6 replies to this topic

[monkey1]

So I am 18 year old male. Currently have mild acne on my chin/around my mouth. Hardly ever get any anywhere else. Used to get some on my shoulders but that went away couple years ago.

Freshman year of highschool my face broke out right at the beginning of the year. It was like I had an acne beard. Severe acne all on my chin and around my mouth. I started using various otc products, none were working. Went to the derm got epiduo, no luck. Went back got bactrim. Bactrim saved me. I can't really remember what else I did while taking bactrim but it got rid of most of my severe acne. I have been taking it ever since. 2 pills a day, last year started taking only 1.

I am not sure if my face ever got 100% clear but it got significantly better. In my entire recent memory I have always had some problems with my skin though. Last year seemed to have been the best. I was taking bactrim, washing my face twice a day with acnefree cleanser 2.5% bp and using clean and clear spot 10% bp when I would get a zit. Every once in a while I would break out though and it would suck.

Over the summer I tried using milk of magnesia. It definitely kills the acne and can be used as a spot treatment pretty effectively, but after one month I wasn't seeing any change in my skin. Put a layer on before bed only. To me it seemed like it could clear up acne but it had no way of preventing it.

Now I shall try this. After reducing my bactrim dosage and finding no difference, I decided to stop taking bactrim as of this week because I have no idea if its still doing anything (my face has looked more or less the same for 3 years now).

I am using clean and clear gentle foaming cleanser, dans bp, and cetaphil moisturizer for my regimen.

Today is day one here is the situation:




Since I am used to bp (face wash and spot treatmeant) I went big used and quite a bit of bp. One squeeze of the tube down 8/10 of my index finger. All applied below my nose (beard area more or less). 30 mins later no flaking still (did moisturize this morning maybe that is why), might need to be using more.

School in 2 weeks hope I don't get this 2 week break out thing... I don't think I will since I regularly use bp just not this much. Those pics were taken in the morning, I am definitely starting to have one of my breakouts (bactrim wearing off perhaps?). Noticed a few spots creeping up hope the bp will squash them. My breakouts leave red marks on my face till my next one... I hate the cycle

[monkey1]

face looking absolutely terrible. After seeing 3 straight days of it getting worse I am taking the bactrim again. With school so close I can't afford to let this continue.

Ugh I can't wait to go to work today...




Really its only the left side I am really upset about. The 2 above my mouth coupled with the redness on my beard and neck just looks terrible. I hate acne

[monkey1]

well glad thats over.

No new spots today. Everything clearing up gradually.

btw the contrast on my camera sucks or something because those spots look A LOT worse and more red in real life then in the photos

Edited by monkey1, 14 August 2011 - 01:45 AM.

[monkey1]

No new spots. Experiencing some pain though. A noticeable sting that lasted almost all day.

Switched moisturizer to a cetaphil cream because the other one was not controlling flakes enough.

[monkey1]

Well this is the 9th day. Things seem to be basically back to normal after that little scare from the beginning. Not sure if it was from stopping the bactrim or if it was from starting the regimen or maybe just a regular break out. Either way still taking the bactrim and have been doing a decent job at washing and treating my face every 10- 12 hours.

No more pain, skin does get flaky immediately after shower but not so bad. I don't use too much moisturizer (I am now using a cetaphil cream). Zits that I don't physically pop seems to stick around for EVER as red spots after they have flattened. If I do gently squeeze the gross stuff out and dab it with a tissue or keep one pressed on it for a while get a tiny scab and then heal in around 2 days. It is very hard to not physically squeeze them when it works like this but I am trying (pretty successfully too).

I do have one question though regarding facial hair. I like to keep a little scruff (even though my beard doesn't grow very fast or thick) because it really hides a lot of my problem area. It also just adds something that I feel like distracts from my acne. I don't know how much of an effect it has on other people but to me it helps a lot. I am just wondering if this is good or bad for my skin or if it has any significant effect at all? I have heard it is beneficial because it can whisk oil from the face but have also heard it can make things worse. (I understand that Dan suggests shaving with a razor everyday but I don't need to shave everyday and prefer to use an electric razor)

Anyway here is what I am looking at currently:

Its night out/dark in my room so don't have any natural lighting pictures but I took one with flash and one without. (ignore stupid tongue and my apparently very obvious nose hair lol)





I feel like my face looks like this most of the time, maybe sometimes a bit better. I really hope I will see this redness start fading away and can finally have truly clear skin!

[accushame!]

Hey! Im glad things are working out for you! Keep that positive attitude cause you'll need it lol, you're lucky your skin was already used to BP, seems like youre not too crazy dry or flakey which is the worse part of the regimen for sure. Hope you feel good about your skin when school rolls around! things should get progressively better from now on

[monkey1]

Thanks for the reply accushame

Day 16.

Face seems about on par with what I would call normal, possibly a little better.

Got a few spots recently but the BP kept them down in size and squashed them all by now. There were 2 under my lip (were never really noticeable) and 2 on the sides of my chin (also kept pretty small and never made me self conscious or anything. But thanks to them I have four more red spots! woohoo!

school on monday, I would be fine going back with my skin the way it is. Fingers crossed nothing happens between now and then