Day 18

So the bump on my right cheek is virutally gone.

The 2 on my left cheek are still going down. 1 is practiaclly gone and the other is in its dying throws, it kinda looks bigger today but I think its jsut cos its about to die Its quite dry though and I dn't really feel it.

Other than that, Face improving each day I think. Dry skin, lips and eyes haunt me. I forgot my vaseline at someones house so my lips are gona have to make do with lipsalve!

OH wait

I got some small red pimples on my stomach, which is strange, as I never had there before. hope they go!! They're kinda freaking me out!

hey again!

I'm on 20 mg/day as well... day 17 ....I'm not seeing too much improvement yet...but it seems to be going so well for you..that gives me hope!!! ...

Hey, thanks for commenting

I think it's different for everybody but I guess the results are always the same!

I'm following your blog, goodluck!

Day 19

Nothing interesting to report. The 2 on my left cheek are still there DAMN THEM! lol they really are fighters! It's almost admirable. But I do wish they'd just carry on and die and leave me in peace.

Left jawline is practically smooth (although doesn't look too nice with the redness) and right jaw has a couple of bumps but they're "dry" bumps, not painful ones, so hopefully that will soon go.... But it does look ugly in photos.

My stomach pimples are still there, though perhaps a bit less. I call them pimples, but u can't actually feel them. It's more like little red dots, I count about 8. Too small to be a nuisance but I do hope they go as I've never had a thing over there!

It's kind of scary how you can get spots ANYWHERE. I pray my face is safe from future breakouts !

OH yeah

Pearl of Wisdom: Don't look at your reflection in a CD, it always makes you look TERRIBLE!

Day 20

Face super dry today and feeling a bit down about that. It seems no matter how much I moisturise, 10 minutes later I start getting the little white flakes of skin. The 2 red bumps on left cheek have gone down dramatically today though.

BUT I HAVE A TINY LITTLE WHITEHEAD ON MY LEFT JAWLINE.

That seriously scares me! It better go!

Also I was looking in mirror and my complexion really sucks right now, as in redness etc, terrible.

Overall I'm not a happy camper today! Although I still think i'm improving each day... progress just seems so slow

Gotta try keep positive.

Day 21

Week 3 complete!

My mood is better today. So let me recap what hapened yesterday... got a whitehead on my left jawline and another 1 on my forehead, these are both gone now and no new ones have formed! Skin still healing where they were. The 2 lumps on my left cheek are virtually gone... just the redness remains. Same with right cheek.

So in a light that doesn't pick up my redness, my face looks good. However, in bright light, not so good! Left jawline is doing fine, right jawline MUCH better than when I started, still got a couple of small lumps but nothing painful.

Got my next meeting with the derm on thu morning at 9:20 ... his reaction is gonna make or break my mood! Lol

Hmmmmmmmmm what else... my blog is so boring lol.

oh ye, dryness. So yest i decided not to have my afternoon shower and just wash my face in the evening. That helped. Then this morning I didnt wash my face, and just had an afternoon shower, and i will wash face wid exfoliator at nite. Skin was barely dry today so thats great.

Hmmm can't think of anything else. Not even sure anyone reads this thing anyway!

So were pretty much samzies on almost everything ha ha except I had a smallish break out the other day. My right side looks better than my left also, AND I have my Dermo appt. next thursday, how wierd is that? lol were awesome. My appt. is at 10:30 though. lol

And I totally read this, I just dont reply to everything you say, you log sooo much! lol

You have a nice day! ha ha

Don't get down on yourself it totally sucks when you get a new zit but don't sweat it cause it will go away it just takes time. Plus no one will remember the bad days you have anyway.

Day 22

Cheeks, nose, forehead, chin doing well, other than red marks.

Left jawline has just 1 bump, a new one in fact, not sure how to describe it but it hurts when I touch it. Right jawline doing well; just a couple of small bumps which don't hurt and I don't feel.

hi im elaine im from malta too i noticed youre maltese bcoz of the chat pasted nd some words where in maltese... i encourage you to take decutan they worked really good on me ... i had acne and i took the 10mg for less than 4 months and now i 'm so cleared....the only side effects i noticed where the chipped lips but i havent left them to chipp i was always with my lipsalve in the pocket and aplly like every hr loool...

Day 23

Thank god for this blog because I'd definitely lose track of what day I'm on without it, didn't think that would even be possible!

Today woke up with no dry skin at all, face looking better, no new surprises, good day so far. The dots I had on my stomach have gone too

Lips hardly dry either. I guess cuttign down to wetting face just twice a day has really helped.

Do you guys count a month as 4 weeks? Or 30/31 days? I'm counting mine as 4 weeks to make things simpler... guess I'll ask the derm about that.

Day 24

Pretty much the same as yesterday. Woke up with no dry skin, my skin felt very nice and smooth when I put my moisturiser on this morning (as a preventative, not a necessity!). All I have are 2 large red lumps on my left jawline which hurts when I touch. My right jawline actually doesn't have any bumpbs except 2 TINY ones! My chin cheeks nose forehead are pimple free, other than red marks.

So far so good

Oh yeah I ended up having to stay about 2 hours in the sun and all I had was a beanie, so I got my lipsalve out of my pocket and placed it on my forehead so it kind of propped the beanie up like a cap. The lecturer was this 70 year old man and he kept giving me looks throughout the demonstration. Then, when it was my turn to do stuff, he spoke to me very gently and kindly like I was a simpleton lol

Day 25

Not good day. I knew from the moment I woke up. Face felt kind of itchy. My lips have been very dry all day. I got 2 white heads, 1 on each side of my face, both sort of low down on my cheeks. Its 7:26pm now and they've sort of had their peak I think.. hopefully will be fading memory tomorrow....

shit i hope i'm good for my dermatologist appointment on thu morning...

mood not so good!

Day 26

Not better, not worse.

Which sucks cos the derma is prob not gona believe me when I tell him i was almost clear a few days ago save for a lump or 2.

Actually my face does feel calmer though, as though its braved the storm and should be getting better each day.. the spots don't feel volatile anymore.. not sure how to describe it.

So derma appointment is tomorro morning and month 1 almost complete! If he says I need more than 4 months I'll do something very drastic! Not sure what, but Ill make sure its drastic!

Hmm mood not as bad as yesterday, but not as good as a few days ago. Totally dependent on my face. I hope I clear up by Sat because I want to go out. Three days... a lot can happen in 3 days. Hopefuly good stuff.

Oh yeah got a presentation tomorrow afternoon, hoping that goes well! My group are all going out drinking after... damnit I'm gonna feel bad not joining in lol

update:

jsut was examining face.

shit i look TERRIBLE. worst ive been for a while now... so depressing. Not just because of the breakout (nice red lumps all around jaw area) but my complexion is also sucking big time... my cheeks seem to have huge open pores.. i dunno... just my luck for this to happen right before derm appointment

Day 27

Went to derm today.

But first things first.

So, face: not worse, slight improvement from yesterday. The bumps are drying up/going down. But still not good enough to make me happy! But at least it's not getting worse.

So went to the dermatologist. Had 3 questions I wanted to ask.

1) CAn I take a few drinks on NYE

2) How long should I consider a month - 4 weeks, 30 days, 31 days?

3) Should I take blood test

I forgot to ask all 3!

But he said my progress is very good and that made me happy at least (Even though he's seeing me on a bad day). He said I shall remain on 20mg a day for the next 2 months, increasing dose on the 4th (final) month.

Maybe he's not suggesting blood tests because I seem to be doing fine and it's a low dose?

Ah well. Got a university presentation in 2 hours

Oh yeah, I seem to be constantly getting dry skin where I broke out these past few days. Could it be related?

Consider a month on how many days is in that month or just estimate 4 weeks every month ..... As for the blood tests i have no clue man i thought you had to do blood work to make sure all functions in the body are running appropriately .....

Day 28

So face dryness not as bad anymore

Face getting bit better each day, sort of recovering from the breakout. Still not happy to go out though. Hmm not much more to say really...

Got 1 small whitehead but Ah well, the others have all dried up... but they're very red.

OH yeah, lots of people here say photo flash seems to hide their acne and make them look better... I find the opposite happens! I can't STAND to see myself in a photo right now, but in the mirror in not too bright lighting it's not bad.

Day 29

slight improvement I think..

I decided to count the bumps so I know what I have.

right side of neck/jaw: 4 small bumps

Right cheek: 1 bump

Right of chin (lower cheek kinda): 1 bump

Left side of neck/jaw: 1 bump (big) and 1 pracitcally smoothened out

Left cheek: 1 dried up whitehead (more near my temple though than on cheek)

Left of chin: 2 dry bumps

Forehead: 0

nose: 0

Chin: 0

But lots of redmarks esp on cheeks and jawline

Sounds terrible doesn't it.

Day 30

one month !! woohoo!!

Today was best day so far since my breakout on Tue... not much dry skin... bumps and stuff are going down still... Those bumps on my neck feel so big when i touch them but they don;t LOOK as large as they feel, strange, and they don't hurt or anything. Complexion could be better. I really REALLY hope I'm clear by xmas/NYE

Day 31/120

sooo... again improvement from yesterday... thinks drying up/going down... hopefully good trend continues... got a little tiny whiehead on right jawline, which will hopeflly be gone tomorrow... ummm not much more to say I guess.. that's what you get from updating each day lol.

tomorro will be exactly one week since I broke out. In 9 days I'll be 1/3rd through the course

i'll never take clear skin for granted after this. I can't believe I used to whine before about my pale skin... Bring on the clear pale skin!!

Day 32/120

Today's Tuesday so its been exactly one week since my last breakout, and my face is doing MUCH better today... almost as good as before the breakout. Dryness minimal, in fact just on a few of the 'lumps' which are almost smoothened, it seems no matter how much I moisturise them, they get dry 10 minutes later! I can live with that (for now!).

Left neck lumps practically gone. Right doing OKKKK i guess.... too scared to check right now because I don't want to dampen my mood!

Lips need contant coatings of vaseline, otherwise they get superdry.

Day 33

Didn't have time to post yesterday, was out most of the day and got home at 3am. But I'll write a quick summary of the day...

Basically very good day, except for the bumps on right jawline. lips became extremely dry in the evening.

Day 34/120

Today. ALso good day. Face barely dry at all. Hopefully this is a good thing (because last time my face was this undry I suddenly broke out!). Skin doing good, just need the bumps on the right jawline to go down a bit. Have a tiny tiny whitehead on bottom of chin, can;t even feel it, not worried about it. So far so good.

Day 35/120

Today woke up with practically 0 dry skin, which is very good. However, this is exactly how I felt the day before I got my bad breakout last week! SO hopefully tomorrow won;t be a repeat!

FAce doing good. 1 small bump on forehead and left cheek, and sum on right jawline.. but nothing bad.

Feeling good.

Day 36

So Friday night (evening before day 36) I went out for the first time in a month or so (have been staying in because of the spots ) and I had a couple (literally, 2) drinks. Was fine on day 36. [edit: by went out, I mean went out to clubs etc. I have been out of the house loads these past few weeks with close friends, just not in party hotspots lol]

Day 37

Still fine. No breakoutyet thankfully. Complexion isn't as good as usual today but i'm not complaining. Face hardly dry at all upon waking up (when it's usually at its most dry)

My face stats right now are:

Forehead: 1 bump (settled, going down)

Left cheek: 1 bump (settled, also going down) and 1 dry small whitehead

Right cheek: 2 barely visible bumps

chin: clear

Left jawline: clear

right jawline:a little messy in the corner (but not too bad, and this is problem area since before starting the pills even)

nose: clear

So quite good overall.

I'm reallly keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be almost clear by christmas eve and NYE... right now it could go either way. If i Keep progressing like this I should be good, but as I've learnt over the past month, always expect the unexpected... except when you least expect it.

TMJ good luck with the rest of your course! Sorry about you break out a bit ago, I'm sure in a week or two it will be all healed up. As far as being clear by Christmas I think its definately a possiblity. From what I've heard most people clear up in month 2 or 3.

Anyway I just wanted to stop by to say hang in there! It'll all be over soon!

Good luck again!