Hello, I am 17 and only started getting acne about one or two years ago. It was very minor at first, nothing too bad, until about a year ago it got progressively worse.
I have tried Proactive, Neutrogena, Cetaphil, Clearasil. I have stopped all picking for about 6 months now, I have cut dairy 100% out of my life for months now, I am drinking almost entirely nothing but water and get on average 7-8 hours of sleep for the past three months. I have a dermatologist appointment in a month (because it takes so long to get them) but its getting worse literally by the hour, for every one that goes away three appear, They are primarily around my mouth, inner chin, inner cheek, it essentially looks like the bottom half of my face got eaten and it hurts. Despite not picking they always get so read and swollen that it garuntees a scar. It takes on average 2-4 weeks for one to. I have tried sulfur, BP, Sacylic acid, etc. My mother is too worried about accutane and recently confined me to only using cetaphil for the past two weeks, its getting incredibly worse than it was. That was from a day ago and its already doubled. My current regimen is bare but what I can do: Hot compress from freshly cleaned towels, cetaphil oil-control, cetaphil skin softener, cetaphil oil-control moisturizer for acne prone skin. I show twice a day and wash my face only twice a day. I sleep exposed-skin with fan on low, laying on my back. Its spread to my chest as well.
gosh im so sorry u have to go thru that! are u a girl or boy? if you're a girl i think you should try spironolactone, it's literally the only thing that worked for me. after my skin blew up and i couldn't get it under control, my dermatologist told me it was hormonal acne and prescribed me spiro pills with a topical. spiro is an androgen blocker (androgens are the male hormones in your body causing the terrible acne). it's much safer than accutane but long term, and not cheap. i pay out of pocket and its 70 a month because i take 150mg/day.
if you're a guy, a lower dosage might help. check out this linkgood luck to u! pls ask your dermatologist about all this to double check and make sure u know what the best options are!
49 minutes ago, lhicks13 said:I am male, and thank you. I just wish the appointment was sooner, going to school like this kinda sucks.
man I COMPLETELY understand. every time i talked to someone their eyes would go to my cheeks/forehead *cringes* GOOD LUCK! i hope the spiro works for u, or anything else but accutane really . leave that as a last option, that stuff is super harsh and i heard it's not permanent :// keep ur head up in school, it'll get better istg.
So sorry you're going through this, I really think you and your mom should visit a dermatologist together and discuss accutane. There are of course a lot of side effects associated with the medication, but you must know that millions of people have taken accutane (isotretinoin) and have had complete success and no serious side effects. Typically the harsh side effects come from the wrong dosage; which is based on height and weight. I think you're acne qualifies for accutane. I will be starting it on March 1st. And trust me when I say, I am too worried, scared, and anxious about trying a strong drug, but what I do know is that if I don't I will always wonder what if AND have to deal with the scarring forever. I really think you need to have a sincere conversation with your mom. I am not usually one to advocate medication because I believe in living as close to nature as possible and using natural remedies, but in your case and mine, I think if your acne is so bad that it's scarring and causing you emotional pain, there's something to be said about that. I started a log under the isotretinoin forum if you want to follow along my journey. <3
I will try to get to talk to my mom about accutane, until then I will try the honey and shea butter. I lucked out and got a snow day this week and on monday it managed to clear up some. Sadly, as I said, when one disappears three appears and thats happened. Its worse than it was before the small clear up and they are all not even close to healing. My appointment is set for 3/14
Chin up Hun. I know it's hard to ever fathom things getting better but in all honesty, it's better to take it one day at a time. Just because your brother had a bad reaction to meds, doesn't mean you will too. A derm will hopefully give you something to get the inflammation under control. Accutane seems like it may be an option but you may want to try something else first, at least to appease mom and rule out less invasive things like retinoids.
The acne.org regimen is also an option as it has worked on many users with acne more severe than yours.
stay positive and don't be ashamed of the things you cannot control
On 2/7/2016 at 3:21 PM, drifting said:gosh im so sorry u have to go thru that! are u a girl or boy? if you're a girl i think you should try spironolactone, it's literally the only thing that worked for me. after my skin blew up and i couldn't get it under control, my dermatologist told me it was hormonal acne and prescribed me spiro pills with a topical. spiro is an androgen blocker (androgens are the male hormones in your body causing the terrible acne). it's much safer than accutane but long term, and not cheap. i pay out of pocket and its 70 a month because i take 150mg/day.
if you're a guy, a lower dosage might help. check out this linkgood luck to u! pls ask your dermatologist about all this to double check and make sure u know what the best options are!
Lhicks13...your acne seems similar to my son's. He's on 100 mgs minocycline and been on it for a month (of 3 months) but so far not doing too much. I'll ask about spiro at his next appt. (April) if he doesn't clear up. Either that or Accutane. Like you, it seems like when his cystic acne just starts to clear, he breaks out again! But yeah, sometimes it's necessary to use more aggressive treatment.
Thanks all. I forgot to mention that my mother was so against accutane that she told me she'd prefer me having acne. I will try to muster up an argument or see if the Dermatologist could recommend it if nothing works. Taking everything into consideration, so far my latest breakout has begun to heal some, but there will be clear scarring that will probably last a long while, I can already see the red pigmentation under it.
Drinking only water besides a little fruit juice very occasionally. Removed dairy and most red meats from my diet. Mother refuses accutane still and got a little under a month before the dermatologist. Our appointment was pushed to the twenty third and the latest attack has subsides but caused massive permanent red scarring. My face will probably never recovering and no remedies continue to work. Im nearing my senior year of hs and everyone in my school and siblings are clearing up what they had with no scarring. I am afraid of wearing my glasses because they make it look HD
One big tip - never let hot water near your face.My understanding is that it strips your face of oil so your skin produces more which leads to block pores thus spots. I stopped using hot water when washing my face and in the shower two months ago and my acne stopped basically the day I started doing that. Try it for a week or so and see if it stops new spots coming up. I don't take cold showers but when it comes to washing my hair in the shower i switch the water to cold and bend over slightly so only my head is getting wet.
I'm a 24 year old guy and had acne like you.