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I survived a trip to a hair saloon today, lol. It's been a while. My scars looked quite bad of course, especially compared to a lovely skin of the young hair dresser, who looked flawless even in the harsh fluorescent lighting. But you know what... That's how my skin is, I can cry about it, I can linger on regret of not finding the solution for my acne earlier etc, that won't fill in the pits on my cheek.
I don't think you should continue to feel so depressed because of your skin. If your doctor thinks you should try accutane then give it a try. If it works for you, it will be a great confidence boost.
While you're making up your mind you could always start the birth control pills. Breaking out more around your period does sound like your acne is at least partly hormonal. I'm on birth control and spironolactone, hoping that my skin will clear from this. Accutane is really difficult to get where I live.
As far as dairy goes, I don't think it makes everyone break out but I does it to a lot of people. If you cut it out for a month or so and notice no difference in your skin then it's probably not a trigger for you.
I think there's something out there for everyone. You shouldn't have to be so depressed when you still have options left.
I feel depressed and discouraged. Every hope I've had for getting rid of my acne has disappeared, one by one.
I've had acne since I was a teenager, but instead of getting better over the years, it just got worse. I've seen two different dermatologists and nothing either of them prescribed helped me in the long term. The only thing that did seem to make a difference was antibiotic pills, but even those only worked until my skin "adjusted" to the medicine and then the acne just started coming back again. And even if that didn't happen, I can't just suck down antibiotics for the rest of my life anyway.
I tried the Regimen for about a year. At first I saw some improvement, although it still didn't get rid of my acne completely. But then for some reason it just stopped working altogether, so I stopped using it. It was really irritating my skin anyway--making it dry and tight and achy, even with moisturizer--so I figured there was no point to continuing to make myself physically uncomfortable when it wasn't really helping my acne anyway.
I had also held out some small hope that my acne might eventually just go away on its own. My mother has told me that she had acne until her late twenties before it went away on its own, so I thought that maybe it was hereditary and the same would happen to me. But I'm turning 29 in two days, and my skin today is as bad as it's ever been. Happy birthday to me. I even tried giving up milk--my favorite beverage--because I read that milk and milk products can exacerbate acne, but so far I've still seen no difference.
The only thing that still gives me a little hope to hold onto is that there's still two things left I might try: Accutane and birth control. My current dermatologist suggested Accutane about a year ago, but I balked at all the potential nasty side effects, so that was what prompted me to try the Regimen instead. But since the Regimen didn't work for me, I guess Accutane is the next thing to try. I figure, hey, if I get liver failure and die, at least I won't have to worry about having a grotesque mass of zits for a face anymore. As for birth control, I've noticed that, while it's always bad, my acne tends to get even worse around my period, so I wonder if it might be partly a hormonal issue.
I just hope I can find something that works.
I'm already an extremely introverted and shy person who's never been comfortable in social situations, and having severe acne is just another blow to my self-confidence. I already hardly ever leave my apartment except to go to work or buy groceries. The only way I can ever feel somewhat normal is to try to just cover up my face with makeup as much as possible and to leave all the lights turned off in all rooms with mirrors in them.
Feeling really down, even if it is one pimple this always happens the week before my period and I'm on birth control. I had a panic attack about it yesterday when I was at work. I was worried that it would be all people would see when they look at me. I've been treating it for FOUR days and it will not budge. It looks a lot worse because the skin around it is all dried out. At this point, I might just try leaving it alone. No point when none of the prescribed medications are doing its job. Maybe I'm becoming immune?
.....still not 100% clear...however I have accepted that FACT!!! My face still breaks out every now and then but not that much severe....
The bad thing though is that my chest and back are breaking out BAD..... I really do not know but it just happened... I'm using a soap with sulfur+salicylic acid+zinc oxide to help control it..... I'm just trying hard to ignore it so I won't pick and maybe it'll go away?????
I REALLY DO NOT KNOW.... Ugh.....
Accepting it is always good I think, MgX
I am feeling better, recovering after a bad breakout last week which was my fault. I'm running out of my topical and don't have a new prescription so I stopped using it all over and only as a spot treatment, well obviously I can't be doing that. As a result I used it twice a day for a few days and my breakout is clearing, I just need to be a bit more sparing. I have a trial size of dan's BP to use after I run out of my prescription at least.
Looking up; go the doc change my Rx to tretinoin instead of differin. He initially didn't want to give it to me..how sad when you have to bully doc's to get what you want...
Seems to be making a difference without the same side effects. Helps that i've had some time off, but its never enough.I'm bored and lonely.
#needavacation.#needafriend
My co-worker suggested I go to mexico....
So so low, my chin is an absolute mess, I can't bear to go out or let anyone see my skin. I cry everyday. It's ruining my life and all doctors say is it's 'mild' so most treatments they won't give me. Going to see another tomorrow and see if some antibiotics might help get over this massive everlasting breakout. I look and feel so ugly x
Feeling tired. Just spent four glorious days with my god-daughter and it was the highlight of my week! I love being around her child like innocence and sense of humor. Acne wise, i think the Regimen has done about all it can do for me. My acne healing has stalled and i unfortunately still have bumps that have been there since the very beginning....sigh. I am going to focus more on diet and exercise in moving forward as treating this thing from the outside is not working as well as i' hoped and i feel like shit. I hate being 30 and still dealing with a teenage ailment. But in the bigger scheme of things, i'm alive so for that, i am grateful.
Falling into my self obsessive patters again (mirror watching). I have to try to ween myself away from this. My eczema on my neck has returned so i am back to my steroid cream so hoping it will go away soon. Also, signed up for the YMCA so hoping that i can get back into working out. I recently had my yearly physical and i dodged a bullet where my health is concerned. Not taking the risk this time around. As for my acne, hating it, dealing with it, shifting focus to my mental, spiritual and physical health and hoping that down the line, my acne will get the memo and get the hell out of dodge.
Hey guys!
I'm rarely logging in here, but this time I just wanted to say that any side-effects I was initially having from Yasmin+Spiro have disappeared some time ago and I literally have no acne any more. Sometimes I instinctively take out my retinoid cream to do some spot treatment and after I rarely ever try where to apply it. There are no breakouts, not even small. 9 months on Yasmin and 6 on Spiro - I'm 100 % clear.
My example is individual of course, and acne might come back after I stop taking these medications, but I can only share my positive experience so far and hope that maybe it will encourage someone with PCOS to look into birth control, as it's not such an evil.
Note to self: check in on acne.org when I am clear. I am upset with my skin condition right now. Especially since I came off months of having great skin. I went through the Winter dodging plenty of bullets and didn't suffer any big breakouts like last Winter when I was eating red meat and sweets a lot. Then by the end of it I really started to pig out. It all finally caught up to me and I am left with a couple zits by my nose and a reocurring whitehead under my lip.
The zits beside my nose were deep. One came out pretty quickly, the other one was pink for days. Both swelled up. The one that came out quickly healed and wasn't much of a problem. The pink one finally came to a head yesterday after a week of being an annoying pink lump. I've been mirror watching it simply because it is so painful and I am curious to see if it came to a head. I know that once it gets a whitehead, the pain and swelling subsides. This one has two whiteheads.
Last night I went to go check on it in the mirror, and one of the whiteheads became loose, and was wet and sitting on top. So I took a toilet paper piece and gently wiped it off. Then, a minute later, all of this blood came pouring out of it. I was cleaning my floors at the time so it splatted on the floor and was like a horror movie.
Really horrific. It just sucks I spent my entire weekend taking care of this breakout. Almost caring too much. It completely took over my life. I had to work yesterday with the public. No one cared, but I did. I felt like a leper.
Feeling pretty meh about it all. Im praying that tazerac works for all these closed comedones and they all don't end up becoming inflamed . Im annoyed that when a pimple leaves me face I get a blackhead in its place..not cool. Im praying and praying that my face goes to its pre pill state eventually because this has become really difficult for me.
Ok 6 months into Spiro and as of today my skin is clear 
I did get one cyst right under my lip that hurt like hell but its now gone and I don't have one single pimple! I asked my gyno to change my birth control to Ortho Tri-Cyclen and she did so I took my first pill today. I really hope the new birth control and the continued Spiro will keep me clear from here on out. I have a dermatologist appointment on Tuesday and I think he's going to up my Spiro, if he does I will ask for 75 mg and wait on going up to 100 mg. I'm really happy with my progress.
Yay!! So happy to hear. I'm just under 4 months and the increase to 75mg in the last few weeks really really made a difference. The oil production is about 50% less, so I hope you also see that as well. Fingers crossed the small increase helps even that much more. I am so excited to see consistent results and hope you continue as well.
Ok 6 months into Spiro and as of today my skin is clear I did get one cyst right under my lip that hurt like hell but its now gone and I don't have one single pimple! I asked my gyno to change my birth control to Ortho Tri-Cyclen and she did so I took my first pill today. I really hope the new birth control and the continued Spiro will keep me clear from here on out. I have a dermatologist appointment on Tuesday and I think he's going to up my Spiro, if he does I will ask for 75 mg and wait on going up to 100 mg. I'm really happy with my progress.
Hardly ever come on here any more but as I`ve recently received a couple of PMs from members on here, just thought I would post to let everyone know how I`m getting on these days. Acne wise my skin isn`t perfect but I`ve reached a stage in my life where I don`t really care that much any more. Having slightly less than perfect skin doesn`t define me or make me a lesser person. I don`t have masses of self-worth or self-esteem but I believe I`m inherently a good person irrespective of my skin.
I had a serious bout of depression which culminated in me virtually having a breakdown and wanting to end my life back in January. It`s taken a while but I believe I`ve more or less recovered now. I still have to take anti-depressants and I have psychotherapy with a therapist once a week but I`m in no way depressed anymore.
I`m back at work now and much to my surprise, I`ve become very close friends with someone who I met on a forum at the end of February. We initially started chatting at the end of February by PM on a website and this then extended to Facebook. We only live 50 miles apart and we have met up four times and on each occasion, we`ve got on really well. Right now, we are just friends and that will remain the case but in the future who knows.
Us meeting proved to be a real turning point for me. She has helped me to move on from things that have happened in the recent past and has helped me to forgive myself for mistakes I made whilst I was ill and to know that I am a good person with worth, value and inherent good qualities. Furthermore, meeting her has helped me to forgive and move on from those people who have used or hurt me in the past. Forgiveness isn`t about forgetting things that have happened or necessarily letting people who have used and hurt you back into your life. It`s about letting go of the bitterness, shame, remorse and anger that you feel towards yourself and others. It`s just my opinion but I cannot stress how important forgiveness is. Being angry and bitter is so destructive and you can never trust or open yourself up to anyone you meet in the future unless you let it go. It`s a sad fact of life but people who have trust issues generally carry a lot of emotional baggage and find it virtually impossible to form healthy and successful relationships in real life.
Sorry for the previous paragraph - just wanted to share what I have learned about forgiveness.
Hope all of you out there are doing okay and not letting acne beat you. I know it`s really hard to believe but having acne doesn`t define you and you shouldn`t let what others say to you define you either. Everyone of us was born with worth, value and self-esteem - it`s only experiences throughout our lives that make us believe that we don`t have these commodities. Irrespective of the condition of our skin, everyone of us has value, worth, importance and we all matter. I know it`s hard but if you can try to remind yourselves of those facts and learn to believe and accept those things for yourselves, you`d be surprised how much easier life becomes.
Take care everyone.
Hardly ever come on here any more but as I`ve recently received a couple of PMs from members on here, just thought I would post to let everyone know how I`m getting on these days. Acne wise my skin isn`t perfect but I`ve reached a stage in my life where I don`t really care that much any more. Having slightly less than perfect skin doesn`t define me or make me a lesser person. I don`t have masses of self-worth or self-esteem but I believe I`m inherently a good person irrespective of my skin.
I had a serious bout of depression which culminated in me virtually having a breakdown and wanting to end my life back in January. It`s taken a while but I believe I`ve more or less recovered now. I still have to take anti-depressants and I have psychotherapy with a therapist once a week but I`m in no way depressed anymore.
I`m back at work now and much to my surprise, I`ve become very close friends with someone who I met on a forum at the end of February. We initially started chatting at the end of February by PM on a website and this then extended to Facebook. We only live 50 miles apart and we have met up four times and on each occasion, we`ve got on really well.
Us meeting proved to be a real turning point for me. She has helped me to move on from things that have happened in the recent past and has helped me to forgive myself for mistakes I made whilst I was ill and to know that I am a good person with worth, value and inherent good qualities. Furthermore, meeting her has helped me to forgive and move on from those people who have used or hurt me in the past. Forgiveness isn`t about forgetting things that have happened or necessarily letting people who have used and hurt you back into your life. It`s about letting go of the bitterness, shame, remorse and anger that you feel towards yourself and others. It`s just my opinion but I cannot stress how important forgiveness is. Being angry and bitter is so destructive and you can never trust or open yourself up to anyone you meet in the future unless you let it go. It`s a sad fact of life but people who have trust issues generally carry a lot of emotional baggage and find it virtually impossible to form healthy and successful relationships in real life.
Sorry for the previous paragraph - just wanted to share what I have learned about forgiveness.
Hope all of you out there are doing okay and not letting acne beat you. I know it`s really hard to believe but having acne doesn`t define you and you shouldn`t let what others say to you define you either. Everyone of us was born with worth, value and self-esteem - it`s only experiences throughout our lives that make us believe that we don`t have these commodities. Irrespective of the condition of our skin, everyone of us has value, worth, importance and we all matter. I know it`s hard but if you can try to remind yourselves of those facts and learn to believe and accept those things for yourselves, you`d be surprised how much easier life becomes.
Take care everyone.
So good to hear you are doing so well! Great to hear you're not so bothered by your skin, you're feeling better, have made what sounds like a great friend and it's also great to hear you saying those positive things about yourself.
Totally agree with you on the forgiveness point - I've had things happen in recent years with people who are close to me. I can't completely forget what they said/did or have them in my life in the same way as they were but I agree with being able to let go of any bitter feelings so you can move on with life and be happier etc
Anyway - Really happy for you and hope things continue going well for you too.
Sooooooo happy to have read your update and you are doing so well. I just joined in December and remember reaching out to you. I too went through my own depression not to long after and have come out the other end. I also have to thank this board for the support in helping me get through this tough time. It warms my heart to hear you met a friend and that itself is a beautiful gift. I wished you continued improvement and progress!
Hardly ever come on here any more but as I`ve recently received a couple of PMs from members on here, just thought I would post to let everyone know how I`m getting on these days. Acne wise my skin isn`t perfect but I`ve reached a stage in my life where I don`t really care that much any more. Having slightly less than perfect skin doesn`t define me or make me a lesser person. I don`t have masses of self-worth or self-esteem but I believe I`m inherently a good person irrespective of my skin.
I had a serious bout of depression which culminated in me virtually having a breakdown and wanting to end my life back in January. It`s taken a while but I believe I`ve more or less recovered now. I still have to take anti-depressants and I have psychotherapy with a therapist once a week but I`m in no way depressed anymore.
I`m back at work now and much to my surprise, I`ve become very close friends with someone who I met on a forum at the end of February. We initially started chatting at the end of February by PM on a website and this then extended to Facebook. We only live 50 miles apart and we have met up four times and on each occasion, we`ve got on really well. Right now, we are just friends and that will remain the case but in the future who knows.
Us meeting proved to be a real turning point for me. She has helped me to move on from things that have happened in the recent past and has helped me to forgive myself for mistakes I made whilst I was ill and to know that I am a good person with worth, value and inherent good qualities. Furthermore, meeting her has helped me to forgive and move on from those people who have used or hurt me in the past. Forgiveness isn`t about forgetting things that have happened or necessarily letting people who have used and hurt you back into your life. It`s about letting go of the bitterness, shame, remorse and anger that you feel towards yourself and others. It`s just my opinion but I cannot stress how important forgiveness is. Being angry and bitter is so destructive and you can never trust or open yourself up to anyone you meet in the future unless you let it go. It`s a sad fact of life but people who have trust issues generally carry a lot of emotional baggage and find it virtually impossible to form healthy and successful relationships in real life.
Sorry for the previous paragraph - just wanted to share what I have learned about forgiveness.
Hope all of you out there are doing okay and not letting acne beat you. I know it`s really hard to believe but having acne doesn`t define you and you shouldn`t let what others say to you define you either. Everyone of us was born with worth, value and self-esteem - it`s only experiences throughout our lives that make us believe that we don`t have these commodities. Irrespective of the condition of our skin, everyone of us has value, worth, importance and we all matter. I know it`s hard but if you can try to remind yourselves of those facts and learn to believe and accept those things for yourselves, you`d be surprised how much easier life becomes.
Take care everyone.
Not to great Just started using a new product , which has mandelic acid in it .I've actually never heard of mandelic acid till I saw some mentioning of it and I said I'll give it a shot. I have had problems in the past with BP causing itching welts/ hives on my face causing my acne to explode so most products with BP I am weary to try . Ergghhh I thought this was going to work I've used it for two weeks and I know that's to short of a period to know but the first week I looked absolutely great , but second week I am so sad. Plus the fact that this cost 30+ dollars hopefully will see results in the future.
I have also started easing myself back into using salicylic acid , starting with the Sensitive Stridex Wipes + Aloe which have about %0.5 in them, they seem to cause dryness so I am going to have start researching some lightweight moisturizers. Overall not to happy with my skin :/
I am feeling so so so fed up!
I had a giant white head on my chin this morning (I guess a bunch of small little ones in one spot), which started to go down and dry up. BUT I'm getting THE LARGEST zit in the center of my chin. My chin is always breaking out, I can't escape it. It hurts and red and did I mention large?! It's about the size of a quarter! I found myself thinking, 'why me? I'm too old for this'
I'm finding myself being happier and happier with my Spiro progress I have not taken a single Minocycline pill in the last 2 weeks and I still haven't broken out yay!!! My derm did give me refills for Minocycline for another 6 months so I might fill one more just in case I need to take it around my menstrual cycle. My blood work came out fine so I will continue with my Spiro and my new bc