Hello everyone! So, after I started getting acne when I was 15 I always thought it would get better as I got older because people were like "Oh, it's a teenage hormone thing." Yea no, it only got worse. And now I'm 25.
I was diagnosed with secondary adrenal insufficiency 2 years ago and was put on hydrocortisone as my treatment. I have to take this medicine for the rest of my life to survive. Anyway, it made my acne sooooo much worse. I was devastated and it makes me so insecure. I won't even go near pools or the ocean because my body is just so messed up from the acne that I don't even want to expose it around my friends. I even have sex in the dark for heaven's sake. I finally got health insurance this month so I went to a dermatologist finally last week because I was so fed up with how embarrassing it is. She started me on Epiduo with doxycycline (antibiotics) and told me to take both for 3 months. She told me I have adult acne and that it's very common. I was like oh, ok. Let's give it a shot since I've tried everything else in the world.
So, I have somewhat oily skin. I'll put my make up on and that shit will get oily towards the end of the night. Being on Epiduo has made my skin severely dry and I've only been on it for a week. I don't even put it on my eyes and they too are super sensitive and hurt a lot when I remove my make up. I've used Simple moisturizing facial cleanser and the Simple light-moisturizing lotion already before beginning Epiduo but they seem like great gentle candidates for the product as well. I just started using the moisturizer tonight after the Epiduo dries and it doesn't burn when I apply the moisturizer after applying and it helps a lot with the peeling and flaking so yay! Still feel the burning and itching like crazy though. I don't even know what to do anymore though if that doesn't help. I didn't even put any mascara on today because I don't want to deal with the sensitivity and burning when I take it off at night. Again, I've only been on this for a week and I literally use less than a pea size amount on every section of my face. My face is already friggen peeling. It burns like a mother. And itches like crazy. I was like slapping my face because I don't want to scratch or pick at the dry spots. Although my acne has almost completely gone away, minus one zit on my right cheek, the hyper-pigmentation hasn't changed at all but I don't want to stop using it because it helped kill like 5 zits on my face from earlier last week already. I've started using organic coconut oil unrefined by Spectre on my eyes and under my eyes and it seems to be helping soooo much with the drying and flaking. I'm afraid to put it on the dry spots of my face though because I have crazy weird skin and all the good stuff that people use for their skin, does the complete opposite for me. So maybe it will work for you for the drying. But seriously. Try that Simple moisturizing facial cleanser and the Simple light-moisturizing lotion. They are great products for sensitive skin. I swear by them. Walmart sells them and I couldn't be happier lol. They also make cleansing wipes. I think I'm going to switch over from Neutrogena to those and see if my eyes still burn when taking off my make up since this is new to me after starting Epiduo ha.
Also, I keep hearing about initial breakouts with Epiduo and I swear if that happens I'm going to cry, because my face is so smooth finally. I haven't seen it like this in years! I'm just praying this hyper-pigmentation goes away too. I don't want to wear cover up anymore! It's expensive haha. I only get mine from Mac because it's seriously the best cover up I've ever used to cover my acne flawlessly.
Anyway, I hope my advice about the face wash, moisturizer and coconut oil helps! Good luck!
I'm 24 and I've been using epiduo for 21 days now, on consecutive days on my face and shoulders and every 2 days on my back.
My acne is acne vulgaris mostly a bunch of comendons on my face, shoulders and back, some blackheads, whiteheads and occasional pimples and tons of papules. Those are the ones that really make me nervous. Also some nodules on my back, that may be painful.
Before using Epiduo, I used Neostrata Gel Plus, after going to the dermatologist. He told me to change if with 4 weeks of Neostrata I didn't see any improvement. And so I did.
Since using Epiduo I still don't see much improvement too. If anything, it's worse than before starting. I'm telling myself that it's because my face is peeling that the before papules are coming up and, by peeling the surface, they are more exposed to the ambiental pathogenes that can colonize it and make it be more susceptible to infect. But I don't know...
I'm giving you some idea of what happened to me:
First 5 days - after reading large amount of reviews on the product I was hopeful to get some initial improvement. It would boost my confidence and keep me going. Wrong. I felt nothing. It was like putting some alcoholic solution on my skin that would eventually dry.
5-10 - my skin started to get really red and sensitive for the product application. I started to peel a bit on my chin.
11- 15 - Peeling was aweful. It was like some small scales coming from my face (and only my face). I started using Nivea Creme to hide and slowly it started to look better. It started to be less red and happeared some mixed color spots (like piebold). Also the dryness was more notorious and it started to itch. Mostly my neck and chin. Then it was my shoulders.
15-24 - It stopped peeling. I now have super sensitive skin (even wearing a bra is harsh sometimes), it itches like crazy and no improvement on the acne whatsoever. Also, I noticed that my skin temperature normalized. The piebold areas are more regular now.
I'll keep you guys posted, as I hope that this is only because I'm still on my first month. Hopefuly on my 2nd month I'll have better news.
Ive just started using this tonight. My derm told me to have it on my face for 1 hour then wash it off. Then day 2 for 2 hours then wash it off. Day 3 for 3 hours, then wash it off and keep going until day 6 to leave it on overnight. Ill update in here about how it goes... im getting worried hearing about the peeling and bad skin irritation...
