Acne.org Products
Hi everyone,
Hope you are all well. I need some advice and support because i'm a bit worried about the situation of my skin. I'm 25, have had persistant breakouts since i was about 14, and have been on and off the pill for a few years but i have never actually been on them for longer than 2-3 months at a time. I have taken several antiobiotics etc, they helped while I was on them but then my skin just got worse when i went off them.
Im a bit worried because I have just started up the pill (belara, which is very popular where i live and supposed to clear skin and oily skin/hair etc) after trying this past year of seeing a dermatologist and literally failing everything she gave me (antiobiotics etc, differin which i can't stand, and i am very reluctant to take accutane for several reasons, mostly because i am very prone to anxiety and have a history of severe depression and there are just a lot of things about accutane that don't appeal to me, like, i dont really know if i want to dry out my skin and ruin the rest of my body for some spots, and i heard it can cause hair thinning because i have a couple of friends who took it and their eyelashes fell out and they lost hair and hair loss runs in my family.
Belara cleared up my skin pretty good the first time i took it. The second time, not so much, but the second time i took it i was also taking glucophage (metformin, for pcos) but i am wondering if this is the actual culprit because since ive taken it i have gotten more acne (the metformin).
I am on the third day of my third pill packet. My hair is a lot drier than it used to be, i noticed i don't need to wash it as often but i am still breaking out and am very worried, its like they are constant and persistant, and most of them kind of start under the skin and then turn into nasty whiteheads with several heads that leave red marks once they leave. That also really depresses me.
I just wanted to know how many months i have to stay on the pill for my acne to clear up because i am starting to get really anxious and i feel bad for saying this, depressed, at the state of my skin. I know there are worse things out there but all you know that acne can actually cause a lot of emotional strain because you never know when you are going to break out. I mean, today, i came home and i was cleaning my face and two big pimples of mine popped and were all oozy and its like wtf?
I had a photofacial with a peel 2 weeks ago and don't know if its all the crap coming to the surface but i mean, its illogical that i am breaking out so much.
I have taken diane 35 before and it caused me a lot of nasty side effects and has also been banned where i live so its not an option. I got deep vein thrombosis from it too so. Im reluctant to take YAZ because it has a lower estrogen count than Belara and i dont know if thats good for me, because i'm also worried about the fact that i am not even getting my period with belara. I know it takes 3-6 months to take effect but shouldn't it be working?
What are my options and how long do i have to wait for the pill to work in order to judge how effective it is? Is accutane the next stop ? my doctor doesn't want me to take accutane (because of above reasons) but i just seriously dont kno wwhat to do. I sometimes avoid neighbours because i have breakouts and dont want them to see me without concealer/make up. Bad i know but its just the way it is, i know i need to build up my confidence but this acne is wearing me down. I want to focus on something other than my acne and the marks it leaves behind.
as of today i am going off the drug metformin because i feel my skin has gotten worse on it and i am just staying on the pill to see whether it works.
I literally had the worse day, i cried because i have 3 small cysts on my chin and it looks like one of them is linking into the other. My mom told me she thinks the pill hasn't helped but that my skin looks slightly worse with spots on cheeks n all. She said she doesn't want me to take accutane but it is starting to become pshyological now. If my current pill doesn't work on its own, i may switch pills or just go on accutane.
LillyRose LillyRose..... - Pocs is hormonal and can cause acne in itself and a lot of women with pocs become insulin restistant in other words can cause diabetes, in which they give metaformin as it treats the Pocs and if you ever become insulin restistant that is a drug that is used in someone with pocs along with diet.
Have you tried diet, light threapy etc... You know how dangerous accutane is and truth is Pocs cause hormonal issues which can cause acne and so your skin may be clear temporarily, but then come back... Not to mention outside of accutane depression, suicide risks, if you look at the side effects closely alot are found in hormonal or autoimmune disorders.
I am hoping you didn't stop the metaformin on your own without notifying a physican.
I am mean you can search the board and find some people with pocs that took accutane, but I am sure they didn't stay clear and is your health work the risk???????
hey Oli girl,
of course health is not worth risking over, i am sort of antii accutane because i have friends who have taken it with scary side effects. I was about 30 pounds over my current weight when i started metformin i think my endocrinologist gave it to me to help me get down to my current weight (120ish LBS) but to be honest a lot of that weight came off because of my diet and exercise routine. Lately the metformin hasn't done anything as my weight has stablised. The doc said she would take me off it or reduce the dose. She had gradually reduced it to 500mgXR but i noticed my skin was becoming very bad on it. When i started to take it, i had my usual under the skin cysts on chin which would sometimes come out and they leave marks. But as treatment progressed i started to develop acne on my cheeks, i still had cysts (according to my scans) and my blood work was coming back ok but my LH hormones were still high (thus indicating PCOS) and i still had period problems. Its a very complex disorder. My worse symptom of this is the actual acne. on moms side of the family, all the girls have it. We are not necessarily overweight nor have hair problems but we have 'cysts' and cystic acne mostly on the chin. They sorted themselves out with the pill, and i used to take the pill but wasn't consistent on it but when i did take it i had nice skin. i just sometimes wonder what is going on with me, and why my skin isn't clearing?
Now the only thing i changed was metformin and my skin constantly looks sallow, without a glow, and as my mom says ' like a vampire has sucked all the life out of me!'. Both my parents noticed i started to develop acne on my cheeks when i started the metformin. I understand it helps with insulin resistance, and i must have had some degree of it although my labs came back fine and i was never a prediabetic. I did all those fasting tests and glucose tests and it always came back negative. I did notify my skin doc today that i would be going off it because in addition to this, i get lower back pains near my kidneys and she said to stop if i feel its of no benefit to me and just to observe with the pill.
She told me i could low dose accutane, she doesn't think my acne is severe but that 10mg might help with the under the skin ones on chin but i am really holding out because she also told me i would have to stop any treatments like peels etc. even IPL may be unbearable. I do IPL hair removal. but then, managing the skin without those cysts seems so attractive but maybe i should hold off. I just get very depressed when i see them coming out because to be honest my acne is not all over my face, i just get them on my chin and a few on my cheeks which leave red marks and i feel like i have to use more make up etc or i dont feel confident. Its a vicious cycle. I am tired of complaining to my mom, she is so supportive because she used to have these but she says her skin ALWAYS cleared on the pill and she had bad pcos and she can't understand why i am not responding.
of course i am scared of accutane and both my parents are against it. There is a site called soulcysters and some realise they have pcos only after a round of accutane. Because dermatologists don't ask if you have had a hormonal panel, at least non of the ones ive been to. They just told me that once the pcos is sorted out then the acne usually diminshes. Clearly metformin wasn't benefiting me, then i should try to wean myself off and observe.