damm. I read it all but yea that sucks big time.

I would still give retin a some time...it is prolly clearing all the junk that is under the skin.

I also went on retin a but i went on it a long time ago. Like I guess I was the unlucky one or somthing because I am on month 8 I think (starting to loose count) and I do not have clear skin 100%. I didn't go to a derm, just went to my gp doctor and he prescrebed me retin a.

He told me same thing yours told you...that you might experience some new breakouts. He also told me that it will take 3 months to see results. The first few weeks actually was really good for me, i saw alot of improvment on my skin texture. After about 2 months started breaking out and I started loosing hope pretty much. Luckly I knew about this website and did some research.

People said to stick with it, to be honost i had no other choice. I used the whole tube of retina by month 7 and went back and got new tube with higher percentage. Doctor put me from the lowest dosage to the highest (0.01%) lol.

I decided to get more retin a because I did notice that there was some improvment. Pimples would not come as often and pigmentation would be more faded. Ok anyaways now that I am on month 8 I think I am seeing some good improvment. First when starting the new retin a... i didnt see improvments at all, instead i saw my skin got worse. Now I think it is getting better so I can only hope. Im ganna still use it till the tube goes out.

Thing is for accutane, there are good and bad about it. Like some people see AMAZING results, 100% clear skin in 3 months or osmthing. If I could go back in time I know I would ask for accutane. This is only because now with retin a.... i still have acne, and scaring.

Before retin A I never had scaring. Retin a and then bam everything just started to scar. I have some minor scaring but I am a guy, for a girl my scaring wud be bad. I have to live with these scars and maybe if I was on accutane....even If I did get scaring, it would maybe last for like 3-5 months of pimples... not 8 and going like I am now on retin a.

Anyways, I think you shud try not to be harsh with retin a. If you see more scaring I dont know its your call but accutane is a good drug just works sometimes like all these acne drugs.

Oh ya and wonderful thing about retin a is that with long term use, your skin texture will improve. Retin a is scientificly prooven to reduce wrinkles so if it works out for u then u shud keep using this as it will make ur skin look nice and fresh in the future and so on. I have also noticed that the appearance of my scars have been reduced as months have passed.

So I hope I get no more breakouts and I hope retin a smooths my skins icepicks scars.

Anyways sorry for such a long message, oh ya and i dont know if doctor told you but stay out of the sun with dis retin a on. Use suncreen always because its reactive or somthin...it can make u break out i heard.

damm. I read it all but yea that sucks big time.

I would still give retin a some time...it is prolly clearing all the junk that is under the skin.

 

I also went on retin a but i went on it a long time ago. Like I guess I was the unlucky one or somthing because I am on month 8 I think (starting to loose count) and I do not have clear skin 100%. I didn't go to a derm, just went to my gp doctor and he prescrebed me retin a.

 

He told me same thing yours told you...that you might experience some new breakouts. He also told me that it will take 3 months to see results. The first few weeks actually was really good for me, i saw alot of improvment on my skin texture. After about 2 months started breaking out and I started loosing hope pretty much. Luckly I knew about this website and did some research.

 

People said to stick with it, to be honost i had no other choice. I used the whole tube of retina by month 7 and went back and got new tube with higher percentage. Doctor put me from the lowest dosage to the highest (0.01%) lol.

 

I decided to get more retin a because I did notice that there was some improvment. Pimples would not come as often and pigmentation would be more faded. Ok anyaways now that I am on month 8 I think I am seeing some good improvment. First when starting the new retin a... i didnt see improvments at all, instead i saw my skin got worse. Now I think it is getting better so I can only hope. Im ganna still use it till the tube goes out.

 

Thing is for accutane, there are good and bad about it. Like some people see AMAZING results, 100% clear skin in 3 months or osmthing. If I could go back in time I know I would ask for accutane. This is only because now with retin a.... i still have acne, and scaring.

 

Before retin A I never had scaring. Retin a and then bam everything just started to scar. I have some minor scaring but I am a guy, for a girl my scaring wud be bad. I have to live with these scars and maybe if I was on accutane....even If I did get scaring, it would maybe last for like 3-5 months of pimples... not 8 and going like I am now on retin a.

 

Anyways, I think you shud try not to be harsh with retin a. If you see more scaring I dont know its your call but accutane is a good drug just works sometimes like all these acne drugs.

 

Oh ya and wonderful thing about retin a is that with long term use, your skin texture will improve. Retin a is scientificly prooven to reduce wrinkles so if it works out for u then u shud keep using this as it will make ur skin look nice and fresh in the future and so on. I have also noticed that the appearance of my scars have been reduced as months have passed.

 

So I hope I get no more breakouts and I hope retin a smooths my skins icepicks scars.

 

Anyways sorry for such a long message, oh ya and i dont know if doctor told you but stay out of the sun with dis retin a on. Use suncreen always because its reactive or somthin...it can make u break out i heard.

well itz summer so staying out of the sun is gonna b a little hard. and yes i just got a big sunburn on my back (just my luck right?) although i think itz the acanya gel tat caused the sun burn. my scaring is not icepicks scars (thank god) but since i'm a girl scaring is BAD. but lucky all my scars can b covered up with a thin layer of foundation BUT i HATE wearing makeup. i absolutely hate how tat stuff feels on my skin so yah even though i was breakout out like crazy during week 3-8 i wore no makeup in2 public so tat goes 2 show just how much i hate makeup. but yah i hope retin a doesn't take 8 months. cus 3 months is all i'm giving it & if i don't c some real improvement soon then itz bye bye to tis crap and hello to accutane. (but i heard tat accutane leaves behind scaring too..... is tat true?)

This isn't a cell phone; it's far easier to read typing when it's done normally.

Agreed. I hate my derm for perscribing me retin a micro .04%. I went to him when I had one really bad pimple and now Im on week 6 and im stuck with red acne scars all over my face. This medicine sucks and now im debating on whether or not i should stop using it.

I thought I was the only one. I started with about 5 white heads on my face and decided to go to the derm because I got greedy, then he prescribed me Tretinoin Cream and I had no idea what it was whatsoever, but i thought it should work well since the derm prescribed it. I was definetly wrong. I had the similar experince with you. If you want you can read my long "Death to Tretinoin Cream >". There is more information and my whole experience and whatnot.

Well, in my opinion once you use the retinoid for a good month and your breaking out, you have no choice but to stick with it. I say that because I've used it for a little over a month and stopped. After I stopped, I broke out worse.. first it was puss filled pimples, about 1 in a half month later it turned to severe whiteheads, after that I developed horrible flushing. My whiteheads died down but the puss filled pimples are coming back. It's been about 8 months since I stopped also. I posted a similar post on someones post, here is the link : http://www.acne.org/messageboard/TAZORAC-S...01#entry2930101

Here is my post :

http://www.acne.org/messageboard/Death-Tre...06#entry2890206

I think the dermatologist should have been more firm about the side-effects and maybe if I was a little bit more educated on tretinoin, I wouldnt have even used it. Now Im totally screwed.

Accutane is like retin a but in a oral form. You'll get similar side effects... like dryness, thinning of skin.. not to mention the initail break out, but its all up to you.

I too, REGRET using it so bad....

Anyways, keep us posted

I thought I was the only one. I started with about 5 white heads on my face and decided to go to the derm because I got greedy, then he prescribed me Tretinoin Cream and I had no idea what it was whatsoever, but i thought it should work well since the derm prescribed it. I was definetly wrong. I had the similar experince with you. If you want you can read my long "Death to Tretinoin Cream >". There is more information and my whole experience and whatnot.

 

 

Well, in my opinion once you use the retinoid for a good month and your breaking out, you have no choice but to stick with it. I say that because I've used it for a little over a month and stopped. After I stopped, I broke out worse.. first it was puss filled pimples, about 1 in a half month later it turned to severe whiteheads, after that I developed horrible flushing. My whiteheads died down but the puss filled pimples are coming back. It's been about 8 months since I stopped also. I posted a similar post on someones post, here is the link : http://www.acne.org/messageboard/TAZORAC-S...01#entry2930101

 

Here is my post :

 

http://www.acne.org/messageboard/Death-Tre...06#entry2890206

 

 

I think the dermatologist should have been more firm about the side-effects and maybe if I was a little bit more educated on tretinoin, I wouldnt have even used it. Now Im totally screwed.

 

Accutane is like retin a but in a oral form. You'll get similar side effects... like dryness, thinning of skin.. not to mention the initail break out, but its all up to you.

 

 

I too, REGRET using it so bad....

 

Anyways, keep us posted

well to update you on what i'm experiencing right now I am happy to say that i got good news. I'm in the middel of my 4th month of Retin A, and i'm happy to say that my face is practically clear. I got 1 blackhead somewhere on my cheek and 2 very small whiteheads. taz it. althoguh i'm convinced that it's the doxycycline that cleared up my face because i've been using that for 6 weeks and i noticed that after the 3rd of week of using this antibiotic i stopped getting big puss filled acne. Although my dermatologist said that only retin A, can really help with white heads and black heads, and i'll admit my black heads have all mostly cleared up as well as the white heads. As for the acanya gel..... i really don't kno if it's doing anything at all but i'm just gonna go with this routin for now because whatever i'm taking or doing.....ITZ WORKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sadly now my face is still covered with red acne scars (not exactly dented scars....jsut discoloration....) so i'm gonna go in to get a vitalize chemical peel that will hopefully get rid of my acne scars!!!!! so anyway yah i agree with wat you said about once you start retin a you can't go back. trust me i thought about quitting but decided to just go with it because..... hey things can only get better from where i'm at right now.... and you know wat? it did! i hope you're having luck with your acne. (btw have you tried antibiotics? they WORK! FAST!)

Thats great that your acne is clearing up and everything is working well for you I get it is worth sticking to it. I've heard if you stick to it longer, It will just get better and better. Im pretty sure your marks will fade within time, I dont advise you to do a chemical peel because your skin is sensitive right now and it might worsen it. You should ask your dermatologist about it before doing it. A little trick I do for scaring is Aloe vera gel 100%, It works really well on scars and I use it as a thin moisturizer for my cheeks (cheeks are very oily; overall face is very oily). I think sticking with it really paid off

My acne has calmed down, last week I broke out like no other. This is so werid but i think i might have broken out because I cleaned my room Lol werid, i know!! But, right now Im using Acanya gel also. It stings alot. Im trying it out for about a month then decide whether I see a difference or not. I've been wanting to take accutane but Im scared of the long-term effects. It just makes me think is it even worth it. It's like you have to loose some to get some.

I've tried antibiotics before and It didnt work on me, It made me almost throw up

Keep us posted! I wish i could see your improvements! GL

Thats great that your acne is clearing up and everything is working well for you I get it is worth sticking to it. I've heard if you stick to it longer, It will just get better and better. Im pretty sure your marks will fade within time, I dont advise you to do a chemical peel because your skin is sensitive right now and it might worsen it. You should ask your dermatologist about it before doing it. A little trick I do for scaring is Aloe vera gel 100%, It works really well on scars and I use it as a thin moisturizer for my cheeks (cheeks are very oily; overall face is very oily). I think sticking with it really paid off

 

My acne has calmed down, last week I broke out like no other. This is so werid but i think i might have broken out because I cleaned my room Lol werid, i know!! But, right now Im using Acanya gel also. It stings alot. Im trying it out for about a month then decide whether I see a difference or not. I've been wanting to take accutane but Im scared of the long-term effects. It just makes me think is it even worth it. It's like you have to loose some to get some.

 

 

I've tried antibiotics before and It didnt work on me, It made me almost throw up

 

Keep us posted! I wish i could see your improvements! GL

the dermatologist is the one who suggest i go threw with the vitalize chemical peel. She said it would help with some of my acne and will help prevent the scaring that i might face. anyways i looked up tis vitalize chemical peel thing online and itz good good reviews and positive feedbacks so i'm gonna trust in it. plus i stopped using retin a fo the time 2 prepare for the peel. anyways i'll try tat lotion you suggest and i'll tell u how it works for me ^-^ oh and what kind of antibiotics did you try? I use doxycicline and as long as i take it with food i get no sideeffects. and yah the acanya gel BURNS! itz stings 2. taz normal i think.... but after like a couple of week ur skin will get use to it. i hope tat works for you. Oh and below i will make another post (with images) tat will show u how i went from semi bad skin to sever acne back to mild-moderate acne ^-^

before my retin a experience... tis picture is taken w/o makeup (can you see the tiny whiteheads and blackheads??)

now tis is like the middel of month 2 on retin a...... yes prepare for the horror....(btw tis is wat my face looked like when i went back to the dermatologist 4 the 2nd time...tis was also wat my face looked like when my dermatologist said i could be put on2 accutane)

now........on like middel of month 4... with the help of antibiotics, acanya gel, and more retin a..... tis is the results

and i hope to get my skin back to looking like tis again........... tis was taken tis year around March........

Hey there How's your skin doing so far? When are you going to do the chemical peel? Also for the aloe, you have to use it for at least 1 month to see a difference. I really like it

I've tried two different antibiotics, minocycline and docycycline. I followed the intructions like you did but i still felt nausea. It also did absolutly nothing to my acne and i've used it for a while.. The acanya gel does burn but i think it work well, I've been using it for about a week

OHMYGOD. your acne looked ALOT like mine when i came off it maybe i should have sticked with it!!... but im scared it may not get better, AHH. lol so frustrating.

By the way your skin b4 looked great, but now it looks so clear. Did you use any make up? You have a cute smile! You look so young! I think our skin is VERY similar! Is your skin getting flushed by any chance? Or red?

Anyways, keep me posted its very interesting

Hey there How's your skin doing so far? When are you going to do the chemical peel? Also for the aloe, you have to use it for at least 1 month to see a difference. I really like it

 

 

I've tried two different antibiotics, minocycline and docycycline. I followed the intructions like you did but i still felt nausea. It also did absolutly nothing to my acne and i've used it for a while.. The acanya gel does burn but i think it work well, I've been using it for about a week

 

OHMYGOD. your acne looked ALOT like mine when i came off it maybe i should have sticked with it!!... but im scared it may not get better, AHH. lol so frustrating.

By the way your skin b4 looked great, but now it looks so clear. Did you use any make up? You have a cute smile! You look so young! I think our skin is VERY similar! Is your skin getting flushed by any chance? Or red?

 

Anyways, keep me posted its very interesting

i THINK my skin is doing pretty good considering wat happend just like a month b4. also i'm getting the peel 2morrow >.< wish me luck! and i'll probably use the Aloe vera gel 100% as a follow up for my peel just to help continue the healing of the scaring. oh and on my 3rd pic (the one with improving skin) I am wearing a thin layer of tinted moisturizer. taz the only pic where i'm wearing makeup. so in tat pic u can't see my bad scaring cus itz easily covered up by makeup but as you can see i don't have many active acne anymore. all its left is my scaring.

oh and how long have you tried doxycycline? like tat stuff didn't work for me until 3 weeks in where i really noticed a difference. also there's always tetracycline i don't know about you but i really think antibiotics are helpful....

oh and i'm also using the acanya gel although i can't really tell if it's working or not cus i'm using 2 much crap on my face 2 tell which is doing the job >.<

oh i'm soooooo glad there's some1 else in this world that had as bad as a breakout as i have! I mean i have read in lots of places that they had bad breakouts from retin a but i really can't imagine any1 else who would have such a horrifying initial breakout tat would rival mine.

and ya TRUST ME when my acne got that bad i thought about quitting. but the one thing i was afraid of was that it would not get any better if i stop. so you know what i'll just stick this out and see where it takes me. although i can't really say it was the retin a that cleared me up. Like i said i think it was more of the antibiotics. but one thing is for sure the retin a is not making me breakout anymore so horray for that!

and yes i am quite young.... i'm 16.... wat about u???

hum..... and as for flushing.....idk....i really can't tell...cus back then my face was covered with acne when i started retin a so yes my face was red. now my face is covered with red scars so yes it is still red. lol....actually my scars r slowly but surely fading....and i don't think i flush.....

oh and also have u thought about starting accutane?

when my acne was bad from the retin a i always thought 2 myself that if all else fails i will just go onto accutane and all well be better.... although i was very afraid of the side effects..... especially the long term effects.... but u kno taz always an option cus itz considered the "miracle cure"

Cool, I think your skin will get better and better I cant wait till you finish your peel, hope it goes well. Tell me ALL about it

I've tried doxycycline for about a good month or a little longer, I dont quite remember, It was a while back. Yeah i know there are different kindas and brands or antibiotics but i feel like thier useless. Thanks for the suggestions though. When you use the Acanya gel, do you use it as a spot treatment or you put it all over your face?

Yeah I was surprised to see someone with the same situation and acne as me, Im so glad i found this post! hehe Keep it up with your regimen! I think it's going to work out for you.

Yeah your pretty young, when i was 16 I didnt even have acne >. Im 18 y/o college student haha. Thats good that you dont flush, your luckyyyy. dam, my skin has been very oily lately, I just started school and would have to blot n retouch so many times.. its so annoying. Idk what to do with it!!

Yeah, I thought about taking accutane long and hard, and Im just really scared of the side effects.. i'm not even sure if it's worth it. There were some points when i REALLY wanted to take it. Im scared its going to make my flush even worse since my skin is still sensitive from using tretinoin. So frustrating. Yeah it can be a miracle cure, for some people... but it can fail for many other people.

Anyway, tell me about your peel and update on how you skin is doing hehe

well i just got the peel yesterday and really i can't say i see anything happening. Although I am aware that the peel doesn't start happening until the 2nd day so i'm waiting for the peeling to start tomorrow. As for the process....hum.... well letz just say it didn't burn.... it wasn't uncomfortable...it was rather quick...probably took like 10 minutes if not less..... it was a bit tinkling.... but other than that nothing else... my skin looks exactly the same right now from before i did the peel.... so I'll update you tomorrow on my peel. (i'm actually excited to see the results >.<)

oh and when i first started acanya gel i put it all over my face... but then it made my face burn so bad! so i red online some place tat said i should use it as a spot treatment... so i started doing that... but then i realize that my skin was starting to tolerate the gel so now i put it all over my face >.< it doesn't burn anymore!!!

and yah accutane seems like a BIG risk but u kno if the results are worth it then maybe giving it a try wouldn't b so bad....although the worse case scenario is quite scary.....

Wow, sounds scary kinda. I saw some pictures of chemical peels online and it looks like your skin will turn dark and few days later it will flake off haha. Thats crazy, to me haha.

Anyways, cant wait for your update! Hope your doing well.

pretty much the exact same thing has happened to me with tazorac. i was put on it about 4 months ago when i went in to the dermatologist with mild/moderate but persistent acne. unfortunately i cant blame my derm because i specifically requested to be put on the taz because i had heard good things about it. well long story short the tazorac has made me break out and left me with worse red marks than i have ever had before and it is not improving. i was also put on minocycline. i went to a different derm a couple of days ago who gave me aczone to use during the day to help with the inflammation. she recommended i get on accutane asap. what i dont like about accutane is that it doesnt help with the red marks and scarring.. while tazorac is supposed to be good for that. so i dont know what i should do at this point do you think i should stick with it or just do accutane?

pretty much the exact same thing has happened to me with tazorac. i was put on it about 4 months ago when i went in to the dermatologist with mild/moderate but persistent acne. unfortunately i cant blame my derm because i specifically requested to be put on the taz because i had heard good things about it. well long story short the tazorac has made me break out and left me with worse red marks than i have ever had before and it is not improving. i was also put on minocycline. i went to a different derm a couple of days ago who gave me aczone to use during the day to help with the inflammation. she recommended i get on accutane asap. what i dont like about accutane is that it doesnt help with the red marks and scarring.. while tazorac is supposed to be good for that. so i dont know what i should do at this point do you think i should stick with it or just do accutane?

hum.... well i thought about accutane when i was at the edge of my rope and was desperate for clear skin. My derm. also told me that if antibiotics don't help then i could be put onto accutane. lucky for my the antibiotics were like the miracle drug for me. it cleared up my skin very well and now i no longer have thoes inflamed red pimples. but i'm guessing from your post that minocycline isn't doing much for you. well if you do decide to do accutane make sure you kno wat you're getting yourself into. do lotz of research.

My doctor put me on Retin A 0.01% gel and I stopped using it after two days (yep, two days). It made my skin awfully red and painful (looked like I had chemical burns on my skin), so I stopped using it asap!

Wow, sounds scary kinda. I saw some pictures of chemical peels online and it looks like your skin will turn dark and few days later it will flake off haha. Thats crazy, to me haha.

 

Anyways, cant wait for your update! Hope your doing well.

okay to update you on the peel all i got to say is that...... i did not peel much...... like i did.... but it was barely noticeable even to myself.... and it was very light peel......... did hurt or anything..... my scars.......... can't say i see a impressive improvement....... maybe a little...... but not as much as what i was hoping for......... hey at least it didn't make ir worse! oh and btw where do you get that aveol gel you were talking about? i looked at a local drug store and they didn't have it! i think i wanna try it cus obviously the light peel doesn't do much for my skin.

Hey snowlily, I have been on for a long while due to school, I've been so busy.. but Im back for now hehe. So how have you been doing? How's your skin so far? Any luck with Retin A? My skin has been acting up, maybe from the large amount of stress and sleep. Ughhh.

Anyways the aloe gel, you can find any at walgreens, target and walmart; any drug stores. Just be sure that it is 100% or 99% aloe GEL.

Update with pictures if you have time

QT3.14

what can i say? my skin is great! i mean seriously there r no acne on my face. none. zip. i didn't think tis day would EVER come. i'm sorry to hear tat ur acne is acting up again. btw have u tried birth control? if ur acne getz the worst around ur period then maybe u should get some birth control pills to help tat.

oh and as for my acne scars.... i haven't done anything 2 them and they r fading definitely! i'll probably go out and find tat aveol gel stuff sometime down the rode. anyway when i find time i'll post some current pics of my skin. but yah itz looking great!

Thats great! You lucky penny haha The scars will fade in no time! What is your regimen now?

Unfortunately, I have tried birth control and it made my acne worse, besides I dont really feel right messing with my hormones, because it will back fire on me! thier evil hahah -__-.

Anyways, looking forward for the pics and update! Thanks for the suggestion, I'll see about the birth control and other stuff haha.

okay so here r my current photo.... lol i kno my face looks flawless but itz cus of the lighting. i still have some DEEP scaring. itz just covered and blurred out by my desk light. lol i took these photos with my web cam so itz not the best quality but u can tell at least tat i don't got acne anymore! i'll post of photos of my scarings tat actually shows my scarings sometime later. and yes i sure hope i'll fade! i'm considering using the clinque dark spot fading thing... but it cost like around $50 for a bottle... so i'm gonna wait a little bit longer and see.

i'm carious... wat does ur skin look like right now? can u post some photos?

wow snowlily nice pics, looks like the retin a micro really worked for you. i just started it i'm on the 0.4%. Can't wait to get the smooth flawless skin everyone gets from this i'm already seeing improvements

Wow, your skin looks gooooood. It looks like the picture before you used it hehe. I'm happy it worked for you I think scars fade within time, theres a scar fading gel called mederma. You can check it out, it cost about $12? Read reviews! I'll post up some pics soon.