Acne.org Products
I have always have acne that I used to consider to be moderate acne, but recently I broke out unlike ever before. I'm scared that I have some sort of infection like staph, MRSA, or a fungal infection. The breakout has been on my left cheek for about a month now, but it seems to be spreading to my chin. It has spread from a small spot on my jawline and gone all up and down. It hurts, almost stings, and itches really bad at points. Tylenol/Advil really helps the inflammation as well as applying heat to the infection. I just went to a uni doctor who prescribed me clindamycin and minocycline, but it was before I realized how bad it was getting. I haven't filled in my minocycline prescription because the pharmacy was closed, so I just started using doxycycline that I had left lying around till I can pick it up tomorrow morning. My face also appears swollen on the left when I smile. I have no idea if this is normal acne because I have never experienced anything that didn't go away in a day or two with bp or any otcs or common topicals. Not sure if it is just some spike in hormones or what. I don't have insurance so it would be extremely expensive for me to go to a derm for proper diagnosis. I've been using the antibiotics since Friday night and am not sure if there is any progress.
Judging by the location and how inflamed it looks, I would say it's likely hormonal.
I know that sometimes when we get crappy break outs we're prone to use every single topical/antibiotic/scrub/exfoliant/etc. at our disposal in hopes of getting rid of everything over night...but sometimes that makes things worse. It sounds like you're putting a lot of stuff on your face that's probably irritating your skin more than it is helping. You have to give your skin time to heal.
I hope the minocycline works for you. I've used clindoxyl gel (1% clindamycin, 5% benzoyl peroxide) before and am currently using liquid clindamycin phosphate as a topical. They're very effective when combined with some sort of oral acne treatment!
Judging by the location and how inflamed it looks, I would say it's likely hormonal.
I know that sometimes when we get crappy break outs we're prone to use every single topical/antibiotic/scrub/exfoliant/etc. at our disposal in hopes of getting rid of everything over night...but sometimes that makes things worse. It sounds like you're putting a lot of stuff on your face that's probably irritating your skin more than it is helping. You have to give your skin time to heal.
I hope the minocycline works for you. I've used clindoxyl gel (1% clindamycin, 5% benzoyl peroxide) before and am currently using liquid clindamycin phosphate as a topical. They're very effective when combined with some sort of oral acne treatment!
Hmm, I've never heard of clindamycin phosphate. Do you find benzoyl peroxide to work well against cystic acne?
Yeah, most of my acne has always been very hormonal and usually only in that spot. Haha, yeah I went a bit nuts with all the products and have finally just started sticking to antibiotics. I went back to the doctor in tears and he told me it was just cystic acne. However, I consulted with a few pharmacists who said it could very well be a bacterial infection. I had my doctor prescribe me mupirocin just to be sure it isn't infected, which he thinks will not make a difference. However, I'll see how it works. I've had regular acne respond very well to it in the past. I just find it strange that my acne isn't improving at all. It's not getting worse either though.
Judging by the location and how inflamed it looks, I would say it's likely hormonal.
I know that sometimes when we get crappy break outs we're prone to use every single topical/antibiotic/scrub/exfoliant/etc. at our disposal in hopes of getting rid of everything over night...but sometimes that makes things worse. It sounds like you're putting a lot of stuff on your face that's probably irritating your skin more than it is helping. You have to give your skin time to heal.
I hope the minocycline works for you. I've used clindoxyl gel (1% clindamycin, 5% benzoyl peroxide) before and am currently using liquid clindamycin phosphate as a topical. They're very effective when combined with some sort of oral acne treatment!
Hmm, I've never heard of clindamycin phosphate. Do you find benzoyl peroxide to work well against cystic acne?
Yeah, most of my acne has always been very hormonal and usually only in that spot. Haha, yeah I went a bit nuts with all the products and have finally just started sticking to antibiotics. I went back to the doctor in tears and he told me it was just cystic acne. However, I consulted with a few pharmacists who said it could very well be a bacterial infection. I had my doctor prescribe me mupirocin just to be sure it isn't infected, which he thinks will not make a difference. However, I'll see how it works. I've had regular acne respond very well to it in the past. I just find it strange that my acne isn't improving at all. It's not getting worse either though.
I've never had cystic acne so I can't comment 🙁 but many users of the acne.org regimen have cystic acne and they've been able to successfully eradicate their acne so I assume BP works on cystic acne as well. Clindamycin phosphate is 1% clindamycin in liquid form. For me it works better when I apply the liquid on my actives first, let dry and then apply BP than using the clindoxyl gel.
I guess to look on the bright side, not getting worse is a good thing right? :p I've never heard of mupirocin - are you taking that in conjunction with the mino? Make sure to take your probiotics!