Hi, my name is Brian, a freshman in college. I have had acne for about 4 years, but didn't really mind until this year. I have moderate acne on my face and back, and mild acne on my chest.
In the past, I have used over the counter treatment methods, but nothing has worked for me. Finally, I decided to take action and made an appointment with a dermatologist. He prescribed me Sumadan wash, Ziana cream for my face, and an antibiotic. I recently picked up the Sumadan wash and Ziana, but there was some trouble with the antibiotic, and I will be getting it in a week. My regimen is as follows. I shower with the Sumadan wash in the morning and in the evening, and apply the Ziana cream to my face and neck before I go to bed. Once I receive the antibiotic, I will be taking a pill every evening before I go to bed.
I am currently two days into treatment, and made this to track my progress. Any feedback or suggestions would be appreciated.
(I posted this a week ago as as a blog by accident, which is why the date is wrong)
Week 1
I will be posting weekly updates on my progress (every Sunday). There were some problems with my insurance covering the antibiotic, so I was given Cefadroxil, a different antibiotic, as a replacement. I have been taking one pill every 12 hours, as instructed, since Saturday (yesterday). On top of using Sumadan, Ziana, and Cefadroxil, I have decided to go on a dairy-free diet. I have actually seen a considerable amount of improvement on my back, and no new acne has grown on my chest. Unfortunately, I have not seen any improvement on my cheeks and chin. The dairy-free diet (which starts working after a few months), Ziana (which starts working after a few weeks), and the antibiotic (which I just started taking) have not taken effect yet, so most of these results are from the Sumadan wash.
I am struggling with low self-esteem, which has started to take a toll on my social life in college. I am an attractive guy, I go to the gym, and am in great shape, and my acne has never really bothered me this much before. Even though I have seen improvement, I still doubt that the problem will be solved completely. One of the main reasons for this is my brother, who is two years older, and has acne a little more severe than mine. He has never properly treated it, but since acne is mostly genetic (whatever people say) I am afraid that I will be the same. Even if the acne does go away, the hyperpigmentation will stay for months longer.
Thank you for reading, please post any comments of suggestions.
Week 2
A lot less acne is growing on my face and back. The ones that do grow are smaller because of the antibiotic. If the acne stays away, I'm expecting the discoloration to fade over the next 6 months to a year. There is no permanent scarring anywhere except a little on my right cheek. While I'm happy with my results so far, I am still a little skeptical that my struggle with acne is anywhere close to over. Many of the blogs I read have very good initial improvement followed by bad breakouts.
My self esteem is up a little, but no where near where it was during high school. I can't help but wonder why this had to happen to me, and where I would be without it. It just seems really unfair that I do everything to be the best I can, and it's being affected by something I can't control.
Thank you for reading, any suggestions or comments are appreciated
Week 3
There is definitely improvement all around, but the acne is very persistent. My cheeks and back are clearing up, but I'm getting breakouts under my chin, which is a relatively new problem area, and acne continues to grow everywhere (although there's less of it). Overall, I know I wanted a miracle cure, but I can't have really asked to get better results that I have so far. The Ziana gel, which takes 3-4 weeks to take effect should start working soon, so next weeks results will hopefully reflect that. Confidence is still relatively low.
Week 4
I just broke out a little on my right cheek and the right side of my back, but overall, you can still tell that everything is improving. I think improvement will be slower from this point on, but hopefully it will be slow but steady. My goal is to be comfortable with my skin (I know it won't be perfect) by March 2013.
Week 5
I did not grow any new acne on my back during a 4-day period this week. Right now, there is one small whitehead on my right cheek, one small whitehead on my right shoulder, and a medium sized whitehead on the left part of my back, and that's it. If improvement continues at anywhere close to this rate, I will be comfortable by March.
By the way, I am currently on a soy free and dairy free diet. Since I have been into bodybuilding, controlling my diet is not really a big deal, so I'm hoping that helps in the long run.
Week 6
I currently have no active acne anywhere on my body. I have noticed that I usually break out about once a week. The breakouts have been getting less and less severe, maybe 4 or 5 pimples in one night now. I am completely clear now, but I am expecting to have this weekly breakout sometime in the next few days. I have been really strict with my diet; I have not had any dairy (including butter) in more than a month. Soy is a little harder to omit completely, but I have tried to eat as little as possible.
Week 8
I missed a week but whatever. There has been no improvement since week 6 (if anything it has gotten a little worse). I decided I want to take Accutane after thinking very seriously about it for the past month. I stopped taking the antibiotic about a week ago because of a side effect that really bothered me. I am seeing my dermatologist on the 20th of December and I am going to ask him to put me on Accutane. I took the antibiotic for a solid 2 months and I didn't really feel that it helped at all. Since I have body acne I think it would be much more effective to treat it that way than with all this topical stuff. I just really hope he will let me do it.
Alston088, if your acne comes and goes then it is probably more mild than mine. If you have not tried over the counter treatment methods like salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide then you should do that. If you have, then see a dermatologist and see what he says. Overall, just the comfort of having a dermatologist helps a lot, physically and mentally.