17 replies to this topic

[Owned101]

I am a 20 yr old asian male. I suffer from what I would say moderate acne. I was on the regime for about almost a year but my skin became allergic to BP all of a sudden and whenever I do put on BP, I would flare up with eczema. I used to have the occasional Pimple and zit but one day I experimented with Clearzit which was a 10% BP and I put it on my face without moisturizer... Wow...That was the dumbest decision/ idea of my life. That was on May of 2012 and from that point on, I got my first cyst and I would get those every 2 weeks or so. So fast forward to now, my face is not really a mess but I still have a lot of acne scars from the cysts. I'll let you judge by the pictures I provided. I have been prescribed Differin 0.1% and been using it for 4 days now. The initial break out started immediately... I got 2 zits on my left cheek, 1 above the left side of my lip and 1 cyst on my right and another zit on the bottom of my right jaw the day after I applied it. Actually...my face was quite clear before I started on this regime and I am already having 2nd thoughts and doubts about this treatment. Please feel to give advice or your input if you had any experience with Differin before.

Spoiler

I am not going to update this daily because I don't have the time or consistency. I will update maybe every 1-2 weeks depending if there have been any dramatic new changes.

Edited by Owned101, 06 November 2012 - 12:21 AM.

[Parissa]

Where abouts do you get the eczema? And I wish you all the best with this regimen hope it works out for you

[Owned101]

I have eczema on my upper check on both sides. Its all gone now, I used a eczema cream from aveeno and it was gone within less than a week. I might as well give a update as i reply to your question

Day 5* mini update. Grew a few more zits. I have... 10 zits and 1 cyst all together. I had only 1 zit prior to taking differin.

[Parissa]

everytime i use bp i get this weird dry rash on my lipline and left eyelid i never used to get it i have to continuosly use elocon

[tommylex]

I started using differin a week ago after some success with Dan's regimine...this is my last option before accutane. Would be great if we could both update progress as we go along. So far I havent had too bad a break out...but I have loads of under the skin bumps so Im just waiting for those to go/come to the surface. Euurgh acne sucks.

[Owned101]

My doctor told me to use it only on my acne and not everywhere around my face. So what I'm doing is spot treatment on the cyst and zits. He also told me it quickens the life of a pimple. So although it may draw out impurities, it also speed up the pimple's life cycle. Hope thats true because I just got another cyst. This does suck...

Edited by Owned101, 23 October 2012 - 08:33 PM.

[tommylex]

That's interesting, I'm just using it all over my face...but I have pimples pretty much all over my face so would be hard to spot treat them all I guess . Im also using Benzoyl Perozxide in the mornings to hopefully speed up the process.

[Jonny_MacQueen]

I have to say it's quite strange that you seem to get spots in the EXACT, and I really do mean EXACT same areas as I do. The areas in which you grow facial hair also seem to be the same.

[Owned101]

Hmmm, is it possible you're me from a different dimension or timeline? I kid. I was planning on quitting differin after reading all the horror stories but I created a log...so I can't back out. The 2 zits on my left are huge. To the point where I can honestly say I have 4 nipples... The cyst on my right is getting less inflamed which is surprisingly good because normally cyst last 2-3 weeks.

[Owned101]

Spoiler

Week 2

Pic update. After taking differin, I have a outbreak of 3 cyst and 1 subsided. The other 2 is still there. At this point I can't give any input because it has only been a week and a half. Nothing out of my expectations have happened. But one thing about the cyst is that they are bigger than my typical cyst and also more painful. I had absolutely almost no confidence and wish I could just stay in my room instead of going to school.

Edited by Owned101, 06 November 2012 - 12:20 AM.

[tommylex]

Hang in there! I know how you feel. I have found that using BP in the morning has really helped with the initial breakouts caused by the differin. I just use a small amount followed by AHA and its really helping...although my face is a little pink at the moment :/

[Owned101]

^good for you but I'm allergic to BP, gives me Ecezma on my cheeks even though its only 2.5%. Well my skin doesn't look like its getting bigger but hopefully it will improve.

[Owned101]

Week 3

Left side looks better than the right. See pics for comparison from last week.

Spoiler

Edited by Owned101, 06 November 2012 - 12:20 AM.

[Owned101]

Been, very busy so I didn't have the chance to update but heres week 5. I know I skipped week 4.

Spoiler

Just these past 2 days I blew up with like 4-6 new zits but I can't blame it all on differin because I have been stressing with school work and been sleeping late and waking early to study. So lets see how it goes next week. I guess I have been breaking out and there hasn't been a day where there wasn't a zit on my face. I just keep growing one after another...

Edited by Owned101, 21 November 2012 - 12:02 AM.

[fadedjay]

hey buddy

retiniods can be a rough ride and take time to really kick in usually 3months or so.

all i say is stay patient and best of luck to ya the boards have some great experiences for people who have used differin with success

thanks

fadedjay

[Member1]

I think your face looks improved from the first pictures. I was prescriped Differin as and it broke me out real bad but it's started clearing now which i'm hoping it will continue to do. I read a lot of creams break you out at first though, i'd say stick with it and see what happens like Member said, they can a while to show a difference but i can see a difference from your pictures.

Good luck with your regieme hope it all works out for you

[Owned101]

Well this should be week 7 and I'm glad that I actually did this. I was worried at the beginning of the initial break out and how everyone's skin turned for the worse when they quit but I'm glad I still stuck with it. I quit using differin 4 days ago because it was causing my eczema to flare up and now its infected and turned into impetigo. I found it weird how this is happening 7 weeks in but its also cause of the cold weather, cause I remember last year in December, the same thing has happened. Well, I might quit for a while and start up again but I fear that starting it again will draw negative reactions. Right now my skin is still scarred from past acne but I noticed I got less acne and less ferocious ones. Right now I am using nothing but a cleanser and lotion. I will inform you guys what will be my next step and update with pictures once the eczema/impetigo goes away.

[MARSBARS111]

hey owned101 you dont know me but ive been following this thread for quite a while as your skin and acne was similar to mine and i couldnt take bp anymore as it would cause my face to get extremely red even the lowest percentage

i started differin around the same time as you and although i switched to retin a after 2 weeks of differin this thread helped alot through the initial breakout and things are finally looking up now as my skin is improving
ill keep checking this thread for updates
you should try retin a , it seems for me that the initial breakout was lessend maybe due to switching from differin to retin a

and your skin has definitely improved and i hope it continues to do so