Hyperpigmentaion?

I don't think so because it feels like a smooth rubbery red patch i.e. a different texture to the rest of my skin. Whenever I come off Accutane it flares up into acne and it's only that one part of my face. I've also developed a few white patches where the hair has stopped growing. I don't know if this is a fungal infection (tried cream and it didn't work) or vitiligo!

Hyperpigmentaion?

Is it a large patch? And you always break out in that area? If so I wonder if red light therphy would help with that. I guess it is something to talk to your dermatologist about. White patches , on your face? Your facial hair stopped growing while on accutane or is this hair on your head?

Yeah, it's down one side of my face and breaks out whenever I'm not on Roaccutane or had sunlight! I have an appointment in 2 weeks with the derm so will ask about red light (is it available in UK?)

As for the white patch, it is like the pigment is lost and now the hair (beard) has stopped growing. I think it may be a fungal infection but again, will ask in 2 weeks and see what he says!

Yup it is available in the UK. You should just ask about light therpy in general. Blue light red light and infrared. They all have their benefits. The white patches could be fungal, sounds about right. How long has it been since you were on accutane? I think I remember seeing you accutane log around the time I was on accutane. I was on from march 2012 to October 2012. You could try using a fungal infection cream that you can get at any store like boots or something.

Are the white patches scar tissue? Is that why no hair is growing there anymore? Or did you experience a lot of hair loss while on accutane?

I've been on Roaccutane 3 times now but never done a log so that wasn't me. My GP prescribed me some fungal cream and to be honest, I was lazy with it so didn't use it properly. He also said the redness was fungal which I knew was rubbish really. The white patches seem like scar tissue but are prominent which makes me think it's fungal but I might be wrong as the hair has stopped growing.

The last time I visited my GP he said of the redness "oh it isn't fungal, it's now bacterial so I will send you to the derm" and pretty much suggested Roaccutane again there and then! Something that DIDN'T happen when I was 18! I had to try everything else first. To be honest though, it doesn't Roaccutane again.

Thanks for the suggestion about the lights. How is your skin post Roaccutane? (I take it you're in the UK too?)

Oh and if the white patch is scar tissue, it is very strange as I've had no acne there for years and it has suddenly appeared

I'm actually not in the UK. Wish I was lol. I just have sme friends that moved over there so I know quite a bit about it. Like shops and stuff. Plus I've done quite a bit of research since my family background in all in the UK. Anyways maybe I've seen you commenting on logs or something because I remember your photo.

So did your GP give you antibiotics for the " bacterial infection " then? If you still have that fungal cream I would give that a chance again it won't hurt plus I think what you are describing sounds fungal.

I was under the assumption that if you have scar tissue that acne won't develop in that area anymore. The reason you get the scar tissue is because your skin reacts to having so much damage in that area and it developes the scar tissue to protect that area of skin from further damage. So if it is scar tissue I wouldn't think that you would be breaking out in that area anymore. But what leads me to think it is scar tissue is that no hair grows in that area anymore. That screams scar tissue to me, so I am curious as to what your dermatologist will say it is.

Do you find that doing more courses of tane helps your acne or does it always return to the same state it was in before? I did the one course last year and 3 months later started getting light break outs again and I started treating it from a hormonal front because I didn't want to do accutane again. I can't imagine doing 3 courses, are you planning on doing another one that the doctor offered you?

No, he gave me Duac. I've not got any fungal cream left so will have to ask for another try maybe.

Sorry, I don't think I made it clear that I hav 2 different types of problem! On the left hand side of my face I have a straight line of redness which has been there for 7/8 years! It sometimes breaks out but when I take Accutane it becomes flat and red but feels rubbery. It's like it's 'sleeping'... VERY ANNOYING! On my other cheek I developed a red patch that again, is smooth but just will not disappear... I'm not sure if its down to dryness but I've moisturised till I'm blue in the face. Next to this is where this white scar tissue is that I'm talking about (I think it is scar tissue) that has recently appeared. I have to agree with you it feels like scar tissue and the hair has stopped growing. It feels like vilitigo! I hope it's fungal but it doesn't look or feel like it

It does help and takes less time to clear but then it just comes back... It's very frustrating. I don't think I'll get it again because its pointless as it comes back an causes major dryness when I'm on it to the point it looks worse that a spot. I think that's due to having 3 courses

My acne scars hav really started to bother me over he last year or so though

Will you not give accutane another shot then?

Sorry if that's a waffle, I'm not on my laptop so harder to type

I personally don't think I will do accutane again. I have pretty good control over my acne right now. Knock on wood.

Although it worked for me I just don't know how well my body would handle another course.. Plus I didn't think it was worth te 7 crappy months on accutane for just 3 months of clear skin ya know..

When are you seeing your derm next?

Did it make you feel bad then?

Next Wednesday. I've actually not seen a derm for a long long time

EH did it make me feel bad yes and no. My joints bothered me and my lower back killed the entire time. Which since time has gone away. I mean I sat with a heating pad all 7 months I was on it. I was also on it over the summer which was bad because of the tane and sun aspect of it. I am very outdoorsy in the summer. Water parks and boating a water tubing a few times a week. But climbing in a out of a boat became hard becaue my knee and ankle joints would get inflammed. Which hasn't gone away since then. With over use I get inflammed sometime in my hand but for sure in my ankles and feet. So I am hoping that side effect still might fade away.

I guess I figured if I ever had to do another accutane course that I might come out with more issues and those issues might stick around... Luckly for me the spiro I am taking is really doing the trick, at most I may get a couple pimples a month. So its not so bad. Perfect clear accutane skin would be better though lol. I miss the feeling of being able to do anything with my skin and I wouldn't break out.

Never the less. Let me know what the derm says. I'm pretty interested! Good luck at your appointment!!

Will do. I'm just glad I've got an appointment with a derm because when I first went to the GP it was just the usual red marks which he claimed was a fungal infection (I knew it wasn't, it was acne resurfacing) obviously fungal cream can cause acne so made it worse and he said "oh yeah, I can see it's bacterial I'll refer you, he might put you back on Accutane" and gave me Duac without asking any questions or looking at it properly. He basically wanted rid of me as he had a student doctor in with him and wanted to teach her more 'day to day' stuff! The British NHS, gotta love it.

I won't even get into how they messed up my appointment for my derm meaning I should have seen the derm a lot sooner than next Wednesday!!!

Yeah, I hear a lot of issues with NHS. At the same point though I'd prefer to have NHS than no health care at all. Here in the US it's either you pay out the nose for health care or you have none. It's bullshit.

Anyways sounds like the GP you saw was a idiot. I swear sometime I don't even know why doctors even see patients. Half the time they don't listen or look at what the issue is. They review what your appointment is supposed to be about and they make up their minds by the time they walk in the room. It sucks. I hope your appointment with your derm goes better than the one with your GP did.

What Are you going to do? More antibiotics or try tane again?

Re. the GP, exactly! I said something to him and he was writing something down and just said "yeah" without even looking.

I don't know, I'm going to see how it develops over the next week but to be honest the marks are there with or without acne so we'll see what he/she says

I wonder if light therepy would help the spots... I hope ur derm has a great treatment to offer you and they don't just throw the usual BS your way with retin a and a long term antibiotic. Do you have active acne now or just the red smooth skin patches?

I have one of 2 spots but nothing bad, it comes and goes which is very annoying. It's the patches that bother me... to be honest, as bad as it sounds, I'm going to really play on it and make it out to be worse than it actually is mentally because I'm sick of this now. I've done the whole Retin-a thing for scars and it doesn't work for me

I did this when I was younger on the advice of my Gran and I was offered N-Lite treatment for free on the NHS! Pity it did nothing! I went to a private clinic once and they tried offering me a miracle solution (N-Lite) I laughed and walked out! They then tried to change my mind with dermaroller which IMO is a complete load of rubbish

AND these white/red patches look worse as the white patch has developed right next to the red one! I was in Thailand and tanned too which made the white look worse!

I have one of 2 spots but nothing bad, it comes and goes which is very annoying. It's the patches that bother me... to be honest, as bad as it sounds, I'm going to really play on it and make it out to be worse than it actually is mentally because I'm sick of this now. I've done the whole Retin-a thing for scars and it doesn't work for me

I did this when I was younger on the advice of my Gran and I was offered N-Lite treatment for free on the NHS! Pity it did nothing! I went to a private clinic once and they tried offering me a miracle solution (N-Lite) I laughed and walked out! They then tried to change my mind with dermaroller which IMO is a complete load of rubbish

I would think it would be quite odd for your derm to offer you accutane for 2 spots. I guess you will just have to wait and see what happens. I would milk out your situation as well since it has been going on for so long. I would make them do a skin shave or take a sample and find out what it really is and see if it is something they can get rid of.

Retin a has never done anything for me either! I swear all my dermatologist does is prescribe me retin a she has never given me a different topical before. Oh wait thats not true she gave me finacia which did nothing for me too.. I never have had much luck with topical treatments. Or Antibiotics. The only thing that has worked for me was the accutane course I did, but results only lasted 3 months so that sucked. Now I am doing Spiro and that has a pretty good handle of my acne. I maybe have one active..

I hear that a lot of people have great success with the dermaroller. If it is used correctly people see like a 70% change in their scarring.

My dermatologist never offers anything for free. I even get billed for the band aid that they put on me after a shot. Jerks. What was the N lite offered for? Red Marks?

No that was for my acne originally which was ridiculous because it was so severe at the time. Oh to have normal skin! Mine definitely seems to be getting worse texture and scar wise (white smooth marks appearing)

Fingers crossed some solution is on th horizon

By the way... It's nice for someone to actually reply in here

I'm sure there has to be a solution for this little problem!! I'm excited to hear what happenes at the appointment!!

My skin texture is alittle all over the place right now. I have red marks on my cheeks still from my accutane course that I am just finally starting to get rid of. I ordered dans AHA from acne.org and have been using it for a couple of days now. It's supposed to take you from clear to perfect and even out skin tones and textures so I am excited to see results but nervous to start a new product I'm so scared I'm I'm going to break out! I did a patch test for a couple days and things were fine so I went for it today and put it all over my face today! Fingers crossed this product works for me!! I was hopeful these red marks would fade on their own but 9 months later they have barely budged!! Ugh acne such a pain isn't it?

It certainly is!!

Seriously, THE biggest waste of time and I nearly grabbed the dermatologist by the throat!

So... I went to my appointment today.

Firstly, as weird as it sounds, I wanted people to be in thir with scarring so that I could 'compare' scars. There was a lad that was bout my age in there me without sounding awful, I feel grateful my scarring isn't that bad.

Anyway, after finally getting to see the dermatologist (an hour and a half late) I was met with a student nurse being sat in with us. This immediately made me feel uncomfortable as she was hot!!! But I thought "fk it, I've waited ages for this appointment, I'm telling him everything"

He asked me LOTS of questions... Am I on any medication? How does my scarring make me feel? The idiot even asked me how old I was (yeah mate, my date of birth is on your records right in front of you) I thought great this is leading to something

He then said "so you've got some red marks?" Well yeah that's by I'm here you idiot. He then examines them and rubs them a bit and says "we'll your doctor has said you had bacteria but I can't see anything" I then asked him why it got irritated then when I shave and what are the smooth white bits as my GP said it was originally fungal. He again said "I can't see anything apart from pitted skin which is minor and you'd have to go private to sort it"

I lost my rag then and again asked why my skin got irritated and rubbed it myself! He basically dismissed me again so I walked out.

Utter clown. Why ask m all those questions? Seemed like a training exercise for the nurse to me

Oh my god! It does sound like a huge waste of time! I'm sure he was training the nurse like you said. Everytime they ask me if I'm okay with a student observing I say no. Because they spend more time teaching the student then actually listening to me or actually treating me. So basically you waited do long for the appointment and all you got is a you have to go private to sort it out? That's bull shit. I'd be pissed off. The NHS doctors are jerks and they should feel useless. Anything with any challenge or anything that is helpful to a patient a private doctor does. What's the purpose of NHS dermatologist then? To shove antibiotics at you and that is all? Ugh the medical field just pisses me off. I would have walked out too. I'm sorry the appointment was such a let down. Is there a way you can see a different derm? Or when you go NHS is there no choices for you?