5 replies to this topic

[Kr0nK]

So I've had acne for about 3 years now. I'm 18 and in college now. I started seeing a dermatologist 2 years ago. I was prescribed benzaclin and retin-a micro. These didn't work too well and eventually I was put on tetracyclin and then bactrim. None of these worked well and my acne was progressively getting worse. I became super self conscious about it and thats all I thought about. My face was crazy oily all the time. Finally, in late January of 2011 my dermatologist talked to me about Accutane. I decided to give it a go because something needed to be done. Accutane went well for me and I ended my course at the end of July.

Now that I've been off accutane for 5 months I'm still doing fine. I've been using Epiduo everyother day. My face is dry all the time so using it everyday would be too much for me. I wash my face once in the morning when I shower and once at night with the cetaphil gentle soap bar. After I wash my face, my face is so dry I have to put cerave moisturizing lotion on afterwards otherwise I look like a freak. CeraVe is the most lightweight moisturizer I've found, yet it still leaves my face with a shiny, greasy look which i dont like. Also, Epiduo makes my face red like all the time, however, it's worth it because I rarely get pimples anymore and if I do, they're small and easy to get rid of.

Some notable things that I'm very cautious about is touching my face. If anything or anyone touches my face I get mad and rinse my face off with water asap. Other things I do are wash my hands always before touching my face like when i apply lotion or epiduo. I change my pillowcase every 4 days. I used to sleep on my stomach with my face on the pillow, but now I strictly sleep on my back with no face to pillow contact. I wash my face and use my acne cream religiously, I never miss it. Another thing I believe in is letting my face air-dry rather than use a towel because the towel can be dirty or irritate your skin more and I noticed that I breakout less after I stopped drying my face with them. My friends and family all think I'm crazy because of how cautious I am about my face and acne.

Alot of people have complemented me on how much better my skin is now. I still think about my acne problems all the time but I feel better about it now that I've got it under control and look better. I know that I still look bad because there's still alot of PIH, scarring, redness, dryness and lotion on my face although Ive come a long way. The first set of pictures is the day I started taking accutane (me at my worst) and the second set is ones I snapped today real quick (11 months later). I just took the pics today real quick without trying to look good, they actually look pretty bad, maybe today is a bad face day for me but also the pics are closer up than the first set so that could be why. Also the camera I took them on is really high quality.

Any feedback is helpful like do you think I'm gonna have alot of permanent scarring or how long do you think until my face looks normal again? Also any different products or regimes you'd like to recommend is greatly appreciated! If anyone has any questions don't hesitate to ask Thank you all!

Before Accutane:
 IMG_0044.JPG   102.29K   40 downloads
 IMG_0045.JPG   118.56K   48 downloads
 IMG_0046.JPG   128.27K   48 downloads

11 months Later:
 IMG_0479.JPG   145.74K   30 downloads
 IMG_0480.JPG   112.07K   20 downloads
 IMG_0482.JPG   125.12K   15 downloads

[Chestercool]

hey!

dont mess with your face for a while, acne might come back in some months, if you dont get more pimples in a year, start treating your scars....A friend of mine had acne, worst than yours, he took accutane and he got rid of it, now hes getting some inflammed pimples...why? because he eats burger king 3 times per day, greaasy popcorn, too much alcohol, etc.

[mr. matt]

Your complexion has really improved with Accutane. Congratulations!

[vspink]

your skin looks sooo much better!!congrats!

[Psammonabody]

Your skin looks amazing now!! Have you ever thought about trying bio oil? I'm currently using a benozyl peroxide gel and bio oil everyday as I'm kind of at the stage where you are now. I have mild acne but I'm mainly wanting to get rid of the scarring. You have to use bio oil twice a day and it takes about 3 months for it to kick in (but variable), worth a shot?

[Kr0nK]

Psammonabody, on 08 January 2012 - 08:41 AM, said:

Your skin looks amazing now!! Have you ever thought about trying bio oil? I'm currently using a benozyl peroxide gel and bio oil everyday as I'm kind of at the stage where you are now. I have mild acne but I'm mainly wanting to get rid of the scarring. You have to use bio oil twice a day and it takes about 3 months for it to kick in (but variable), worth a shot?

Thanks for all the encouraging replies! I'm deffinitely going to give Bio Oil a try.