10 replies to this topic

[jessicae]

since i finally manned up and made it to the derm, i decided to make a log to document it!

the basics!
i'm jessica, age 19, 5'2", about 110 lbs. my skin has never been great, but when i left for college last year it went absolutely insane. i don't have the best diet (college, y'all), and i was a high school swimmer, but my workout routine is spotty at best (blaming college again). after attempting to manage it myself, i finally went to my family's dermatologist who prescribed me 55 mg minocycline once a day, 0.1% differin gel, and aczone. i'm super fair so just about every blemish leaves at least a temporary mark, but we're hoping to avoid any longterm scarring.

the regimen!
morning:
wash face with skinceuticals purifying cleanser
aczone to face, chest, and back
cetaphil moisturizer with spf 50
minocycline 55mg

night:
wash face
differin 0.1% gel to face
aczone to chest and back

week 1
i'm coming up on the end of my first week, and i think that i've noticed some changes in my skin? but that could just be changing the routine. like, this is grody, but my blemishes just kind of look different? i don't know how to explain it, but i've definitely experienced a simultaneous increase in oiliness and flakiness, which is super fun to attempt to deal with, along with some redness and some breaking out yay! and you guys are the luckiest people ever because you get to see me without makeup in the horrendously awkward not-looking-at-the-webcam pictures woo!



okay too much fun for one day! have a good one guys!

[jessicae]

tonight will mark the end of week two! i don't think that there's been much difference in my skin since the initial changes. where i'm clear - forehead and upper cheeks - my skin is like, bizarrely smooth and pretty oily. i think the breakouts on my left cheek have started to heal a little, while the ones on the right near my mouth are getting worse, so pros and cons. aside from dryness/oiliness issues, i don't think i've really had any side effects so yay! and i just moved into my first apartment (!!!), so i don't have time to post photos, but i'll make sure to do that next week. have a great day!

[jessicae]

i'm already at three weeks, which seems insane! i guess moving in and starting classes has made it all fly by! skin-wise, i think i've been feeling more oily than dry, but it probably helps that i've trekking across campus in triple digit temps, which is super fun. i don't know if you can tell from the photo (the lighting in my apartment is really different from the lighting in my room at my parent's place), but i think my skin is actually looking better, which i am ridiculously excited about! i think there are fewer blemishes on the whole, and when new ones do pop up, they go away within a few days. there's still plenty of redness, and now that my skin is clearing up, i think i can see some indented scarring, which sucks, but i'm trying to be positive and filing that away as something i can deal with when my skin is calm and clear. yesterday was a game day, so between tailgating and football and postgame parties, i completely forgot to take my antibiotic, so hopefully missing a dose won't have a huge impact on anything. and hopefully having my antibiotic means that i won't have an ib (at least i think that's the idea of having both antibiotics and differin?) because i think i'm just about due for one otherwise.





and i think that's about it! have a great week!

[Green Gables]

Please make sure you are taking a probiotic while on antibiotics and for some months after you stop. Here is why:

Do you cringe when someone mentions probiotics because you really don't want to think about those zillions of bacteria living in your gut? Swallowing down some more to add to the pile may not sound like an appealing thought, but the truth is that taking probiotics is probably one of the best interventions you can do to stay healthy or regain your health. That's because those four pounds of little critters in your gut are to a very large degree your immune system. They hold the keys to your very existence.

Beautiful symbiosis

The perfect relationship between you and your bacteria is the one where you keep them happy and they keep you happy. They are easier to please that you are. All they want is some light. You can pick that up when you are in the sun or even in artificial lighting, and your chryptochrome cells will take it down to them. A little sugar makes them happy too, and current thought is that they also like reproductive hormones. Give them these three things and will be happy.

What you want from them is to be your unpaid personal bodyguards, to be willing to go to war against unfriendly bacteria, viruses, pathogens and foreign invaders to defend you. When they are up to the task of winning those wars you will stay healthy and able to maintain your positive outlook. You also want your bacteria to help you out with digestion of the food you eat, and to make sure that the nutrients from it are absorbed so you can use them well.

What can go wrong in the relationship between you and your bacteria

Probably the worst thing that can happen to ruin this happy relationship is taking antibiotics. Antibiotics kill off your bodyguards along with your enemies. When your bodyguards are lying dead you have no defense. Your digestion will suffer and you will experience the digestive blues characterized by rumbling in your digestive tract, gas, belching, and even more things too gross to mention here. If your digestion gets really bad you will become malnourished. Your body will not have the nutrients it needs to keep you healthy and your health will deteriorate. This downward spiral can set you up to be a prime candidate for degenerative disease along with leaving you wide open to be infected by parasites and other unwanted microorganisms.

Even if you aren't a taker of antibiotics, your herd of bacteria can become so depleted that it can no longer do what you want it to do. Pesticides in the food you eat and chlorine in the water you drink will slowly poison bacteria and over time your intestinal tract can become just as devoid of them as if you had taken antibiotics. When this happens, unfriendly microorganisms such as disease-causing bacteria, yeasts and fungi set up shop in your digestive tract. Then you've got a problem because it is very difficult to evict them.

Why probiotics are so important

Probiotics are friendly bacteria similar to those found in people's guts, especially in the guts of breastfed infants who have been provided this natural protection against many diseases by their mothers. Most friendly bacteria come from the Lactobacillus or Bididobacterium groups. There are several different species of bacteria in each group. Some probiotics are also friendly yeasts.

Taking probiotics is a way to keep your friendly bacteria population up to full strength so it is always at the ready to defend you. It is a way to replenish the bacteria that are killed off by the pesticides and chlorine. If you have taken antibiotics, taking probiotics is even more important because you probably have unfriendly microorganisms living in your gut that your reduced levels of friendly bacteria are having difficulty handling. Taking probiotics will increase and strengthen your friendly bacteria population to a level that will allow it to oust the intruders.

[jessicae]

four weeks makes a month! i still have pretty considerable pih (which i expect considering how fair my skin is), but my right cheek has maybe three active pimples right now, which is actually incredible for me (and it's super easy to cover in my daily makeup routine so yay!). my left cheek has quite a few more, though, so i'm still hoping that it'll all calm down soon. i've been super busy, and i have an interview for a really great internship tomorrow, so hopefully a bit of added stress won't freak my skin out too bad.





and, green gables, i've been eating yogurt daily to try to up my probiotics, but i'll definitely look into supplements!

[jessicae]

i think it helps me more not to pay much attention to my skin in my day-to-day, so just a quick update for week 7! i have, like, 3 active blemishes. total. i honestly can't even remember the last time my skin was this calm. i still have plenty of pih and residual redness, which is annoying and fingers crossed that that'll all start to subside and disappear soon, but i am really happy about the way the treatment is turning out. the fact that i still have another 7 weeks also makes me feel pretty good. even if a plateau a bit, i've come really far! i'm a little worried that coming off of the antibiotic in november will mess everything up, but i think i'll be going on birth control as a replacement, so maybe that will help? and i'm still pretty concerned about the scarring that will be left. it's hard to tell what's just pih that will go away with time and what's an actual scar, but for now i'm just going to enjoy my smooth skin! (no pictures this time, i'm still made up from meetings all morning)

[EilzP]

Hey,

I am 22 and my Derm just put me on a 3 month course of Akamin ( Minocycline) twice a day with differin Gel at night.

I have been using Differin Gel and Clindamycin topical lotion for a bout 3 months and my skin has just got worse!!

I have never really suffered with acne I had a little breakout when I went to a derm 3 months ago. I was actually going about some exzema I had at the time.. But anyway he prescribed me the differin gel and Clindamycin for my "mild acne"

Well i now have "moderate acne!" Its so horrible its driving mw crazy I have to wear make up everywhere and its just so horrible.. Im by no means saying that I have really bad acne but compared to the skin I had it is bad..

Ive only taking my first antibiotic today but I am nervous about it becasue I heard it can make your acne worse when you go off it..

I was also meant to go on Yasmin (birth control but decided against it becase I have read a lot of bad thing about it recently and there have been law suites etc.. I was on Yasmin for a few years but have been off it a year now. I never had any major problems with it but I would rather do the antibiotic route first for 3 months and hope this works.

I am also going to get a pro biotic today in the chemist to take with my antibiotic.

Anyway its great that I found this, It is good to see how you are getting on. Hopefully it works out for both of us !

[bizz]

Hi. Thank you for this. Is this the first acne-treatment you've tried?

How are you using the topicals--e.g., using one at night, and one during the day?

Did either cause purging (skin breaking out as it adjusted to treatment)?

[jessicae]

elizp - i think it's a struggle we can all relate to! i have heard stories about coming off an antibiotic and your skin going crazy again, but mine was out of control, so just having relatively clear skin right now is such a blessing, i'm thinking i'll just cross that bridge when i get there!

bizz - years ago i used some kind of topical, but i can't remember what it was called. i react really badly to benzoyl peroxide, so i've avoided any product with bp for a while, but i did use all kinds of otc products with salicylic acid or sulfur.

currently, i use aczone in the morning after washing my face, wait about 10-20 minutes while i brush my teeth and get ready, followed by moisturizer and make up. differin is at night after i shower/wash my face, and i usually don't use a moisturizer. i take the minocycline in the middle of the day with a large glass of water.

i don't know that my skin ever actually purged (i think the antibiotic is meant to halt that), but i definitely didn't see much overall improvement until about a month in, and i didn't think my skin actually looked good until around week 6 or 7. i've read other logs of people just going the topical route and they seem to have had a worse initial breakout than me, but i don't know whether that's because i just lucked out or what.

i guess i'm around week 8 now? i honestly can't remember the last time i only had a single active pimple. like, i'm trying not to get too overconfident in case of a sudden break out or if everything gets awful again once i'm off antibiotics, but it's just really nice. i still have redness and dark spots, but it's so much easier to cover with makeup, and even without, i feel confident enough to run out for quick errand. it's just really nice to feel good about it all!





(note: i think i take pictures at a different time each time that i post, so it's hard to tell how red and irritated my skin was two months ago versus what it's like now. earlier pictures downplay the redness, and the pictures from more recently make my face seem a bit more, go figure)

Edited by jessicae, 08 October 2012 - 11:12 PM.

[jessicae]

it's been a while! i went to the derm yesterday, and i've finished my run of minocycline and we're going to see how i do just on differin and aczone! i've been thrilled by my results. seriously, i haven't had anything active for about two months, i haven't felt any major side effects from the antibiotic, and i only had one issue with the topicals when i forgot to reapply sunscreen to my face during a long weekend at a music festival (no physical burn, but my face actually felt like it was on fire. don't forget hats and sunscreen, y'all!) i have some scarring, but i anticipated that, so i'm just really really really happy about my treatment.


the (probably last set of) pictures:

[fadedjay]

wow what an improvement !

Hopefully now differin and aczone is all that you need!