Hi all!

I wanted to share my story since acne.org has been so helpful for me over the years; I never made an account since I was the type of person that just read and never posted/commented.

I am a Chinese-American female currently 20 years old in college. I have oily skin and have been dealing with hormonal and cystic acne for 8 years. I had acne on my face--none on my back or chest area.

I began to have break-outs starting in fifth grade, mainly along the T-Zone. At first, my mother and I shrugged it off as a "hormonal" annoyance, but a year later, it became noticeably worse. Making an appointment with a local dermatologist, he gave me the basic run-down, prescribing me a plethora of creams (Differin, Aczone, the works). As expected, the first couple of months were fine--I saw my skin getting clearer (not to mention dryer and flaky). But after six months, it got worse. As an ABC (American-Born-Chinese), my mother brought me to get Chinese facials (I cried every time after a session--I ended up stopping after two months). My grandmother shipped herbal teas and medications from China. In desperation, my mom subscribed the Max Clarity Foam from television (which I used Sophomore/Junior year of high school). I would have to say the Max Clarity worked better than ProActiv on my skin, but I feel like Max Clarity KILLED my skin. While it kept my skin extremely dry, I began to develop cystic acne on my cheeks after using Max Clarity. I went to 4 more dermatologists in high school, and I have also tried Epiduo, Minocycline pills, Doryx, and a number of other cremes that I forget (which probably meant they did not work on me). The highest percentage of Benzoyl Peroxide I used was 9%, which I personally felt was abusing my skin.

As a middle-school/high-school girl who was more concerned with schoolwork (oh yeahh perpetuating the Asian stereotype ha), at first, I didn't really care about the acne--looking around me, most other girls were battling with pimples and acne as well. But as I entered junior and senior year of high school, I started having hormonal breakouts on my face, typically 1-2 weeks before PMS--but for some reason, I just didn't really care. I thought: "Heck, embrace it, it'll go away. Stop being so vain." That was my problem--I saw it more as vanity than a serious health-condition that I needed to immediately treat.

Starting my senior year of high school, I began to use make-up to try to cover up my acne. During my senior year, I used the Perfect Cover BB Cream by Missha, a Korean brand. Wearing it, a lot of classmates commented on my face, saying: "Wow, your face has really cleared up!". Too ashamed to let them know that it was just makeup that was hiding my acne, I usually murmured a thanks and didn't say anything else. Using the BB Cream made myself and my family think my skin was getting better, which now I look back was a crutch--it was not until college when I began to fully understand how serious it was.

As usual, the sleeping hours and college food during my freshman year made my acne WORSE. Probably with my drastic change in diet coming from an Asian household and my study hours made my whole body wacky. My whole face was bumpy and red. By this time, I had scars on my cheeks and the pores on my nose were huge. At least once a month, large cysts would grow on my nose, which made me mortified. During my winter break freshman year, a new dermatologist I was meeting dropped the gauntlet, suggesting Accutane. I took the first blood test and pregnancy test, and was just about to start on it in 3 days, before my mother (after reading the ridiculous warning manuals with the huge stop signs lol) decided I shouldn't go on it. So for the rest of freshman year, I decided to live with it, still using my beloved BB Cream to distract myself from my problem.

Flash forward to Summer 2013--my beloved little sister started breaking out. Unlike my first breakouts, my mother learned from my experience and spent no leeway in treating it. Instead of going to a dermatologist, my mom merely asked a new physician we were seeing for my sister's daily checkup. She prescribed a generic cream (Clindamycin Phosphate 1.2% and Benzoyl Peroxide 5%) and it worked wonders on my sister. Delirious from excitement, my mother called me up, saying how I HAD to try this cream. I was not hopeful at all. I mean, look at the comparison. Over the past few years, I tried more than 10 different creams and tons of prescribed medication. My sister's acne was nothing compared to mine. Mainly wanting to stop my mother's constant nagging, I decided to visit this physician who wasn't even a dermatologist. She ended up prescribing the same exact cream along with birth control pills (Ortho-Tri-Cyclen Lo). My mother and I never wanted to touch birth control pills as an acne option, but at this point, we were at a rut and decided to give it a go.

I have to say that combo was a God-send. By September 2013, my face cleared--and it felt so different from the after-effects of my previous treatments. When I visited my dermatologist who suggested Accutane exactly a year later, she was amazed at how clear my skin was now. When I showed her what the physician prescribed, she was like: "Oh my gosh, why didn't I think of that?!". I stopped using BB Cream completely and now go to classes and even interviews for internships bare-faced. I still have scars which I know will take years to fade, but in my opinion, they're not something I need to hide with cover-up.

NOTE: After using Ortho-Tri-Cyclen Lo for around 10 months now, I noticed that I become more depressed, which has led to strained friendships and weird instances where I cry for no reason. I even went to the psychologist since I felt like taking a gap semester from college. With consultation from my dermatologist, I have stopped taking birth control and now only use the cream. While I noticed that I have more tiny pimples popping up around my forehead, they usually disappear after 1-2 days. Thus, I warn you--birth control can do wonders with hormonal acne, but beware of the mental and emotional side effects.

I can't say that I am acne-free, but my skin progress has been improving ever since that fated day in fifth grade. It has been an absolute hell-ride from then to now, but I consider the ability to not rely on BB Cream or cover-up as a huge milestone for me. It's simply freeing to be able to go out without anything on my skin and not feel self-conscious. I still continue to visit the dermatologist during college breaks to keep her up to date in case anything out of the ordinary occurs (always be prepared!).

For those of you who have tried so many different treatments for your acne--don't give up! I found that with the support of family and friends (in my case my mother), after a crazy search for treatments I can finally say that my skin is much happier.

The one thing I could say looking back, it's such a common-sense sort of knowledge but SUCH A difficult advice to follow for girls my age but I might as well say it-don't pick, pop, or touch your acne or pimples. My mom always bothered me about this, but I never listened--it was just too tempting. I just started following this cardinal rule last June and it has made such a difference along with my treatments. The main reason why I have so many scars now is because I just couldn't resist poking the cysts and pimples. Oh gosh if I could just turn back time to stop myself from standing with my face in the mirror trying to pop all the pimples I had in middle/high school.

Well, I hope this story can help anyone on this forum (sorry for any grammatical mistakes!), and wish anyone reading this the best!

Love,

A Friend