Same old.. dryness, flakiness. Skin feels really tight. Really wish I could moisturize, but the one moisturizer that I CAN use literally disappears within five minutes and leaves my skin feeling even tighter.

I really hate my situation... skin is always dry and tight, especially around my mouth. I try to move my mouth as little as possible to avoid creating flakes. If I smile, heck if I even chew, I have to run to the mirror soon after to pick the flakes off. I'm getting ugly red cysts around my chin area as well as a slew of smaller bumps to the right side of my mouth... not to mention the unappealing and painful lipline pimples. I haven't been eating as much as usual because a) I'm paranoid of chewing and b) I'm trying to eat as clean as possible, so my options are limited. I've had BP on the same pimples for a week now, consistently, and they haven't gone away. I've done the full two pumps at night and spot treated several times during the day... and still they persist. I mean, what the hell? What's it going to take?

Not to mention classes start tomorrow and of course I'll be the one guy in all my classes with messed up skin. I feel like a lot of the color has gone out of life. I used to love the outdoors - now I can't be in the sun for too long because my BP'd skin and the inability to use SPF don't mix. Not to mention that if I sweat, the BP would run down and bleach my shirt collars. I'm paranoid to kiss my girlfriend because I'll inevitably get those nasty lipline pimples - heck, sometimes I don't even want to rub against her because I know my skin will flake up. I can't eat what I want anymore and have to limit myself to the same drab stuff. And that's just my face... my chest, back and neck are a nuisance as well. I swore I wouldn't let my skin keep me down but at this point I just can't help it. I just feel so hopeless.

I'm yearning more and more for accutane, hopefully the derm will understand my situation. Screw the side effects, because the extent to which skin problems have taken over my life is beyond ridiculous. Maybe I need a psychiatrist too...

Sorry things with your skin aren't going that well at the moment

What do you use to moisturise at night? I find that if I moisturise a lot at night before bed - using a lot of jojoba oil and some cetaphil - that has really helped with flakes and dryness. And in the morning I just use neutrogena moisturiser. But I do the 'heavy' moisturising at night. Maybe doing something like that at night would help you? For the last 3 days I haven't moisturised at night (I did in the AM though) because my skin felt normal after BP but now I'm regretting it because I've had bad flaking today... so I'm back to moisturising tonight.

And what about carrying the moisturiser you use with you? So you can reapply during the day? That could help too.

Don't give up hope. Things will get better in time! If you're not happy with using the regimen as 'prescribed' or not happy with how what you're doing now is going, I hope that your derm will be able to suggest something that ends up being better for you.

Good luck for when your classes start back

Sorry things with your skin aren't going that well at the moment

What do you use to moisturise at night? I find that if I moisturise a lot at night before bed - using a lot of jojoba oil and some cetaphil - that has really helped with flakes and dryness. And in the morning I just use neutrogena moisturiser. But I do the 'heavy' moisturising at night. Maybe doing something like that at night would help you? For the last 3 days I haven't moisturised at night (I did in the AM though) because my skin felt normal after BP but now I'm regretting it because I've had bad flaking today... so I'm back to moisturising tonight.

And what about carrying the moisturiser you use with you? So you can reapply during the day? That could help too.

Don't give up hope. Things will get better in time! If you're not happy with using the regimen as 'prescribed' or not happy with how what you're doing now is going, I hope that your derm will be able to suggest something that ends up being better for you.

Good luck for when your classes start back

I can't moisturize though, that's the thing... every moisturizer I've found burns after BP, except Neutrogena... and that a) comes in a small tiny bottle, and b) two pumps of it don't do ANYTHING. It's not a transient burn either. It's the kind of burn that actually gets progressively worse, and my face develops this deep red hue (as opposed to the orangey-red hue I get from BP). One time I actually got chemical burns from applying moisturizer after BP - my cheeks were deep red, extremely touch-sensitive and dry to the point of crustiness for about a week.

If I could find a decent, hydrating moisturizer I would be in heaven... but right now my skin is SO parched. It just yearns for moisture. But at the same time there's these angry pimples screaming "put BP on me", and I also know that if I give the BP a break for a couple days I'll get even more of them. I just feel stuck

Update... last couple days my skin felt sooo tight from BP. Yesterday I couldn't eat or smile without feeling extreme tightness and flaking up. Had to keep jumping into bathrooms. My skin also felt burned by the end of the day and looked very red and angry, so I skipped night application.

Not to mention this morning I find MORE pimples around the lip - one of them is deep and just starting to form, but already hurts. This sucks. I mean, I thought I'd beaten that stuff, but now I daresay my skin looks as bad is it did when I started.

It's such a hard time in my life right now, fulltime classes AND I have to support myself somehow. If I could put my best face forward that would give me enough motivation to pull through, but I can't even go a single day without feeling good about how I look. It's like, every morning I wake up hoping for improvement, and all I see is flakes, redness, and more pimples in the most conspicuous areas possible. Seriously, f**k this disease.

Update... last couple days my skin felt sooo tight from BP. Yesterday I couldn't eat or smile without feeling extreme tightness and flaking up. Had to keep jumping into bathrooms. My skin also felt burned by the end of the day and looked very red and angry, so I skipped night application.

Not to mention this morning I find MORE pimples around the lip - one of them is deep and just starting to form, but already hurts. This sucks. I mean, I thought I'd beaten that stuff, but now I daresay my skin looks as bad is it did when I started.

It's such a hard time in my life right now, fulltime classes AND I have to support myself somehow. If I could put my best face forward that would give me enough motivation to pull through, but I can't even go a single day without feeling good about how I look. It's like, every morning I wake up hoping for improvement, and all I see is flakes, redness, and more pimples in the most conspicuous areas possible. Seriously, f**k this disease.

Try Simple's replenishing moisturizer. I used it when I started the regimen and I barely had any flakes or redness at all. Also, try to avoid skipping applications as much as possible. Just make sure you have a feather light touch when washing and applying.

Hang in there, best of luck to you!

Just wanted to say, I'm officially on Accutane as of yesterday. Took my first pill, 20mg. I know it was big decision and there are risks, but my skin was just getting worse and worse... most noticeably, I've developed indented scarring on my temples which I didn't have when I started the Regimen... my chest and back were also breaking out something awful, so I decided enough was enough.

I'm not going to try and keep a detailed log as I did with the Regimen, as it's way too stressful. Maybe weekly updates or something. I know my skin might get much worse before it gets better, so I just want to suck it up and try and pay as little attention to my acne as possible. Hopefully in six months I'll finally have my life back. Until then, well... all I have is hope!

Just wanted to say, I'm officially on Accutane as of yesterday. Took my first pill, 20mg. I know it was big decision and there are risks, but my skin was just getting worse and worse... most noticeably, I've developed indented scarring on my temples which I didn't have when I started the Regimen... my chest and back were also breaking out something awful, so I decided enough was enough.

I'm not going to try and keep a detailed log as I did with the Regimen, as it's way too stressful. Maybe weekly updates or something. I know my skin might get much worse before it gets better, so I just want to suck it up and try and pay as little attention to my acne as possible. Hopefully in six months I'll finally have my life back. Until then, well... all I have is hope!

Good luck with the Accutane!

Hope it all goes well and gives you great results