Let me be clear that I have never had acne before. Nuisance zits as a teen, clear skin by 16, and after I had my first baby I had this HUGE lump that was my whole left side chin...which a dermatologist put liquid nitrogen on it then gave me an rx for retin-a. NEVER had acne again. Until now.

I am new to acne. Oct '11, I had a big purple shiny PAINFUL lump on my chin. It appeared overnight. The next day, there were probably 3 more red ones RIGHT NEXT to it! Making the lump even bigger! By December the whole right half of my chin was involved, and it was very red, swollen, and looked blistered. None of the acne medications I tried were working. I was in a lot of pain. Time to see the doctor. The doctor said it was impetigo, and we did two swabs..he did one, then one of the "blisters" opened up and I did the other swab at home. Both came back negative for any type of pathogen whatsoever. I was on bactrim and bactroban for a month. It spread. Then the doctor told me to see a derm. We got ins. through the state, and in March I went to see her. She said, "Oh, that's severe cystic acne". I was put on an oral antibiotic, an antibiotic lotion, an antibiotic cleansing pad, and some other type of antibiotic something, and finacea. The finacea burned. And after 3 months, the acne was knocked back, but not out. (after a cancer scare) I wanted off the antibiotics. I told her my previous exp with retin-a, so she put me on aczone and a retinoid gel. I tried to wait a month. My chin one morning two weeks ago was on fire. I was in A LOT of pain, and couldn't take it anymore, and was able to get an appointment the next morning. She put me on locoid to calm my face down, (which it did, believe it or not, looking at this not so bad picture. The sterioid cream takes away a lot of the pain that I can function during the day.), And then I begged her for a different type of antibiotic. She said it was time to start accutane. I am really nervous about starting it, after reading some negative experiences. Can I deal with joint pain and rectal bleeding, more so than looking like this, and my face being in so much pain???

I'm really afraid of the accutane. But nothing else has worked, as you can plainly see. I honestly have no idea how bad anyone else's acne is, compared to mine or if I have a right to complain, but God I just can't take it anymore!!! My derm told me its all due to hormones. Anything that starts on your jaw or chin, is due to hormones or stress. Back in Oct I didn't have anything to be stressed about. Since end of may, I had a cancer scare, and it turns out thats its probably not even at the pre-cancerous stage yet, but I'm having surgery in Oct to remove all the bad tissue. So I'm no longer stressed about that. Oh wait, (snapping my fingers), that's right. I'm stressed about my face!!! My derm told me, "welcome to menopause". So am I stuck like this for the next 10 years or so? Is there any hope? Do the benefits of accutane outweigh the risk of side effects?