9 replies to this topic

[PicklesMcGee11]

Hi there. So quick back story... I'm 28 years old, and I've suffered on and off with acne. When I was in my teens I always had a few breakouts... mostly on my forehead... nothing serious. Then as I got older the breakouts got worse. I've been seeing a dermatologist since I was probably about 19 or 20 and I think I've literally been on EVERY kind of medication (topical as well as oral) that they make. For the past 2 years my skin had actually been pretty okay. Maybe one or two problems on my chin area but nothing crazy. Then a few months ago (I think in November or December) I decided to go on Birth Control. I took Lo Loestrin Fe and was happy that I didn't experience any BC side effects. I did, however, start to break out like CRAZY. In March I decided that maybe the BC was the problem so I came off and went to my Derm. He gave me something (I'm sorry I don't remember off hand what...) and told me if BC was the culprit, it would take a few months for the hormones to come out of my body. Needless to say, it's now May and my skin is worse than it's ever been in my LIFE. I am beyond self conscious and miserable. I am currently taking Monodox (which, since I started maybe 16 days ago, the acne has gotten even worse...) and I'm usuing two different topical creams (one at night and one in the morning). I am going to stick it out with these meds until my next appointment (on the 24th) but I know he is going to say I should just go on Accutane (he said this at the last appointment). I keep putting it off though because I'm worried about side effects and how I will feel. While I have acne, my skin is pretty dry (if I don't moisturize after washing my skin is SO tight and flaky) and it is also very sensitive. I excercise (or at least I used to daily until my skin got so bad I'm too embarrassed to leave my house...) and I'm worried about joint/muscle pain. He said I would most likely be on it for 5 months. I've read a few of the positive and negative Accutane stories but I was hoping to get some replies here from people closer to my age and hear about their experiences and their long term results. Also, perhaps anyone who has taken it and then had children later? Any complications?

Phew. Sorry that was so long. Thanks in advance for any advice/info/etc

Edited by PicklesMcGee11, 02 May 2012 - 10:53 AM.

[BlazeXT]

Hi Pickles,

Im in a similar situation to you. Im a 31 year old male and started sufering with Acne when I was 26.
Its immensly frustrating as an adult to be dealing with this as I hardly ever had a spot until I was 26!
I get it on my checks and nose almost in a butterfly shape area. I have to moisturise otherwise my sking gets tight and flaky as well.
Initially I used some steriod creams that made things far worse and then about a year later I started taking Tetracycline.
This worked wonders and up until 6 months ago I was taking it regularly.
I only stopped as my GP told me not to take it any longer as id been taking it for a few years.
In December last year I started taking Minocycline, for me it had pretty much no effect at all so I stopped using it.
My skin has never been too bad but every now and then it gets really bad. Since stopping the Tetracycline my skin has slowly got worse and worse.
Currently Im struggling to get myself out the house, it really effects my life to the point where I just sort of hide away when it gets bad.
I feel embarassed about it and I dont really speak to anyone about it except my parents and my g/f.
I do alot of sport and it really hinders me at times. My diet is very good and I dont smoke or drink alcohol.

On the NHS in the UK it seems to take forever to get an appointment at the dermatologist.
My appointment is on the 08th May and I am going to be taking Accutane.
I dont want to go back onto Tetracycline as it doesnt actually cure anything, as well as it worked for me (I mean really worked, no one has ever really noticed I suffer with Acne) it was just supressing my acne and no one knows what the long term effects are really.
Im worried about going on Accutane due to all the side effects, especially the bith defects. I want to have kids in the next couple of years.
I guess I just hope taking one 6 month treatment might cure my acne instead of taking drugs for however long this condition lasts.

Having read pages and pages of reviews most seem quite positive then the odd one or two are really worrying and it seem to ruin peoples lives.
It seems to effect everyone differently, im willing to give it a try and if I get any bad side effects I will stop immediately.

Following other peoples blogs whilst taking Accutane is interesting and positive.
Id also like to see what peoples views are on Accutane and if its worth the risk.
Should I stay on Tetracycline instead??

[BlazeXT]

Well at least thats something positive about the drug! haha.
Its a bit of a tough situation, keep taking a supressant for years to come or take Accutane for 6 months (hopefully).
Looking at it like that it seems like a no brainer but the side effects of most of the other drugs are much less severe.
But then taking them for years could also cause serious damage to your liver.

So what do you do? Long term supress with unknown long term side effects or short term potential fix forever with the risk of severe side effects.
The other route of course is Homeotherapy. Something which my parents seem to think I should be doing. But is it all a load of cobblers?
They are strongly against me taking Accutane.

Ive tried the diet route. Quite frankly I didnt see any difference yet I still feel certain that its to do with my stomach and intestines, maybe even bacterial inside my stomach. I tried taking out certain foods, stopping drinking alcohol (of which I didnt drink much anyway, im a binge drinker). I ended up cutting that much out my diet I lost too much weight and my acne actually got worse by doing so! Plus I like to work out. You cant build muscle eating rabbit food.

If you read everything on these forums pretty much everything under the sun (oh, and the sun as well!!) can cause acne. I guess different things trigger it for different people. With my age I seem to think mine might caused by Hormones and the changing topology of my skin as I hit mid 20's. Id like to believe that as I get older my condition will go away as my body changes again. The problem is I dont want to waste the best years of my life stuck in my house everytime I get a bad outbreak. Plus its been 5 years now and im back where I was at 26 without the Tetracycline.

The most frustrating thing ive found from suffering with Acne is dermotologists and doctors. They all have a different opinion, my doctor doesnt want me to take Accutane, the dermotologist tells me its fine. I had a stand in GP about 2 years ago when my GP was away and he was angry that id been taken off Tetracycline as my normal GP had decided Id been taking it for too long back then. So, I ended up back on the Tetracycline again Every time im bounced back and forth and it takes weeks to get back in to see an NHS dermotologist. Ive been thinking about going private, I figure maybe if I pay good money they might care a bit more, but who knows!! Do any dermotologists ever come on here???

[-Guilherme-]

Well at least thats something positive about the drug! haha.
Its a bit of a tough situation, keep taking a supressant for years to come or take Accutane for 6 months (hopefully).
Looking at it like that it seems like a no brainer but the side effects of most of the other drugs are much less severe.
But then taking them for years could also cause serious damage to your liver.

So what do you do? Long term supress with unknown long term side effects or short term potential fix forever with the risk of severe side effects.
The other route of course is Homeotherapy. Something which my parents seem to think I should be doing. But is it all a load of cobblers?
They are strongly against me taking Accutane.

Ive tried the diet route. Quite frankly I didnt see any difference yet I still feel certain that its to do with my stomach and intestines, maybe even bacterial inside my stomach. I tried taking out certain foods, stopping drinking alcohol (of which I didnt drink much anyway, im a binge drinker). I ended up cutting that much out my diet I lost too much weight and my acne actually got worse by doing so! Plus I like to work out. You cant build muscle eating rabbit food.

If you read everything on these forums pretty much everything under the sun (oh, and the sun as well!!) can cause acne. I guess different things trigger it for different people. With my age I seem to think mine might caused by Hormones and the changing topology of my skin as I hit mid 20's. Id like to believe that as I get older my condition will go away as my body changes again. The problem is I dont want to waste the best years of my life stuck in my house everytime I get a bad outbreak. Plus its been 5 years now and im back where I was at 26 without the Tetracycline.

The most frustrating thing ive found from suffering with Acne is dermotologists and doctors. They all have a different opinion, my doctor doesnt want me to take Accutane, the dermotologist tells me its fine. I had a stand in GP about 2 years ago when my GP was away and he was angry that id been taken off Tetracycline as my normal GP had decided Id been taking it for too long back then. So, I ended up back on the Tetracycline again Every time im bounced back and forth and it takes weeks to get back in to see an NHS dermotologist. Ive been thinking about going private, I figure maybe if I pay good money they might care a bit more, but who knows!! Do any dermotologists ever come on here???

I know exactly how you feel.

I took on Accutane 1.5 years ago and it helped me a lot, but my skin never got 100% fine. Here and there I have acne, including cystic acne, and it seems the drug changed my skin structure so it gets infected by folliculitis easier than ever (and some other dermatitis I can't figured out). My scalp is the most affected area, sometimes it's so bad that I can't even get a haircut, have to wait things get better to do it. It's very painful and frustrating.

As I said, overall the drug helped me a lot, but it won't cure your acne forever nor eliminate it 100%, but it surely will be better than tetracycline. Before accutane I was on tetra too (on my own) but it worsened my condition after the end of each course. I think antibiotics causes a series of unbalances in our natural skin flora. I'll never take it again for acne.

I don't regret taking isotretinoin and actually whenever I see a cystic acne on my face I feel encouraged to start the 2nd course. But until now fortunately none of the cysts was a breakout premise so I never go for the 2nd round. In this exact moment I have a cyst and a painful pump beside each other and I feel like a trash. I think the "acne" thing got into my head so much that I can't even see this shit again without going crazy.

I'm 28 yo male and I'm very tired of all this acne crap, it destroyed my self esteem and my view of life. I just hope time cures this pain.

[Jenny P]

My mom took accutane along time ago and she still has acne.
She told me it worked while she was taking it but, when she got off the acne just came back.

^^^ I am also very tired of this hassle, we try and try but, we never really get anywhere and every year we just end up worse off then before. Acne never really goes away permanently...it just comes and go as it pleases, never leaving you alone long enough to enjoy anything in life. And once it leaves scars you will never be the same person again.

[-Guilherme-]

My mom took accutane along time ago and she still has acne.
She told me it worked while she was taking it but, when she got off the acne just came back.

^^^ I am also very tired of this hassle, we try and try but, we never really get anywhere and every year we just end up worse off then before. Acne never really goes away permanently...it just comes and go as it pleases, never leaving you alone long enough to enjoy anything in life. And once it leaves scars you will never be the same person again.

Are you male? Sorry but I'm from Brazil, I have no idea to what gender the name Jenny relates for. Also I know my english sux, sorry.

Those of you who lives in Europe and in the USA are in "less" trouble because it's common more people to have acne. Here in Brazil the genes are very mixed up so in general struggling with acne in adulthood isn't not as common as in Europe/USA, so it's very frustrating being the only one among your friends to have to deal with this shit. I say this because I work near a church composed by a lot of north americans and europeans and most of them are face pimpled, I think their genetics aren't so good to deal with tropical climate, like mine.

It's really frustrating.

I can't stand this acne thing anymore.

[Jenny P]

My mom took accutane along time ago and she still has acne.
She told me it worked while she was taking it but, when she got off the acne just came back.

^^^ I am also very tired of this hassle, we try and try but, we never really get anywhere and every year we just end up worse off then before. Acne never really goes away permanently...it just comes and go as it pleases, never leaving you alone long enough to enjoy anything in life. And once it leaves scars you will never be the same person again.

Are you male? Sorry but I'm from Brazil, I have no idea to what gender the name Jenny relates for. Also I know my english sux, sorry.

Those of you who lives in Europe and in the USA are in "less" trouble because it's common more people to have acne. Here in Brazil the genes are very mixed up so in general struggling with acne in adulthood isn't not as common as in Europe/USA, so it's very frustrating being the only one among your friends to have to deal with this shit. I say this because I work near a church composed by a lot of north americans and europeans and most of them are face pimpled, I think their genetics aren't so good to deal with tropical climate, like mine.

It's really frustrating.

I can't stand this acne thing anymore.

I guess it would be slightly worse to have acne in places where the majority of people don't have it or don't know what it is...then people will just look at you like you are weird. I can see how you would feel like a complete outsider. But having acne is never really something easy to deal with.

I live in america and i still get jealous of all the people i see that never break out. People just have such good genes.

And no I am a female. Jenny is a girl name.

[lgoodwin]

Hi,

I have been on Accutane twice so far and am hoping to go on it again soon. I first took it when I was 17 (I am now 24) and for 6 months when I was about 20. It did work well both times for about 2.5 years after finishing each course (no oils, perfectly clear skin) but unfortunately the clearing effects didn't last forever and my skin is quite bad again - very awkward as I'm a teacher and look like I've hit puberty again!

I would suggest going for it. The effects last differently for everyone, it may get rid of your acne for good, or at least give your skin time to heal existing scars etc. Apparently it often takes two rounds of the drug to fully work long term. As I said, despite the side effects I think it's worth a shot. Side effects wise, I had very dry skin with cracked mouth corners (Nystaform (spelling??) clears this up) and sometimes if I picked at my skin (bad I know) quite large areas of skin would peel. I never had any problems with my liver or depression - I was more depressed before taking it due to the spots! Once my skin started clearing after the initial skepticism and breakout I was overjoyed and people commented on how good it looked without knowledge of my acne history. I found I was sooo much happier and confident after taking it and my outlook on life and my future was brighter. Go for it. If you find you don't like it while on it, just stop.

Good luck

[PicklesMcGee11]

Thanks Goodwin. You're right, everyone is different & I won't know unless I try. Im seeing my derm this Thursday so I guess I'll see what he says & go from there. I'm nervous just thinking about it but I'm also so tired of being self conscious & sad all because of my skin. It just isn't fair. I'll keep you all posted if I go for it ) thanks for the advice and replies.