blend of Salicylic Acid and Glycolic Acid. Since I've yet to have issues with peely skin since starting all this, I wonder, though, if it is helping with that.

Are you thinking caffeine is irritating your skin? I haven't made many dietary changes except lowering my overall fat intake but that's a side effect of my husband's being on a diet. I eat pretty healthy, anyway. I have other issues, like silent reflux, that I have to be aware of so I limit myself to one cup of coffee a day. But every so often I will have a cup of tea in the afternoons. Sometimes herbal, sometimes not.

Maybe things will look up soon.

[ohsailor]

Hey, sorry things aren't that great. If you are purging, though, it will almost without a doubt get better. I remember that feeling. And if you didn't really have an IB with the triacneal, then maybe the Cleanance is giving you one. I've got a couple that are bugging me as well, one of which I made worse by thinking I could extract it.

I also use a BHA/AHA product. I am not sure if it is doing anything at all, b/c I'm using so many other things. It's a blend of Salicylic Acid and Glycolic Acid. Since I've yet to have issues with peely skin since starting all this, I wonder, though, if it is helping with that.

Are you thinking caffeine is irritating your skin? I haven't made many dietary changes except lowering my overall fat intake but that's a side effect of my husband's being on a diet. I eat pretty healthy, anyway. I have other issues, like silent reflux, that I have to be aware of so I limit myself to one cup of coffee a day. But every so often I will have a cup of tea in the afternoons. Sometimes herbal, sometimes not.

Maybe things will look up soon.

Thank you so much for your replies - it is very sweet of you to comment

i think it is probably a mixture of the caffeine (as i don't eat very much, i think it affects my skin more than most other people) and all the artificial sweetner i put in! i use a ridiculous amount so i'm hoping that it might help getting rid of the sweetener.

what is silent reflux?

i think i am going to stick to unsweetened peppermint (or green tea if i can stomach it!)

thank you for your comment - have you got a log? i have looked for one but can't find it!


28/07

was rather depressed yesterday after taking off my makeup yesterday - there was a double whammy of spots on near my mouth ( that looked like gross whiteheads when i woke up this morning)

i had a rant to my girlfriend about it last night + she calmed me down and told me i was beautiful so that made me feel better [wub]

this morning, apart from the gross inflammed pustules (three) the rest of my skin is not actively spotty. just all the old red marks.

haven't had any caffeine this morning (work has been a BITCH without my constant tea drinking to get me through!) but i'm feeling better this afternoon + praying that cutting out the sweetener in tea + pepsi max is going to help.

fingers crossed for what tomorrow brings.

[May853]

No problem. I know I always like when people commiserate/encourage when I report progress, or lack thereof. And often these boards seem kind of dead. Help a sister out, right?

Yes, I do have a log of sorts - it started as a thread, but then no one ever replied, so it became a log. I think one person finally said something last week.

http://www.acne.org/messageboard/Retinoid-...if-t292811.html

Silent reflux is acid reflux which doesn't result in the normal symptoms - the main one being heartburn. I NEVER get heartburn, but I have chronic inflammation in my esophagus. Go figure. I love peppermint tea, but that can aggravate the acid stuff also. Boo.

Hopefully you'll do okay without the tea and artificial sweetener. I think anytime you can rid your diet of the sweeteners, it's a good thing. Esp the aspartame, sucralose, saccharin types. Even when I tried to like them, I couldn't get past the aftertaste. I figure if I have one Coca Cola every 3 months it isn't going to kill me. And neither is 1 tsp of sugar in my coffee.

Hope you wake up to some progress!

'Bout to go put on my Atralin and watch TV.

[ohsailor]

^ thanks May

i actually did wake up to some progress! your words must have had some effect


01/08

so, this weekend my skin has actually been okay. shock, horror!

no active spots at the moment - i don't know if i'm imagining it but i think the lack of sweetener might actually be helping - my skin tone looks better and less aggravated/angry at me

the cleanance seems to have started doing its job - red marks seem to be less pronounced and obvious althought it could all be wishful thinking.

i'm worried that i'm jinxing all this by saying that i'm happy my skin seems to be tolerable at the moment!

my chin seems to be getting quite oily though. but thats minor compared to all my skin tone issues.

[ohsailor]

02/08

yep, too good to be true.

yesterday afternoon, i started to feel a red bump on my chin.

last night, it was getting redder and redder

i applied my usual cleanance k and then dabbed a little more on The Red Bump + woke up this morning to find a huuuuge whitehead.

it now looks gross and scabby (tmi? )

the rest of my skin is fine except for this stupiddd bump.

it sound strange but i think the reason for it may be that when i sprayed my deodorant, some spurted out from the nozzle + a tiny little bit hit my face. i can't remember exactly but i think it hit my face where The Red Bump is now. i think maybe allergic reaction? or the deodorant got into my pore and clogged it up?

who knows? right now, i just want it gone so i can focus on the rest of my skin.