ughhhhh

I honestly hate jojoba, it makes me feel gross.

They don't mean like that, more like a rolling scar, just an actual indentation. You have an open wound. I would go to a doctor, you could get staph.

 

 

It's because of people like you that I have such severe scarring. I had severe nodulocystic acne and I delayed proper treatment thinking I could cure myself with diet. I am now deformed and will be for the rest of my life. I needed accutane and people like you told me I could just cut wheat and dairy and be saved.

 

Dr. Joseph Mercola is a well known physician who suffered from severe cystic acne until his mid thirties.  However he finally experimented with his diet and removed his mercury fillings and he cleared himself 100%.  Don't know where you have been getting your information from, but its not as simple as just dairy and wheat.  You need to identify imbalances, focus on your insulin levels, limit grain based carbohydrates, as well as change your total lifestyle.  It goes much deeper and complex than that, and is an individual journey for each acne sufferer.

 

My advice certainly isn't stopping anyone else from taking Accutane, my opinion on it is really just a summary of the medical science that is already available to consumers about the confirmed side effects and deaths.

 

Although my advice of trying alternative and safe treatments may keep some people from getting clear overnight, it does keep people alive and able to spend time with their families.  Your type of advice of telling people to just take Accutane and forget the rest has certainly ended up causing death.  I go to sleep better at night knowing I am not putting others lives at serious risk over a non life threatening skin condition.

 

But I must wave the white flag, out of OP's respect we should not turn this into an Accutane debate.  This is about OP's scarring issue, and I even learned later on he was already against taking Accutane, so my advice really did nothing to sway him.  With that, I must move on after this post.  Personally, i'd rather watch paint dry than debate with most Accutane supporters.  I've played that game, and its pointless to throw out evidence taken from medical journals while the other spouts off stories of personal experience.  That's a debate that goes no where.

 I never said I was an "accutane supporter". I never wanted to go on this drug. It wasn't about getting clear overnight, it was about the massive damage that was being done to my face that started in a matter of days. I was oozing green puss and people were telling me to just stop eating sugar. Wheres the medical evidence that diet can cure actual severe acne?

Would you tell this girl that she is the problem and she needs to change her diet and lifestyle?

I don't believe accutane should be used for almost any of the cases here on acne.org. But there are cases it was meant for! I never thought I would be one of them as I never even had a problem with acne until this year when I turned 27.

I did change my entire lifestyle (went on an entirely whole foods diet, no gluten, dairy, refined sugar) as well as doing yoga and trying to manage my stress. But hey, I guess that wasn't good enough and I should have tried harder. For months I denied myself anything but the healthiest of foods and my face got worse and worse. I have developed PTSD because of what happened to me, and accutane was the only thing that stopped it the onslaught of destruction. You can't call it a non life threatening skin condition - I am a shell of who I was because of what happened to me and you make it sound trivial. Just like this doctor, who obviously didn't actually suffer from severe acne as he doesn't have the scars to show from it.

I'm glad you're able to sway people away from accutane that don't really need it. In my opinion the OP does not. But telling people everything can be cured holistically is not true.

I'm sorry that you didn't listen to anything I said.  Nice try using a girl crying in a video to emotionally blackmail anyone who states the true nature of Accutane.

 

Please read my full post, because you obviously did not.

You obviously didn't watch the video because she's not crying. She's handling this situation very well. I'm not emotionally blackmailing anyone, I'm showing you what accutane was made for - acne of this severity, acne that will not be cured by diet and "lifestyle" changes. It is not right to blame the victim for their disease.

 

editing for your further rampage: You are just making things up now. Did I say I was clear? Did I say I didn't know the risks of accutane? I have spent months and months researching this drug. I'm well aware of the side effects, the controversy, the devastating effects. But I was one of the very few who needed the medicine.

I of course looked the Dr up, I just think that like many people on these boards, "severe cystic acne" equates to "I have a bunch of inflamed pimples". You can't even get scar treatments for the kind of scarring I have. The girl in the video has acne conglobata - you did not have it more severe because that is the most severe it gets.

 

Antibiotics have just as many devastating side effects. Stevens Johnson Syndrome or permanent gut issues for instance. You know as well as I that antibiotics are dangerous. Light therapy is not proven to be beneficial to severe nodulocystic acne, it hasn't been studied enough. I read every single publication abstract on isotretinoin  and nodulocystic acne before I made my decision to go on the drug. I felt I had no choice.

 

I never attacked your personal character, you are just reading into everything at this point. You're the one twisting everything, I'm not clear and I never will be because of the severity of my case. I wish no one ever felt they had to take accutane.

It's been like this for months. Get a syntax error any time you try to access a blog from a user's profile. Incredibly annoying.

It's because of people like you that I have such severe scarring. I had severe nodulocystic acne and I delayed proper treatment thinking I could cure myself with diet. I am now deformed and will be for the rest of my life. I needed accutane and people like you told me I could just cut wheat and dairy and be saved.

 

Dr. Joseph Mercola is a well known physician who suffered from severe cystic acne until his mid thirties.  However he finally experimented with his diet and removed his mercury fillings and he cleared himself 100%.  Don't know where you have been getting your information from, but its not as simple as just dairy and wheat.  You need to identify imbalances, focus on your insulin levels, limit grain based carbohydrates, as well as change your total lifestyle.  It goes much deeper and complex than that, and is an individual journey for each acne sufferer.

 

My advice certainly isn't stopping anyone else from taking Accutane, my opinion on it is really just a summary of the medical science that is already available to consumers about the confirmed side effects and deaths.

 

Although my advice of trying alternative and safe treatments may keep some people from getting clear overnight, it does keep people alive and able to spend time with their families.  Your type of advice of telling people to just take Accutane and forget the rest has certainly ended up causing death.  I go to sleep better at night knowing I am not putting others lives at serious risk over a non life threatening skin condition.

 

But I must wave the white flag, out of OP's respect we should not turn this into an Accutane debate.  This is about OP's scarring issue, and I even learned later on he was already against taking Accutane, so my advice really did nothing to sway him.  With that, I must move on after this post.  Personally, i'd rather watch paint dry than debate with most Accutane supporters.  I've played that game, and its pointless to throw out evidence taken from medical journals while the other spouts off stories of personal experience.  That's a debate that goes no where.

 I never said I was an "accutane supporter". I never wanted to go on this drug. It wasn't about getting clear overnight, it was about the massive damage that was being done to my face that started in a matter of days. I was oozing green puss and people were telling me to just stop eating sugar. Wheres the medical evidence that diet can cure actual severe acne?

Would you tell this girl that she is the problem and she needs to change her diet and lifestyle?

I don't believe accutane should be used for almost any of the cases here on acne.org. But there are cases it was meant for! I never thought I would be one of them as I never even had a problem with acne until this year when I turned 27.

I did change my entire lifestyle (went on an entirely whole foods diet, no gluten, dairy, refined sugar) as well as doing yoga and trying to manage my stress. But hey, I guess that wasn't good enough and I should have tried harder. For months I denied myself anything but the healthiest of foods and my face got worse and worse. I have developed PTSD because of what happened to me, and accutane was the only thing that stopped it the onslaught of destruction. You can't call it a non life threatening skin condition - I am a shell of who I was because of what happened to me and you make it sound trivial. Just like this doctor, who obviously didn't actually suffer from severe acne as he doesn't have the scars to show from it.

I'm glad you're able to sway people away from accutane that don't really need it. In my opinion the OP does not. But telling people everything can be cured holistically is not true.

Hey I just saw my new dermatologist, she agrees with yours, I might need to be on it longer than most but she thinks they will go away!

I had to put together pictures from the last 6 months so she could get an idea and it really put it in perspective for me...my face is so much better than it was.

I still hate it and it looks unacceptable to me, but it was so so bad before. She says I'm responding to the medication and so I should just put on my makeup and forget about it everyday. She was at least much nicer than my asshole derm from before so I am absolutely switching.

I know how hard it is sweetie but it really does look so much better! I can only gauge my progress on the individual cysts that aren't budging AT ALL but you have significant improvement! Sorry bout your arms, I think I'm losing hair :/

how often do you change your razor? they can irritate the skin, especially if you havent washed first or the blade is old. they recommend changing razors like once a week. 

I am so so happy for you, this log has been very inspiring to me, it keeps my chin up! Please keep updating!

You need to leave her alone. I know what you're going through sucks, but you were ODed. Your case is NOT normal, and this girl (and I) are suffering and the only thing that helps is accutane. We need to remain positive throughout this process. You are not helping.

You may not care about side effects now if you think acne is the worst thing you could have but you are wrong.
Please think long & hard and read of others experiences AFTER taking it....I wish I did.

Hey man how are you doing? Must be going well for you to be gone so much!

Day 24 - Things are looking up - went to the derm to get some injections because some of the giant cysts were really bringing me down. Derm said I was making progress, that a lot of people break out way worse in the beginning, so I told him I was scared of breaking out more when we went up a dose and he said Nah (lies!). But my breaking out has been manageable, only a few crappy new cysts and then some little whiteheads. Unfortunately after the injections some of my skin looks pretty bruised from him squeezing the crap out :\ but they have definitely gone down. Hopefully the bruising goes away soon. My scars are more pink than purple and some of my large nodules are going down. When I feel my face when I wake up I'm less horrified every day so thats good! I'm only being put on 40mg next month which prolongs my treatment but my derm believes its the better way to go. Maybe pics on day 30.

Hey bmarie, I really wish you the best of luck on your course. I suffered from a horrendous breakout due to giving birth and the stress that comes along from a new baby ( and dealing with everything they don't tell you about what happens to your body after birth, horrific rashes and I thought I was falling apart) that I developed severe nodular cystic acne and every derm I visited said accutane was really my only choice. I know what it's like to want to feel normal again, I just want to take pictures with my baby and not feel like a monster. We will get through this, I'm on day 21 20mgs (too low!) and nothing bad so far. Was able to peel off my entire bottom lip today hah. We will get through this!

Wow you're doing great! I started on 20 mg last week and breaking out every day I hope I make your kind of progress, congrats!

Green gables- the rash I mentioned is gone and doesn't affect the face. But I tried a new regimen while the rash was happening and I reacted very negatively ( dermalogica) and its been like this ever since, about two weeks. You don't think it's acne? The purplish spots seem to be a large cyst and module cluster- its possible it looks purpler just because of the lighting, I've always thought it was mostly red.
Thanks for the link to the diet- in already taking ish oil as part of my prenatals but I have always hated fish. Perhaps I need to try harder to incorporate it into my diet. I love berries and kiwi though so no issues eating more of that! I am trying to remain confident that I can do this naturally and give my daughter what she needs without completely shattering my self esteem