Hey aprilmay!

Hope the reason we haven't heard from you is cause you've been having a fab holiday, and not cause you're struggling with your treatment! I need to report that I'm coming up on week 12 and my skin looks better than it has in almost A YEAR, I haven't had a single new pimple/whitehead ANYTHING in more than a week, and my red marks are nearly gone. Aside from rooibos tea and taking Lactase supplements, my diet has been all over the place, with the holidays too!

This stuff works if you stick with it!

I just want to say, I'm on day 97 and am not near 100% clear. This had been an arduous journey and has really taken a tole on my psyche. Although I don't seem to get cysts, nodules or papules anymore, I'm now stuck with a bunch of flesh colored whiteheads and of course, the infamous red marks/ hyper pigmentation. IMO, I'm not sure it was worth clearing up the 2-3 cysts I'd get every week or so. I'm just not sure. Sorry if I'm a downer.

P.S I'm on .025 so your results will definitely differ..

Hey there,

Have you looked into upping your dose? Check out amorfati's log, she was in the same place as you until she upped her dose I wouldn't be surprised if you see results after that. Good luck

DAY 63

bad updating because of holiday cheer, oops.

my skin has not been reacting well to retin a. i realllly dont like it still.... so around day 50 i stopped. i know thats only a month and a half but i really did not like where things were going. 7 weeks and my breakouts were getting worse and worse? no thanks. unfortunately RAM was just changing my annoying-to-me-but-not-to-others whiteheads into cysts that would take several weeks to heal. i know the "correct" decision would be to tough it out another month, but it just didnt feel right for me. so i just trust my gut and quit at day 50 annnnd i like what i see. i didnt really notice any changes until i took this picture, of course the macbook flash makes eveything look way more even than in real life. still there is a noticeable difference yay!!

ive been 17 days without picking now and it makes soo much difference, of course ive had a couple slip ups but i dont beat myself up too much about it, its the long meticulous picking sessions that im trying to avoid.

AMERICANINPARIS: sb is great i love camping there in the summer, beaches and hiking!! im so glad your skin is looking great!! you def deserve it after months of retin a induced purging!! ive started going out without makeup as well, the marks are super noticeable (picture makes it look so tame) and its wayyy worse than when i started but ive grown a fuck-it attitude that makes it easier to live with until it fades completely.

SAMESONGANDDANCE: word. ive stopped already, it just didnt feel right to me ya know? youre no downer, looking back on my blog I'M the downer haha. uhhh on that note hopefully you find something that works too! ive just been using BHA and its pretty good for now, well see in a couple weeks whether its a permanent solution or not.

MILGIRL: yikes!! s korea sounds like breakout hell. i live where there are a ton of asians so i get to try all kinds of asian food and i def like korean food if that means anything! of course there is some weird shit out there but the generic stuff is really tasty, like korean tofu soup and korean bbq (aka bulgogi) kimchi (pickled cabbage) rice and seaweed yummmm. i agree with the level of freshness of the food though, im sure the ingredient here are much better.

Attack whiteheads with mario Badescu's drying lotion! $17 only! And trust me, the bastards will dry miserably and soon die! Bwa-haha Okay, seriously...it works. I bought it online since I don't live in New York. (I'd luvvvv to visit the times square though lol).  [Removed]

Give it 2 nights, and they'll leave al right

Lookey if you're curious:

It's great for emergencies when they happen to appear at the wrong spot, on the wrong time

p.S: Go for the RAM

Hey aprilmay,

Sorry to hear that the Retin-A didn't work out for you. It's definitely a bitch of a medicine. I never imagined that my skin could ever be as bad as it was the 9 weeks of my IB on Retin-A. I hope you find something that works for you and keep posting on your progress! We'll be here to support.

x

DAY SOMETHING

so ive only had 2 breakouts ive had since my last update one was a tiny whitehead and the other..... the fucking hugest undertheskin bump (not zit) of my life. its actually still there....lurking. its deep in the dermis def hormonal or stress related. im really confused by whats causing it, but im going to say birth control? ive been getting large under the skin bumps since late august which is about the time i started yasmin. i dont know how to categorize them since i never really get deeeeeeep zits. they never come to a head. they last about a week (fingers crossed). are this big _______ across. reside really deep under the skin and are very painful. so im really clueless to what it is or whats causing it (them? since theyve been popping up about 1ce or 2ce a month). if anyone has any idea what they are or whats could cause them id love to hear about it!!

in other news marks are fading but slowly!! accidentally unloaded two. per usual mac makes it look better than it really is. the monster bump is under the red patch of my skin.

ouch!! That doesn't look fun : ( I suffered almost exclusively from big, deep under the skin pimples for years too, always around my mouth so I guess they were hormonal. Luckily, I haven't had one of those for weeks thanks to the Retin-A, so keep that in mind if you're ever considering starting again. How's your skin doing overall? Happy with the change?

In other news, I just ate an entire maple candy snowman left over from Christmas. Even though my stomach will probably hate me and my dentist love me, HOLY YUM!!

AMERICANINPARIS: overall im happy with my skin, its going back to the way it was before RAM which wasnt that bad in the first place. the whiteheads that were bothering me so much are mostly gone and hopefully using BHA will keep my pores from clogging. i stopped birth control so well see in the next month or so if that stops the hard lumps from coming. im guessing my body doesnt like the high amount of potency of progestin the in the yasmin. i usually get a lump the week before my period and when i took plan b (super high dose of progestin) i grew the largest lump ever. well see if this is just coincidence or if my theory is correct!!

hows youre new retin a skin treating you? well i hope! im happy its working out so well for you!! and yumm maple

word up if you grow a huge-headless lump: ice it like crazy (3-4 times a day) and take motrin (non steroid anti inflammatory). it wont make it go away but itll make it go away faster.

That sounds like a gigantic cyst. They SUCK. OMG. I'm sorry for you. I am with you on the hormonal cause, however. I'm pretty damn sure that's what happened to me last fall when I suddenly started breaking out badly - worse than ever in my life. I literally had 12 when I bothered to count them one day. They hurt, swell up, and rarely ever come to a head, not to mention they distort your facial features. I can't say mine were as huge as you describe but I did get several in a row like a "colony" all moved in and setting up camp to stay a while. I think it was related to my hormone replacement medication, continual night shifts (little or no sunlight for months), and heavy work outs (which affect the hormonal balance). When I cut dairy, that helped the hormonal issue, as well as changing my replacement hormones - since I had that hysterectomy I don't make my own estrogen. Then I added vitamins and minerals that I believed I was deficient in - probably due to my somewhat limited "healthy" diet and running 20+ miles a week w/weight lifting. You've really got to be gentle with cysts, also. Don't over wash or over treat with medications. No touching them except to ice them. No picking, prodding, obsessing over them, etc. Avoid hot water, they'll just swell up more. Good going with the motrin - I do that when I am breaking out also!

I've discovered that dark chocolate in very small amounts is OK for me on occasional days. Finally, a way to have something sweet and chocolaty without suffering a breakout! YEA!! Milk chocolate = cysts.

That sounds like a gigantic cyst. They SUCK. OMG. I'm sorry for you. I am with you on the hormonal cause, however. I'm pretty damn sure that's what happened to me last fall when I suddenly started breaking out badly - worse than ever in my life. I literally had 12 when I bothered to count them one day. They hurt, swell up, and rarely ever come to a head, not to mention they distort your facial features. I can't say mine were as huge as you describe but I did get several in a row like a "colony" all moved in and setting up camp to stay a while. I think it was related to my hormone replacement medication, continual night shifts (little or no sunlight for months), and heavy work outs (which affect the hormonal balance). When I cut dairy, that helped the hormonal issue, as well as changing my replacement hormones - since I had that hysterectomy I don't make my own estrogen. Then I added vitamins and minerals that I believed I was deficient in - probably due to my somewhat limited "healthy" diet and running 20+ miles a week w/weight lifting. You've really got to be gentle with cysts, also. Don't over wash or over treat with medications. No touching them except to ice them. No picking, prodding, obsessing over them, etc. Avoid hot water, they'll just swell up more. Good going with the motrin - I do that when I am breaking out also!

 

I've discovered that dark chocolate in very small amounts is OK for me on occasional days. Finally, a way to have something sweet and chocolaty without suffering a breakout! YEA!! Milk chocolate = cysts.

Thanks for the advice milgirl. ive got to keep my hands off my face for sure!! what is the hormone replacement for? i know alittle about it, but my knowledge only extends to what was taught in bio. im not exactly sure what its for?

cyst is shrinking and is no longer tender. however i got one on my ARM?!?!?! wtf..... thats new. luckily i have a derm appointment tomorrow so i can finally show him the shit thats been showing up on my face. all the other times ive gone, ive had normal zits (therefore the RAM prescription) but never a juggernaut cyst. well now i have one to show, and thank goodness its on my arm, not face (knock on wood). hopefully we can get this shit figured out!!

I don't have ovaries to produce my estrogen and keep me on an even keel. Basically, I'm 28, and without hormones I'd be fully menopausal. It SUCKS!! I am glad I found this site and learned about EPO, though. It really seems to be helping me maintain my equilibrium better. Far fewer hot flashes since I quit dairy & started EPO. I still get them but only like 2x a day vs. 2-4x an hour!! Hot flashes feel like your blood suddenly lit on fire with the help of an accelerate. Your blood immediately starts boiling in your veins - your head wants to pop off. It irritates the ever living hell out of you SO quickly and you can't control it other than to try to breath, remove as much clothing as possible (depending on where you are) and hope that nobody gets in your way because murder is a high probability.

Glad you are seeing some improvement. Hopefully the Derm can help you. I have a "cyst-like" thing on my neck, it's very round though. I'm really not sure what it is. And I think I have one starting near my ear. Either way, they aren't on my face, and for that I'm thankful.

im using RAM 0.04% too~~ but only a week.. having bad initial breakout and skin peeling off around my chin area.. overall HORRIBLE.. hopefully it will go away soon.. trying to stay positive =/

A year and seven months later....

Well retin a micro works. It was a very bumpy road...that road being my face....hah. Anyways here is my timeline.

August 2010: Acne back, panic ensues. Regret ever stopping.

September 2010: Begin retin a again.

Sep 2010 - Dec 2010: Zits, initial break out, embarrassing but toughed it out. Face looked like a war zone.

Jan/Feb 2011: Started to clear up but still the odd zit here and there.

Mar 2011: Started ortho tri cyclen low. Still random zits and dryness.

June 2011: BC working. Breakouting about twice a month, SO MUCH better than 2-3 times a week.

What I've learned:

Combination of retin a and BC works wonders.

Stress and diet does affect acne. Grapes are good for skin so eat lots of grapes (or drink lots of wine heheheheh).

Tough out the retin a micro since the results are great. My new boyfriend (who has no idea that I've struggled so much with my skin) likes to touch my face and tells me I have crazy soft skin (thanks retin a!). THIS IS THE GREATEST FEELING. I never thought I'd hear a boy say that to me. Ever. But more than that, I feel good about myself.

If anyone has questions feel free to ask! I don't have any terrible pics of what my acne was like before but believe me, it was bad.

Also use a tiny bit of retin a (like a dot this __ big) and make sure to wait 20 minutes after washing to apply!!

Another year later..... I'm still good in the skin department. I'll update with pics sometime tomorrow. The dry, cool weather is tough on my skin and I have yet to find a suitable moisturizer!!