I first started getting acne when I was 9 years old. Just a few pimples, a big one every now and then. It wasn't a big deal, but hardly normal for someone pre-puberty! By the time I hit puberty my face was awful, cystic and painful, and the worst part was it was all over my chest/back, it was painful to even lay down! By the time I was 13 my dermatologist put me on acuetane. For me, the worst part was how badly it made my lips peel. But after an 8 month treatment, my acne was gone and I was loving the benefits of not having such oily skin! My skin was clear and perfect for about a year, and then my acne slowly started coming back. So, I was put on birth control (because my skin broke out much worse around my period.) That helped for awhile but eventually stopped working. It got to the point where I was getting cystic acne on my back which was very painful. My dermatologist switched my birth control pills and put me on an antibiotic (which I was nervous about because pre-acutane the antibiotic made my stomach hurt a lot.) and switch my clindamycin gel to a lotion which made the retin A hurt less. This seemed to be helping a lot until a few days ago when I had a huge flare up. I got one cyst and put on a lot of persa-gel which seemed to help but within the next few days I had several more pimples.

I'd just like to have clearer skin that I didn't feel the need to cover up with lots of makeup. Right now I'm also not sure how much of the red marks on my face are just scars or active acne. I'm currently using Tretinoin cream, clidamycin lotion, persa gel 10, aveeno positively radiant daily scrub, and clean and clear 10% BP (only on my chest/back.) Right now, my face is burning and stinging from my rapid rush to treat it (it had just started clearing up so this break out really got to me this time.)

I've never had a perfectly balanced skin routine, but I'm off to college and now seems like a good time to start. I'm just worried that after 8 years of retin a/clindamycin, stopping might be a bad idea. I've also worried how well I could the regimen on my body, I usually just wash my chest/back with a 10% BP wash once a day in the shower, it's too hard for me to try to apply any gels/creams there.

Sorry for the long rambling post, I just am unsure what to do. Could the regimen help me? Or should I continue what I'm doing? How well do acne scars fade on the regimen?