7 replies to this topic

[Mech]

Hey. I am new to this forum. I love chat forums, but have never thought to look for any about acne, which I have been battling for atleast five years (I am 22 now). I wouldn't say my acne is as bad as it could be, but it definately lowers my self-esteem, when it comes to meeting new people and making first impressions (yeah I know, seems like that'd be shallow for some people to judge based on that, but I am always afraid that it runs through everyones mind when they see me.)

I am not really sure what type I have. I sometimes get small pimples (guessing they are whiteheads?) which usually go away while using Minocline. However, I have been on it for a while, but it has never gotten rid of the redness under my skin. In this area, my skin feels smooth, so I know it is all underneath the skin. I was told about acutane, maybe a year or so ago, but never went through with it because I heard of some bad side effects. Plus they required a blood test, which i hate getting blood drawn (unless it's just a prick on the finger). Now of course, after reading some of these other threads before posting anything, that acutane really seems to have worked for a lot of people. What I would like to know is, looking at the picture below, do you think it would help me out? I would be up to try it, but I recently lost my parents insurance (due to graduating college :/) which covered trips to the Doctors, but now I have a big deductable.

Has anyone ever had my type of acne, and what has worked? Has anyone ever had really bad side effects of acutane? I have to see hundreds of people everyday where I work, and I really have just been getting very self conscious about it.

Thanks for reading my post.

http://img.villageph...84775/Acne1.jpg

[Brandy]

hi, and welcome!
I looked at your pic, and yea you have some underlying redness, but your acne does not look severe to me. Which topicals have you tried in the past, if any?
Accutane is usually reserved for severe and/or persistent acne that has not responded well to other oral or topical medications.
Has your derm recommended Accutane?

[Mech]

hi, and welcome!
I looked at your pic, and yea you have some underlying redness, but your acne does not look severe to me. Which topicals have you tried in the past, if any?
Accutane is usually reserved for severe and/or persistent acne that has not responded well to other oral or topical medications.
Has your derm recommended Accutane?

yeah i saw them once and they did recommend accutane. The topicals I have used include benzoclin (which never really worked for me) and tretinoin cream. Neither of the topicals ever seem to work, and i have been using them for several years. I ordered some of the BP that can be found on this site. The medicine that I take usually seems to be the only kind of treatment that I can visibly see results with. However, I was always really skeptical that the topical treatments would get rid of the underlying redness.

[Fireflygurl]

mech, when you say redness .. do you mean red marks left from prior acne? Your skin doesn't look too bad to me, but I know how it can really bring you down regardless. I have tried minicin in the past, and had it work really well for me, but as you probably know.. it's only a temp. solution

cheers,
alicia

[Mac]

thats mild

[Mech]

thats mild

yes i know it is mild. but i have this patch of "redness" that just doesn't want to seem to go away. I have been on internal medicine for many years now. I just want it to go away.

[Fireflygurl]

thats mild

yes i know it is mild. but i have this patch of "redness" that just doesn't want to seem to go away. I have been on internal medicine for many years now. I just want it to go away.

You are probably immuned to the "internal medicine" especially if you have been on it for years, and even more so if they are antibiotics.
Try exfoliating with a gentle complexion brush. ..and some hydrocortozone.

[Mech]

what kind of brush is that? and what is a good hydrocortozone to use, or is that the name of it.