389 replies to this topic

[allisoncatherine]

hey g33tar, what concentration of differin are you using?? Today is my last day of week 5 I'm glad you posted here!!! I have another person to share the differin journey with! Retinoids are such a battle but i've heard from countless people using differin, retin a, taz, epiduo, zianca, atralin...etc...that the results were incredible if they stuck with them for like 5-6 months I have hope. The first two months are so awful though!!! Oh well. Lets keep our fingers crossed and our heads held high....this too shall pass .

[Wiseboy123]

Kariya, wiseboy....do you guys see no improvement in your skin yet? You guys are like further down the differin path than me....what are the major things you see wrong with your skin at this point? Have you guys stopped breaking out at least? Do you have an even skin tone with just PIH? AHH! I hope ya'll are seeing improvements cuz I wanna see improvements by the time I'm further down the line.

Yeah my skin looks much better than it used to 10/11 weeks ago. My marks are fading and I have pretty much stopped breaking out. If I do, it goes next day.

The major thing wrong is the red marks/scars on both my cheeks. But thankfully Differin is fighting that and is working.

I don't know what your skin is like Allison, but I am sure your skin will look amazing in the next few weeks or so

[allisoncatherine]

Wiseboy, you always cheer me up I'm pretty happy with my skin today. Yes...I still have a few bumps here and there but...my PIH looked like it was fading today and my skin pretty smooth. Its been 6 weeks of me using diff 0.3 today. Ive recently amped up my dose to 0.6/day because i apply it twice. I like seeing the flaking...it denotes PROGRESS to me for some reason. Lol. Anyway...lets see how this journey goes!!!

[kariya025]

i was panicking a bit so I decided to see my doctor today because i feel like its getting worse..

anyways, he told me dont worry and be patient as this is a long process. I asked that its getting worse not better and he said.. "no its not, I know its getting better." that was a bit reassuring but makes me wonder how much longer as he told me that 3 month isnt always the rule of thumb as everyone is different...

i told him im getting more bumps so he told me to take doxy 2 times a day rather than 1...

ugh, but i feel like i am peeling a lot more.. but still have bumps.. tho i guess a little less.

overall, i think im seeing light progress..

glad to hear your is going well too allisoncatherine!

[Jacinthaa]

I think it also matters if you have a lot of under the skin bumps.
Before I started differin, I used Tretinoin and because the overly drying effect, I had a lot of tiny under the skin bumps.

When using Differin, the first weeks all those tiny bumps were pushed out. So far a really harsh initial breakout. All of them became really inflamed and did hurt a lot.
But it was totally worth it! The pimples I get now, aren't even visible sometimes. Maybe 1 or 2 pustules a month.
I'm really happy i sticked with my regimen, my patience finally paid off

[allisoncatherine]

kariya, well thats good to hear At least...its working!!! Thats what my dermatologist said the first time I gave up on differin...I went to him and was like: "omg my skin is awful now...differin made it worse...i think I had an allergic reaction" and he said "thats not what I call worse. Yes, its inflammed, but there are less overall lesions..." oh well. Now second time around..I'm sticking with it. I have no choice. I really want it to work!!!!

Anyway, Jacinthaa, I'm so happy for you!!! Keep us in your prayers!

Today, I went to a store and I caught my face in the lighting of fluorescent lighting....UGH!!!!!!!!!!! My right cheek looked AWFUL close up!!!! Kinda sad. i am officially starting the 6th week today.

[allisoncatherine]

6th week- kinda reaching a plateau.....nothing changing....just red marks and same old lingering pimples. grr.

[allisoncatherine]

So I have been talking about how awful my skin is. Ugh. Here you go. It's like the worst thing I have ever seen. This is my cheeks without any makeup. And thats the only place I get acne on. So hallelujah. Ugh. Its repulsive. Almost all of the redness is from PIH. Its ten times worse in real life....because the camera's flash blinded a lot of the scarring.




So...yes...thats the beast that lies under a very well made up me...

Edited by allisoncatherine, 13 April 2012 - 12:44 AM.

[Noregrets92]

So glad i found this, got prescribed differin today by my GP, haven't tried it yet been looking around the net for peoples experiences...
he gave me .1% and told me to use it every night.
lil about my acne, i tend to get mostly whiteheads (clogged pores) about 10 on my face at once, that last for ages and i pick at them which leads to pustlues, but recently theyve been turning into deeper ones without a head. i also get a few pimples max 3 at a time.
stilll thinking on trying this, im curently using benzoyl peroxide but thats made my skin flaky, although it did help brake down the whiteheads but on pimples it prevents them from coming to a head and they last longer as a 'bump', which then leads PIH behind that lasts agesssssss. That's why i stopped benzoyl peroxide a year ago but since then i havent found anything over the counter that worked as well as benzoyl peroxide, so i started it again a wk ago but i'll stop using it if i start the differin. does everyone get purging?

Edited by Noregrets92, 13 April 2012 - 04:00 AM.

[Wiseboy123]

Now at week 12. My skin is looking a lot better than it used it.

Allison, my skin looks pretty much like yours. Used to look 10x worse, but looks to be fading. Hopefully in the next month or two it will be gone completely!

[allisoncatherine]

Ahh wiseboy, I'm so happy for you!!!! Did you seem to reach a plateau with differin in the middle? like...it seemed like it wasn't doing anything around week 6? (after IB)...

Noregrets, I'm glad you decided to post here!!! This is a forum for all of us to share our experiences with differin....we are all at different marks throughout the journey...for example, wiseboy here has finished week 12! so proud of him for sticking with differin that long...! Me on the other hand...its been 43 days today that I have been using differin 0.3....and it has been quite a journey. As for your question...yes....you do purge...there are the .00000000000001% people who are so lucky that dont purge and the differin starts making their skin better in "two minutes". But...for most of us mortals...it takes a long time...it takes months and patience. I want to inform you that your skin is probably going to go through its initial breakout period around week 3-5...but the pimples that surface will go away much faster. There will be alternating weeks of good skin vs bad skin once you hit week 6. One week, your skin will look like its healing....next week, its broken out again....and this may continue well into 3 months...the results for most people show up within 3 months...and like I said...these "results" aren't PERFECTLY CLEAR SKIN. They are just improvements from baseline. There will be a lot of post inflammatory pigmentation...meaning you're going to get a lot of those "red-pink" color stains where your pimples used to be...but with time, the differin will even out your skin tone. I'm not going to lie to you...its a hard journey requiring A LOT OF patience...but if you are willing to go through skin thats worse than what you have now for a few months to achieve clearer and clearer skin....go for it. Everybody who has stuck with retinoids past the 3 month mark has told me that they are wonderful.

[Noregrets92]

Thanks for the reply allison, its cool to be able to share our experiences on here, ive decied im going to start using it from tonight and post my progress on here, my regimens pretty basic ive got a antibacterial facewash (quinoderm) and a moisturiser. Im a guy so no makeup although some do :0.
Question for wiseboy and any other dudes on here, shaving? i use a razor twice a week at night, so was wondering is it going to sting like ****.

[Wiseboy123]

Allison, yes there was a stage where my face just looked the same (bad!) and hated it. So not looking in a mirror for a week or two helped as then you can tell your skin is healing and getting better. But I didn't get an IB which was lucky, but now breaking out less than before.
and your skin does definitely NOT look repulsive! It will go very soon

Noregrets, Shaving is fine for me. Not stinging, redness or anything. Thankfully my marks are not where i shave, so I don't really have a problem. Shaving will also be fine for you, just don't go over the top, if you know what I mean

[thenaturediva]

i have been using differin since i first got acne ( 14 yrs of age... i am 20 now) and IT WORKS!!
i have never used anything else... BP, salicylic acid etc. I just never needed to

differin pattern:
1. it works slowly... patience is the key.
2. my pimples never leave marks while on differin yaaay!! (just once i used garnier pimple pen when i was out of differin, it made my pimple BLACK eeew.)
3. putting it more than twice/day makes my skin flaky.
4. i feel it somehow makes my acne bigger at first application but after like about 3 applications, zits look C.O.N.T.R.O.L.L.E.D!
5. I heard it makes ur skin sensitive to sun, never felt that way for me (and i live in the tropics).

all in all, differin is my H.G for acne

[kariya025]

i feel like new bumps are forming every day and not getting better.. maybe the smaller bumps are slightly going away but i don't actually see any real results so far.. and i'm on week 10.

recently, i feel like my skin is far more oily.. i dont have inflammed acne, but i've had bumps all over my cheeks to the side of month for 3 weeks without any significant changes..

the whiteheads near my mouth keep coming up and causing more and more PIH. I wouldn't complain about the PIH if i didnt have anymore whiteheads, but they keep coming up!

i keep hearing from countless post and my doc that I need to be patient, but i'm getting to the point where i honestly believe that the acne is not getting better but worse and worse..

idk what to do bc if i stop using differin, i dont feel like my face would go back to my original problem.. which was just closed comedones.. i feel almost stuck because if i stop, it wont go away and if i continue, i feel like i'm risking even worse damage..

crap feeling really low and regretting so much that I started to using differin..

Edited by kariya025, 13 April 2012 - 03:53 PM.

[Noregrets92]

Aite so I've just used differin for the first time, washed shaved then applie a thin layer about size of pea maybe less.. was no stinging or anything of that sort (thanks for the reply wiseboy) then used a light moisturiser already got flakes from benzoyl peroxide.
im looking to use the differin every other day at first, don't want my face thinking rah what's that's and freaking out ..
karithyn I'm sorry to hear that, have u shown your derm any other products your using could be a bad combination ahh but what do i know this my first prescription, after trying yrs of over counter stuff to try get clear...
Any questions feel free to ask...
and don't worry everyones had acne at some point..

[allisoncatherine]

thenaturediva, how long before you started seeing results....?

kariya: please dont be upset....! How long has it been since you've been on differin??? I would trust your derm for a few more weeks....

Noregrets: welcome!!! Please keep us updated on your acne progress

Wiseboy: you.are.so.nice!!! Thank you so much for your encouragement and support throughout all this experience.

Anyway, my skin is super bumpy too....and has so much PIH as seen from the pictures above....none of those are active pimples...they are all PIH...sigh...acne sucks. It really keeps you from doing anything. I hate having acne and I really hope it gets better..

[Noregrets92]

Kariyn for what its worth some of my closest mates have severe acne but ive never judged them for it nor has it affected me in any way.. truth is we all screw about our acne but the fact is most people have or had acne so they understand... don't let it bring you down ..

Edited by Noregrets92, 13 April 2012 - 05:04 PM.

[kariya025]

Aite so I've just used differin for the first time, washed shaved then applie a thin layer about size of pea maybe less.. was no stinging or anything of that sort (thanks for the reply wiseboy) then used a light moisturiser already got flakes from benzoyl peroxide.
im looking to use the differin every other day at first, don't want my face thinking rah what's that's and freaking out ..
karithyn I'm sorry to hear that, have u shown your derm any other products your using could be a bad combination ahh but what do i know this my first prescription, after trying yrs of over counter stuff to try get clear...
Any questions feel free to ask...
and don't worry everyones had acne at some point..

the only things i've been using are doxy 2x a day, differin PM, Clymdaclyn Phosphate AM, and just a mild soap to wash in the morning and night..

pretty much only using what the derm said to use.. Its just so weird bc I had VERY mild acne and my face (just 20 or so bumps closed comedones) not inflamed, not huge bumps, now my face has literally exploded on spots only where i put differin..

kariya: please dont be upset....! How long has it been since you've been on differin??? I would trust your derm for a few more weeks....

thanks allison, its been 10 weeks.. april 23? wouldve been the 3 month mark when i met with my derm..

Also thanks for cheering me up noregrets.. its just that i never had acne my whole life and friends specifically look now because they have never seen me like this before.. my friends use to say, i have perfect skin before jan 23, 2012!!

[Noregrets92]

Hey kariya my acne is like yours, biggest problem is closed comedones. my GP only prescribed differin, said that alone would be sufficient. Have u tried a different gp?
Your friends just notice a change. i mean if someone i knew for a long time was clear then broke out sure id notice but that's all, the person inside is the same.
We're all here to support you but i think beat advice is a derm, it is thier profession after all.
Cheer up the way im looking at it is the long term ..