DAY 46

okay, so surprisingly the new red marks that i got from a few days ago are fading pretty nicely. i've pretty much hung around the house all weekend, so i had time to "tend" to them. ha, as lame as that sounds. all i do really is put a layer of retin a on them, wait awhile, a later of neosporin, and slap a bandaid over it. it really works so well. ....in case anyone was wondering.

i have no actives right now, which is great. my right side is still completely clear, left side healing. i really only use the retin-a about every 2 days just because if i do it everyday the sides of my mouth and nose area gets REALLY flakey, even though i dont even apply it there.

can't believe i'm almost at the 7 week mark.. should go smooth from here.. still trying to stay positive even though it was super hard to this weekend!

DAY 48

no new breakouts or spots. red marks are DEFINITELY fading very nicely by putting neosporin cream and a bandaid over them when i sleep. my face looks pretty flawless with makeup on. hoping it stays that way!

DAY 50.

no new spots. have put the retin-a micro on everynight for the past three nights, so hopefully my face isn't a flaky mess tomorrow. *crosses fingers*

i'm getting nervous because i'm flying across the country to see my boyfriend next week and praaaaaaaaaaaying that i don't have an outbreak and that my skin stays like this. it will be such a relief to not have to worry about re-applying concealer everyday all day - and it's in TEXAS, of ALL places. haha.

i'm starting to wonder if anyone even reads this thing!

hey i read it
I'm on retin a normal not ram
four weeks so far and still IBing heaps on chin, and my chin was mildish
forehead was the more persistent area and that didn't seem to IB that much weird
anyway i hope it all works out for you

i'm not really 100% sure what the difference is between RAM and retin-a. i had my IBs in weird spots that i didn't normally breakout in, too. i bet after this week you start to clear up if it's anything like mine. anyway, good luck keep me updated on how you're doing!!

DAY 52

still no new outbreaks!! skin tone is looking pretty good. i probably only need a light layer of mineral foundation, (i use everyday minerals, in case anyone was wondering.) and concealer in a few places. glad i'm staying clear so consistently

DAY 54

no new breakouts...
there are a few areas on my left EXTREMELY stubborn side that feel slightly inflamed, but it isn't noticeable at all when i look in the mirror. i'm just going to not mess and put SA and some neosporin over them tonight with a bandaid.

other than that, still looking very promising!

DAY 56

everything is still looking pretty good! i'm noticing a few REALLY small spots on my forehead... which is weird, because i NEVER break out there. it has been pretty humid and hot here lately, and since i live in the city i walk everywhere... starting to wonder if all of hte sweating/makeup is starting to get to my skin a little.

other than those spots, no new breakouts. i leave for texas in two days, so wish my luck that my skin stays clear for my trip..

look out for texas!
it's WAYYYY too hot and humid down here!
but it's been raining constantly so you might be in luck
have fun on your trip! vacation = no stress = HOPEFULLY no break outs

ok, so it has been one month (2 days short of one month) that I have been on the retin-a .025 cream. i am so clear right now, but believe it is from the amoxycillin 1500 mg per day that my doc rx'd. now i am off of that though, it was just to clear me up from a terrible breakout. he has switched me to erythromycin, and i am continuing with the retin a and clindamycin. no IB from switching from differin, yay! i am glad, but afraid that now I am off the high dose antibiotic, the breakouts will start again. i hate how these topicals let us down and the antibiotics (which work well for me) also start to lose effectiveness. oh well. i am thinking of adding in a very mild facial peel once per week then moving up to twice a week to get rid of my red marks. it may also help with the acne and improve the effectiveness of the retin cream from what i understand. i don't want to overdo it. since i breakout over and over in the same place i stil have terrible red marks from the bad breakout over 2 months ago. maybe a lactic acid peel will help. keep us posted on your progress. your log has helped me get an idea of what to expect in month two. thx and keep posting!

thanks, xxbenbenxx!! i'm going to the austin area, and it hasn't rained there in months, so it's super dry... thank god!! i'm such a baby in the humidity... hahah.

i hope no stress = no breakouts!!



tarah- so glad to hear that you're clear! it's nice, huh? i was actually thinking about doing a peel, as well. trying to figure out what would be best for me. what's worked for my redmarks is a 10% AHA lotion. also on newer marks, cream neosporin with a bandaid over it helps tons. but for older- i've noticed an awesome improvement with the AHA. I just bought mine at walgreens and it's been great.

thanks for your responses! good luck!

DAY 63

hi all! back from texas! my skin cooperated WAY better than i thought it would. believe it or not, i didn't have ONE breakout. I got a few little spots, but they were gone overnight and not noticeable at all with makeup. My skin was sooo much less oily down there... i figured it would be the other way around. i was loving it!

i can't believe it's my 9th week! feeling awesome about my skin FINALLY!

DAY 71, week 10 of retin-a micro .1%

skin is awesome. not one breakout in weeks! it looks flawless with makeup. i even went out on the lake yesterday with friends and didn't wear makeup. i didn't get one weird look. haven't been able to do that in a long time.

i don't ever use the clindamycin anymore and haven't for weeks. i basically just use it as a spot treatment a lot of times. i just don't want my skin to become immune to it, so i use it on and off.

i also only use the retin-a micro a couple times a week, rather than every other night. it dries my skin out too much.

ok, thankfully that's the only boring update i have..

heyyy just found this post and wanted to tell you that yeah i have been on differin .1 and .3 and retin a is just 10 times better and there is an inital IB... my mistake tho i think i used it mon - thu only and i usually got lazy a day in there so like 3 days a week and a long break... and just recently i realized im supposed to use it daily? is this true? to get the full effect?

DAY 83

wow.. haven't been here in awhile.. which is obviously a good sign! my skin is still doing well.
i have a few SMALL spots right now... but they're not really noticable at all. i'm almost comfortable without makeup. i play college tennis and have been worried about my skin/sweating/sun/ etc.. but so far so good!

that's all i have for now! hope everyone is doing well!

DAY 87

ahhhh.. nooo..
i've had awesome skin for over a month now and all of a sudden i'm starting to break out. i almost know that i can blame it on playing tennis for 4 hours everyday in the summer heat. uuugh. it's almost like i don't even know how to handle it now since i havent had to in awhile. it's only about 4 sports, but that seems like a lot after i haven't had anything... and to think all my red marks were almost gone. okay, i'm done being negative about it, though.. ha. i've been leaving them alone as much as i can, and applying neosporin at night.

DAY 114

Really?! I had awesome skin for a few weeks and now... Ugh. I have tons of redmarks and HATE that I have to start applying makeup so carefully again. I was definitely getting used to about a 3 minute makeup routine. I'm not sure if I can contribute my breakouts to playing tennis everyday or not (i play college tennis) My breakout is starting to clear up a little, but it's been pretty consistent for the last couple weeks, so i'm not going to even begin to get my hopes up.

Has anyone else had this problem?

WEEK 17

Has anyone experienced a terrible breakout this late in the game? I had perfect skin for almost 4 weeks, and now I've been breaking out for weeks continuously. I don't know what's going on. I haven't changed my regimen or diet. I have a derm appt. in 3 weeks to check out accutane.

Anyway, would be nice to know if anyone else dealt with something like this.

hey i was on retin a not as long as you though
i used it for 3months, i didnt have a 4week clear period, but within the 3months i would have like 1 week of pretty clear, then breakouts, then pretty clear, then heaps of breakouts
so yeah retin a was pretty random for me, and it sucked cos my breakouts were worse then before retin a
im going to be on accutane in a month if all goes well, i already got the script but my derm is making me do 1month of bactrim first to hopefully minimize/avoid the IB of accutane

hey! thanks for the reply. retin-a has been pretty random for me, too, for the last month. this is possibly the worst breakout i've EVER had in my life, so needless to say, i'm over it. going to the derm in 3 weeks to see if i can get on a low dose of accutane as well. good luck

[quote name='mallory' date='Oct 4 2009, 03:45 PM' post='2722804']
WEEK 17

Has anyone experienced a terrible breakout this late in the game? I had perfect skin for almost 4 weeks, and now I've been breaking out for weeks continuously. I don't know what's going on. I haven't changed my regimen or diet. I have a derm appt. in 3 weeks to check out accutane.

Anyway, would be nice to know if anyone else dealt with something like this.
[/quotHey Mallory, Im sorry that you are having some breakouts. I have been on Retin-A Micro for about 11 months. My skin is finally looking good. My skin is sensitive, so like yourself, i am only applying retin a everyother night. Hang in there. I wanted to let you know that for the first 3 months i was peeling and alittle red, but not much of breaking out. But this past April (which would have been around 5 months into the retin-a, i broke out badly. It was horrible. And it lasted a couple or weeks, but ever since that bad breakout my skin has been improving each day. My skin is so much better now. Good Luck!!! and let me know if you have any questions.