I'll try and keep this brief....

I've been a keen follower of Acne.org for a number of years, but never posted until now.

I've had acne since I was 15/16 years old (i'm now 25). It's never been 'severe', but it's been enough to keep me from going out, always trying to avoid eye contact, low self esteem and self worth and it playing on my mind constantly. My twin had flawless skin and I was fed up of looking in the mirror every single morning and hating what I saw and spending ages putting on make up to try and cover my spots!

I decided to go the to the doctors, I was a bit vary that it would be trivial to them and UK doctors having no idea what to do with it. I was first prescribed Lymocycline when I was 15/16, this did nothing after 3 months, so I went back to the doctor. I was then given Duac gel and told to put this on every night. It took a while to work, but I was clear for the first time, and it worked amazingly for about 3 and a half years! My acne then slowly returned. I went back to the doctors and was givenclindamycin gel, which did nothing. I was then given Duac again and to my non surprise, this did nothing. I was then given Zinerytand Differin. Looking at their reviews, I decided to skip Zineryt and try Differin. I used it for about 8 weeks, but my skin begin to get worse and got worse and my self esteem was at an all time low, so I went back to the doctors. I was then prescribed Doxycycline. This worked after about 2 months and worked for about 8 months, taking 200mg a day. It then came back after Doxycycline stopped working.

It was at this point that I decided enough was enough and I was fed up of hiding my face and becoming depressed to leave the house and go to work about it, having missed work a couple of times when I was at a particular low.

The waiting list for a dermatologist in the UK was too long for me to wait (3 months), so I decided to go private. I booked my appointment and was given Accutane after having had a blood test ect, this was January 2015. I was on Accutane for 5 months until June 2015. I can't remember the exact dosage, but it was 20mg for the first month and then 50g for the reminder I think.I only got a few cystic spots whilst on it and was mostlyclear from Arpil onwards. Then at the start of January 2016 my spots starting to make a reappearance. Nothing too drastic, but having had 9 months of pure heaven and having self-confidence for the first time it was a reminder of a past I dont want to return to. It started with a spot on my chin. Nothing big, but my spots are always quite swollen, red and inflamed even when its only small. It went away and I was fine until I started exercising about a month ago. I was eating healthier and was taking care of my skin after I worked out. In the past two weeks my chin has broken out and I now have 2 deep, red and inflamed spots and 3 more than are under the surface. Its only on my chin, but Im now so depressed that Im come all this way to return to the way I was just a year ago! Im hoping its just my skin purging after the exercise that Ive never done, but Ive booked another doctors appointment to be on the safe side, but I was wondering what are my options?

Im seriously considering buying Accutane online, as I just cant bear for my skin to get any worse and I cant afford to go private again and I dont want to have to wait for another 3 or 4 months to get a NHS referral! Is there anything I could try that was stronger than Doxy? Would Retin A be any good? But I dont want my whole face to break out when now its only on my chin. Any advice would be really appreciated!