Hi Guys,

I™ve browsed this forum a lot while struggling with my Acne. I never post and I™ve just been lurking like I™m sure of some you are who™s reading this.  

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First off, if you are considering suicide, please consider calling the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Acne is a difficult, painful, emotionally destabilizing, but you will get through it.

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I wanted to tell you my story over the last 10 years, and to warn you, it is quite long but it may help you if you were/are in my position. I will be going over what medications I took, and my final straw with doctor™s recommendations as the last one recommended that I stay on Accutane for the rest of my life.

I have before/after photos, but if enough people find value in a video, I will consider making one and may actually do it to spread awareness. I have a few since I was 16 the beginning and throughout my 20s. For now, I will share with you my most recent cystic acne outburst. The photo that you see with my severe acne was in Late August 2017 and the other one is a picture taken today, early December 2017 (approximately 3 months). This was actually the second worst acne breakout that I ever had. The first one occurred when I was 18 on Accutane.

As you can see, I still have a lot of scarring, but I don™t break out anymore. The scars you see developed when I was figuring it all out after discontinuing the expensive products and topical + oral medications that I was put on. I cut those medications off in July 2017, and my face went bonkers. Why in July? Well, for one my health coverage was ending and I would be paying a much larger out of pocket expensive. To add to that, around April/May, the dermatologist I was seeing recommended that I start a new prescription of 40MG of Accutane infinitely. I was scared, nervous, and almost had a mental break down. I asked what are the side effects? Why forever? She said œbecause we™ve tried everything else, but you don™t have to go on Accutane if you are happy continuing to take your current medications. I was frustrated. So, I decided to learn everything I could about the science of Acne, diet, skin care, bacteria, etc.

Now before I jump into the story, to put actual figures behind my prescriptions + recommendations. At the time, spending close to ~400 a month just to keep my acne at bay WITH health insurance. Albeit, hindsight is 20/20 and some of the lotions recommended to me by my dermatologist were anti-aging creams that they encouraged. I was too foolish to question anything otherwise. It wasn™t needed in solving the underlying issue. Why was I still breaking out after ALL of this? WHY? WHY ME? Questions I™m sure you ask yourself too.

I™ve been through many of the same stages as you guys. First let™s start with all the medications/things I™ve been on or tried personally and can attest to how you may be feeling.

Over the Counter Meds:

Benzoyl Peroxide Wash/Gel (All strengths)

Salicylic Acid Wash (All strengths)

ProActiv

Prescriptions:

Minocycline

Doxycycline

Clindamycin

Tetracycline

Retin-A

Isotretinoin (Accutane) (Up to 40mg)

Tazorac

Differin

Aczone

Benzaclin

Things I™ve experimented with

Jojoba oil

Teatree oil

Maka Honey Mask (Regular raw honey also)

Rose pedal Toner

Aloe Vera Toner

Dieting

Sweating by workout/Sauna

Salt based cleansers

Korean skin exfoliates

Swimming frequently

Tanning

Niacin

Changing bed sheets/ bed covers often

Changing detergent

Different Hair products

Different Shampoo/ Conditioners

Clean & Clear Adv

TNS Essential Serum (Expensive)

Chinese Herbal Tea

Vietnamese Yoga

Vitamin C face lotion

As you can see, I have tried a lot of things. This list doesn™t include the countless amount of expensive lotions/œmiracle creams to help with scarring that I was recommended by people and forgot the name. I™ve been to a few cosmetic dermatologist to fix my issues, and although they are amazing, I needed to stop the root cause of my acne. Why am I getting acne? Why do I continue to breakout despite the oral pills, the over the counter drugs, and the gels that are supposedly stop breaking out.

My answer

Since my acne was the worst some of the dermatologist I™ve met with have ever seen, they didn™t know what to do but to throw the kitchen sink at it. So, I knew my answer to Acne when going on a treatment was to battle it in a multi-factor way.

Now let™s break it down:

Diet

For me diet was HUGE. HUGE. The only thing that I was never coached on by any dermatologist. It was the PRIMARY thing that was breaking me out. After consuming whatever I wanted for over 20+ years, I realized some foods were terrible for me regarding my skin condition. I needed to stay away from Chocolate, Diary Products (cheese, ice cream, pizza, etc), and Coffee.

I converted to a cleaner diet consisting of mainly fruits + veggies + cleaner meat dishes (staying away from fried foods, heavily sauced foods, and dishes with an abundant amount of sodium).

Changing my diet helped with the rise of new acne. I wasn™t forming these nasty cystic that pops up.

• What can you do? Look at what you eat and keep a journey or new acne to foods you consume.

Skin Care Routine

This was important but it was something I was doing my whole life. This was just continuing this same process but now in a systematic way.

I clean, tone, and moisturize. Sunscreen in the day. Benzo to kill P. Acne. I also use natural exfoliates to clean dead skin cells a couple times a week. If you aren™t doing this in your daily routine, DO IT.

• What can you do? Buy a gentle cleanser that works for you, toner, and moisturizer. It is critical to put sunscreen on. Get the non-oily versions of the sun screen. If you aren™t a big fan of benzo peroxide, you can everything else first and use benzo as a last resort, even a 2.5% may help.

Overall wellness/ cleanliness

I practice these a lot throughout my years but I will bring some awareness to a few that I do.

Don™t touch your face. It may seem obvious that you want to avoid putting dirt on your face, but it™s so natural to touch your face if you are stressed or embarrassed etc etc. If you really need to touch your face to scratch an itch, use your shirt or a tissue. Do remember that your phone has more bacteria on there than almost any appliance you use on a day to day basis. Wipe it down. Save your health by killing that bacteria.

Pillow covers. Change them frequently. If you are extra oily like me, do it more often than others. I change mine every night if not every other night. Yes. It is a lot of work, but until you are for sure that you can go without it, you should incorporate this habit.

These are some examples of overall wellness that I committed to and will continue to commit to.

• What can you do? The above.

Acne scars

This is the next stage of my acne journey. I am in the Acne scar revision phase. I have ice pick scars, rolling scars, keloid scars, atrophic scars, and the list goes on. I will take you guys on this journey with me and hopefully in a year, there will be some great results that I can help you guys with who may be in the acne scar phase or will be in the acne scar phase.

I feel like there are so many parts to my story that I didn™t include, but over the span of 10 years is a long time to cover everything. I would be happy to answer ANY question regarding the different mediation, gels, creams, lotions, and etc that you may have. I have been on Accutane and faced severe depression. I, like some of you, have considered suicide. Don™t do it. Remember, you are beautiful. I put the list of things I™ve tried so we can have an open general conversation about it. I can tell you my experience in what I liked/didn™t like. If I wrote each experience up, it would be a novel.

It took me nearly a week to do this write up (partially due to work), and also I wasn™t sure if I wanted to be in the public eye with my acne and my problems. I™m rather to myself with these things. But I want to be a resource to people. I™ve dealt with this for 10 years. I know the pain you may be in. I™m here for you. I wish I had someone do the same for me, so I™m reaching out. Comment or message me. Share your story. I will try to help as I can and will get back to your messages!