Hello, I am Ryan, and I have moderate but very persistant acne.
I started Tazorac and Minocycline on December 1st, and I am now on... week 6 (?) I believe. I do not know if it was doing nothing until now, but all of a sudden I have broken out with big inflamed white bumps all around my mouth and cheeks, and I have these really painful pustules on my forehead... I guess I am finally getting my initial breakout.
Before this, my skin was actually kind of clear on one side, and very bad on the other side (the side I slept on). I started putting a new t shirt on my pillow ever 2 nights a week ago, so I hope that helps... The other side that was semi-clear was almost smooth to the touch, but it still had a bunch of marks.
My acne does not look terrible from far away, but when you get up close and can see all of the white heads and such, it's not the most beautiful thing in town...
I recently vowed to myself not to pick at my face anymore. Starting a week ago, I noticed that my popped pimples were not healing overnight, and they would just get worse. So I figured that having a white head is a lot better than having a nasty black scab with white puss peaking through.. (ew)
Anyway, I really hope this works in the long run, my skin looks pretty bad, but the fact that I am breaking out a lot more than usual, and with different looking pimples, I have a feeling that it is Tazorac, not just my skin... I hope I am making sense...
By the way, I am a 14 year old Male. I may post pictures later when my skin gets better... or worse.
Sooo, Week 6 was really nasty. I had about 7 or 9 huge lumps on my forehead, some with white heads, some just really red. I also had quite a few lumps around my cheeks and chin. Last night, I had to break my promise about not picking... I just couldn't walk around anymore with these angry pimples on my face. I mean one would've been manageable but I had more than 15 in total... I am kind of happy that I extracted all of that stuff from my face though. The bigger ones still have some oil in them, but thankfully that will form into a smaller pimple. I am not worried about scarring because I have never scarred in the past and I have pretty tough skin (on my face). I read a post that said that the person had a couple of small breakouts (like me), but then week 6 was the worst (like me), and then she said it gets better from there... I am really hoping me and her are following the same path.
I go to see my Dermatologist on Thursday, so hopefully she tells me SOMETHING good...
I have a few questions:
What happens if my skin clears up? Do I keep using Tazorac?
What happens if my skin clears up and then it goes back to normal (on tazorac)?
Thanks for reading 
Sooooo, basically, it's nearing the end of Week 7:
I went to the dermatologist today, and as soon as she saw me, she started talking to me about Accutane! I just kind of acted like I didn't know what she was talking about (but I have probably watched every accutane diary on Youtube). Sooo basically, my mom is picking up the prescription today, and I cannot actually start taking the pills until I go get my blood work done at the lab on Monday, so yeah! This log lasted long... haha 
So according to my Dermatologist, this regimen of Tazorac and Minocycline has not worked for me. I would have given it some more time. But she is the one who went to school for skin so--
Catch ya on the Accutane section!! Thanks for reading...