I'm sure it's the fourth week I've been off my medication. To be honest I really don't know.
I'm not doing to fantastically at the moment, regarding my skin.
OH MY WORD it is doing my absolute head in. I am getting spots appearing all over the shop. Some are tiny but are bright red, others are lumps under the skin and take forever to develop into big nasty spots.
It is so bloody frustrating, honestly sometimes it gets me down a hell of a lot, and I actually feel like shit (please excuse my French!)
As a girl, you are meant to have beautiful, glowing skin. No scars, no spots, no wrinkles, no redness, no visible pores, a youthful glow...alas, not me (I have the lot, it sucks.).
I have little red marks from the last time I had spots like this (about two years ago before I saw my doctor) and now these new buggers are making the situation a lot worse. New spots and old marks, brilliant.
I worry about wrinkles/spots/blemishes scars even when my skin is clear (puh-lease don't get me started on my forehead wrinkles, I lose many a night over them. No, seriously), so imagine my horror and worry when I have a face that's being invaded with spots.
Thing is I eat more than my fair share of fruit and vegetables, I drink so much water it's unbelievable (I counted 5 litres one day), I eat pretty healthily, I exercise...I do everything for my skin.
It is obviously something internal in my case, in my opinion.
Here is my not so beautiful face in all it's non-makeup glory.
I think the flash and the 'smooth facial features' setting on my camera has made it look a wee bit better than it is, and you can't see the big-ass boil on my right cheek (absolute killer).
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I am really not wearing any makeup at the moment (apart from blusher and mascara) because I'm in the process of using my Retin-A which leaves makeup looking disgusting; it clumps in all the dead skin that's being sloughed off your face, and you look like a disaster. I have made that mistake many-a-time when I've tried to cover up my spots, and have ended up looking dispairingly into the mirror thinking 'WHY ME?!'.
I am washing my face with a wash from La Roche Posay, and using 'Hydramist' and a Dermalogica day cream, so I'm not loading my skin with nasties.
At night I'm using my medication Retin-A for three consecutive nights, and until my skin stops flaking and peeling I'll use just 'Aquaphor' overnight. And then Retin-A for three nights, then the Aquaphor... etc.
If anyone has any recommendations (apart from kill the doctor that told me I didn't need to stay on my medication) on what products really helped/products to be avoided then please let me know!
I only just discovered your blog through Daniel Sandler's Twitter, so sorry if you've already tried this! I've been using Duac gel which was prescribed by my doctor for about a month. Gone from having ~15 pimples around my chin area to 0-3 ish. But the best thing is my scars in that area are fading too. Doesn't work for everyone I guess, but Google it. Glad to have found your blog :)
ReplyDeleteMy skin sounds EXACTLY like yours, except my problem is around my chin, lower cheeks both sides. I used Duac which did nothing. The only thing prescrbied by a GP which has helped at all in Zineryt, but after a couple of weeks the effect wears off so its pointless! Let me know if you find a winner!!
ReplyDeleteRoaccutane every time. I know how you fell Catt, I get the same, those small annoying red ones to the huge lumps that just hurt, even when you don't touch them.
ReplyDeleteThe only problem with Roaccutane is that it's a very strong drug,(I actually researched it, it's a form of chemo!) You also have to have monthly pregnancy tests and also bi-monthly blood tests. I remember in my last month, my dosage had been upped to 50mg, and I managed to contract glandular fever, it killed my liver. Not only that it dried the crap out of my skin, my lips were so sore and I went through so much chapstick. But, my skin stopped being greasy and my hair didn't get as bad as it did before.
It worked.
There are a lot of cons to roaccutane, but the outcome far outweighs the negative.
I wouldn't have said that nearly two years ago now, because of all the hassle I went through with it. But, 2 years on now that my acne has gotten back to the stage it was 3 years ago, I would go back on it in a heartbeat.