Hey y'all,
I just started my 3rd round of accutane. I had 2 rounds in highschool about 7 years ago and it cleared my skin beautifully with almost no scars and my skin really responded well to it. I just started a full time post-college job last may and i guess between the stress and oily skin that sat on my face for 9 hours a day I started to break out with some white heads and a couple cysts. Nothing major but it bothered me so I went to a Derm and he prescribed me Retin-a micro.
Terrible idea, my lord.
Say what you will about what retin-a is supposed to do but it wrecked my face i have no doubt. "You're supposed to use it for a long time" Ok well I used it for more than 4 months and all I saw was massive damage to my skin. All the other things I was using while on it cleanser wise (very mild) and moisturizer wise I have used before. The crap they gave me made huge gaping pores all over my cheeks and nose (primarily where I was using retin-a) and they continued to appear after I stopped. My skin texture looks like garbage and now all of those huge pores clogged up. The very worst part is that some of the clogged pores combined to form little scars on my cheeks and I look like a shell of myself now honestly. Clogged pores, blackheads, oily skin all over my face and I have tried a ton of different facial remedies, natural and otherwise, to unclog and clean my pores and nothing has worked.
Sorry about ranting but the experience has really left me emotional. Accutane is the only thing that has ever worked on my skin and so I saw a better derm and he decided to give me a low-medium dose. This time I want to be as smart as possible though because I don't want to further damage my skin.
The money question:
Does anyone have a good moisturizer with SPF in it to reccomend? I am using an aveeno one with SPF 15 but I worry in the summer I will need something stronger. I use the cetaphil cleanser as well at the moment. Thanks!
I don't have an answer for the sunscreen,but I think someone on the seborrheic dermatitis thread recommended ulta md ,to tell you the truth I don't know the ingredients but you can look them up at cosdna.com .
And ,about the same thing that you are describing happened to me,with that retin a micro , the bad is that I used it for about 9 months , waiting for results that never showed, it has been a nightmare since then, trying to fix the skin,that micro left my skin so oily and so dry at the same time,I felt like my skin was like rubber ,I'm 52 and have dealt with acne on and off through the years,but so far the retin a micro has been the worst acne so far. The dermatologist wanted me to go on Accutane but I don't think I would do well ,I have high cholesterol,and I'm going through menopause,the retin a micro experience was about 4to 5 years ago. My skin texture changed forever , it formed scars within scars,for what I think is that it gave me seborrheic dermatitis,and atopic dermatitis.
I hope that Accutane can help you,please let us know.
Take care.
Hi jmd1568
I am on my second course of Accutane and just wanted to recommend the moisturizer I've been using during both courses. For everyday I use the 'AveneHydrance Optimale Light Protective UV SPF20' (it also comes in a 'rich' version) and if I know I'm going to be directly exposed to the sun, Avene also makes an actual suncream with SPF 50 that works really well (I am a skier and sun protection is essential!).
Hope everything goes well with your course!
I found that CeraVe didn't give me enough moisture and it was this weird thick consistency that left a white haze on my face.
I've tried tons of moisturizer + SPF combos and I find none gave me the moisture I needed.
So I've been using two products, the Cetaphil moisturizer (amazing stuff) and Clinique City Block layered on top, it comes in a SPF 25 and SPF 40. Both are oil-free and won't break you out, or irritate your skin.
Another thing my derm said was to make sure you aren't layering your SPF's! So if you have a foundation with SPF 15-20 that should be enough for sun protection. If you use moisturizer with SPF and then a foundation with SPF it actually lowers the overall sun protection factor. Not entirely sure how true this is, but I've been following her advice!