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[navyclimb91]

I'm a 20 year old male. I've always had some acne since puberty but it really got worse my freshman year of college. So much stress and whatnot.

My face, right now, has mild acne with some acne scarring. In direct sunlight, though, it seems so much worse than when I look in the mirror! You can see the little red scars and basically every blemish...which looks terrible. Especially outside on them snazzy iphone cameras...ew.

As for body acne: I have some acne on my chest, which only came with the college acne, and some back acne which I hate. It's not so severe that I can't wear white shirts...it's more the scarring from the acne that I got freshman year of college. Now that I think about it, maybe 70% of the blemishes on my body are scars.

I've researched a lot...hours of it haha. And after being unable to rid myself of acne while on minocycline, doxycycline, topical treatments, OLIVE OIL!, I'm going to choose between one of two routes: Accutane or Levulan with photodynamic therapy (Blu-U). I have an appointment for PDT consultation on Thursday.

Accutane...I've seen so many successes on it. And I can deal with the mild joint pain and etc. Does it help with scarring too? And it's received like a 3.8/5 on this site.

PDT. In this procedure I will have a microdermabrasion first. Then, levulan ALA (a cream kinda) will be put on my face. I wait 30 mins to an hour, then go under a Blu-U light for 15-30 mins. I've also seen miracles with this treatment, but you peel for like 5 days afterward. I work full time and go to the gym 4 times a week...I don't want hundreds of people to see me looking like a nasty severe sunburnt KFC original crispy.

And also, I worry if it doesn't work. Will it make me look worse? Should I stay under the light for a less amount of time to avoid being severely burnt for a week, and just do follow-up treatments? It's relatively new compared to Accutane, but for those that Accutane didn't work for, this solved the problem. But on the other hand, it's only received around a 2.8/5 on this site.

Which would you do and why (putting the money issues aside)? Have you had either done? And how did it work?

Any input would be great, and thanks!

When I get started with my treatments (whichever it is), I'll be posting pics!