strugglecity

Sorry for the very delayed update! Unfortunately, this cream didn't work for me. I used the .1% religiously, every night, for about 3 months and noticed very little difference in breakouts but very dry skin around my chin, mouth, and nose area. The area under my nose got to a point where it was so red and inflamed from being dry that my Mom actually asked if I was okay. It scarred. I was constantly getting sun burns which stung for 2 or 3 days and lead to a lot of surface level peeling. I had to stop using the cream for a week or two to give my skin a break, and my skin broke out heavily after 2 weeks of not using it. I mean, deep, marble sized, painful, hideous. At this point being at least 12 weeks into using this cream, I asked my Doctor to prescribe a lower dosage as my skin under my nose was literally being destroyed. He prescribed me .05% of retin a (not micro). This cream actually seemed to be a better balance for me. Dryness wasn't a problem, it felt nice, my skin was nice and smooth. However, I was still breaking out and it wasn't showing a world of improvement. My acne also started to venture out to my cheeks and jawline which I have never had a problem with before. I implemented a benzoyl peroxide treatment in the morning (with the retin a at night), I was able to keep the dryness at minimum, but breakouts didn't stop. I used this lower dose retin a for another 3 months. At this point I saw another dermatologist who highly recommended accutane. I try to avoid drugs as much and often as possible. I was very reluctant. I decided to go on birth control (diane 35). I was on it for 2 weeks and felt horrible. Crying spells, sadness, tender body parts, anxiety. Im not saying it wouldnt have gone away with consistent use, but I figured if I were going to go through these side effects I might as well be on accutane. I have now been on accutane for just over 2 weeks (40 mg), and I can tell you that the side effects, for me, are 100x milder than what I felt on diane. I pretty much feel back to myself. I stopped using all acne related creams and topical once I started accutane. I am still experiencing purging. Lips are getting dry but no dryness of the skin yet. Good luck everyone!

Do you mind spelling out the link that you tried to include? It has been removed.

I am currently in my mid twenties and have been struggling with moderate acne on and off since puberty (mostly around my mouth and sometimes between my eyebrows, always deep and painful and always leaving red scars that fade after a few months). I have never had amazingly clear skin, but have had times when I was okay with my skin. Unfortunately the past few years have not been showing any signs of getting better, despite my age. I was hoping it would clear up as I got older. I was finally fed up with it and was prescribed retin a micro 0.1% after a recent chain of breakouts. I have been following the instructions of the doctor, pharmacist, and the insert with the bottle. Once a day, at night, 20-30 minutes after I wash my face I use a cotton pad to apply the cream to my entire face. I have the pump form of the cream and I use two pumps per application as directed. FIRST 3 WEEKS: The first three weeks of using this cream have been a struggle, to say the least. I have not noticed much improvement yet. I am most definitely experiencing the purging breakouts that many other people have experienced. As soon as I started using the cream, and until the end of week 3, I have had non stop painful breakouts. This cream is not fun. It is potent and it works quickly. For the past 3 weeks I have had at least 2-3 painful pimples somewhere on my face at any given time. The kind that you are reminded of every time you smile or talk (gah!). Fortunately, I am not experiencing any of the severe dryness, redress, or overall peeling that others have. In fact, my face is much much oilier than usual. I have slightly oily skin normally. Since I've been using this cream, I wake up to my face feeling like butter. I wash with dove sensitive skin soap in the morning and at night, and sometimes I shower (after gym) and rinse my face half way through the day. Most days my skin (face only) is so oily that I need to use an oil absorbing pad early afternoon to make myself feel clean. What I have noticed is that this cream makes my pimples come and go in about half the time they normally would. For example, I have woken up in the morning and felt no pain and no lumps building under the skin. By 5pm a big deep pimple will have appeared and not only be visible but be painful. I have gone to bed with no pain and woken up in the middle of the night with a massive throbbing lump on my chin preventing me from falling back asleep. With the bad, there is also a good. Pimples tend to clear up faster. They peak in about 12-24 hours on average, and settle down and dry up in about that amount of time as well. So a pimple can come and go in about 1-2 days, which is less than half the time than normal for me. You know when you have some dead skin from a dyeing pimple on your face and you just want to pick it off so your makeup doesn't clump around it? Well this cream makes your skin thin enough (or irritated enough or whatever it is) that it will usually bleed if you pick. And I'm not talking about picking something that isn't ready and needing to use force, I'm talking about dead skin just sitting on top of your face. So you are suck between leaving a chunk of dead skin on your face or picking at it and having the spot bleed. Both look equally as bad when trying to cover up with makeup. And even if you do manage to successfully pick it off without leaving a scab, a new layer of dead skin somehow manages to appear insanely fast.. like before your next bathroom break/face check fast. I have become accustomed to checking my face every hour in an effort to keep it looking alright. It seems that every time I look in the mirror something has changed. That being said, I am only experiencing dryness on the pimples themselves, the rest of my clear skin (cheeks, jaw, nose, and most of forehead) feels great. It actually feels much nicer than before, very soft and smooth. WEEK 4 I am now onto my fourth week and I am trying my best to stay positive and motivated to continue. I know that it can take 8-12 weeks to see results. These past 3 weeks have felt more like 3 months. The breakouts are happening so fast that the previous areas do not have time to heal, leaving my face a nice combination of red irritated lumps and red scars that haven't had time to heal yet. My face looks like an absolute mess without makeup, and it is the first time in a long long time (and there hasn't been many of these times) that I am even embarrassed to face my family without makeup. Above all else, its been tolling on my emotions. It hasn't been fun to constantly feel self conscious about my face, but to also have to feel the pressure of pimples at all times. WEEK 5 & 6 In week five and six I have experienced what I thought was the beginning of better skin... twice. Both times bounced back with painful breakouts. I started using Thyers Rose Petal Witch Hazel (alcohol free and organic) toner at morning and night to try to reduce inflammation. I am noticing that the pimples aren't coming and going as fast. I am also noticing that my forehead, and upper lip/nose area is breakout free, but my chin is still a raging mess. At the moment, my chin is worse than it has ever been. Everywhere else on my face, except my chin, I am only getting tiny little white heads that aren't painful or deep. Still experiencing lots of oiliness. What I have learned so far? I wouldn't take this cream lightly. If you are going to begin using it, make sure you are willing to commit to the full 12 weeks, otherwise you are probably going to go through purging and not see the potential result. If you think your skin can't get any worse, this cream will probably surprise you. If I quit now, I feel that I will never truly know if this cream works or not, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will see improvement within the next month or two because it truly is miserable. I will continue to update as the weeks go on. Good luck to everyone trying this cream, hang in there!!

I had a very very similar experience. The first month or two of accurate was the absolute worst I have EVER seen my skin. Looking back at pictures makes me cringe. I broke out over my entire face all at once, in places I never had acne before. For me the obvious purging did not stop until month 3 or 4. Around month 5 and 6 it started getting much better, and at 7/8 months I am completely clear and have only had a handful of spots in the past 3 months. Dryness has not been a problem for me, but know that you should carefully treat your skin with hydration masques, constant lotion, and very gentle cleansers (not soap). So far it is worth it for me, I have not not had breakouts for this length of time in at least a decade.