Hello everyone,
My name's Jay and I used to frequent this site years ago when I was plagued with acne. The support here has been fantastic and I felt really at home here with many words of encouragement. Fast forward the few years, my battle with acne persisted and though it has gotten much better, I'm left with remnants of the hard fought war (large pores, icepicks, redness and uneven skin tone).
To sum it up a little more, I applied for a job as a cabin attendant in a very prestigious airline and actually made it despite all these skin irregularities (thank you my guardian angel wherever you are). However, this job has left me feeling very insecure, especially around people who have basically flawless skin. To make things worst, a couple of my colleagues have pointed out the condition of my skin and those comments have severely impacted my self esteem.
To add, I went for Fraxel a month ago and the results weren't satisfactory though it really helped with my uneven skin tone. My pores are still large and noticeable at my nose/cheek area, skin's oily and tight at cheeks (dehyrated skin?) and I flush really easily. At my wits end, I went back to my previous derm and he prescribed me with Acnotin 10mg, 2x weekly (I was taking Acnotin 10mg 3x weekly, 4 months back). He noted that my skin was "okay" and the pills are more for the oily skin maintenance actually. I understand the complications of Accutane and Fraxel, but was assured by him that I will have no problems since my skin has healed from Fraxel. So here goes this journey (again) I guess. I'm in fact day 4 into my 1st Acnotin pill and thus will begin my log as of now. To anyone who is interested, please say hi (I don't bite!) and I hope we'll ride through this journey together!
Day 4
So after my first pill, I've begun to notice little bumps on both sides of my face. They are not really noticeable, but I can feel them under the skin. Based on past experiences, they'd usually form and give me a hard time clearing them. Hopefully not this time round. Next week will be my first flight and I'd really want my skin to stay calm or I'd have one more major problem (apart from performing well onboard). My pores are really putting me down as well. Each time I stare into the mirror, I get so depressed that I just do not have the mood to do anything. If anyone has any remedies to share, I'd be forever in your debt
Day 5
My skin is horrendous today. It feels so bumpy underneath and the bumps I've mentioned has doubled its amount and are creeping as whiteheads. Could this be IB that everyone's mentioning? Strange that I've been on Acnotin 3x weekly prior to this and had no such problem. I'm just leaving the skin as it is and shall apply some Aknemycin Plus later on before turning in. A long day today and tomorrow as well. Fingers crossed for these pesky whiteheads/bumps to subside
Day 6
Many of the bumps are forming to whiteheads now and overall texture still feels really bumpy. Resisting the urge to pop another pill tonight before turning in. Am taking the pills on Sat and Tues currently. Today was a good day though, work went smoothly and I learnt a great deal and had many doubts cleared. Just hoping for the best for these whiteheads to clear off by tomorrow. Goodnight everyone
i was on 10mg a day for about two weeks and now i've been on 20mg a day for a couple of months. i had a really bad initial outbreak where my skin was just purging everything out at once and was left with a shitton of scarring but everything's clearing up and the texture of my skin is a lot smoother. initially after the IB i was like WHY HAVE I DONE THIS but after everything started improving i was like ok..patience is definitely a virtue...lol!
i feel your pain about working with people who have flawless skin, especially when they point at our faces and try to "help"!!!!!
@Ted93
Hello Ted! Yes, I wouldn't say it's all that bad. I rarely break out in cysts but it's the persistent whiteheads around the nose and T zone area that is bugging me. So I assume that's why my derm left me on 20mg per week. I requested for Accutane mainly to keep my oily skin under control as well (less oily skin = less noticeable pores). Anyway, I hope you're doing fine with 80mg and not getting the dreaded side effects! I'm sure we'll come out the better of this at the end of the tunnel
Hello! Went through your log a few days back and you are doing really well! I hope it's only an uphill cycle for you now and that you can head for some alcohol Yes!! People who had clear skin since birth will never understand our pain... Anyway, I do hope that the scarring you've mentioned are superficial and temporary!
Day 8
It's the weekends! But.. my face's still as bad and I've pushed away two meetups just to coop at home. I feel really bad for doing this to my friends but it's depressing to go out in my current condition. Took another pill and lots of water today. Currently, my right cheek and nose are the worst - primarily the whiteheads and blackheads. Right cheek is extremely oily and pores are really really obvious. Oil production doesn't seem to be going down. Shall do some studying at home instead. I really wanna head out though...
Day 9
Woke up with this huge whitehead on the tip of my nose. And when I say huge, it's really huge. Funny how this round of low dose makes me breakout on my nose so often, I've never really had breakouts on my nose anymore after I hit 20 years of age. Resisted the urge to pop this guy, so I dabbed a little Origins Anti-Blemish solution and it's looking so much better now. Wise choice i'd say, or I'd risk adding yet another crater to my nose area. The rest of the whiteheads around my cheeks feel smaller now. But the fact that they still linger annoys me greatly. Googled a little on the benefits of green tea and have started taking the regime of 1 cup a day to see if it helps in any manner. Finishing this cup and shall head to bed for another long day tomorrow!