one more thing...so I could wear differin 0.3 up to three times a day without even slight irritation....now that I'm alternating it with the retin a 0.1 (strongest strength of retin a) and I've only used it twice so far but DAMN my face HURT today after washing it with soap..like a slight stinging for a while lol....i just wanted to let ya'll know that RETIN A is damn right a MUCH stronger retinoid than differin because just from two applications, i've had more irritation with it than with the differin altogether.

Hi guys! I'm back from London

Had a blast, and oh my gosh ive got so many clothes ahh.

Well skinwise: not so good

I think I get why people have such bad skin in England, it's just DIRTY outside. All those damps from cars and stuff. And like oh my god, it's hot as hell in the subway, and of course airconditioning in hotels. After one night my face and lips felt SO tight! And now i've got like all these tiny bumps on my forehead, not that bad and it doesn't look disgusting or something, but it's just a bit of a downer. And of course I ate a lot of junk, that doesn't help aswell. First day a really nasty whitehead formed itself above my mouth, now it's just a red patch. So with a bit of conceiler its ok.

So im trying not to be upset, cuz I know when I start eating healthy, sleep well and just keep to my normal lifestyle my face will go back to what it was. But for now IT SUCKS. I'm having a party at my house tonight with my crush and I feel ***. But hey, I'm probably making a big issue out of nothing so we'll see.

I didn't read all posts from when I was gone, so how you all doing skinwise?

love! x

I have 3 closed comedones left, 2 lil red bumps at moment but they pop up and go away really quick. I think that's my purge.

Allison differin is really good, my skin just looks so much healthier and better, probably the best it's been in years

Jacintha glad you enjoyed london, I agree london is way to polluted, the rest of the UK is fine. My skin was fine before I moved to london 2 years back.

Wow I'm so glad you're skin is doing fine!

And yeah, my skin was like beautiful and glowy before I went to London, and there it was just dull and dirty. And my face felt so tight and gross, so I'm actually glad I'm back in Holland Guess my skin will clear up completely this week! It's looking a whole lot better then yesterday already

Guys one of my comedones has become inflamed, that's a first, the rest just dried up and fell of...

I think that's going be my first pustule since starting differin, ain't so bad all thing considered. just going to be difficult to shave around!

Allison, i'm interested in adding Klaron to my regimen (i use tretinoin in the PM). Has it quelled/controlled your inflammation? Did it cause you to breakout more? Any feedback you can provide would be helpful.

BTW, love your log!

Jacinthaa, I MISSED HEARING FROM YOU!!! I hope you get back to glowy very soon.

Noregrets, that is totally normal, sometimes the pimple has to become inflamed for the contents inside it to be expelled. It is how most stubborn comedones leave. The ones which just fall off are the comedones that haven't been around there for too long or are just not as stubborn in reacting to treatment.

Sasch, welcome! I LOVE KLARON. I use the generic which is sodium sulfacetamide lotion. It's this gooey substance that comes out in drop and you just apply to wherever you have hyperpigmentation of the acne...I apply a very light layer. Let me quote you a quick thing here

This medication is used to treat acne. It works by stopping the growth of certain bacteria on the skin that can worsen acne. Sodium sulfacetamide belongs to a class of drugs known as sulfa antibiotics.- Web MD

So anyway, it is an ANTIBACTERIAL just like benzoyl peroxide but my skin HATES BP and cant handle it so this is much gentler but still AS/if not more effective in keeping skin bacteria at bay. I did not break out from it all (IT DOES NOT HAVE AN IB---its just an antibacterial product) its not a retinoid or something that causes your skin to exfoliate hyperactively.I definitely will recommend it in sync with your Atralin...but let me just also say...I don't give due my lack of inflammation and dramatic reduction in acne to klaron. I think it did what it was supposed to do but I think what REALLY helped me with my acne was my retinoid, as well as my doxycycline which I was taking 200 mg/day to reduce inflammation

So in summary...would I recommend it to you? Sure...all it does is bring about benefits (as LONG AS YOU ARE NOT ALLERGIC TO SULFUR!!!) but do I think its a miracle worker? nahhh....it just does its job. Time and your atralin is where your true progress will be detected.

Oke my skin is behaving REALLY BAD. Suddenly I have all these pimples on my forehead. They're tiny but all together it just feels like sandpaper.

This SUCKS. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with my new eyeshadow. I got all these pimples just above my eyebrow when I started using it, and I have all these red dots on my eyelid.. Hmz see what happends if I stop using it.

day 24, I've just got that one pimple on my face where i had a deep comedone (first in 24 days), aside from that I've got 2 small comedones left.

BTW that pimple don't look nice obviously, but the rest of my skin is much better than before differin.

guys today i feel *hit, I know it's just one pustule but erfin was getting better then this pops up...

noregrets, i know what you mean. I had a face covered with them It SUCKS i'm telling you! There's no getting around it. I mean I have almost 99% flawless skin now but I have developed such an insecurity about my skin that if I even see ONE closed comedone, I freak out!!!! I'm like: "OH HELLLL NOO!" thats something I think everyone who had acne suffers with....we have learned to become so HYPERFOCUSED on our skin (or else we wouldn't be on this site) that we notice EVERY single thing thats wrong with it. In reality, however, when Im around my friends...I've noticed that NO HUMAN BEING i have met has PERFECT FLAWLESS skin. NO ONE has the airbrush finish i'm looking for. Everyone has small tiny bumps here and there/large pores/wrinkles or one thing or the other. I think as previous or (current) acne sufferers, we have to remember that it isn't as bad as we think it is. It REALLY REALLY isn't! We are soooooo conscious about it. Same goes for you Jacinthaa.

thanks allison, i know what you mean, but it's like this one pustule amplifies everything else

Ah I totally know where you're coming from Allison!

If I only see a bad pustule I freak out! I wanna cry and start breaking things or whateeeevah.

It sucks, and I guess and I think it's just because we're anxious. That our skin will go back to that horrible break-out status it was before (at least in my case it is)

And yeah, I have friends with relatively perfects kin (just a few bumps here and there). And one of my girls has like moderate acne. But her skintone is so beautifull that it doesn't bother at all! She has like these apple pink cheeks, so the pimples kinda look cute (how weird that may sound)

And one of my girls, recently got some mild acne. And sometimes when she has her totm it gets a little out of control. But she is so awesome about it, just saying that it sucks and go on with her life. And I think that's an important part, to just NOT stress about it. No one has perfect skin! And stress reflects on your face.

So update skinwise:

Well my skin is healing from that nasty break-out in London. And it's just so funny how my skin gets back to normal when I eat healthy and just don't live in such gross air (no offence for people who live in London)

Current pimple-status:

one small whitehead on my forehead (will be gone in 1 or 2 days)

and like a tiny red mini-pustule (you can't even call it that but for now) beside my mouth (been there for a week, hoping it will vanish SOON)

Tiny red dot on my forehead from a naaasty whitehead I had.

And I'm also having my TOTM next week, so I guess that will have some influence aswell.

So it's like, I shouldn't be freaking out. My skin is looking good, and i'm only covering one red spot with conceiler. So basically i'm going WITHOUT make-up.

So Allison, just wondering. Are you still taking antibiotics? Because when you stop them you might experience some more frequent pimples. I stopped antiobiotics like 1,5 month or so ago, and I didn't get a break-out, but since a month I notice that I get more pimples at a frequent base. Nothing bad, but just to give you the heads up.

Noregrets, I know how hard it is. But don't let one pimple get you down! Many people have at least 1 pimple on their face. And it sucks that it's probably red and angry, but hey, it will go down in a day or 2. So just keep your head up and face the world!

Thanks jacintha.

My neck is very red as well since yesterday, I don't really apply differin that low down my neck. Did any of you guys get redness?

Hi Hope you don't mind me posting in here. I'll give you a bit of an intro... 26 year old female, mild-moderate acne that I HIDE with perfect makeup. I am incredibly self-conscious and insecure about my skin. Huge stressor for me because my appearance is unfortunately so important to me. It's sad..... when I saw a few girls in here, I knew I had to reply. So anyways, I've tried lots of stuff over the years, but I never was patient enough to get results. I think my first product was actually Differin when I was about 13 or so. I was convinced it didn't work and hated it because it made my skin peel. So since then, I've tried VERY short courses of different products like topical antibiotics, tried Retin A only for a few applications.... the typical. Not sticking to anything. As I got older I researched...... A LOT. For the past 8-10 years I've used the sorts of products I'll list in a min but never consistently.... I tried Minocin on and off for several years but just recently (couple weeks ago) didn't renew my prescription. I was on it for toooo long, and my amazing results I had with the first round never happened again....... it just wasn't working. I went off birth control pills four months ago, and my skin has been very very oily. That = more breakouts. So now I've been really consistent using these things: 2% BHA (Paula's Choice, liquid version), 5% AHA (Derma E Beauty Fluid or the ProActiv toner), and 2.5% bp (the ProActiv lotion). For cleansing, I use Neutrogena's Oil-Free Acne Wash (tried a bunch of different ones over the years but always go back to this because it gets my makeup off and doesn't leave residue... don't want that whereas my skin is oily). I have a bad habit of trying to "fix" blemishes....... and it always makes it worse. Worst habit ever, and I really want to stop it. I feel like my skin will never look perfect. I have a SUPER light skintone (MAC NC15 is typically too dark)... and a lot of redness. My skin is very sensitive and reactive. Oily but gets flaky soooo easily when using products. I have a fair amount of PIH; I get it SO EASILY. I seem to break out in the same places which makes me think that the thing I need now really is a Vit. A product. I'm waiting to get back in to see the derm, so in the meantime my doctor gave me a few samples of Tactuo (Epiduo in the U.S.) which is .1 Differin and 2.5 bp. I've only had two applications thus far because I'm skipping TWO days in between for a while. Will be using it again tonight. My skin is already peeling... it started after the first application. Crazy, but like I said, my skin is super sensitive. But it's very tolerable right now. I'm not sure what my derm will prescribe when I see him but I will make sure it's still a retinoid. ANYWAYS I am 100% committed to sticking with a retinoid and roughing it out! I don't want to be a slave to makeup, and right now I totally am. I won't ever leave the house without makeup, that's just who I am, but my goal is to feel ok enough that if somebody caught me at home without it I could still answer the door!

Now that the intro is out of the way, on to the questions!

Have any of you had luck with Differin smoothing out the texture of your pores/lessening the visibility of them?

Have you found that it helps PIH (red spots)?

I wish you all the best of luck with your skin.

Talk soon!

sup guys,

My neck is fudged, its really dry and red if i try to moisturize, it goes even more red, my face feels taut. I attempted to pop my pustule, only half of it came out n now its even more swollen n red... great.... worst pustule i've had in years and it's from a small comedone that wasn't even noticeable

Fuck the IB

Hello loviessss....

I have my next appointment with my derm tomorrow....I'm getting a cortisone shot in this one tiny pimple I have because I have graduation coming up!!!!! So that shiz has GOT to go. lol.

ANOTHER UPDATE: remember how i told you guys that I got bumped up to retin a 0.1 3x a week? Well I feel like that was the last piece of the puzzle. I mean...it has been working wonders for me (only because differin prepared me for it! Not discrediting differin here; its my best friend lol). But I feel like the VERY last of the stubborn comedones that differin wasn't able to get are getting zapped away by retin a. I haven't noticed any IB yet with retin A....I think its because my skin was already used to the differin (another retinoid) for 9 weeks prior lol.

Jacinthaa, you're completely right. We are soooo paranoid about our skin and every morning I'm scared that my skin is going to go back to square one. I think the reason for this is because my onset of acne was VERY sudden! I woke up one morning with pimples on my face; before that, I had nearly perfect skin to where I could go out without makeup. I don't know if you were the same way....? Anyway, the antibiotics thing...well, I was/am on doxy but I'm telling you....that medicine does NOTHING for me. I'm so lazy about it....some days i'll take it...other days I'll forget...and I'm talking like weeks at a time here lol...but It makes NO difference in my skin. I have also been using a topical antibacterial (klaron) and I think that does me more good than doxy. I don't think the bacteria was ever a problem for my skin...it was really the closed comedones and the overactive sebum glands...and I think birth control pills and the retinoid help the most with that....RETINOID definitely takes 99.9% of the credit there though...which leads me to our new guest...

Ella welcome!!! First and foremost, if your skin can handle benzoyl peroxide...DAMN kudos to you! MY SKIN gets so freaking irritated with BP...i mean like uncontrollable itchiness like I have the chicken pox again. Anyway, i will tell you something that my derm imparted on me...people who are prone to PIH are usually NOT prescribed something with BP in it because it tends to aggravate that. So...my advice to you would be drop something with BP altogether. Lol...I was like you...I tried differin for 3 weeks my first time around and quit. I literally thought I had an allergic reaction to it...(I didn't...it was just the IB). Anyway, now 2nd time around...I'm on week 9 or so (i stopped counting because my skin has hit such significant improvement)...its been great! At the 3-4 week mark, amazingly....I had that IB AGAIN! lol...thats just something I've learned that you have to go through with retinoids. It always gets worse before it gets better...but thats why this blog is here. I made it when I WAS in my IB....and the support of the people here really helped me. Please stick with your retinoid. It helps with the acne and the PIH. Also ask your derm to prescribe you something with 4% hydroquinone in it like the OBAGI clear....that helps speed up the process of clearing PIH.

Noregrets I have done that countless times and never learned that it doesn't help lol. Put some ice on it..dab a whole bunch of differin on it...and go to sleep. even cover it with a bandaid to keep from picking at it? it gets better. trust the process. remember success isn't always what you see your skin is improving drastically underneath all those layers.

Allison, hmzz, well I only started to see difference in my skin when I completely stopped antibiotics (there was a time when I'd take like 1 pill of 50mg in 3 days) and still didn't see changes in my skin. But 1 month after I completely weaned off, yeah my skin is getting more pimples. Or at least, more big pimples (and hurtful ones)

So I'm just really give you the heads up, it's the fact that you have antibiotics flowing through your system, and it really helps to protect pimples from getting infected and hurt.

So guys I really HAAAAATE my skin right now. It's just like i have al these tiny pimples on my face, and it sucks. I have 2 tiny pimples on my chin and about 3? on my forehead now. And I guess it's because I'll get my totm saturday, but still. I hate it, never had it when I was on antibiotics. And it just makes me urge to restart taking them. BUT I WON't! I WILL have my skin behave normal without pumping stupid antibiotics through my body.

Night 26..

Pustule is starting to dry up, new little comedones on forehead, few little red bumps, dry skin overall especially neck and red(never been dry on neck)

still surprised, first 23 days everything was getting better than the baseline and then out of nowhere it goes worse.

Got to deal with it.

shouldn't have attempted to pop the pustule only makes worse, *hitty habit.

guyss today is the first night i'm not applying any retinoids to my face...first night in like 9 weeks. I think I should be fine. I just wanted to give my skin a rest from the peeling from retin a. Plus, I had cortisone shots today so my face is irritated enough already. i'll let ya'll know what goes down tomorrow morning. goodnight loves.

also sad news: I think that my skin MIGHT be headed for the worst again....I dont know if its the dryness or peeling thats making it look worse or whether its truly new acne coming up. ahhh! pleeeeeeease be here in case I need ya'll again.

Noregrets, its okay....i know that awful feeling. Please put a bandaid over it and relieve yourself of the misery.

@Allison, by taking the doxcy and non-regular intervals you are heavily increasing the chance of the bacteria (P. Acnes) becoming resistant to the doxcy. Maybe this is why your acne could be flaring up again? If you stay on it a bit then some bacteria will die and that's fine, but the rest left have more time to become resistant and reproduce making your face full of doxcy-resistant bacteria!

An easy yet informative read: http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/15891249

From another research paper, an experiment done on the same patients as mentioned above:

Thiboutot et al (2006b) performed a study on 253 subjects to assess the maintenance effect of adapalene 0.1% gel and Doxycycline antibiotics in subjects successfully treated in a previous 12 week study of adapalene-doxycycline combination. The study demonstrated a clinical benefit of continued treatment with adapalene 0.1% and Doxycyline antibiotics as a maintenance therapy.

Personally i'll stay on the doxy and differin for as long as it takes and thereafter, purely because there is research behind it.

@ Crac

I think it also depends on how long you're taking the doxy/mino/tretacycline etc. etc.

I mean, it takes almost 2 months to get fully in your system right? Most people only take them to help with the IB of retinoids.

Most people wean off effective and just keep the retinoid to keep their skin under control. I'm the perfect example

I took mino dec-march and then I weaned off. And now I'm still almost clear (everytime my skin has a downfall and I get more pimples then I say it's because I don't take antibiotics anymore, but I guess that's true cuz antibiotics really stop the pimple from infecting, and when you don't take them. Well, they sometimes d³ get infected

But still my face looks much clearer then back in october/november.

@ Allison

Girl, EVERYTHING looks worse when you're face is red and peeling. Everytime I have a flear up or my face turns red because I'm blushing, it looks SOOOOO bad. But that's just the redness making everything more visible! And of course your face is irritated because of the cortisone shot. So if you just skip your retinoid tonight and put something moisturizing on your face, everything will look A LOT better tomorrow So just don't think too much.

So, I really don't know why I said my face was so bad yesterday. Cuz it wasn't -.-

It just looked really bad after showering, but of course my face was red and yeah you know, everything looks worse then.

I only have 1 small red pimple today, the rest has all flaked off. The 3 pimples on my forehead, just flaked off overnight gosh you gotta love differin.

So now I'm back to post-London skin. LOVEEEEE <3

Jacinthaa thanks for the comforting remarks! PIH is so awful. lol. I hate it. I do feel like its improving but it sucks that every small pimple leaves a ducking red mark! UGH...lol my skin acted fine...no worries...i didn't wake up with a face full of pimples; in fact, i think my skin was just saying "thank you" lol.

Anyway, its just that there are a few closed comedones that are arising again and I dont know why. I thought the retin a/differin were supposed to keep them from coming up. I mean, honestly...there's like 2 closed comedones that are rising up but still...you know us ultra conscious acne freaks.

Crac, i never thought about it like that! You're probably very right. my derm prescribed a stronger antibiotic: bactrim? Its sulfur based...hopefully i'm not allergic to the damn thing. lol but anyway...

GUYS...i think I'm going to go back to the differin....I really dont like retin a as much as I did differin. It irritates the bujeezus out of my skin. what do you think???

sup,

My pimple came off in the shower, stepped out of the shower n the pus was just sticking out haha must be the skin thinning, wiped it off and put some antibiotic ointment on it..

neck is still severy dry looks scaly but no peeling.

crac - differin stops microcomedones from forming in the first place which is the bases of blackheads whiteheads pustules papules nodules cysts you name it. the antibiotics should only be used initally for the IB. If you find a retinol that works for you (including accutane) there's no need for antibitocs, p.aces are anaerobic, if there's no comedones then p.acnes won't increase.

Thing with antibiotics is even with strict dosing and taking at regular intervals there's always going to be a chance of resistance which is why Practioners need to be cautious about prescribing (had a whole lecture on it). Doxy like the majority of antibitotics is a broad spectrum (very difficult to make a specific one) so as well as killing the p.acnes your also killing many of the bacteria beneficial to normal physiology. Those that are resistant multiply which disrupts bacterial balance in your body, not just in the short term. Resitance affects many other bacteria in the body not just P.acnes, once your resistant the antibiotic is rendered useless.

Just my thoughts on it guys [Edited image out]

Allsion differin was working well for you, like they say if it ain't broke dont fix it

you guys im so woried my skin is gonna go back to breaking out bad. I know it hasn't like in weeks but still....do you guys have that fear too??