TLDR;Differin did not work for me in the end. Figured out I'd come back and update the first post to this so no one potentially wastes their time reading this till the end. Personally though, I think it's the best retinoid, so feel free to read this log anyway as I can't delete an entire topic fromthis site. I'm taking Accutane at the moment and so far it's going great for me!
Okay, granted, the first time I tried using Retin A (a whooping 5 months of commitment last year) I didn't really do anymore research into it other than ya just slap a lil' bit on and then you turn into a lizard after a short while and reveal your blemish free skin.
Essentially during the time I used it I was putting the product OVER my moisturizer in the evening. Even worse, my 'moisturizer' was rose hip oil. So basically I wasn't even letting the retinoidtouch my skin... and it wasn't.I was so confused why this product was having no effect whatsoever, you can go back through my past posts and see me whinging about it...God have mercy on me.
How do I know I had stuffed up? My doctor insisted I givedifferin (a different classretinoid but with the same effect, essentially) another goas a last resort before accutane. I left the office major po'd,in tears, with afirm beliefthat this was fruitlessand set out to the nearest dank alleyway to hire a hitman... jk jk.
Anyways so this past weekI have been skipping nightlymoisturizingout of laziness and just putting the differin on and sleeping...heavensforbid my skin has started peeling and becoming flaky! Blackheads on my chin that were never close enough to the surface to extract are coming to the top! Scars that I have had for years are beginning to change in a way that I've never seen before.
Of course this doesn't necessarily mean it will work this time round, but it's suddenly just dawned on my why my 'stubborn skin' is finally reacting to something and I had to share. (I'm also on doxy for three months but I don't believe this will contribute as mino did not work whatsoever and my acne is rarely pus like.)
On a side notethis is a list of everything I have tried over the past 5 years (granted I did not obviously give three months for each, but reading the list of things I have tried you could probably not imagine doing any of these for three months):Coffee masks, Baking soda,Benzoyl peroxide 5%,Sulphur soap,Mild cleansers - (simple, trilogy, antipodes, skinfood nz, sukin).,Radioactive cleansers - (eg clearasil foaming acne wash (you may as well put undiluted hcl on your face for the lols at this point)),ACV diulted,Yogurt masks, tumeric masks,Garlic,Honey,Cylic acid,Egg mask &Egg white porinnamonpaste,Betadine,Lemon juice,Biore,Urine therapy (my absolute lowest point),Nutrogena,Retin a,Potato (my second lowest point),Both kaolin and bentonite Clay/mud mask,Salice strips diy that sh*t,Walnut scrub,Clearasil complete kit,Clindamycin liquid,Duac,Fresh aloe vera gel,Toothpaste,,Oil cleansing method,Clove oil,Neroli oil,Rose hip oil,Peppermint oil,Neem oil,Tea tree oil,Lavender oil,Zinc oxide,Sea salt soaks,Himalayan salt soaks,The sun,Epsom salts,Bactroban,Foban (thought it was staph),Ketoconazole &Athletes foot cream and oregano oil (thought it was fungus),Hydrocortisone,Permethrin cream 5% (thought it was demodex)
Minocycline,Dieting & food elimination so excessive I lost 5kgs/10pounds,Birth control - diane 35 for 6 months,Evening primrose oil,Turmeric capsules,Multivitamin,Consuming large quantities of - raw garlic, lemon water, ACV in water, liver cleansing teas (the teas do help a little!),Attempting to water fast,Gluten free,100% dairy free,Zinc tablets,Stopped drinking alcohol at parties despite I do not experience breakouts from it,Probiotic liquid supplement,Collecting rain water,fluoridefree toothpasteThe caveman regimen, taking bentonite clay internally.
Peace
Ok so I may as well make this a log cause I find venting really helps me.
1 WEEK
So it's been just over a week now since I started I would like to inform everyone that I have literally embodied the life of a juvenile hermit crab. I have pre-christmas get togethers this Saturday and my face has exploded, I can't leave the house! On one hand i'm actually happy i'm peeling and a bit irritated in comparison to past experiences (original post) but at the same time I was kind of an idiot to start this in the holiday season because I believe this is my ib. I'm also a really really really bad picker, I can have one tiny comedo and rip my face to shreds, so the fact i'm thinking this may be an ib is even worse because it makes me want to pick even more.
And here is my face as of today (my cheeks - the worst part) - viewer discretion advised:
On 12/5/2015 at 8:43 AM, MissSac17 said:What kind of acne is it you have AppleySauce? I'm just curious because I'm also using differin for stubborn comedonal acne.
Even though the images I uploaded look pretty angry it's mostly because I get way too angry with my face 
I have a comedones, as if every pore in my face is blocked with skin cells etc, and then the majority of all of my other lesions are papules and a cyst here and there. If I leave my face alone it can often look pretty good but the fact that I know what's still residing on my face still makes me crazy! How long have you been differin for and how is it going for you? 
I hope your get togethers on Saturday went well I had a works night out on Friday there but I was really upset with my skin and didn't want to leave the house
Your skin sounds EXACTLY like mines, I have been using differin now for about 20 weeks and haven't really had a drastic improvement. I use it every second night though so maybe that's why. I started using it every evening a couple weeks ago so I'm sticking with that just now and Duac gel in the morning. I have an appointment with a dermatologist coming up soon - really hoping to get accutane!
10 hours ago, AppleySauce said:Yeah that was what I was doing when I used it about a year ago for 5 months, but I saw no affect of it on my skin whatsoever. This time when i've been using it i've been either not moisturizing or doing it after (which appears to be thegeneral Internets consensus - if yous skin can handle it). I think the problem was more that I was using rosehip oil at the time before the retinoid (which isn't soluble in oil) and didn't wait until i applied itso it was like the cream wasn't even coming in contact with my skin and sitting on top of the oil.
Ah, okay, I see! The rosehip oil was creating a barrier between your skin and the retinoid.
I can't even imagine putting anything oily on my skin, it's oily enough as it is!
Best of luck with your new regime!
End Of Week 3
Wanting to neck it right now. Hmm so at the start of the week I actually had no major bumps or papules, I knew a few were still lurking under my skin but no worries as they had been there before I started. But sooooo much PIH, it is so freaking red that make up can't cover it in all its flaky glory and I haven't left the house yet either. Anyway, yesterday night I found that I had A CYST ON MY CHEEK, a new papule and another papule I thought had gone to the graveyard has come back to life. Dealing with cysts and PIH at the same time really gets me down. On the other hand, my chest was doing really freaking good and was clear - minus PIH - but also broke out in a few papules last night. The past week though I never have seen my chest that bump free in a long time now so I am hoping that my chest and face are in breakout sync, which means hopefully my face has the potential to clear up... eventually. I'm just finding it hard to keep faith in this drug. Things are definitely better than week 1 and 2, but I have so much redness to deal with that it negates my progress (in my head at least). Oh also, fore(5)head 
is pretty clear though, it's usually mildly manageable anyway but I had a bad breakout on it before differin, so hopefully it will stay clear!
I dunno why the pics always appear so big???
Lol I hope no one I know ever stumbles across this log, there is way too much going in those pics for people to recognise me on. Then again it's not like no one knew I had acne, I'm basically a walking billboard for a 'before' shot in a proactiv commercial.
1 hour ago, Chloe123 said:Do you apply it nightly? I've been applying differin only 4 days a week for the past 2 months and everytime i try even 5 days my skin break out
Yep I apply it nightly, my skin isn't very sensitive so while it burns a little and is flakey, I can get away with it. 🙂
Why don't you try every second or third day? That way your skin won't have that whole 4 day barrage and then you have to stop and recover. Also, I guess using it long term if it works for you, applying it intermittently would get your skin into a better pattern.
2 months huh. Have you been flakey at all in that time? Are you on any other meds at the same time?
End of Week 4
Wow time certainly goes fast in retrospect. While my face is still a little better from the first three weeks, it's still worse than it was a month ago pre-differin. I think the IB period is starting to slow down, in fact on the 26th my face looked really good! But yesterday (27th) I had another flair up. Most of the new bumps I am getting are small and easily poppable whiteheads - the comedones coming to the surface I believe... However what is giving me the most grief are the papules which keep coming back to life and refusing to surface or go away, and of course because I am an avid picker, they end up being quite raw on my face. I told my boyfriend finally why I had been avoiding him, he was really nice about, which tbh I didn't expect and he said it doesn't bother him.
Also the irritation and dryness is decreasing now.
The space between the acne though is looking really good! Besides the awful red marks of course.
*No pics this week but here's a run down*
But usually that is when people start their IB's so hopefully that is what's goin' on on my chest.
Arms (Keratosis Pilaris): A lot better than a month ago! 80% better!
Hey Appleysauce, I had similar acne to yours years ago and I'm happy to say I'm now completely acne free. It wasn't fun but I had some amazing advice from my Dermo. Which I'll share now - I probably went a year before I was acne free and haven't looked back.
1. Used differin every second night. An hour later used a neutral moisturiser (Avene, but anything water based is ok)
2. In the morning, use a washcloth and steam your face. I did this by dipping cloth in hot water, wring it out and cover face. Did this maybe twice a morning. This stopped the 'purge'. Why? Because differin causes peeling which means more dead skin gets trapped in your pores before they're trained to exfoliate cleanly. Steaming brings those cells to the surface without irritating the skin.
3. Every other night, use a salicylic acid gel such as Paula's Choice 1 or2% bha gel. Again, it assists the dead cells exit. Moisturise afterwards.
4. If no redness and peeling has calmed after 3 months, get a jessner peel professionally. This is a horror peel and you'll look like Freddy Krueger for about 4 days. It's a miracle though. After you've healed go back to the differin/bha alternative nights.
I'm sure you're already doing lots of things right, just giving my two cents as many friends had trouble with differin as their dermatologist just didn't care. Mine even gave me scar fading cream at the end to lighten the discolouration from old acne.
Good luck everyone!
On 12/29/2015, 144, Missvirginia said:Hey Appleysauce, I had similar acne to yours years ago and I'm happy to say I'm now completely acne free. It wasn't fun but I had some amazing advice from my Dermo. Which I'll share now - I probably went a year before I was acne free and haven't looked back.
1. Used differin every second night. An hour later used a neutral moisturiser (Avene, but anything water based is ok)
2. In the morning, use a washcloth and steam your face. I did this by dipping cloth in hot water, wring it out and cover face. Did this maybe twice a morning. This stopped the 'purge'. Why? Because differin causes peeling which means more dead skin gets trapped in your pores before they're trained to exfoliate cleanly. Steaming brings those cells to the surface without irritating the skin.
3. Every other night, use a salicylic acid gel such as Paula's Choice 1 or2% bha gel. Again, it assists the dead cells exit. Moisturise afterwards.
4. If no redness and peeling has calmed after 3 months, get a jessner peel professionally. This is a horror peel and you'll look like Freddy Krueger for about 4 days. It's a miracle though. After you've healed go back to the differin/bha alternative nights.
I'm sure you're already doing lots of things right, just giving my two cents as many friends had trouble with differin as their dermatologist just didn't care. Mine even gave me scar fading cream at the end to lighten the discolouration from old acne.
Good luck everyone!
Hi Missvirginia!
Thank you so much for your post, it's good to know other people have been/are in my situation.
You're clear, would you say this is from the differin mostly? If so, how long did it take for you to see results.
Thanks for the advice too, I find steaming helps me, but bha I have used many times in the past and doesn't improve or worsen my skin, so I like to keep it simple. Good to know about the peel too! I've heard good things about them but never tried em myself.
Almost End of Week 5
Argh I'm so angry at myself, I honestly think I have dermatillomania, I just can't stop picking.
The thing is for the last week or so I've have very few new and noteworthy active pimples pop up, however there are so many old ones which are refusingto leave my face, that I keep picking to the point that I don't know whether they are scars or not. I'm gonna *try* stop picking for a whole week to see how it improves.
END OF WEEK 6
So my face is a little worse than the last week, and im picking so bad. Argh
It seems though, and logically I guess, that my face is clearing slowly from the thinnest parts of my skin (sides of face, middle of chin and forehead etc) to the thickest parts. The 'thin' parts are actually pretty clear! But the 'thick' parts, especially my inner cheeks are still very lumpy - and Ikeep squeezing even though I am scarring for the first time ever!The fact that my forehead etc is getting clear gives me hope for the rest of my face, but I still keep constantly checking in on reviews and things to keep my spirits up!!! I'm so done I just want clear skin!
That's all for now,
appley
End of week 7
A day late, oops.
So, better than the previous week! The number of nodules/bumps on my face are lessening each week, but not per day necessarily.
To be generous with what I consider a blemish, I would say I have proper 2 bumps on my face right now compared to maybe 5 at any time pre-differin and 20 during my ib... But still have a lot of PIH and some mild pitted scars.
My chest from week 4 to week 6 was purging so bad, but for the past week I can confidently say that it has been improving! Lots of red marks but from literally 30ish clogged pores surfacing to maybe only 3-4 bumps currently!
Again, it does appear the thicker parts of my skin are the more congested. Forehead only has one tiny pimple yayyy.
Hi AppleySauce (and everyone else who has/is posting!) I just want to say thank you for sharing your Differin journey, I've just put my Differin Gel on for the first time this evening and reading all of above has comforted me, I do hope you continue sharing and that the product continues to work for you.
On 1/14/2016 at 11:57 PM, Chloe123 said:
*GUYS I DON'T KNOW HOW TO GET RID OF THE ABOVE QUOTE*
Hey everyone
Good luck Lilliielolo, keep us/me updated if you can!
START OF WEEK NINE
So i have about 4 cysts on my face now?! I haven't had them in ages! They're those hard, deep and unresponsive cysts, the type that go away on their own cause they don't surface. I guess if i didn't have them I would be clear with just some raised/pitted scarring. BUT, I have realised why I got these, around a year ago when i was pseudo vegan, I was drinking soy milk and ALWAYS got these. I went back to cows milk a few months ago and i stopped getting them, anyways, 3-4 days ago I had a SOY MOCHA, and i'm 80% sure that is where the cysts came from!
I guess in some ways Im relieved butthey are still a nuisance!
2 hours ago, Chloe123 said:Damnnn time flies. Im like that with soy also. Its weird because i can tolerate dairy fine, yet soy breaks me out like CRAZY. Almond milk is amazing though! Doesnt break me out at all and i actually think it helps my acne.
Yeah same! And I wish I could ask for almond milk in my coffee but in NZ most caffes only offer soy
And praise ice! Find it helps me too.
END OF WEEK 9
Hey reader!
So, again, better skin than last week, but i'm still in this mini breakout cycle. So on any given day of this past week, my skin may have been worse than the last week if ya get me. HUGE BREAKTHROUGH THOUGH: I can now look at my face in natural light for the first time in like 4 years because so many of the closed comedones have gone!! Still lots of PIH though.
Mostly what I'm waiting to go is my deep chin acne and cheek papules/nodules.
Wearing some makeup now as I'm not as flaky but I think I need to change as natio is quite comedogenic.
*RUN DOWN*
Forehead: 95% clear
Temples: Was 100% clear but mini breakout atm.
Cheeks: A few annoying patches
Chin: Orginally this was the first part of my face to clear but this part is now being very stubborn.
Chest: still clearing good!
Arms (keratosis pilaris): hmm still purging (?)
Just read this thread. AppleySauce, you really need to try not to pick your face. You can see that the differin is clearing them up but as soon as you pick them you make them look worse. I think you may have some form of picking disorder (or as you said, dermatillomania). While your physical treatment will be effective, your psychological mindset towards acne needs to change in order for the physical to work. I would recommend wearing cotton gloves while at home. It will remind you that you're not meant to pick as soon as you touch your face and feel the unfamiliar cotton.
Good luck with your treatment!
MID WEEK 10 UPDATE
So right now my face is basically active acne free.... APPART FROM 3-4 CYSTS ON MY CHIN.
...
....
*insert 'wot' meme*
Like seriously WHAT THE HECK is going on. If I don't touch them they aren't very noticible but i'm getting ready for the long haul cause they'll probably stick around until the dawn of the next geographical era.
I'm thinking perhaps because my chin always had the deepest pimples, this is the last part of my face trying to clear up.
On 2 February 2016 at 6:42 AM, Natsu said:Just read this thread. AppleySauce, you really need to try not to pick your face. You can see that the differin is clearing them up but as soon as you pick them you make them look worse. I think you may have some form of picking disorder (or as you said, dermatillomania). While your physical treatment will be effective, your psychological mindset towards acne needs to change in order for the physical to work. I would recommend wearing cotton gloves while at home. It will remind you that you're not meant to pick as soon as you touch your face and feel the unfamiliar cotton.
Good luck with your treatment!
Thanks natsu for your concern
Thank fully now that my skin is clearing it's getting ALOT better.
I would say most of the picking comes from the anxiety I have over my acne, but that's gettting better now too.