Omnivium

Pretty much every night at around 12:00-2:00am pacific time, acne.org goes down for a few minutes. Since it's only a few minutes, it's not that big of a deal, but it's kind of annoying. And to show that it's not just me, I went to isitdownrightnow.com.

 

   Acne.org.png   675.93K   12 downloads

I don't know if this belongs in the acne research section, but I think it will be more helpful here, where people with oily skin will see it.

 

I'm going to make some posts about what causes oily skin, why Accutane works, and whatever else I think of. I'm kind of busy with school, so I won't be able to post very often.

 

1. Androgens Cause Sebum Production

2. Accutane Decreases Sebocyte Proliferation and Differentiation

3. Oral Spironolactone Decreases Free Androgens and Blocks Androgen Receptors

4. Vitamin D Suppresses Sebocyte Cell Proliferation

I finally started taking Accutane at a low dose for my oil and acne. I'm taking 20mg a day for now. I actually started a week ago, but I didn't want to make a topic for it until I knew I could tolerate it. I'm tolerating it just fine so far.

Today is my week 1 update, and I guess I'll update every week for now.

Week 1:

My oil and blackheads are definitely still here. There could be a little less oil, but it's hard to tell with oil. It's not like you can count it like you can with pimples. When I started Accutane I had a few huge pimples from when I ate unhealthy food during the holidays, but now I'm back to a generally healthy diet, and my acne is better. I'm pretty sure my acne improved because of my diet, not the Accutane already.

The only side effect I experienced so far is a chapped, peeling bottom lip. My upper lip is fine though lol. I'm kind of surprised how fast my bottom lip started drying out. I had to go buy some chapstick for it, so hopefully that will help. Did anyone else get dry in just one lip at first? I'm sure the upper lip will follow, but for now it's not dry.

Diet doesn't decrease my oil, and I'm a male, so I can't take hormonal treatments. I don't want to decrease androgens anyway. So it seems my two options for oil are Accutane and laser treatments to shut down the oil glands.

Here's a video about photodynamic therapy:

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=zJHUOT93ZZk

Has anyone tried this or something like it?

Since oily skin is supposed to be caused by hormones or a sensitivity to hormones, has anyone gone to get their hormones levels tested by an endocrinologist? If so, how did they test for hormones? How many hormones did they test? Was it expensive? Was it worth it?