Hi all,

I'll give you my history and hope I don't bore y'all too much, lol.

I'm a 36 year old man with chronic Acne, which I've had since I was teenager.

When I was a teenager the acne effected my face, chest, back, shoulders, etc... But now it only really effects my head area - So that's the side's of my face, top lip, cheeks, nose, forehead and scalp (under my hair) Doesn't even seem effect my chin or neck.

In my 20's and early 30's it seemed to settled down quite a lot (though never completely went away) but in the last two or three years things have got progressively worse.

Despite the fact I was having a lot of spots, boils and skin eruptions, some really quite painful and pus filled, I didn't seek medical attention or treatment. I guess I had it so long that I just kind of ignored it, or maybe I learned to live with it. I really just saw it as an annoyance, but was never overly concerned.

Around last Christmas my eye's started to become inflamed. My GP thought it was a simple case of Conjunctivitis and prescribed the typical drops for mild eye infections. Unfortunately through January and February things got progressively worse. My eye's were constantly streaming (think the worst case of hay fever you can imagine and treble it) I became severely light intolerant and my eye's felt like they constantly had grit or sand in them. At it's worst I was spending pretty much my entire life with the curtains drawn and a blanket over my head to protect my eye's from the light. I couldn't leave the house, I could watch TV, etc... It was such a miserable time

My eye's were so irritated I couldn't sleep and the lack of sleep made my eye's even worse, obviously. I felt incredibly poorly and was in the deepest hole in my life. My GP kept dithering about referring me to a ophthalmologist, so in the end I took matters into my own hands and payed to see a specialist privately.

I had the initial consultation in March and the up-shot was that acne has infiltrated my eyes, setting up a severe infection deep in my eye's. The consultant said that effectively I was seriously ill and if I'd been left any longer the infection could even have damaged my vision or sent my blind.

I was prescribed steroid (maxitrol) eye drops and eye ointment and Doxycycline antibiotics - A four week course of one tablet four times a day - Just about the highest dose you can take.

This treatment did clear up the initial eye infection, but I am now left with permanent damage to my eye's, including retinal scarring, vascularization (damaged blood vessels) of my eye's, dry eye's and damaged eye-lids. I'm still taking the steroid ointment (will be on it until at least the end of the yeat) and I'm on various lubricants to replace the moisture I've lost from my eye's.

I'm told I will have problems with my eye's for the rest of my life and I'm now seeing the Ophthalmologist every few months at the local NHS hospital.

My acne did settle down for a little bit while I was taking the Doxycyline, but in the past month I've had another flare up. My GP prescribed another two week course of Doxycyline, which again settled things a lot while I was taking them, but now I'm off them my skin is starting to get spots and boils appearing again. Spots are forming over my right eye-lid, so the acne is still very close to and I believe threatening my eyes.

Obviously I could take more Doxycyline and while I'm on them things would settle, but to me these antibiotics aren't really addressing the underlying issue with my skin and acne. So I'm wondering what to do next?

Should I ask my GP to refer me to a dermatologist? Should I look at some over the counter treatment?

Basically after my acne made me so ill I want it gone, or at the very least managed to the point where I don't have to look at these awful red blotches and pus filled boils/spots any more.

Any advice would be welcome and I really wanted to post this as a warning to others not to ignore or be blase about acne in the head and neck area. I was blase and I'll be suffering the damage to my eye's for the rest of my life.

Thanks all.

Bye.

I would definitely recommend you go see a derm. If the acne lesions are affecting your eyes then it is more than just a simple annoyance. They can best guide you, take culture samples to make sure what you have is indeed acne and if it is, prescribe topics or oral medications (such as roaccutane if needs be).

Definitely don't sit on this too long

Good Luck

What I don't understand not to be harsh..but u are 36 years old...that means u are an adult and u should know when your health is at risk. a gp cant treat acne like a dermatologist...why don't just get on Accutane and get it over with

Thanks for the quick reply Lee.

Well, the eye side of things is already being monitored by an eye specialist, but I agree that I do need to go further to actually get to the bottom of the underlying issue which is really my skin and to make sure things don't ever get as out of control as this again.

What I don't understand not to be harsh..but u are 36 years old...that means u are an adult and u should know when your health is at risk. a gp cant treat acne like a dermatologist...why don't just get on Accutane and get it over with

omfg i had pretty calm evening without shock until i got into this thread! i dunno why ppl read creepypasta when u can go to this site!! bcs acne can what? infect ur eyes now????????? are u fuking serious? like are u sure it was acne and nothing else? i just cant believe this! why would it happen? omgggg! u would think zombie invasion is more likely to happen than something like this! im so done

omfg i had pretty calm evening without shock until i got into this thread! i dunno why ppl read creepypasta when u can go to this site!! bcs acne can what? infect ur eyes now????????? are u fuking serious? like are u sure it was acne and nothing else? i just cant believe this! why would it happen? omgggg! u would think zombie invasion is more likely to happen than something like this! im so done

Yeah, the Ophthalmologist was incredibly experienced and knew his stuff. He knew what had happened to my eye's within a few seconds of looking at them closely.

There's no doubt about the diagnosis.

I expressed my surprise and he actually told me it's something he see's in his clinic "fairly frequently"! Though I was at the severe end of the scale, probably because I'd gone on for 2-3 months trying to get a referral from a dithering GP.

Bottom line is that if you've got acne in your head and neck area and your eye's become severely irritated, streaming, light intolerant, etc... Get to a specialist ASAP and don't be put off by your GP trying this and that.

what was diagnosis exactly??

I had the initial consultation in March and the up-shot was that acne has infiltrated my eyes, setting up a severe infection deep in my eye's. The consultant said that effectively I was seriously ill and if I'd been left any longer the infection could even have damaged my vision or sent me blind.

I didn't want to scare anyone...

Your fine my friend. Your not suffering from what I had so take a deep breath and don't worry.

i never heard of acne in your eye , and its unlikely to be true

you probably rubbed your eye when your hands were dirty and got it infected

I can only tell you the diagnosis I was given from a VERY experienced Ophthalmologist, who also told me he see's this fairly regularly in his clinic and knew exactly what to prescribe.

I have a lot of confidence in his diagnosis - He's been dealing with eye's complaints for 20 years or more I would guess.

i never heard of acne in your eye , and its unlikely to be true

you probably rubbed your eye when your hands were dirty and got it infected

I find this post to be downright rude. You're calling the OP a liar? I've learned that our bodies are very complicated and can do things that people cannot even begin to imagine (think of all the rare disorders out there). I've seen mild to extremely severe cases of acne and it is quite possible for acne to develop in sensitive places that it would usually not show up. Blaming the OP for his 'imagined' ailment is really a douche bag move.

i forgot its saturday today...but im deff going on monday!

dude pls tell what is diagnosis called?

and u say he said its a frequent case actually, do those other patients also had acne? like really??

just cant believe all of this!

D:

Try not to get yourself worked up. I think the OP's issue is not the norm so please don't go imagining that you are at risk for going blind. It will just stress you out more.

Thanks Lee.

I can understand folks being skeptical because I was surprised when I got the diagnosis.

Shiki, when the Ophthalmologist said he see's this "fairly frequently" you have to keep in mind he's seeing thousands of people with literally dozens of different eye complaints every year. So something that's "fairly common" to him would be highly unusual to most people.

What happened to me was not typical of acne sufferers and the severity was caused by unique circumstances that lead me to go three months with the condition. So please don't worry about this. There is no reason for you to do to your doctor unless you are suffering from severe ocular symptoms.I can assure you that your absolutely fine.

hey dude what exactly was diagnosis called?

Wow Ive never heard of this before but I definitely feel your struggle in regards to getting a referral from the GP. Ive had a serious problem with my inner ears since last July and it took me a long time to fully get the right treatment which was deciding to go private like yourself because the NHS was basically a piece of shit (sorry for my language!)

In regards to your acne maybe list what treatments you've tried then we could advise you where to go from there? All the best!

bump?

Hi,

I can't tell you much more than what I've already written I'm afraid.

The diagnosis (and I have a copy of the letter my specialist wrote to my GP in front of me) was:

1. Chronic Acne Vulgaris

2. Secondary marginal keratitis with corneal scarring and vascularisation

What two. essentially refers to is the long term damage and inflammation caused by one. The acne got so bad that it set up a secondary infection and that's what caused the scarring on my cornea's, etc...

The treatment recommendation is:

1 Continue Maxitrol ointment at night in both eye's (to control continued inflammation)

2. Ocular lubricants to control "dry eye" which again was caused by the inflammation.

3. Doxcycyline and increased Maxitrol steroids should my acne or eye's flare up badly again.

The doctor signs off by saying he'll review my eye's in six months, that he has warned me this will be a "chronic and on going condition for some time"..

So far I've not had to increase the steroids and start taking steroid drop's again, but I have had one pretty bad flare up of the Acne on my face which has lead to me having a course of Doxcycline, which did settle things while I was on them, but as we know, the problem with antibiotic treatment for acne is that once you come off, the skin just flares up again. It doesn't address the underlying issue.

As regards to what other treatment I've had for my acne, the answer is nothing.

Well, when I was a teenager (20 years or more ago now, LOL) I did try some creams and lotions and went on an antibiotic for six months. But I've not had any treatment as an adult, other than Doxycline, which was prescribed primarily for ophthalmic infection, but is also a good antibiotic for acne.

I've decided I am going to ask for a referral to a Dermatologist. I've got to have blood tests for an unrelated problem on 13th August, when I go back to see GP for results I'm going to ask for them to send me to a skin specialist. They already know I'm very unhappy with the way I was messed around with my eye's and the reason my condition got so bad is that they didn't refer me quickly, so they owe me a referral to dermatologist, I think.

I'll let you know how I get on and keep you updated with my progress.