I'm starting this up to help me prepare for my next dermatologist appointment. My treatment began on 06/11/2013.
In the last three months my skin went from being relatively clear with some issues with a few clogged pores and non-inflamed small pimples that would go away pretty quickly to having very painful papules and pustules on the left side of my jaw and hairline with tons of clogged pores all over my cheeks. I've been using the pill since I was 17 and at 25 I'm not certain this is hormonal acne or just caused by stress or something irritating my skin or something else. I've also had consistent breakouts on my back, but they've been responding well to apple cider vinegar and honestly don't bother me that much. As for my face, blemishes were also forming much quicker that they normally would, a few times I took a nap and woke up with new inflamed pores in the course of an hour. I'm hoping to nip this problem in the bud before it became far worse - and while I'm not happy with the current state of my skin I'm still fortunate enough to be experiencing mild to moderate acne on only a portion of my face.
At present, these are the prescription products involved in my regimen:
Doryx (doxycycline hyclate - delayed release) - 150 mg/day
Acella cleanser (10% sodium sulfacetamide, 5% sulfur) - Use once a day on face and body
Tretinoin Cream at .025% - I've been using this for two days in a row and then taking a day off, I think I'm going to switch to using it every other day
Other things I'm using:
Organic honey as spot treatment, cleanser, and mask
Sulfur mask to calm redness and inflammation - mine is the Equate brand from Walmart
Jojoba oil to remove makeup and the oil cleansing method to help loosen up the clogs once every few days
Possible other factors in my skin's sudden change:
Humidity (I live in Atlanta, Georgia and we've had a fairly rainy summer)
Avalon Organics Vitamin C cleanser - I've stopped using it but I've read some reviews where people seem to have had similar reactions to mine
Wellbutrin - I'm on Wellbutrin to treat depression, but one of the side effects is I'm prone to hot flashes (yuck) which might be making me sweat more and subsequently break out more. I'm pretty certain this isn't the problem though.
A week in I can report that any inflamed acne I've had has pretty much subsided - I think this is mostly due to the Doryx. My left jawline looks pretty bad with healing spots and new whiteheads coming up daily. Lots of debris seems to be coming out my pores and I'm expecting that I'm on the cusp of my tretinoin purge period. I'm hoping by using sulfur products and Doryx that the inflammation will not be so bad during this phase and that most of what arises is whiteheads, blackheads, and clogged pores rather than really painful bumps. The painful spots make me want to pick my skin like crazy to release the pressure/infection from under my skin and I know I really shouldn't be doing this when my skin is in such a fragile state with the use of tretinoin. Other than that, I haven't had any bad reactions to tretinoin outside of flakey skin on my forehead. Here's to hoping I'll be through with the purging phase in the next two weeks.
After a week, things are looking a lot better. I still haven't gone through a big purge, which I'm grateful for! I've been having a lot of clogged pores come to the surface, but they are easy to extract. Right now I only have one inflamed bump on the right side of my jaw and a weird bit of swelling on my forehead. Everything else is healing up or is fading
Adding the sulfur mask every few days I think has helped manage both flaking and any residual bumps that could have become more inflamed as the tretinoin does it's job cleaning my pores out and evening my skin tone. I also purchased a replacement cleanser for the Avalon Botanics one - Boots Expert Sensitive Gentle Cleansing Wash after reading through what Paula Begoun (The Cosmetics Cop) recommended for people with very sensitive skin. I was able to purchase this at Target for less than $5, which made it a better deal than cleansers by Oil of Olay and Clean and Clear that were recommended. It takes off most of my makeup without any irritation and my skin feels normal, not tight, after using it. Not irritating my skin more is something I'm trying to focus on since I've added so many new products to my routine.
Overall, I'm feeling a lot better about my skin and how my treatment is going. The next big hurdle is that my period is coming up and this last big breakout that's finally healing now coincided with it's onset.
Time has been flying by.
Week 5 - I'm now moving into using Retin-A every night instead of every other night. Thus far I feel like my redness is healing quicker, but so much stuff seems to be coming to the surface of my skin and making the texture look terrible. Lots and lots of clogged pores and it makes me want to pick my skin more than ever which is not what I need to be doing They extract super easy though, but I'm also really fearful of getting terrible scars/broken capillaries with my skin being so delicate now. It's a habit I'm going to have to break soon and remind myself I don't want to be spending even more $$$ fixing problems I caused myself by being anxious about my skin.
The good news is that my breakouts before my period were much less intense than they were the month before and anything inflamed came and went relatively quickly as long as I didn't touch.
The Doryx also started making me nauseous last week so I took a break and am eating probiotic yogurt to get my GI tract back in shape.
I'll be seeing my dermatologist in a week to check up on my progress, I'm looking forward to hearing what she says.
I went to my dermatologist yesterday and she's pleased with my progress. Right now I only have one active spot and I think it'll be pretty much flattened out by tomorrow or the next day. I'm still having some comedonal acne come up, but it's lessening and my hyperpigmentation is healing really well. The skin on my forehead and right side of my face looks much more refined - pores smaller and even in tone.
My dermatologist gave me an optional prescription for a generic of Duac gel, which has benzoyl peroxide and a topical antibiotic in it. I'm going to fill it just to have on hand as a better quality spot treatment and maybe use it on my back and neck to keep them extra clear.
I'm pleased with my progress and feeling a lot more confident about my skin and how my regimen is working. I'm in a much better place than I was when I began and I know the really good results are going to continue to become more apparent
Things are continuing to get better with my skin, most of my problems now are a handful of hyperpigmentation spots and clogged pores. I'm using the Doryx every few days if I feel like I may be getting an inflamed pimple, but those have mostly subsided. My skin is really smoothed out and the Duac gel has been helping get rid of the clogged pores. My skin looks a lot better and while I'm not 100% satisfied with it's texture right now, I'm thrilled to no longer be dealing with super painful bumps and lots of hyperpigmentation. I'm now looking into options for treating some of my enlarged and scarred pores that will work well with the tretinoin.