Hi guys! I'm currently 23 years old and am attending dental school. I would consider myself to get mild to moderate acne that is persistent on my face. I get cysts, pimples, black heads and white heads. These mainly show up around my chin, cheeks, and jaw line. I didn't start to experience this mild to moderate acne until I went away to college when I was 17 years old. Since, I have been struggling to figure out how to control my acne by trying various routines, diets, medications, etc. I started seeing a dermatologist to get help. My first year of college I was put on birth control and am still currently taking it. I was also prescribed a benzoyl peroxide with clindamycin as well as Differin topical. Over time, this wasn't working and they increased the strength of the Differin. Over the course of 4 years being in undergrad, I have taking minocycline and doxycycline. I also ended up being prescribed to Atralin (Retin A) which I absolutely love (am still using currently) and have been using for the past 2-3 years or so. I don't believe the Atralin has helped with my acne, but it does help prevent long term scarring and keeps my skin appearing youthful. When I tried the doxycycline, I ended up using this for about a year and a half because this actually worked! This is the clearest my skin has been in the past 5 years but I understand how bad it is to take an antibiotic long term and didn't want to continue. I still would get some cystic acne here and there but it wasn't as persistent like it has been for the past year now.
While I have a great skin care routine (not overdoing products, always using moisturizer and SPF daily, exfoliating 3 times a week, avoiding the sun, working out 3-4 times a week, drinking water, avoiding sugary beverages, not wearing makeup on my face, and eating a relatively healthy diet) nothing seems to work. I've used the same eye cream since high school, CeraVe AM and PM daily moisturizers, Cetaphil face wash, Murad exfoliator. I have also tried changing my diet for 2-3 months and while I would see a few weeks with improvements, it would go right back to flare ups and cysts right after. In the past few months, I revisited the dermatologist because things in the past year have seemed to have gotten even worse, especially with being in dental school. In November of 2016, I was prescribed Spironolactone (100mg per day) and Aczone (to replace the benzoyl peroxide and clindamycin I had been using for years). It's been a little over 2 months now and I have seen no difference in my skin! I understand that it takes awhile for it to build up in your system, but my dermatologist believes that if I haven't seen any improvements yet then it will not likely end up working for me.
HELP! I don't know what to do anymore?! Does anyone have any similar experiences. I used to want to be a dermatologist for years and so I am very attentive to my skin care. I am so ashamed of my skin when it looks like this and I avoid being social and talking to people because of it. I really don't want to go on Accutane whatsoever because of how bad it is for you. But I don't know what options are left at this point? Looking for any advice or stories that worked for you 
Thanks!
I know how you feel. My high school years absolutely miserable!! I suffer from adult acne moderate but I had a bout of cystic acne on my chin. After decades of misery my skin is actually improving tremendously. My advice... stop picking. A lot of times the acne we get we give to ourselves. After suffering for years I was a picker constantly in the mirror squeezing picking or just popping pimples only because I could feel them coming under my skin. Second advice this works for me.. I use a lot of shea butter oil on my face now.
I used to think I had oily skin as well duh...but I recently found out that our glands produce extra oil in response to the skin being abused by strong medication and alcohol so I decided to give it the oil it needs and I mean I slather it on. Usually on ten minutes my skin as absorbed all the oil. So far no cysts or pimples. I put oil on all day but I also pay water a lot ad skin needs water and fat. So try shea or another oil for acne and put it on a lot more than you think you need. If face remains greasy after 20 minutes just rib excess in skin and wait for when skin feels a little dry. Spy lots of oil rubit in and then pay ample water then rub in. Do this as much as skin can take. If you are like me you will be surprised how much oil our skin needs. It produces excess sebum do is to imbalance and giving it oil will help the glands balance their production. Your skin will be soft and if I'm correct the day oil and water will blance it. I use butters as they absorb a little slower than liquid oils so my pores are not overwhelmed. I add grapeseed oil for carrier and I have rosehip oil. I apply my shea butter first mixed with rosehip and grapeseed then minute later I splash water on and rub in. I have not washed my face day or night since I started this. I believe the constant rubbing of o and water cleans it. I use nothing but this on my face... no soap.moisturizer toner or anything. When we suffer from.acne we tend to do too much to skin. Keep it so.p le so skin can heal from our abuse so try this wash your face and apply shea butter all throughout day with water good luck everyone
I am literally in the exact same position as you. I even started spironolactone in November 2016. So far it has not worked but has made my skin much worse. I'm sure you've researched it online, as I did, everyone seems to say it took 3-4 months before they really saw and results. BUT ITS TORTUROUS. I'm going to stick it out a month or so longing since I've already made it this far. I'm curious if it got worse for you as well? I've had acne my entire life and just wanted to finally find something to get rid of it. I've haven't left my house without makeup since I was about 14 years old. It's sad and its truly breaking me down recently. My depression is starting to scare me. I'm sorry that I don't have any miracles or answers for you. But just wanted to let you know you are not alone. My derm also recommended accutane but I just can't get myself to do it, honestly I know I won't be able to handle if my skin gets any worse.
On 2/2/2017 at 10:16 PM, Mel1564 said:I know how you feel. My high school years absolutely miserable!! I suffer from adult acne moderate but I had a bout of cystic acne on my chin. After decades of misery my skin is actually improving tremendously. My advice... stop picking. A lot of times the acne we get we give to ourselves. After suffering for years I was a picker constantly in the mirror squeezing picking or just popping pimples only because I could feel them coming under my skin. Second advice this works for me.. I use a lot of shea butter oil on my face now.
I used to think I had oily skin as well duh...but I recently found out that our glands produce extra oil in response to the skin being abused by strong medication and alcohol so I decided to give it the oil it needs and I mean I slather it on. Usually on ten minutes my skin as absorbed all the oil. So far no cysts or pimples. I put oil on all day but I also pay water a lot ad skin needs water and fat. So try shea or another oil for acne and put it on a lot more than you think you need. If face remains greasy after 20 minutes just rib excess in skin and wait for when skin feels a little dry. Spy lots of oil rubit in and then pay ample water then rub in. Do this as much as skin can take. If you are like me you will be surprised how much oil our skin needs. It produces excess sebum do is to imbalance and giving it oil will help the glands balance their production. Your skin will be soft and if I'm correct the day oil and water will blance it. I use butters as they absorb a little slower than liquid oils so my pores are not overwhelmed. I add grapeseed oil for carrier and I have rosehip oil. I apply my shea butter first mixed with rosehip and grapeseed then minute later I splash water on and rub in. I have not washed my face day or night since I started this. I believe the constant rubbing of o and water cleans it. I use nothing but this on my face... no soap.moisturizer toner or anything. When we suffer from.acne we tend to do too much to skin. Keep it so.p le so skin can heal from our abuse so try this wash your face and apply shea butter all throughout day with water good luck everyone
Hi Mel! Thanks for your suggestions. It's ironic you say that, I actually just got a free package from Sephora last week that has all sorts of Argan oils in it to try and I have been applying that day and night. It's probably too soon to notice much of a difference with my acne, but the good news is that I haven't seen anything new pop up since applying it and my skin has been less dry! I do love rose hip oil, I need to buy some more. I used to be really into using it! I do agree that oils can help as long as you're using the right one for your skin conditions. I'm going to try using oils are part of my daily routine to see if there's any improvement! Thanks again
2 hours ago, dmd123235 said:I am literally in the exact same position as you. I even started spironolactone in November 2016. So far it has not worked but has made my skin much worse. I'm sure you've researched it online, as I did, everyone seems to say it took 3-4 months before they really saw and results. BUT ITS TORTUROUS. I'm going to stick it out a month or so longing since I've already made it this far. I'm curious if it got worse for you as well? I've had acne my entire life and just wanted to finally find something to get rid of it. I've haven't left my house without makeup since I was about 14 years old. It's sad and its truly breaking me down recently. My depression is starting to scare me. I'm sorry that I don't have any miracles or answers for you. But just wanted to let you know you are not alone. My derm also recommended accutane but I just can't get myself to do it, honestly I know I won't be able to handle if my skin gets any worse.
I feel you!!! It's so frustrating. Just as you think it may be getting better it gets worse too. I'm going to stick it out for the full 3 months. I have another check up with the dermatologist the end of this month and if miraculously there are improvements, then I'll likely see how another 3 months go for me. I'll keep you posted on what happens! Hopefully we both see improvements sooner or later 