Me and my acne: Week 5 update.

So this week has been quite, well, more interesting than my other acne updates.
I've also got a few more photographs of my trails and tribulations, because I think it's nice to see what other people are going through, and a paragraph full of words isn't as powerful as when it's accompanied by a photograph.
I do think that most people will be getting sick of my make-up free face, and the fact I look like a complete ming in them! But it's to illustrate a point, so apologies!

If this is the first 'acne update post' of mine you've seen, basically I came off my oral antibiotic (Lymecycline) about 5 weeks ago, which I have been prescribed for the past two years. I am still using a topical medication (Retin-A), and this is just a little journal to see if I can really get on without my oral medication or whether I need to go back on it. Also, I explain what products help and don't help my skin.

So this week I used my Retin-A on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday night because my skin can't seem to shake the spots. This has left my with red, peely skin. I know this is hard to imagine, so I took some pictures (be warned, I look terrible and it isn't flattering at all);



Notice around my hairline you can see the peeling skin on the bottom picture, and around the nose in the top picture. They are small pictures so squint and you might see what I'm on about.

When my skin is like this I feel pretty awful. I have spots and plus I'm peeling like mad, so I'm not feeling at my most attractive. Earlier on the day these above pictures were taken, I applied some Eucerin, but OH MY GOD it stang like hell and brought me out in a reddish-pink rash before I had to leave to go to university.
See below;

However, I was in the bathroom staring despairingly into the mirror (surely other people do that?) when a little white tube caught my eye.
Mummy Clements had suffered from a small patch of psoriasis, and the doctor prescribed her this cream.
So, as a last resort, I plastered it all on my face and no stinging or anything occured. I thought, wow, this is good stuff already. Unlike most creams like this I've encountered before, this one sank right into my skin. I'll do a proper review of the cream on it's own, so keep your eyes peeled.
But this is what my skin looked like this morning...

Absolutely no peeling or redness, although my spots and red marks are still there (sad face). You can't really see because the photo is quite small (bummer) but my skin seems to be in a much better shape than it was 12 hours ago.

So in summary, it's been a bit of a tough week for my poor skin. My spots don't seem to be going, I'm still pressing on with using my Retin-A which is giving me peely and sore skin, I have found a cream which helps with the peeling, but all in all no drastic improvements or worsening.
Sigh.
It's never ending...