I am a 24 year old male, Irish/polish. I've had acne/ extremely oily face since I was 15. The last several years I've made it a personal science to have the clearest complexion possible, because once you get a taste of getting girls, you want more and more. I've gone as far as using concealer to hide blemishes when they get bad beyond immediate repair. The last few years have taught me it's simply impossible to have maximum confidence when you know that pretty girl is looking at your acne and not at you. I've tried everything in my life; benzoyl to tea tree oil, vitamins to minocycline, diets to extreme lifestyle changes, natural toothpaste and shampoos, retinoids; everything. But I haven't tried a full course of vitamin a derivative poisoning; I haven't tried 3 months of tazorac. So I've basically moved away to school this year and become a recluse and understand I need to throw away 3 months of my life to get past this hurdle. I hope this log will help somebody someday because I know exactly how it feels when you did everything right to fight your skin and you wake up and there's 4 more spots on your face. Every single spot takes a week to a week and a half to eliminate, so it's like every time you win a long battle, you have many many more all over again and it simply never stops. I shower and use cerave hydrating cleanser at night, followed by neutrogena moisturizer. I wait 15 mins then apply the tazorac. ______________________________________________________________________________ NIGHT 1 . . . -shaved for first time in several months. -applied 1.5 pea sizes of taz gel 0.05%. -skin extremely oily next day. -28 total lesions, roughly 67 total blemishes (ear to ear) -prominent laugh lines and lines above chin. -many post acne dark spots and scars alone jawline of both sides -worst lesion areas around both sides of mouth and continuing down sides of chin
NIGHT 2 _____________________________ -applied 1.7 pea sizes 0.05% taz (probably too much but it seems like I can never make it spread throughout my whole face) -large lesions to right of mouth still present but don't 'pull' when I open my mouth. -new lesions on chin and directly under lips are present -laugh lines/red spots/oiliness still prominent -mild red/dry spot to right of nose. -following today's first shower, face feels like it is on fire (most likely too much taz applied last night). -considering night off but screw it I only have 90 days of this crap let's make it worth it
Please keep us posted!!! Maybe post some pictures of your skin. I hope this treatment works out for you I recently saw a dermatologist for the first time a few days ago and he gave me some stuff so hopefully my skin clears! I m also with you 100% on the part about girls I know how you feel man. Just stay optimistic about your skin, it will get better I promise! Also I'm unsure if you've seen a dermatologist on the matter but if not you might want to its a great experience and he will prescribeat some good stuff for you!
thanks for the reply @brainfreze27..tazorac I've been told is the strongest retinoid out there; I've tried and failed with the weaker ones. my dermatologist gave it to me, it's actually prescription only so that shows how strong it is I guess. I went to the dermatologist basically demanding accutane, my brother did 3 months of it and his face is PERFECT. even if I'm not breaking out which is maybe 5/52 weeks of the year, my face looks like I just got off the treadmill in pictures. the oil is intense. dermatologist still won't give me accutane
NIGHT3_ __________________________ -3rd straight night of applications and it appears as though it can handle a 4th (most people start out every other night for first 2 weeks) -skin feels 'tight', as if I were using benzoyl peroxide -seems to be maybe a 10% reduction in oil (probably my imagination) -new lesions appearing in all the usual spots (both sides of mouth and chin/on chin)
thanks for the reply @brainfreze27..tazorac I've been told is the strongest retinoid out there; I've tried and failed with the weaker ones. my dermatologist gave it to me, it's actually prescription only so that shows how strong it is I guess. I went to the dermatologist basically demanding accutane, my brother did 3 months of it and his face is PERFECT. even if I'm not breaking out which is maybe 5/52 weeks of the year, my face looks like I just got off the treadmill in pictures. the oil is intense. dermatologist still won't give me accutaneNIGHT3_ __________________________ -3rd straight night of applications and it appears as though it can handle a 4th (most people start out every other night for first 2 weeks) -skin feels 'tight', as if I were using benzoyl peroxide -seems to be maybe a 10% reduction in oil (probably my imagination) -new lesions appearing in all the usual spots (both sides of mouth and chin/on chin)
Well I hope it works out for you! I also asked my dermatologist for Accutane but he said he didn't really like prescribing it because of all the side effects. There's even a government website you have to go to just to get it. So I'm gonna exhaust all options before I take my chances with accutane. Also your skin feeling tight means that you should be encountering dry skin soon which sucks! Just remember with some of these treatments it's gonna get worse before it gets better. I recommend using Cetaphil moisturizer. I hAve sensitive skin so when I use a lot of moisturizers it burns my skin when it's dry. Look for something without any alcohol. Aloe Vera and Cetaphil worked for me 😀
NIGHT 5______________________ -same process as previous nights, no real changes to note - some of the dark spots from blemishes before I started taz on the sides of my face are becoming less noticeable. -I do have one rather large lesion on my chin but it's mostly because I tried to pop it and it wouldn't. -laugh lines actually seem to have gotten worse -skin still burns around mouth when I wash my face in the shower -oiliness/red spots still very prominent -small blemishes rising on neck, but the kind from my knowledge that come from shaving -I've read the initial breakout comes anywhere from the end of the first week to the end of the third week so I'll keep you posted when I start to notice a purge in my skin...not looking forward to it but it's the most important step
NIGHT 6_________-gave my skin another break, did not apply
NIGHT 7________________ -this morning I really noticed some flakes, I've tried tazorac before for about a week and this was when I stopped. -after today's shower, I've noticed a large rise in developing lesions. -some are directly under where I removed a large flake of skin, and my hope is that this means it is the result of the tazorac. I think my skin is beginning to purge. next few weeks will not be easy, but this is why I moved away. my guess is that it's going to get even worse than it is now. following today's shower I would guess there are around 11 new lesions..great
