First time posting.. I am new to blogging but have come here in hopes of finding other acne sufferers who can offer advice and perspective.. I am struggling. Quick background - I am 29 yr old female who started getting acne in high school after the depo-provera shot *Worst decision I have ever made* I only had the shot once but my skin hasn't been the same since.

I have been using Proactiv for over 10 years since the shot! It really has worked for the most part, occasionally I would get a big red zit but it wasn't enough for me to seek out a dermatologist. Now that I live with my boyfriend and have bleached every sheet and towel we own, I decided t was time to say goodbye to my beloved Proactiv. Besides the bleaching (which drove my boyfriend nuts!) it made my skin very dry and I felt it was just time... I stopped using it and was ok for a month or two and then the zits started coming back full force. I started differin and broke out like crazyyyyy. Big painful zits on my cheek mostly.. and to make it worse my skin scars! I could not pick at it ever and would still have a red scar for over a year. I used the v-beam laser on those scars as it took care of the redness but of course thats not a solution or sustainable because once a scar clears up from the laser another zit pops up and I am back to square 1 again! Plus those lasers get expensive and my skin would bruise so I'd have to take a day off from work.

I went to the derm initially a few months ago for cortisone shots into the big ones, she told me to start differin and I would say 'ok ok' knowing I was not going to do it because I KNEW my skin would go crazy, but finally I just said screw it, ill try it. I was on differin a total of 5 weeks until she took me off last week, because my skin was just getting worse. My new cocktail consists of sumaden face wash, ziana at night and clindamycin wipes in the morning. It has been about a week and while things haven't gotten much worse they haven't gotten better either... I KNOW this takes time but I thought I would document my journey here and hope to get some feedback from other people out there that have used these medications.

My boyfriend is great and mostly supportive... he loves me and could care less about my pizza face cheek but I still feel so self conscious and sad. I dont like wearing a lot of makeup and nice skin is so important to me. Sometimes I will wash my face and look in the mirror and just start tearing up. Even my derm couldn't believe how bad my skin was once wiping off my makeup.. I guess I have become a pro at hiding it through the years. My once beautiful skin is not only filled with zits, but I know those zits are going to scar and be around for a long time. Just so sad for me... My bf understands but he doesn't REALLY understand like acne sufferer's would. I know he gets frustrated with my complaining but it's all I can think about sometimes.

Has anyone ever used this combination with success?