Hello all,
I had another derm. visit today and they told me they want to put me on accutane.
i was almost in tears because honestly, I don™t think my acne is severe enough for it. I™ve only tried Aczone, benzoyl peroxide (which irritates my skin like crazy) me Retin-A. If you read my other post, you know that I am currently taking Ortho Tri Cyclen-Lo. It™s been almost 3 months and I have basically seen 0 improvement.
so, I would much rather try another birth control pill like sprintec or the regular Ortho Tri Cyclen. I™m not necessarily scared to go on accutane, I just thought it was a last resort. I have attached a picture of my skin so you can see how severe (or not) my acne is. It is all on the sides of my chin, the rest of my face is completely clear. This isn™t extremely hard for me to post, a ive never really come into acceptance of my acne and felt comfortable sharing(or even taking) photos of my face.
If anyone went/is going through a similar experience please please let me know what helped.
Thanks a bunch.
Hi lead clear I'm so sorry you are having this experience with acne. Has it ever spread to the other parts of your face? Well I have more of a severe form of acne. So I've tryed minocycline, tetralycline, spriloactone, dianette, benzyol peroxide, clindamycin, Azealic acid, eththyromyin and salosylic acid - nothing worked for me nor did I see an improvement in fact it got worse as I got older. I'm currently on trimethroprim antibiotics.hope this helps. Use a gel cleanser.oil free moisturiser.
Hi,
No, I very rarely get a forehead pimple, and if i do it is fairly tiny and manageable. When my acne was better, I would get hormonal cysts near my cheekbones once a month. However, now 99% of it is all on the lower part of my face. Yes, I use the eltamd foaming ph cleanser from my derm and vanicream, which my derm also gave me. I'm hoping another birth control will help. This is actual torture.
Go on the birth control for 4 months and see do u see an improvement..I'm on trimethroprim..u cud try it.i know the feeling so don't worry - salosylic acid is quite good I'm not sure have u heard of this. There's lots of information on the site . I'd be anxious to about going on accutanne but there's nothing we can do
There is also spironolactone which can be helpful with some forms of hormonal acne. If you don't feel comfortable taking accutane, then don't. It's a rough process and it's not cheap. You can also try to adjust diet and lifestyle.
Unfortunately, acne is not an easy beast to solve. It takes lots of trial and error.
Hang in there.
Hi @leelowe1, thanks for replying.
I actually cant take spironolactone because its a diuretic and I have very low blood pressure.
My breakout has cleared up and now I just have those lovely scars left over. Hoping my skin will finally adjust and I wont have to switch to another pill, but well see.
yes, life and skin, unfortunately, is complicated.
I think that if you are scared to go on Accutane which is completely understandable, talk to your doctor. Let them know to prescribe you something else before you take that jump. Unfortunately, doctors, today find it very easy to write on a piece of paper and send you off rather than try all other medications before Accutane. It's just more exhausting for them to exhaust all other possibilities. My first thought is to ask her for Duac (a benzoyl peroxideand clindamycin mix) or Epiduo (adapalene and benzoyl peroxide). In terms of oral treatments, there are also good old antibiotics like Doxycycline and you could also benefit from taking spironolactone which helps block androgens. Talk to your doctor about all your options first. Good luck!
Thanks @LizsLoves19.
Yes, it shocked me how she brought it up so casually as it if was as harmless as an OTC drug. My skin doesn't react well to pure benzoyl peroxide, so I could definitely ask about that. In terms of spironolactone, I can't take it because I have low blood pressure, which sucks, but what can you do. I'll definitely look into Duac. I have been using Retin-A at night and now, since she thought benzoyl peroxide could be irritating my skin, Aczone (again) in the mornings.