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Hi,
First of all I want to thank any input, I really need to gather information / thoughts so I would really appreciatie that.
My dermatologist doesn't do anything for me. I was planning on switching but that is going to take too long and I have an appointment in about 2 weeks. So I wanted to prepare myself and instead of expecting anything from my dermatologist, come up with my own plan.
Little story (*You can skip*)
I've had acne for years, tried antibiotic and topicial. I did a round of accutane for 6 months, cleared me up for around a year. However I still suffer from acne. Here's my full backstory:
SO, ACCUTANE FOR POSSIBLE HORMONAL ACNE?
I've been on Yasmin (birth control) for 5 months now, at first I had a bad breakout but then my skin got to where it was at the first place: moderate persistent breakouts but sometimes bad pustules, whiteheads, cystic acne...
Now after 5 months I've discovered the following:
A strip of birth control has 3 weeks, the fourth week is the placebo week. I always have clear skin the first 2 weeks but when the placebo week comes near my skin breaks out really really bad for around 2 weeks. The following weeks I have to deal with the scars mentally and psychically, it's a never ending cycle. It gets bad and I'm assuming those 2 weeks are when I won't even show up at university. You can imagine that it really bothers me.
I'm not sure why this is happening even tho I'm on birth control, but I know now that it's something probably hormone related however can't be completely treated by birth control. (Please correct me if it doesn't make sense what I'm saying)
So at first my opinion regarding a second round of accutane was a big NO, however seeing that this has been going on for months I'm willing to try it again. I even went paleo and had a clean diet in the meantime. Do you think a second round of accutane would do anything in my case? (since my acne may be hormonal, even though birth control didn't get rid it of). Maybe a lower dose? Or should I try a higher dose since the first round probably wasn't enough. I'm really torn, does anyone have an input perhaps? Thank you in advance.
* I thought about going on spirolacton but in my country it's 'against' the laws and can't be used for acne. Sure, I could try and find a dermatologist. But mentally the risk that spiro won't work after months isn't worth it. I'd rather have more side effects but have more certainty. Even though accutane can fail, even if it's a second time.
** PICTURE of how my acne starts before I get to my placebo week. I thought it was perioral dermatitis at first but it always happens at a certain time. This was just the beginning, trust me. A week later I got really bad cysts and pustules all over my face. I don't have a picture of that right now, I'll insert it later.
Definetly hormonal since its located near the jaw. Second is this hiw bad your breakouts are? If so it aint that bad at all looks like closed comedones. Do you watch what you put on your face? Cleanserd and moisturizers may contain comedogenic ingridients that may clog the pores. I suggest you google acne.org comedogenic list it gives you a rating from 1-5 that tells if its very clogging/irritating. Second Accutane will work again, but theres always a chance that itll come back when you stop so I suggest you keep a low dose of accutane after your skin gets clear and slowly die it down. Since accutane is also a mega dose of vitamin A i suggest you take Vitamin A supplements the natural topocholorl kind. Such as solgar. Lastly, birth control pills are really bad because at some point if you eant kids your going to have to stop and what happens when you stop taking what you did to prevent breakouts? A even major breakout becayse your body is already accustomed to consuming BP. GL though! Your doctor will prob prescribe tretinoin gel not cream if he does ask for the gel kind. Dont really know how well it will do as it is also a megadose of vit a on your face while accutane is oral. Remember though it can take months to years fke it to get clear.
9 hours ago, VulneraryRain said:Definetly hormonal since its located near the jaw. Second is this hiw bad your breakouts are? If so it aint that bad at all looks like closed comedones. Do you watch what you put on your face? Cleanserd and moisturizers may contain comedogenic ingridients that may clog the pores. I suggest you google acne.org comedogenic list it gives you a rating from 1-5 that tells if its very clogging/irritating. Second Accutane will work again, but theres always a chance that itll come back when you stop so I suggest you keep a low dose of accutane after your skin gets clear and slowly die it down. Since accutane is also a mega dose of vitamin A i suggest you take Vitamin A supplements the natural topocholorl kind. Such as solgar. Lastly, birth control pills are really bad because at some point if you eant kids your going to have to stop and what happens when you stop taking what you did to prevent breakouts? A even major breakout becayse your body is already accustomed to consuming BP. GL though! Your doctor will prob prescribe tretinoin gel not cream if he does ask for the gel kind. Dont really know how well it will do as it is also a megadose of vit a on your face while accutane is oral. Remember though it can take months to years fke it to get clear.
First of all thank you for your input. That picture wasn't that bad indeed, but I just took that a week before my breakout got bad. Since I thought it was perioral dermatitis, but then it got worse. Here's a picture how it looked like after a week (Actually shortly after the breakout and the closed comedones were almost gone)
So as you can see I'm dealing with different kinds of acne which is really confusins as to how I should treat it.
The pictures I showed in my original post look like closed comedones but they all came suddenly and went away after a week, if it was because of any products I would have noticed them earlier. It's only when my placebo week almost arrives I believe.
My face also got really sensitive so I only use cetaphil face wash and moisturizer for acne prone skin. I put them in cosdna (also my make up which is oil free) and there weren't any acne causing ingredients in them.
About accutane, are you suggesting to take a full course of 6 months and then keep taking a low dose? or a low dose overall for there 6 months. I also took Tretinoin for 8 weeks this year since I was so against going on accutane, it only made my breakout more and didn't reduce my acne at all even after the promised time of 8 weeks. And you're right, I'm kinda regretting BC since I'm stuck now even though it doesn't do a lot for me. I don't know whether I should keep taking it while on accutane or stop it then
Im sure the cetaphil cleanser has SLS as the first ingridient lauryol sulphate is a high 5/5 in clogging and irritation to the skin. CETAPHIL IS NOT RECCOMENDED I DONT KNOW WHY THESE BOZO DERMS KEEP RECCOMENDING IT WHEN IT HAS SUCH A HARMFUL INGRIDIENT FOR ACNE SUFFERERS. DONT LISTEN TO ALL THE THINGS A DERM SAYS. I just think they reccomend that crap so you can revisit for that $$$.
As for accutane I meant that take the regular dose but if your skin clears dont just stop right away. Even after your skin clears take a low dosage and keep littling it. As for tretinoin yes it does cause extreme breakouts like with any oroducts especially because its rebuilding your skin and getting everything underneath out. 8 weeks is pretty short because tetinoin usually takes 4 -6 months. Im not a expert on Accutane but you can watch Brian Turner on youtube. He has all the advice and his journey with accutane and I think you can relate.