6 replies to this topic

[reyrey]

Hi all,
a little back round on me, olive skinned stone(breakouts leave dark spots if I pick or don't pick at them), I've never really struggled with acne, I got on the regimen to prevent breakouts since these breakouts would always leave these hideous dark spots, so I wanted to prevent them all together. Anyway, I've been on the regimen for about 2 months now, while it seems to be working at preventing breakouts(most of the time if I do get one it'll dry up fairly quickly and won't really form) but these dark spots are taking FOREVER to heal. I've read that BP can pro-long the process of dark spots but geez! Before when I would get a spot it would usually take 1-2 weeks to really begin fading, and would be gone by week 3 or 4. About 2 months ago I had a REALLY bad breakout, worst than I've ever had and it pretty much left a lot of hyperpigmentation. Till this day they are still there as if was the first day I got them, this is REALLY frustrating. I use sunblock, I'm also using the AHA+ but I haven't noticed a difference in my dark spots at ALL. This is probably my biggest insecurity, today I couldn't really cover the dark spots properly and I just decided to stay home and not even attend school. They're probably not as bad as I make myself believe, but..I just can't stand them. The other day I found myself roaming through old webcam pictures when I had nice skin, with hardly any dark spots, and I keep wishing that I could just go back to that. Has anyone else had this problem? How do you deal with it? Anything I can use to help them fade faster, they're really taking a toll on my self esteem.
:[

[andrewbleah]

Oh boy , I have red marks all over my cheeksf from the inital break out accutane,they look sooo bad:(!
I ordered 8% AHA from paula choice + the new products it''s called PURE Radiance Brighten tratment, I really hope that they will fade with these products, but I also hope that since I'm on accutane it won't hurt me , I know people with advise me not to exfoliate on accutane but I'm way to stubborn.
AHA,Tazorac/Retin-A,Sunscreen, and if you have dark mark (melanin) hydroquinone should work nice for you!
P.S If it makes you feel beter , I didin't atend to school for the first the weeks, and last week I stayed 2 days als, so school started a month ago and I only went 3 times...

[reyrey]

Thanks for your response, however I've done some research on hydroquinone and it seems that it seems to work better on lighter skinned tones, and not so much on darker complexions. The reason I'm posting in this forum is I'd like to get advice from people that are using the BP and have noticed no improvement on their dark spots. Also since my problem doesn't seem to be much of the pimples but more of the dark spots(obviously breakouts lead to the dark spot) but I'll break out on the average about once a week, with one pimple. Should I consider other alternatives? I hope it's not me being impatient. However I'm taking a trip to my boyfriends hometown in december and I'd like to have a nice complexion by then. I never had a problem with being self conscious about my skin too much before but I'd like to be able to show my face while being on this trip, maybe not even wear makeup and still feel confident.

[Brandy]

Here is our information on these spots.
http://www.acne.org/faq.html#redmarks
and
http://www.acne.org/...-from-acne.html

[Jinx342]

Hi Reyrey
I have darker toned skin even though I look " fair. I have had post inflammatory hyper pigmentation for a long time... Sometimes over six months. Now that I do not have active acne I have started having chemical peels to address the hyper pigmentation. These peels are not super aggressive, although I do peel a bit a few days after. Peels consist mainly of lactic and glycolic acids. I have noticed quite a difference on my face although not as huge a difference on my neck (the peel is not applied to the neck at the same strength as on the face). You may wish to look into this.
I also use 4% hydro quinone but hasn't done much for the acne marks as much as it has helped melasma.

[Johnny199r]

I've never had dark spots until up to 2 months ago. I'm 29. I stopped using the regimen on my forehead, because I'd love to do something other than the regimen (I've been on it for around 10 years) that's easier. Since AHA+ worked great on my back, I tried it on my forehead, before testing on my whole face. It caused a breakout and gave me a bunch of dark marks on my forehead I can't get rid of. THey just won't go away. I wish I could go back to two months ago.

[ccw98]

I have a very tan olivey skin color (pretty proud of it; I can't lie). Near the beginning of my freshman wear I started breaking out, and I was pretty good at getting that under control with way too much BP. However, I was left with a face almost entirely covered in post inflammatory hyper pigmentation (dark spots and red spots). They still haven't gone away. The less I use BP, the faster they fade. However, the less I use BP, the more I break out, so I am trying to find the right compromise of allowing old ones to fade and preventing new ones. It is good to find forums with people with similar conditions.