I've been suffering from acne since I was 8 years old. It's genetic because my mom had acne far into her adult life too. I had really severe acne in middle school, and nothing EVER worked for me. So at the end of 8th grade into 9th grade I went on accutane for 5 months (I want to say it was 60 mg twice a day? Can't remember.) It was the first time my skin had ever been clear! My face looked fantastic, and I felt so confident. That wasn't until 6 months ago...

Since I stopped accutane my skin has been getting progressively worse breakouts. First it was a zit or two a month, but then it got a whole lot worse 6 months ago. I started getting zits all over my cheeks and around my mouth, and I would get stubborn cysts on my forehead. The zits around my cheeks are a mix between regular pimples and cysts, but they leave horrible hyper-pigmentation even though I never pick or pop them. My face is oily all the time, and it hasn't been this oily since before I started accutane. Even just a few hours after washing my face in the morning, I can wipe my face and a sheen of oil and grease will come off.

I've been to my dermatologist multiple times and nothing she's given me will work. I'm starting to get annoyed with her. She keeps prescribing me topical antibiotics. First it was sulfur antibiotics; nothing, not even a dent in my acne, and I used it for three months. Then she gave me clindamycin which hasn't done anything. Before that it was erythromycin and that didn't do anything either. I can't take oral antibiotics cause they made me really sick last time and they still didn't clear my skin, not even a little.

Currently, I'm using clinique acne products which are OK, to say the least. They keep the redness at bay, but I get about 3-5 new zits everyday despite how good it's supposed to work (I've been using it for 2 months now.) I'm also on the birth control pill which I started about a month and half ago and my acne hasn't changed at all from that either. Throughout the day I can actually feel and see new zits showing up on my face out of nowhere, even though I'm using so many products it's like wtf!! It's really gross and annoying.

I don't know what to do anymore. My self esteem has gone down so much and it's my senior year of high school. I've had this acne since I was 8 and nothing ever works. I feel terrible all the time and I don't want to go out places anymore because of it. I'm embarassed to be around my boyfriend and my friends because they all have nice skin. I really am starting to think that I should go on accutane, but my dermatologist is really hesitant about it because I already went on it once. I've heard that the younger you go on it (I was 13) the more likely it will come back because of growth, hormones, etc. But my skin is so awful, and oily, and nothing is working. I have horrible body acne again too where I get deep cysts on my shoulders and my chest is covered in small zits and blackheads. Please help! What criteria do I have to fit in order to have to go on accutane a second time?? Or what symptoms are tell tale signs that I need it again? Thanks for whoever took their time to read this btw!