Acne.org Products
I've been lurking acne.org for tips on dealing with my skin lately and I felt I needed to create an account to track my experience and gain support of people who know what I am going through.
I have never experienced acne as a teenager/young adult. I got a pimple (mostly cystic) once in a while depending on what I ate or that time of the month. I am now 25 years old. My skin ERUPTED with a vengeance about 2 months ago. I probably had 10 painful cysts on my chin/lips at once and I tried to treat it using BP. Unfortunately I have dry skin and this essentially chemical burn-ed me on top of the cysts not healing. I finally went to a dermatologist and she injected 6 of my cysts with cortisone which felt amazing and prescribed me tazorac .1 cream, aczone, and an oral antibiotic. I should mention I am on a oral birth control and have been for 5 years so that shouldn't be an issue either.
My dermatologist was stunned that my skin got so bad so fast. She mentioned it was probably hormonal (duh). I felt good leaving the office because she had high hopes. I have now been on my routine for 4 full weeks and felt I needed to discuss my journey thus far. Phew, this is going to be a book.
My regimen:
A.M.
Cerave foaming facial wash
Cerave P.M. lotion
Aczone
P.M.
Cerave foaming facial wash
Cerave P.M. lotion
Tazorac .1% cream
I have been very diligent in doing everything the way I was told. The first 1-2 weeks my skin was pretty sensitive which is expected. It peeled like crazy. Then came the initial breakout. Wow. I had whiteheads coming out of everywhere on my chin and above my lips. They seemed to have a short life but left behind some serious redness and marks. Ugh. Talk about an acne beard. Going into my fifth week I finally gave my skin a rest for one night from tazorac. I'm hoping going forward I am mostly done with the breakouts so that my scars can begin to heal. I definitely am giving myself the full 12 weeks to see some results because I know tazorac is a slow moving process, but wow am I frustrated with this process.
Now onto the emotional aspect of this journey. I have cried more than I ever had in my life going through this. I feel like I lost my confidence. I don't go anywhere except to work. It's so hard, you guys. Even with makeup on, my dry skin looks awful. I just want to see the light at the end of the tunnel but right now it's hard. Two more months.
I will definitely keep tracking my progress to give others an idea of how taz works. Thanks for reading my story.
-A
I am on my fifth week and I do notice a small drop in the amount of whiteheads. I have a few (maybe 5) but they're small. I'm just so pale that when they pop it's such a dominant red spot. Anyway, I am giving up on foundation because it seems my skin just flakes off, but whatever. I'm trying not to pick which is so hard when it's so flaky. I'm hopeful that this is going to work - at least, more hopeful than I was.
I should also mention I haven't had any processed sugar or any dairy in 1+ months. I don't really think it's making my skin better but I'm not getting any new cystic acne so this might have to be a permanent fixture in my life. I also eat extremely clean right now in hopes of helping. The struggle lol.
It's week 7, and I suppose it's better. I still am breaking out in what seems to be a rotation. First the right side of my chin, then the left, then my eyebrow, then cheek. It's like just when you think a spot is clear you can literally feel one pushing through. They all form a head within a day but it's embarrassing and painful. I hope it's just all my "future pimples" working their way up. It's just so weird they cluster in the same spots. Mostly my damn chin. Ugh. I have had to skip a night of Taz here and there because I looked a little sunburnt lol. I think my skin was just irritated. But I used aczone on those nights. I really want to throw in some BP but I don't want to irritate it more. I go back to the derm next week and I hope she thinks it's progressing. Maybe she will give me something else to help.
Ugh. This is the worst experience of my life. I never thought I would be going through this right now.
Five more weeks. I'm scared it won't be the results I want.
I'm almost done with week 8! I went to the derm last week and she was told me she is very happy with my progress. She said the skin is healing and there were hardly any active pimples! She recommended adding in some laser for the hyperpigmentation, but I think it's fading quickly because of the taz. If it really brothers me, maybe in a year I will look into it. But for now I'm so happy!
You guys, I'm not kidding. My skin is like night and day from before. It's not perfect but I haven't had any new breakouts that really bother me. They are super little and few and far between now. I can look in the mirror and smile, which is huge.
I highly recommend taz and aczone and going for it 100%. Give it time. I'm still giving it the full 3 months but I have a feeling I will be on it for a while if it keeps working. I am still on an antibiotic, but I probably will wean off of it after another month or two. When you are on it, do ONLY your regimen. Don't eff with it. Just wash your face, moisturizer, and use your Rx. Now is not the time to use scrubs, the oil cleansing method, or anything crazy. Use gentle cerave or cetaphil products. I also am still sugar and dairy free and haven't had any cysts so I'm not messing with that either.
Will keep this updated!
