On 6/23/2012 at 3:38 AM, allisoncatherine said:

heyy everyoneee!

Naina, I would definitely suggest the same thing that Noregrets did....give differin a full 3 months. I switched up to retin a 0.1 after 3 months of use and only use it 3x a week now for maintenance. My initial breakout period lasted from week 3-week 5. By week 8, there was a slight improvement. By week 12, I had no active acne. I'm month 4 right now of total retinoid use. Since week 12 , I've gotten like maybe..one pimple. I do, however, still suffer with hyperpigmentation but thats going away too.

The reason I totally agree with noregrets is because since I waited the entire 3 months out with differin and then switched to retin a....I didn't have to go through ANOTHER initial breakout period. It was a very smooth transition (literally) because differin had already purged me...

I think I upped my use of differin 3x a day because a) I DONT go out in the sun very often so I could afford to use it that often. So if you are outside a lot, I would NOT suggest it because you will burn. I think I started using differin 3x a day around week 9 or so. Don't up your differin dose during your initial break out period just because It might irritate your skin even more and cause more inflammatory acne.

Also...If you DONT go out in the sun a lot and have gotten done with your IB and your skin feels relatively normalized to differin use, i would start by applying it twice a day. Once in the morning...and then sunscreen (just in case) and then in the evening.

Also....there is NO WAY you can use retin a 3x a day or even more than once a day at night. Differin is a synthetic retinoid so it is more tolerant of sunlight but true retinoids like retin a and tazorac and accutane are SURE to get you burned. You CANNOT wear them outside. Hope that helps!

Oh one more thing....for those of you who suffer from hyperpigmentation...there is some good news [Edited image out] The red marks are the last stage of truly conquering acne [Edited image out] Even accutane doesn't clear red marks. People get on it to clear themselves of the problem itself--acne, and THEN dermatologists prescribe them topical retinoids such as retin a (and maybe add hydroquinone) to help take care of the red marks. Remember...ACNE is the problem, hyperpigmentation is often a consequence of it...so wiseboy, keep being patient. It can take anywhere from 6 months- 1 year for hyperpigmentation to truly disappear. Its a slowly but surely kinda process... but its not permanent [Edited image out] Thank GOD! <3 <3 <3

lots of looove!

Allison,

You do make a very good point when saying that retin a did not give you an IB because differin had purged you put completely. I m gussing my IB period is different than yours because i am on 0.1%. I really hope i can be patient enough make it through 12 weeks w/o switching to retin a. I wanna have at least 50% better skin when my college starts that is on August 22 and luckily i would have done a 12 week course by then.

I must say it is great to have a support system like you guys in here. Thank you so much!

Also, i o not know if you have heard of this remedy but diluted fresh lemon juice applied at night does help with PIH. Just make sure you wear sunscreen as it makes you sunsensitive

BTW hats off to the people who HAVE had the patience made it to 12 week mark. You guys are my role models!!!

hahaha you'll be one of us (who have made it past the 12 week mark) soon enough And you'll be there on the other side with beautiful skin

Heyy guys,

I am also experiencing the similar stage where mornings are "less bumpy" overall. I swear, 2 weeks ago, I woke up one morning completely clear. And then, those stupid bumps came back again. Do they eventually just purge out or disappear?

Heyy guys,

I am also experiencing the similar stage where mornings are "less bumpy" overall. I swear, 2 weeks ago, I woke up one morning completely clear. And then, those stupid bumps came back again. Do they eventually just purge out or disappear?

 

I'm on week 10 and those red bumps still keep coming, its a long journey.

Btw are u using anything else alongside differin?

Noregrets, are you on any antibiotics? Inflammatory acne can be usually helped with a short course of antibiotics (as im sure u already know) or tylenol or other medications with anti-inflammatory properties.

no antibiotics, my GP refused, he said I didn't need them.

If by 12 weeks they don't stop popping up i'll probably go back and ask for some.

Comedones were my main concern, now instead of comedones I get red bumps. I'll still have clear days then bad days

yeah thats what happened to me too. I went in with just comedones and it turned out that those comedones started becoming pustules and papules that would eventually pop and release their contents and only after that would they heal. I think thats called purging. Perhaps your skin is still doing that. I purged the entire 3 months and now I have gotten like one pimple in one month. I don't even have acne anymore. I know it sucks right now and it seems like its getting worse....but its not. Lol, I remember when I started getting red bumps, I ran to the derm and I was like: "OMGOMGOMG IM HAVING AN ALLERGIC REACTION!!! its getting SO awful!" and he just laughed at me and told me that its not "worse" in his eyes because the entire NUMBER of comedones had decreased and some had turned into red bumps which indicated a sign of healing HOLDDDDD tight! You're almost there!

 

Heyy guys,

I am also experiencing the similar stage where mornings are "less bumpy" overall. I swear, 2 weeks ago, I woke up one morning completely clear. And then, those stupid bumps came back again. Do they eventually just purge out or disappear?

 

 

I'm on week 10 and those red bumps still keep coming, its a long journey.

 

Btw are u using anything else alongside differin?

 

No I am not using any antibiotics cuz I dont really have inflammatory acne.

hey everyone..

im back and wanted to update.. so after about 2 or so months off of differin, I must say that my skin is doing much better.. I still have bumps but only in isolated areas and occasionally get pimples but i think its cuz im picking.. or my skin sucks forver now.. lol.

I dont get deeep red swollen and my skin texture is a smoother.. way more in need of improvement, but better.. the biggest issue i have is the hyperpigmentation.. its been about 4 months since i reallly notice the PIH and although the dark spots have lightened very slightly, it is still very bad and impossible to cover up..

wow PIH is no joke, i fear that it will take years before it goes away. also, i too have been taking zinc and idk if it works all too much.

Also allison, have you stopped using the DCL? I feel like it works on new scars but not so much on the old.. but overall, im done buying products.. i just bought microdermx as my last resort but will see.. definitely peels my skin faster but that's all i know so far..

..not trying to make this a red mark/PIH thread but just wanted any input from you guys..

Guys things aren't getting better. from week 8 onward I've broken out more, face is constantly red and I've also got some enlarged pores and indents. tried using it every other night, tried a gentler cleanser, no success.

Going to call it time.

the enlarged pores and indented scars are way worse than having comedonal acne.

Just another treatment my skin couldn't handle. sigh

Guys look up orange peel texture and retin a

Guys things aren't getting better. from week 8 onward I've broken out more, face is constantly red and I've also got some enlarged pores and indents. tried using it every other night, tried a gentler cleanser, no success.

 

Going to call it time.

 

the enlarged pores and indented scars are way worse than having comedonal acne.

 

Just another treatment my skin couldn't handle. sigh

 

Guys look up orange peel texture and retin a

 

Hey Noregrets92,

sorry to hear differin has caused you some issues, it seems like you have quite sensitive skin. I would maybe give your face as rest for a few days and just use moisturizer.

Have you tired things like AHA? It is weaker than a retinoid but are pretty good, i have a bottle from paula's choice i ordered.

Maybe you could go to your GP i am guessing your from England (like me) and generally i find them useless when it comes to acne, i end up choosing what i want to try out.

Other solutions are azelaic acid which i have heard good things about.

Jay

Guys things aren't getting better. from week 8 onward I've broken out more, face is constantly red and I've also got some enlarged pores and indents. tried using it every other night, tried a gentler cleanser, no success.

 

Going to call it time.

 

the enlarged pores and indented scars are way worse than having comedonal acne.

 

Just another treatment my skin couldn't handle. sigh

 

Guys look up orange peel texture and retin a

 

I'm sorry to hear that.

What is your diet like? Maybe you are breaking out because of the things you eat?

thanks wiseboy.

My diets really clean because i'm into bodybuilding. i dont eat anything sugary or fried. no fast food. take multivitamin fish oils zinc and vit C n E. i don't take any anabolic supplements for training as well.

there's only so much i can do so i give up n rather just get on with life

Hey here,

Nice to see people going further than the 3 months mark

After months of BP which did a great job on inflammatory acne but really let the blackheads etc build up, I am here on a french equivalent of Retin-A... I already had 2 accutane cures... But acne kept coming back. As I am sometimes modeling as a guy, this sucks.

I am soon on the end of week 5 and blah. I try to manage but those breakouts are hard... Nothing "hardcore" but my skin looks worse than ever, last night I got 3 big pimples, the good point is that they heal fast, the bad is that they keep comingi

This is such a killer. Some days I would say "wow my skin is great". Then the next day, redness etc... doh...

Noregrets oh no! im really sorryyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!

skin update: getting better

Kariya: if there is one product thats my HG...its the Obagi Nuderm Clear with 4% hydroquinone....!!!! Its been one month and my hyperpigmentation has faded SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH!!!!!!! they went from like red to pink. All i need is a tiny bit of concealer OR foundation and my skin looks flawless.

About the "clear morning aspect" this is a very common and typical aspect : when you sleep, gravity makes the blood flow away from the face. That means your face is less irrigated and less "red" and the inflamed lesions look smaller and sometimes even disappear.

Generally after cleansing, your skin will be somewhat irritated by the cleansing, and the bump appears again.

There is also the fact that your body temperature / blood pressure / heart rate are different when sleeping.

This is not "healing". In fact, increased bloodflow and the redness coming with inflammation means that your skin is healing the lesion.

On 6/26/2012 at 7:21 PM, Noregrets92 said:

Thanks for the reply jay.

I've tried a AHA lotion in the past as well as BHA cleansers, tea tree oil, sulfur, whitch hazel, clay masks scrubs and now differin.

looking back now i think the worst thing i've done is trying to treat my mild acne. I started getting oily skin around age 13 (I'm 20 now), few comedones and a pimple once in 2 months (would never scar, PIH would go in 2 weeks), I still carried on using dove bar to wash with as i had my whole life. Then around 16 i decided to try to treat my mild acne so i started using cleansers like Clearasil, (adverts in uk lol) never really worked much so then moved on to something else then before i now it I've tried so many things. I honestly believe with each treatment my skin just became more and more fragile and damaged. The side effects of acne treatment such as dry skin redness flakes sensitive skin really aren't worth it to just treat mild acne. comedones, papules and pustules should not scar like cystic acne so I feel stupid trying to eliminate them whilst damaging the surrounding skin. My syblings never bothered to treat theirs and their skin looks so much healthier. now that i have scars, irritated dry skin on top of my genetic oily skin and mild acne it looks a whole lot worse. which means i keep falling in to trying something else. This isn't just in my head because my parents have also noticed and for years have been telling me to stop using all these chemicals on my face.

I've got worse acne on my back but i never bothered to treat that and my back has no scars, no dry skin, no irritation beyond individual acne lesions and PIH heals much quicker.

now i'm just going to be gentle with my skin and hopefully with lots of time in can go back to how it was in high school (apart from scars i just need to learn to accept them). Anything that dries, peels, or irritates my skin is off limits. I don't know why we all think those side effects are normal when their not it's clearly your skin telling you back off, it doesn't have any other way of telling you, no wonder its then not able to repair itself correctly and ends up in scars and PIH that takes a very long time to resolve. We're told it's normal and think it's just part of the treatment.

Anyone using a retinoid if your face is constantly red, i reccomend you reduce your frequency to a level that eleimates the redness. the redness is inflammation, inflammation destroys tissues! that's how acne scars are caused.

I've got friends with acne who don't bother to treat it and there skin looks healthier despite having acne. I'm starting to believe the whole acne treatment is just a big corporate business. Without any treatment PIH is gone in a few weeks, when you start treatment for acne we're told beforehand it takes months to clear.

Sorry about the rant but right now i feel *ucked because of the scarring [Edited image out]

I feel sorry for you. And I know what it is because it s the same for me.

My brother had accutane, then he never bothered again about acne and he has one or two pimples from time to time but nothing uncontrollable. I went the hard way, Accutane 2 times, trying tons of chemicals, etc... it worked. DKR worked well until I stop and break into a complete mess and realize I would be fucked up and have to use it all day long all my lif and I m on Retin-A now.

But the fact is I suffer from dysmorphobia too. I know it. My acne is "not that bad". But everytime a new pimple appears, I fear that it becomes the fucking mess it was when I was 18, and I fear the lose of control of my skin.

All those regimens, moisturizer, etc, say : take control of your skin.

For me the solution is : "lose control of your skin".

My brother, if I looked him as close as I look myself in the mirror, would have the same skin. It s a genetically not perfect skin. It has flaws, etc... like 99% of people.

But I know I want perfection. When I see a guy or girl in the subway with perfect skin on a fucking bad light I feel bad. This is silly.

About the treatments...

You want the truth about topical acne treatments ?

Ok.

BP, BHA, or Retinoids have the same prime way of action : they dessicate the skin. They kill the top layers of skin by drying it and make peeling and flakiness. That's the primary way of action.

People who, somehow, don't peel, don't dry, won't get an acne treatment from topicals.

It's all that BP does and Daniel Kern, here on this website, is very aware of this : BP has 2 fonctions : it is a dessicant AND an disinfectant. That's why it works. It's used to clear oil from motors. BP has also a very slight comedolytic action (it dissolves the comedoes) but it's so slight it does not really matter.

BHA are different and I don't know them a lot so I won't talk.

Retinoids act the same than BP but have a much higher cosmetic & dermatologic value. It's not just like disinfecting / drying skin. Retinoids also work deeper in the pores and thins the top layer of skin and also some other layers. So you get dry skin, which heals the pimples, faster renewing skin, and thinner skin. Collagen production is also upgraded and that's still the best treatment to appear younger.

However it has a price.

The dreaded initial breakout.

The causes of this breakout are not well known, in fact. Most people will say "purging". Well it s not really a purge. Skin is drying, dead skin builds up, skin is irritated, skin is changing and reacting and the results are pimples.

Why do they go away eventually ? Because your skin is adapting to the treatment. And because most of them start with a clogged pore before retinoids, and that pores are unclogging.

It is a medical mistake to stop any retinoid before 3 months. It is like killing your skin with a product then say "fuck off now, heal alone". It is breaking an adaptation. If after 90 to 92 days you still have inflammed acne, you should go back to your derm, he will decide the next step, which will probably be retinoid + antibiotic.

It's a fucking long ride. It s tough. At the end you will have the skin you want.

You know how I try to get thru it ?

I avoid all mirrors. I put some furniture in front of my mirror in the shower. If I have a public appearance for work, I use some foundation (and yes I'm a guy). I take NSAID when the pain is too high, and most important, I read success stories.

At the end, retinoids are the best topical against acne, hands down. You can put it 1 day on 2 or 3 and still have the benefits after several months. BP will never give you that.

It works.

It is the #1 treatment for retentional acne in derm's manual.

You don't have a special skin that is allergic or somehow. You just have an acneic skin, you suffer from a chronic skin condition. If you were allergic, you would have hardcore symptoms, not some spots.

Your skin should dry up from the treatment. My main concern would be if your skin did not flake or dry. It would means you are resilient to it.

hey allison..

just out of curiosity, is the Obagi Nuderm Clear with 4% hydroquinone a lotion or face wash? you just put on in the morning and night on the affect areas?

thanks!

Been on Differin 0.3 for about 4 weeks, usingeery othernight. I have noticed I have just gotten more blackheads than usual. Just wondering for those still on it, how often do you wash your face? If I wash mine once a day, it feel like it makes it worse. I try not washing face often, only have a pimple here and there but still frustrating. Want to not have to worry about it! I am also on Bactrum 2 pills a day. Help!

Kariya: Obagi Nu Derm Clear is a lotion that you apply to your face in the morning and in the evening (AM & PM) and its wonderful. Im using it alongside retin a and its working wonderfully! It fades hyper pigmentation like nobody's business!

Safinator: I am a living example of your post. It was so informative and wonderful! Thank you so very much for posting that!!!! I enjoyed reading it. I would like to attest to something though....I just felt a burning sensation of my skin with differin at first (NEVER peeled). My skin was very dry during the first 2 weeks of use but after that my skin acclimated to it (despite me continuing to break out for like 2 months) lol...I didn't feel any of the side effects you are talking about and thats because of the plasticity of the skin that you mentioned. Our skin really does adapt to things and so when a retinoid doesn't dry you out our peel your skin, people shouldn't take it as an automatic "this is NOT working for me...oh my goshhh!" lol. I literally felt that way about differin for 2 months and then BAM at 2.5 months, I saw unbelievable differences! I'm sure you can attest to that!

John: If I remember correctly, I went through my IB stage between weeks 4-5 (my skin was the WORST at this point) and at week 6...it started to heal but healing is slow and i wanna say at week 8, it was slightly improved and week 12, it was wonderfully improved. So just saying that what you are talking about might just be indicative of an initial breakout phase. Just stick through it and beautiful skin will be waiting on the other side

Noregrets: aww honeyy! I feel so bad for you! Please just go to the dermatologist to see if he would recommend something gentler and iniquire about the links between the scarring and differin use. Really just go in there, and truly express your concerns to him and see what feedback he gives you. But i really am so sad to hear that differin is not working for you....! I wish it would have. Maybe you should consult a derm to figure out what you should do next...like..."okay here is my skin, here are the problems I have with my skin, so give me some possible solutions that could indicate a better direction to figuring out what to do next about my skincare."

You're welcome )

I can attest that it worked very well for me in the past. Stopped it for some reason then I am going back to it (my log is a bit under this one on the forum) so can't attest a lot right now as I am going through a mild IB (week 5... weeks 4, 5, 6, you're right, are hardcore). My fight right now is an emotional one. I know that even with clear skin I will be concerned about my skin. So I am trying to fix that.

Thing is... You know, I believe the logs are good to this forum. Some other things are bad. You can witness people doing self research too much, medicating themselves and trying sooo much things it s heartbreaking.

@allison, over here it's difficult to get a refferal to a dermatologist and will still take a long time. private derms are too expensive for a student. I'm 100% sure everytime i use any form of exfoliant for some time my AMVC flares up and i'll randomly notice a new scar which never heal by the way. Just like everyone else i want clear skin so i try something else and same old same old.

I've had my AMVC all my life, it was bad up until age 12 (scars as a kid were cool anyway lol) then went away but it's come back over the last few years and i know i can control it if i'm gentle so now that's my priority over acne.

those of you that moan about acne and PIH consider yourselves lucky [Edited image out]. i can just step out the shower one day and have new atrophic scar on my face, sounds crazy and it is. Life goes on

Hi everyone!

I've really enjoyed reading this log (since I sit at a computer all day for work and get hella bored!). I'm on retin-a 0.025 cream, so not differin, but a retinoid all the same.

I just wanted to mention that I hate PIH too! I have skin that is really prone to it, if I even look at a pimple wrong it will punish me with a mark for months and months.

I found that the FASTEST, albeit hideous 1-2 weeks with what looks like a bad sunburn, way to get rid of all of it is a TCA peel. Some people say that Lactic peels work really well for PIH too, but I haven't tried it.

I have done two peels and the difference is just astonishing.

Also, adding a high quality vitamin C serum and 17% zinc sunscreen.

Good luck everyone!

Hi everyone !

I was on the fence about starting Differin, but after reading through the whole "diary" I have decided to give it a try. I haven't used an acne-medication for almost 2 years, and I have noticed that my skin has been becoming worse these past months.

So after much deliberation, I am now starting my own Differin journey. And if you guys allow me, I would like to share my journey with you guys )

Here are some backgroung about me and my skin :

I'm soon turning 18 (18.juli ), and i have suffered from moderate to severe acne since I was 13-15, whereas now i have mild to moderat acne.

I have very oily and sensitive skin, which is very prone to hyperpigmentation because of my asian skin . .

Hopefully my journey won't be to "bumpy" ! haha

Welcome to the ride

Expect some perturbations between weeks 3 and 8 and after, final stabilization. Remember to keep cool and stick with it !