Day 8

Turns out the two little bumps on my chin are cysts :'(

When will this end?

As far as side effects my mouth is dry. Didn't mention that before sorry. Nothing serious, usually relieved by a very small sip of water. I also didn't mention that I switched my tea in the morning to just a plain cup of warm water. So instead of 12 oz of tea (I actually drink my tea from a soup cup) I get 12 extra oz of water a day, maybe that's why I'm not thirstier. The tea used to help me poop in the morning (tmi sorry). The plain water doesn't which isn't good because sometimes I'm out from 6am to 10pm and I don't even like to pee in unlicensed washrooms. I don't even like to touch the taps.

I bought ambi fade cream to help get rid of these marks faster. I've never used a bleaching cream but I've never had sooo many marks on my little face so I'm desperate. I've also never had my chin look like so dark it resembles a beard. It's amazing how much damage was done in just a few months of retin a. So I'm gonna try to bleach it all off. Or at least lighten it until I can find a steady salicylic acid toner or gel to get rid of the marks completely since the idea of bleaching my skin is kinda scary. Anyway I'm trying it out on my elbows tonight to see if it does anything weird to my skin.

Day 10

One new pimple on my eyebrow. The two cysts on my chin are there just being...cysty. What was there before seems to be flattening out.

No headaches or anything weird. My mouth is still dry. Had some tea yesterday and today but it didn't seem to affect me. I really want to switch to plain water in the morning. Hopefully my body can just respond to the warm liquid instead of the caffeine. I'm pretty sure it's the caffeine that makes me poop since one cup of coffee will give me diarrhoea for hours. I'm gross lately aint it?

So I bought the aveeno clear complexion foaming cleanser. Used it twice. Don't like it. Have to look for a new cleanser this week and find someone to take this one. I'd toss it but it's was expensive so I should give it away. It made the dry patches on my skin come back which is weird because it's supposed to be soap free and all kinds of good stuff.

I also used the ambi fade cream on my face. It's a bit annoying to put on but it may be because i have so many spots and it takes a while to cover them all. I saw a youtube video of a woman putting on her whole face, but i'm thinking if i do that then the mark will fade but so will the skin around it... so you still see it. But her skin was flawless. I am a little scared to be using it though. Hydroquinone is carcinogenic so i'm gonna stick to the time consuming process of dotting it all over my face.

Also on youtube (becoming a bit of a junkie) I saw some reviews on the ambi scrub. I'm thinking of trying that too. I need to get rid of this foam.

Day 12

Forehead: one new whitehead right in the middle. A big one. Rest of my forehead is smother though

Temples : weird peels dry spots. Very nasty looking. One pimple on each side.

Nose : nothing new, shiny as usual but no pimples.

Cheeks : smother except for a bump under the skin on the right

Chin : the beginning of what feel like 2 new cysts the rest are going away slowly. These two aren't visible yet unless you look realllllly closely at my chin

Back : 2 small new pimples

Chest: feels rough but no zits

Marks: don't notice any improvement so far. But I really didn't expect to

Seems really early for an initial breakout from this drug but maybe it means that my skin will clear up earlier. Hopefully.

I did notice some spotting when I got up this morning. Nothing serious though. Guess I'm just adjusting to a change in hormones.

Hey glad to see you are coming along, almost 2 weeks! Well I definitely had my initial breakout weeks 2-4 and then a bit throughout the next few months. As long as you have a good skincare regimen in place you can combat them. Exfoliate and if you can get access to any chemical peels to help your skin that would keep you ahead of the game. Everyone is different, so timing will be all based on your body adjusting. Just keep your head up and know you are on the track to getting clear. My first day of Spiro feels like a year ago now lol It's been 3 months and 1 week and I should be clear in the next 2-3 weeks. Just a few stubborn clogged pores on my cheeks, one side of my forehead (random) and a few each on the side of my jawline. Many women have cleared in 2-3 months which is fantastic compared to living with acne for years. Stay positive!!

Day 12

 

Forehead: one new whitehead right in the middle. A big one. Rest of my forehead is smother though

Temples : weird peels dry spots. Very nasty looking. One pimple on each side.

Nose : nothing new, shiny as usual but no pimples.

Cheeks : smother except for a bump under the skin on the right

Chin : the beginning of what feel like 2 new cysts the rest are going away slowly. These two aren't visible yet unless you look realllllly closely at my chin

Back : 2 small new pimples

Chest: feels rough but no zits

 

Marks: don't notice any improvement so far. But I really didn't expect to

 

Seems really early for an initial breakout from this drug but maybe it means that my skin will clear up earlier. Hopefully.

 

I did notice some spotting when I got up this morning. Nothing serious though. Guess I'm just adjusting to a change in hormones.

Day 15

Forehead: last pimple I had disappeared pretty quickly, then another one came and I'm hoping it goes just as quickly.

Cheeks: that bump under the skin on my right is still a bump under the skin

Temples: dry patches are peeling off - very gross

Chins: no new zits but those cysts are still there

Nothing new on my chest or back which i'm grateful for

side effects...

Today and thursday I had more spotting, yesterday there was a lot of blood. It was really weird. But Im not that worried since i got a lot of weird bleeding when I first went on Diane.

Marks don't seem to be fading but the ambi does say to use it twice daily (i use it once) and it says it should show results in 2-3weeks so I might have to wait 4-6 weeks.

I'm actually thinking of trying their moisturiser. It has salicylic acid, vitamins c and e and soy extracts. Never rubbed those vitamins on my skin before. I want to see how I would react to them. My moisturiser is currently running low, but I still have a few weeks before it finishes.

Hey glad to see you are coming along, almost 2 weeks! Well I definitely had my initial breakout weeks 2-4 and then a bit throughout the next few months. As long as you have a good skincare regimen in place you can combat them. Exfoliate and if you can get access to any chemical peels to help your skin that would keep you ahead of the game. Everyone is different, so timing will be all based on your body adjusting. Just keep your head up and know you are on the track to getting clear. My first day of Spiro feels like a year ago now lol It's been 3 months and 1 week and I should be clear in the next 2-3 weeks. Just a few stubborn clogged pores on my cheeks, one side of my forehead (random) and a few each on the side of my jawline. Many women have cleared in 2-3 months which is fantastic compared to living with acne for years. Stay positive!!

Day 20

On Sunday afternoon I got my period which was weird because I still had three more diane pills left to take for the month. It freaked me out but I've gotten over it. My body tends to do weird things when I start hormone pills so I got over it.

Tuesday I started breaking out I now have pimples everywhere on my face except my nose, and i got one on my chest and one on my shoulder. They're not cysts this time so I'm grateful for that. I still hate that they're there

The dry patches I had are gone. My mouth is less dry.

Oh... I also checked out the ambi moisturiser which I thought had salicylic acid in it. It doesn't their exfoliating wash does. Not sure if Im gonna try it right now.

Ugh sorry to hear about your breakout, but better to get it over with early, get the gunk out and start healing!!! My IB started around this time as well all the little spots, thankfully the cysts stopped at this time to. You are three weeks in and be strong. Time will pass, just keep reminding yourself you are doing this to finally finally have some real clarity, a real solution. Not a spot treatment or a wash to fix a breakout, the goal is to stop them and you are on your way. Hope you have a good weekend.

Day 24

I didn't wake up with any new pimples so hopefully that means this breakout is ending. I'm reaaally hoping. I also got a full 8 hours of sleep last night (yayy me).

Got another huge zit on my chest and another on my back yesterday, the ones from before are getting smaller. The old one on my chest is very red right now which is strange for me but it's smaller so I'm happy.

The few pimples that came out on the centers of my cheeks are gone or going, still have along my jawline and my forehead though

I stopped using the ambi cream once I broke out so I can't give an update on marks. I'll start using it again once my face calms down. On saturday I did my weekly facial but instead of using the st ive's scrub I used a little face brush which is super gentle and the aveeno foaming cleanser. Then I used a thinner than usual layer of a mask. Then a regular toner and moisturiser. It probably doesn't sound like much of a facial but I find I always have nice skin on monday morning once I do it.

I wish the ambi fade cream was a gel and not a cream or came with a thin applicator nozzle because it's a pain to spot treat with something so thin that comes out in one big dolup. It doesnt seem to break me out though so I can't really complain.

Day 27

Got a huge zit between my nose and lip. It's right in the from of my face... I can't turn to one side and hid it. It looks bigger from the side

Ok...maybe it's not THAT huge, but it's right in the front and noticeable and I hate that. I have a bump at the back of my ear. It's really tender. I put oil on the ends of my hair last time I washed so that may be why.

One new bump under the skin on the left

No new pimples on my chest or back (yay)

On my jawline.. I'm not sure if the bumps I had before disappeared and gave way to new ones or if the ones there now are left over but it's a lot less now. 5little bumps on the left and three on the right.

To be honest I've been really stressed out lately so it may be the stress that's making me break out and not an initial breakout. It's been really bad and I've been getting stress headaches especially yesterday and today.

Still haven't started using the ambi again. It's a real pain.

I hope that the following weeks your skin will be much better. Spiro is great, so many women swear by it. I am sure that it's going to be great for the wedding!

Reading this made me smile. I hope that all the acne is gone long before the wedding.

I seem to be getting some little bumps on my forehead again just when I thought it was going away. such a pain. I don't know where they came from. I never used to break out on my forehead and for the past few months it's been going crazy. Right now I'm hoping they will all magically disappear by the time I wake up tomorrow.

I hope that the following weeks your skin will be much better. Spiro is great, so many women swear by it. I am sure that it's going to be great for the wedding!

Reading this made me smile. I hope that all the acne is gone long before the wedding.

I seem to be getting some little bumps on my forehead again just when I thought it was going away. such a pain. I don't know where they came from. I never used to break out on my forehead and for the past few months it's been going crazy. Right now I'm hoping they will all magically disappear by the time I wake up tomorrow.

I hope that the following weeks your skin will be much better. Spiro is great, so many women swear by it. I am sure that it's going to be great for the wedding!

I have a similar problem with forehead bumps but they are small and skin colored or light pink. Using topically b.p. twice a day makes them disappear. Are yours like this?

I have a similar problem with forehead bumps but they are small and skin colored or light pink. Using topically b.p. twice a day makes them disappear. Are yours like this?

yeah i suppose, except that mine always leave dark marks and bp does nothing to make them disappear. The only thing that reduces them a bit is salicylic acid... but just a bit. I'm thinking of trying the old sulfur soap I used to use, if I can find it.

Day 34

Currently I have one painful little zit between the brows. A large bump on my chin which seems to be going away now.

I still have the little bumps on my forehead but somehow today they were a bit smaller than usual. I washed my face a lot yesterday... I sweated all day. Wonder if that had something to do with it.

2 pimples on my back

Anyway, long weekend. Might do a facial. I've been meaning to buy turmeric and make a mask. This would have been the best time to try it since I have a lot of time for the yellow ness to wash off.

To sum up for the first month

- had some weird spotting

- my period came befor my pills were up

- dry mouth which went away. Don't think my mouths been dry for more than a week now (I'm drinking the same amount of water btw)

- skin seems less oily

My regimen

Mornings

Wash with aveeno clear complexion foaming cleanser

Apply neutrogena clear face break-out free liquid lotion sunblock

Or neutrogena oil free acne stress control 3in1 hydrating treatment

Afternoons

Wash with aveeno clear complexion foaming cleanser - if I'm excessively sweaty and need to wash my face

50mg spironolactone

Night wash with

Aveeno clear complexion foaming cleanser

Apply neutrogena rapid clear 2in1 fight and fade toner (everything made by these people is a damn mouthful)

Spot treat with neutrogena rapid clear 2in1 fight and fade gel (not the best spot treatment)

Diane 35

If I wear makeup I use clearasil deep cleanse skin clearing wipes then wash as usual

Once a week I'll use either the st Ives apricot scrub or a small face brush and cleanser to exfoliate a little more. I'm actually laying off the st Ives since it irritates my face sometimes. Works great everywhere else though so I'll still use it as a body scrub.

I also use the queen Helene masks once a week but only on my forehead, nose and active breakouts. They dry out everywhere else.

Do try sulfur, i wish i could find something with sulfur too. It's been used against acne for thousands of years.

Regarding your regime, green gables suggest taking spiro with breakfast (before noon anyway) because that's when our acnegenic hormones are high. It makes sense but the last time i used to take it at night wih great results. Just suggesting something that might help. Also i have heard that wipes aren't that good in removing make up especially for our skin type. I don't know if it was the brand i had been using, but when i switched to liquid make up remover i tested it after using the wipes and you can guess the result.

I used to use sulfur soap with decent results. Became harder and harder to find until I just couldn't find it anymore. Tried another brand but it made me break out.

I wanted to take spiro with breakfast but it makes me thirstier and makes me pee more, and I'd rather get a uti than use a public bathroom. There's only one I can use but I'm hardly around it.

I use the wipes to remove makeup then wash my face with my regular cleanser. The combination does well. The wipes really seem to remove everything for me since I usually just wear powder and eyeliner, sometimes concealer. I still wash afterwards though. Makes me feel better.

I'll be switching to accutane. My doc says his hospital's gonna start bringing it so there actually won't be just a single doctor's office in this whole city that supplies it.

I know I haven't been on spiro long enough to know if it's working but I prefer to use the accutane and get this whole nightmare of acne behind me. It's been 11/12 years now... I deserve to get rid of it.

It's actually coming at a very opportune time, because i just had another breakout from the spiro over the weekend. Also had the worst headache of my life this weekend. I was crying and I think the heavy crying plus the diuretic probably dehydrated me. Not too sure. But all I know is that I was crying then i was dizzy with the worst headache ever. Drank half a liter of water and it eased, drank another half and it went away. It was weird... But hey on accutane I won't be able to cry (which is good because I'm a crybaby).

Anyway took my last spiro tabs on the 22.

Currently I have

2 cysts and one huge white head on my chin. One cyst and the white head seem to be healing.

A ton Of little bumps on my forehead

A ton of bumps along my jawline (which are actually smaller than this weekend to be honest)

Giant zit on my left temple

One not so giant on on my right cheek

One new one on my back (told you I broke out this weekend)

Nothing new on my chest or left cheek or nose thankfully

The second giant zit I had between the brows left a mark that merged with the mark from the first so now I have a big black mark in the middle of my face

I'm gonna be concealing that shit until it fades.

The zit I had on my cheek last week also left a big mark which I didn't think it would since it wasn't that huge.