So first off, I know my acne isn't anywhere near as bad as a lot of other people's. It's just really been getting worse lately, and I have no idea what to do because it's seriously effecting (affecting?) my self-esteem and confidence.

I'm fourteen, almost fifteen, and have never really had "flawless" skin like the rest of my friends. I started getting little whiteheads as early as eleven years old, but that's pretty much how it stayed until I turned fourteen last June. Over the summer, I started getting breakouts on my cheeks. Nothing too bad, but it was enough to make me want to cover it up with makeup. It took a turn for the worse in the fall, though. I would (and still do) wake up with 3-4 new pimples every day, and the breakouts just kept getting worse. That's when my mom decided to take me to the derm.

He put me on Minocycline, 100mg twice a day, and also BP in the morning and Tretinoin cream at night. It helped for the first two weeks, but then everything went back to how it was after that. And now, it keeps getting worse. I went back to the derm last Thursday, and he said he's starting to see some bad scarring and dark spots.. so he suggested Accutane. Yikes. He also suggested birth control, which I found out I cannot take due to my migraines, which apparently put me at a risk of blood clots.. also yikes.

I go back to the derm on Thursday to decide what we're going to do next. Those of you girls on Accutane know there's kind of a long process involved in order to actually get the drug in your hands. So I guess I'm just looking for some advice since I really just can't even stand to look at myself in the mirror anymore, and also from those who have been on Accutane, is it really as scary as it's sounding?

Thanks for reading. <3

A lot of people have had success with Accutane. I guess it depends from person to person whether they can handle the side effects or not. I was about to go on accutane before giving The Dan Kern Regimen a try. I, and a lot of people on the boards have had a lot of success with it. Maybe you can talk to your mom about trying it about before going on accutane.

I would try a few other options before accutane. If you get unlucky, your life is basically over. Not worth the risk imo, unless you're really determined to do it

You mentioned that it got worse in the fall. I would look into taking a vitamin D supplement. It's possible that a lack of sunlight is affecting your acne. I would also immediately drop all unfermented dairy (so, milk and ice cream, and cream; yogurt, kefir and sour cream are ok). If you want to go further, you could drop all dairy.

Try and notice when your skin gets better or worse, and correlate it with diet. Experiment a little. Wheat is another common offender. Sugar can do it too, and so can lack of fruits n veggies

I agree with the previous poster, before risking your health with pills, make some lifestyle changes. See what happens when you give up refined sugar and dairy. I'd also stop eating gluten.

Do you know what triggers your migraines? Many people have relieved and cured migraine headaches by eliminating gluten from their diet. Besides migraines, do you have any other health or psychological issues? Anxiety, frequent colds, bloated stomach, etc, etc?

I started to get acne around your age too (about 15 years old) so I know how hard it can be to go through that especially when you have school to contend with and that kind of thing. It can be a very stressful time in life, so I totally understand why you want to try and get it under control as soon as possible.

My advice would be don't go the accutane route this early on life. You're a young girl, there are tons of viable treatments out there you can try out before accutane. Accutane can be a very scary drug with long-term negative effects that might not even manifest until long after the course is over. As those above said, it can really damage your body in lots of way...so my advice would to be to consider that a last resort drug if all else fails.

There are quite a few other antibiotic/topical treatments that might yield some better results for you. If the Minocycline isn't working, Bactrim might work better. If the BP isn't doing the job, Retin-A might be able to clear you up. There are quite a few topicals and antibiotics that the derm can prescribe you that are WAY less harmful than a serious drug like accutane. I'd advise you to talk things over with him and see what other options he can offer, and if not that, do a little research on the holistic approach of clearing your skin because I've seen people have success with that too.

Whatever you decide to do in the long run, good luck to you!

Thanks everyone for your advice.

I'm definitely thinking that I shouldn't take Accutane right away. My acne hasn't gotten *too* unbearable yet. Some things you guys have suggested my derm hasn't talked about at all with me, so I'll bring up changing my diet, trying other prescriptions, etc on Thursday.

As for my migraines, I really don't know what triggers them. I can go 5-6 months without one, then all of a sudden I'll get one out of nowhere. Other times they're only a few months apart. Cool that some people have been able to cure them by cutting gluten out of their diet.. I'll look into that.

And no, I don't have any other disorders/issues really besides that. Been sad a lot lately, but I think that's mainly due to my acne flaring up.

I agree with the posters above. You are still in that hormonal stage so takign accutane this young for acne thats not semi severe is big risk. Many people here have done the regimen and have had decent results. It may be able to control your acne until you begin to grow out of it. Also, diet changes are wortha try - i know being a teenager and having to watch your diet is no fun but if it can help your skin, its worth a shot.

Please please please stay away from birth control. It messed me up so bad. Definitely give topicals another go and try diet changes

Topicals to try:

Epiduo

The Regimen

Good Luck hun and keep your head up