Amazing. Here is how you get rid of redness: complain, get super upset, go to bed, and wake up the next morning and it's gone.
Okay, not true, my face still looks icky, but somehow it is way better this morning. My chin is no longer peelage central, and the sides of my nose are not THAT red anymore. I still have three cyst/cyst marks (two on chin, one of forehead which is not yet flat), and one thing growing near the corner of my nose. Plus a red spot from a regular (non-cyst) small pimple that I got on my cheek (not where I usually get pimples), plus probably five tiny red spots from places where I swear I never even had pimples but somehow they are red/cut/peely.
I slathered a lot of these spots in neosporin (actually, generic brand which is just petroleum jelly + antibiotics -- apparently the real neosporin has other pore clogging ingredients in it) after using RAM last night -- maybe this helped. I also slathered my chin in jojoba oil a few hours before washing and going to bed. Also made a conscious effort to drink a lot of water last night. I'm going to try repeating these things today and hope they bring more improvement. Fingers crossed.
If had written a retin-a log it would be pretty much identical to this. I cleared really well around week 16, then things got slightly worse. Then I switched from .01% to .025% (I use reg. gel, not micro) - second IB.
It will not be as prolonged as the first IB - at least it wasn't for me. About 1.5-2 weeks - then a better sustained clearing.
BTW - I'm 31, female... something must go hinky with the hormones at this age.
Polysporin works better for me than neo - and zinc oxide cream (wal-Mart, 20% in petroleum- first aid aisle) works well when nothing else helps.
lol, one more similarity - I use tea tree oil every morning as well. I actually use the Desert Essence Lavender/tea tree blend - seems more effective while being less irritating.
Good luck!!
Guess what? My skin is pretty much the best it has looked since last summer! In these last six months, I've been very hesitant to even say that I was moving towards success, but I think that for the first time, I really can. All of those cysts from last week are flat and barely noticeable. My red marks are fading. My skin feels amazing, though it is definitely dry/peel-y at the end of the day, and sometimes in the morning. I have been away from home for about five days, and my routine has consisted of: washing with Cetaphil in the AM and PM, using RAM 0.1% in the pm, using jojoba oil as a moisturizer in the AM and PM (right after RAM). No sunblock, no oil cleansing method, no nothing. Oh, concealer.
Anyway, once again, my skin is far from perfect -- there are still little tiny red scratches and things all over the place. My pores are huge. I don't think I will ever have porcelain skin. But this is so much better right now. Finally, finally, finally, I feel like this is working.
Well folks, I think I have entered my longest non-complaining, not hating my skin, very low maintenance period since I've started RAM. It is seriously amazing -- like, oh right, NOW I remember what it's like to not feel totally MORTIFIED about my skin at all hours of the day. Sure, I still have a few tiny red spot things on my face, but I'd have no issues going out in public without any concealer at this point. It is amazing. This dramatic change started somewhere around the 31st, and I haven't gotten a new pimple -- knock on wood -- since maybe the 29th? Sad that that is a grand total of about one entire week, but it is serious progress for me. I'm excited.
Well, sometime this week I got one pimple that was pretty noticeable, right by my eyebrow. It was kind of between a cyst and a regular pimple -- like a cyst in that it was under the skin and never came to a head, but unlike a cyst, with light prodding, liquidy white goo came out. I still have a red circle there, but definitely no under the surface goop/inflamation. I also have a cyst like thing on the bottom of my chin that I am hoping with go away without incident, and I'm getting these bizarre very tiny painful spots that are just a little bit red on my forehead. Almost like a tiny, inflamed blackhead or something? I've never had them before, and I've had about four in the last few days. They are barely barely noticeable to the eye, but I can feel them when I touch them, which I try not to do. Basically I am slathering them in tea tree oil for now, since it seems like they are a little infected. I wonder what they are.
I feel like the real problem with my skin right now, which is not so grave, is that it is overall kind of dirty/rough looking from all of the tiny marks that my skin seems to pick up now that it is so thin and sensitive. The higher strength RAM seems to be working. Crossing my fingers that things get better. Need to focus on getting enough water!
Well, two of those painful blackhead things developed into what turned out to be prematurely aborted cysts. Right next to each other. Luckily, this was on maybe Sunday, and now almost all evidence is gone, despite the area getting quite puffy.
Otherwise my face is clear. I wish I would have switched to a higher strength RAM earlier!
Still clear. Well, one small thing in the corner of my nose that is barely visible. I can go out without even concealer these days (though my face would still be a little splotchy.) This is amazing/I am so relieved. Everything is back to normal!
Regimen, in case anyone cares:
morning: wash with cetaphil, jojoba oil as needed if I'm super dry
evening: wash with cetaphil, RAM 0.1%
10% BP or tea tree oil if I feel any kind of inflammation under the surface.
It's been forever. One of those painful spots on my nose turned into a full blown pimple -- along the lines of what I got when I had my horrible nose IB last August. It's basically gone now. Aside from that, clear clear clear. Red marks are going away. I am looking like a normal person again. Thank God.
I've been reading your log. I commend you for sticking this out. I'm a bit older than you (mid 40s) and I really think your acne is hormonal. I never had acne until I hit my late 20s=30s. It def was hormonal. It cleared up when I became pregnant. It came back with a fury when I had a hormonal BC put in 3 years ago (couldnt figure out why I would get cysts all the time - like you, every day I would wake up with another zit). Finally I made the connection and took out the BC in December and now no more hormonal cystic acne. I'm now (hopefully) on my way to clearer skin. I am a long time user of Finacea which is for my rosacea but it is supposed to (and I notice does) reduce pore size.It also helps to lighten the red marks (PIH). I no longer get the hormonal cysts but still suffer with closed comedones. My derm gave me Differin for that. I started Differin cream 4 days ago using only every other night and using the Finacea in the am and on the off nights. I've noticed that the closed comedones are clearing up - one major one I had on my cheek for months was soft enough tonite to pop (what an awesome feeling! there was so much yellow crap that had been sitting in there for months). The Differin is definitely working. You should really speak to your derm about something for the hormonal acne rather than continue to feel exasperated. Picking is also very very bad for your skin. Its hard but I managed at least 6 month ago to stop picking entirely. You can also go to your derm and get cortisone injections into the cysts. They will be gone in 2-3 days with basically no scarring. Best of luck.
Just popping in to say that my skin is still clear and back to totally normal. I actually can't even remember the horror of this fall that well -- feels like a distant memory.
As an added bonus I have basically stopped picking my skin. Regimen still consists of Cetaphil as a wash, RAM 0.1% at night, and jojoba oil as needed. Nothing else.
Wow, have I really not written anything here since Feb 11? Crazy. Well, the good news is that that is because I have barely had any pimples since then. In fact, in my last menstrual cycle, I have had all of...one! This is pretty exciting for me. I do still get small reddish marks (not red marks like a fading cyst), and I STILL have some areas that are excessively red, but I would say that my face, discounting the leftover marks, is in better shape than it was before I started breaking out like crazy last year (i.e. better shape than my normal skin that I had through my twenties that always bothered me just a bit but never enough to do anything about). I finally feel like RAM is working -- and the change has been so dramatic since i switched to 0.1 from 0.04 that I almost look at that point as the start date for counting how long I've been using RAM.
Just wanted to update here because my face is actually, finally CLEAR. Which is a word I've been hesitating to use until it was actually true. This of course does not mean that I won't still get pimples -- in fact last month (at ovulation) I had a scary number of cysts start to develop -- like five, which I hadn't had in a long time. The good news was that the ones that I managed to leave 100% alone and not touch at all just went away without ever being visible. (They were just little hard spots that I could feel under the surface). The ones that I stupidly pushed on luckily were nothing like there terrible cysts I had in the fall.
One interesting thing is that sometimes my face still peels, especially on my chin. You'd think that my skin would be used to Retin-A by now. It's not that bad though -- usually I just combat it with jojoba oil. I also still have some red areas -- not really spots, but the areas around the corner of my nose, where I've gotten a lot of pimples in the past year of hell, is still kind of red. I expect that it will probably take until the end of the summer for the tone of my skin to even out, but I'd say that it is about as blotchy as it always had been otherwise.
Mostly it is pretty amazing to have my normal skin back. It's sad how much time I wasted thinking about my skin when it was bad, and I wish everyone reading luck with their progress.
Oh, also -- regimen update:
Morning:
wash with generic Cetaphil
sometimes use remaining MaMa lotion that I have
jojoba oil as needed
NEW: Neutrogena Age Shield Sunblock SPF 55
Evening:
wash with Cetaphil
jojoba oil as needed
RAM 0.1%
Note: I recently started with the Neutrogena sunblock, after going a long time without using anz sunblock. I was worried that the sun (to which I get very little exposure) might be making my red marks last longer. I had started RAM using Oil of Olay Complete All Day Moisturizer for Sensitive Skin SPF 15 and hated it. It just made my face greasy. But the Neutrogena stuff is great. It leaves a silky, matte finish that is better than my regular skin texture alone, plus the SPF is waz higher. Recommended.
Still clear with the exception of a tiny whitehead I got around the time of my period. No kidding, a tiny whitehead, and that was it. My face is all of a sudden not red anymore either, which might be the result of the sunscreen? I don't wear any makeup or concealer anymore. It's great. Couldn't be happier, though my skin is far from airbrushed looking.
Well, I definitely had some setbacks this month. In the form of FOUR cysts around my chin during ovulation. They are mostly winding down now, and nothing else has come up (thank god), but it wasn't fun to have to deal with them AGAIN.
Onward and upwards I guess. I feel like part of the problem might have been that I let me water consumption dwindle.
No new anything since those four cysts, thank god. But mostly I am posting to add that I've started NuvaRing for purposes totally unrelated to acne. I thought about asking for Yaz to see if it would do anything for my skin, but I liked that the hormones in NuvaRing is the lowest possible. There is one website with horror stories about NuvaRing and acne, and a lot with people saying that clearer skin was a pleasant side effect. We'll see I suppose.
Still loving the Neutrogena sunblock by the way, which I still think is helping with the redness.
My Nuvaring experience is so far so good, I guess, after a few small (non-cyst) pimples at first. I have had this spot on my chin for the last month that was never really anything but has kept peeling, which makes it red, but aside from that I really have had nothing going on with my skin for at least a month. Areas of my face that have been highly acne-d over the last year are still redder than the rest, which is annoying, but that is all.
I am also using Everyday Minerals concealer and powder foundation (very little) these days which is great. I remember I used to get SO oily during the day, and even with applying jojoba oil twice a day, I am never grossly oily anymore. Still loving my Neutrogena sunblock as well -- can't believe i was ever using that Oil of Olay stuff!
I decided to ditch NuvaRing. i got a few cysts last month with it and I was just like, forget it. My skin+progesterone=trouble. i took the thing out and so far my skin is back to normal/clear.
Not sure I have anything else to update. I do feel like areas that got hit particularly bad with cysts/pimples last year are finally getting back to a normal tone, which is nice.
Hi,
I just read your blog, because I started on RAM about 2 weeks ago... I'm a 29 year old female, who was on BC pills for 10 years. I finally stopped 4 months ago, and all hell broke loose (literally) on my face. I recently got married, and things are so bad. I don't want to be close to my husband, I'm so self-concious of my disgusting face. I went to a derm and he precribed RAM .1%, doxycycline, and I am also doing ISOLAZ acne laser treatments. Have you heard of ISOLAZ? If not, I recommend you look into it! Apparently it works amazingly well at clearing up acne and scars, but it's expensive. I know your acne is clear now pretty much so you wouldn't need it anymore, but it works on clearing acne for the long term. I've only had 2 treatments though so cannot say if it's working yet.... I still have horrible cysts all over my chin. I have stopped going out socially, stopped going to the gym, it's really affected me in such a bad way, I've become depressed. All because I went off the stupid pill. I hope the RAM combined with the laser treatments works.... I cannot stand this anymore 
Do you have a foundation to recommend that's good for acne skin? I've been using Maybelline but I think it might be clogging my pores...
Still clear and my skin is starting to look, like GOOD. Definitely better than my skin even before I started having major acne problems. It is smooth and has a nice pinkish glow. Yay Retin-A!
Take home lesson: persist, but also increase the strength of your prescription if your IB seems never ending. That was really what saved me.
Just wanted to make a quick note that apparently my insurance doesn't cover RAM (brand name) anymore, so I've switched to 0.1% generic tretinoin -- made the switch maybe 2 weeks ago? 3 wks? Anyway, despite the cream being much creamier than RAM gel -- which I was a little bit worried about -- it appears to be fine thus far. Didn't get any kind of IB the way I did when I switched strengths of RAM, though I do feel like I am more peel-y. Not flakey, just that if I rub my hand on my face, I am likely to rub off some skin. As though I need to exfoliate more often or whatever. Which is good -- maybe it's slightly stronger than the RAM I had been using? Also, I had been using the remaining MaMa lotion that I had (why not?) and I've stopped since switching, just because I wanted to try one thing at a time. I might finish up the rest of it soon though. Not sure that really does anything to tell you the truth -- maybe speeds things up a little.
Anyway, my face is still looking pretty good. Definitely don't need any makeup/concealer to go out anymore, don't feel like I have bad skin. God, last year was such a nightmare -- I am glad it's over!!!
