Hi everyone,

It basically says it all in the title, but I want to know why my acne is suddenly getting much worse at the age of 23. Nothing major has changed in my skin care routine, diet, or life in general. I use a Clarisonic brush every morning and night, with a light cleanser (it used to be Epicuren's acne face wash, but it began to make my skin terribly dry after they changed their formula, so I recently switched to Every Day Coconut by Alaffia), and a non-comodogenic sunscreen (Elta MD). I used to use Aczone daily and it worked beautifully at first, but I think my skin built up some kind of immunity to it because it stopped working.

What's particularly annoying is that while the extent of my acne used to be a few pimples on my forehead or upper lip, it's now turned into that plus huge painful cysts on my cheeks (mostly towards the ear, but all over the cheeks in general) that leave a dark red mark for months. I have so many now that it looks like I have big red freckles all over my face. I have olive skin, which I believe is why. I used to not feel obligated to wear makeup but now I find myself very embarrassed by my skin.

My dermatologist put me on Doxycyclin, but it gave me terrible headaches, so I stopped after a few weeks. I also read that it stops working once you stop taking it, so it seemed like a bit of a tease. My dermatologist informed me that if Doxy didn't work for me, he might have to put me on Accutane. I've heard so many horror stories about Accutane that I thought I'd try going on here for advice before resorting to that.

Can anyone advise me as to why this might be happening and what I can do about it? Thanks in advance!