Acne.org Products
Hey everyone, I have been reading these forums for awhile now and decided it was time to post and get some answers to a few questions after not really getting any answers from my dermatologist again .
So I had mild to moderate acne on an off in since i was 15, now I am 21 and am really starting to let it bother me because most people don't still have acne at my age and it makes me very self conscious and gives me social anxiety. I can't really be who I want to be anymore because I am always feeling held back due to my acne.
So about 10 weeks ago I started differin gel 0.1% for my mild to moderate acne. I can honestly say that the gel made my acne severe. I was getting like 7 new pimples everyday and they were all very inflamed and filled with pus. Now at week 10, my acne is still worse then when I started differin, but I think it may be starting to improve. At 7 weeks I was given clindamycin topical lotion 1% , and I feel as though it has helped slightly with the inflammation.
My routine : Shower in the AM, wash face with water gently only. Apply clindamycin .
At night : Wash face gently with warm water, apply differin gel.
I have tried cleansers and realized that I should keep my routine more simple, most cleansers and moistorizers break me out so im trying to just use water, differin and clindamycin.
I noticed that my acne seems to be all at the surface now. I have tiny bumps all over the surface of my skin and inflammed acne, but at 10 weeks on differin, it seems to be more shallow and not very deep. However, my face still looks pretty bad worse then it did pre differin. My dermatologist prescriped me doxy 50 mg to take but i haven't started it yet because I don't want weaken my immune system.
My question : Should i continue with differin? Has anybody else had differin make your acne worse for 10 weeks before starting to improve things? I heard that topical differin might take longer like 6 months for some people? Is there a chance that differin is making my acne worse? I seem to get more inflammed acne then I have ever gotten in the past. . . Also should i try to take the doxycycline ?
How do you tell if differin is starting to work? Is it a good sign that my acne seems to be more suface based now? Even if the amount of acne hasnt changed much? I would like some reassurance because unfortunatly my next step is accutane. I never thought I would have acne severe enough for accutane until getting severe breakouts from differin, but now at week 10, things may be improving, but maybe not? AGGHH
Anyways here are my week 10 pictures on differin.
Hey 
I would totally continue as I have been there. I was breaking out all the way to week 11 and by week 16/17 I was clear and still am just now and I am on week 22! Obviously everyone is different and there always is the chance Differin won't be right for you BUT I think you have come this far so may as well try and ride it out a bit longer as it may be the fixer upper for you! I do think it's a 'good' sign that you think everything is surfaced as sadly it all has to come out to get better. I know by week 8 I had way worse acne than I did before I started.
Wow ok thanks I feel like I may be in the same boat as you then in terms of how long it takes for me. I can tell my acne usually forms deep beneath the skin, but right now I have no deep acne, but tons of surface bumps. I just read a lot about how people can clear up in 2 months on differin and it discourages me because at the 8 week mark I had terrible skin, and now its maybe 10 percent better since then.
Hi 
I think I'm using the same stuff with you, but I normally not apply any Differin or Clindamycin in the morning. I just do it at night, and my routine is like applying Differin first and then apply Clindamycin on top after 10mins. Why I do this way is because Wiki says Differin could help with the absorption of clindamycin.
Theres always gonna be the lucky people who clear up quick and/or avoid a bad initial breakout. I deffo know what you mean about being discouraged. When I got my IB I took a week off work and sat and read EVERY post on Differin in this forum, in hindsight it was a bit too far haha.
Wish you lots of luck and hope it works out for you!