Me and my acne: Week 47

It has been so long since I talked about my acne, and because I've left it so long, quite a lot has happened, which is going to make this quite a long and ramble-y post.

Just after my last post, I was struggling to get my 0.025% Retin-A from any pharmacist in town. They said it might be a manufacturing issue, or maybe they had discontinued it. I hoped it wasn't the latter, my Retin-A is my saviour when it comes to helping to deal with acne.
But, since I couldn't get hold of it, I went to the doctor to see if I could get an alternative. At that point, my acne had flared up again, with lots of small red pustules across my forehead and on my cheeks. Speaking to the doctor, he prescribed me Differin, which is another retinoid, and also prescribed me the contraceptive pill Yasmin (retinoids cause serious birth defects, so if you're on a retinoid the doctor will probably force you to take a contraceptive pill!).
I tried the Differin for a few weeks, and I hated it. I didn't notice any acne-related results, I was continuously covered in the multiple small, red and angry-looking spots on my forehead and cheeks, and so stopped using it. It just isn't as effective as the Retin-A I was so used to using. So after being bummed out for a while, I had found a old prescription with Retin-A and Lymecycline (an old oral antibiotic I was on for a while), which was printed back in early 2012. I went to a completely different pharmacist I had never been to before, and I managed to get hold of my beloved Retin-A. I could not tell you how happy I was, honestly I could have cried.

And that's what I'm on at the moment. Since I had the prescription for the Lymecycline, I decided that I might as well take those as well as the contraceptive pill, and apply the Retin-A once a week, which has resulted in the clearest skin I've probably EVER experienced.
But my Retin-A days are nearly over. I have been asking pharmacists every so often whether they have any deliveries of the 0.025%, and it's not even on their system, so it's more than likely discontinued.
I don't want to try anything else. I have been faffing around with different medications and I would just rather stick to something I know works for me. So that leads to think about trying the stronger concentration 0.01% Retin-A. I'm used to the side-effects (I've been on it for three years!) and if I use a small amount of the stronger concentration, then I'm sure my skin will be able to get used to it quite quickly.

Before I go back to the doctors and demand the new Retin-A at gunpoint I want to make sure I actually need it; I might have a period without acne medication and see how I get on. Who knows, I might not need any more medication!

Has anyone tried the 0.01% Retin-A? What do you make of it and how bad are the side-effects?

Me and my acne: Week 35 update.

So, not much has changed since last week. My skin is a lot more sore due to slightly overdosing on the Retin-A and using my Clarisonic Mia. I really should pay attention when the medication leaflet tells me not to exfoliate when using it, I have pretty much got no skin left and it's absolute agony! My face is covered in redness and the only thing I can wear on it without any stinging whatsoever is Aquaphor. It's a good job that I don't have any plans to go out dressed up anywhere in the next week because my face is like a tomato!

I'm still getting quite a few pimples showing up, which is disheartening, although it's nowhere near as bad as it has been. Ah well, lets see what the next week brings!

The lighting is quite soft in the photo so you can't really see it, I think I need to start taking these photos in harsher light so you can see it better!

Me and my acne: Week 34 update.

I know this is late. But only a day late, and I didn't want to leave it for another week because that would definitely be bad and I don't want to become lazy with my blog.

So, I think my skin has improved on last week. I'm using my Retin-A religiously at the moment and it's doing wonders at sloughing away all my dead skin and drying out my spots. My forehead is clearing up, but my spots seem to have emigrated to my cheeks, which is weird. The area of spots under my neck is still proving to be a pain in the bottom, but after continuously putting on Retin-A for the past four nights (I have been peeling like hell), the spots have calmed down, leaving nasty redness behind.
Oral medication wise, I still have a month and three weeks to go. Even though I think there has been a small positive change in my skin, my mum has said she can't see a difference in my acne and she says I seem very 'down', which if I think about it, is right really. I do feel a bit pants about how slowly this new medication seems to be working, but have not really wanted to make a big deal about it and have just soldiered on. She has encouraged me to go back to the doctor, and in fact, she felt so strongly about the fact that she has gone and booked an appointment for me to see the doctor! I'm not sure how I feel about this, since I do feel my skin is improving slightly despite what she says!

I have made changes to my diet in the last month, the main one is to try and eat oily fish 5/6 days of the week. I never ate unhealthily in the first place: I'm a student dietitian so it would be hard for me to eat unhealthily, but I know I never used to eat as much oily fish as I should, so now I'm on the other end of the scale and completely OD'ing (I'm probably dying from mercury poisoning...).
I think this is really making a difference, although right now the thought of smoked salmon makes me want to heave, and I'm noticing my boyfriend doesn't want to be near me anymore...I jest. I definitely think eating more oily fish has made a difference not only in slightly reducing the amount of acne, but I can see in the other areas of my skin looks a lot more radiant, less red and angry, a lot more hydrated and more plump. I'm definitely keeping this fishy habit up, because when my active acne finally decides it's had enough, it should help with the redness and scarring left behind!
I definitely think diet has some sort of effect on my skin, because for the entire week I was eating smoked salmon every day and apart from the odd homemade brownie, I had nothing artificial/preservativ-y and my skin seemed to be getting better. Then, on Saturday my boyfriend took me over to the dark side and we had garlic doughballs and onion rings, and voila - today I have two pimples on my head! Although this might be coincidence, it's giving me total 100% motivation to really watch what I eat and consider it's effect on my acne.

So overall, I'm bummed out that my medication hasn't had a huge effect, smoked salmon helps but makes me feel sick, onion rings and garlic doughballs don't help, and I'm going back to the doctor in a week!

Anyone who suffers with acne - do you think diet has an effect on acne? Have you made any changes to your diet which have helped?

Me and my acne: Week 33 update.

So the last time I updated you, I was happy with the way my skin was going. I thought it was improving, either due to my new medication (Dianette) or something within my skincare routine. I was excited because it seemed I was on the way to being cured from the nasty, disgusting acne that has plagued me for about 3-4 years.

Let me tell you, the happy feeling has well and truly been replaced by frustration, desperation and upset. Just take a look at the pictures of my skin below and you'll understand:

Does that look like an improvement to you? No, didn't think so. And I always say this, I know you have probably seen worse cases of acne, so don't berate me about how life isn't so bad, but to me, this is awful. I feel disgusting, I feel ugly and it is such a major confidence depressor. I am lucky I have an amazing boyfriend who can see past that, but most people can't. It upsets me so much to think I look like this. What also worries me is the scarring and pigmentation I'll be left with.
Obviously I am hacked off with how crap Dianette is being, but I have only been on it a month, and have two months left of the prescription. Now here is what I want to ask - should I go back to the doctor this early and tell him/show him it's having no effect, or should I man it out for the other two months? I don't want to have to suffer longer than I have to, and if I go to the doctor now then maybe they can give me something else? I don't want to wait around for no improvement and for my skin to potentially get worse. Oh bugger, I don't know what to do!

HELP?!

Me and my acne: Week 30 update.

There is a reason why I have left doing another one of these posts for this long. Apart from forgetfulness on my behalf, I left it two weeks before I updated the blog because my skin seems to be improving, and I wanted to make sure it had improved enough before I danced/shouted/screamed about it and then jinxed it!

Here is what my skin looks like at the moment;


As you can see, I still have about ten active spots at the moment, but most of the redness you can see on my skin (mostly on my forehead) is just the after-effect of having acne, which I'm hoping should fade in time.
When I went to the doctors just under 2 weeks ago to sort out my skin, he prescribed me Dianette, which is a contraceptive pill aimed at women who were struggling with their skin. Although I have to wait 2 more weeks to actually start taking this medication, and my Lymecycline ran out two weeks ago, so at the moment I'm acne-medication free, apart from my Retin-A which I apply weekly.
This is what makes it so surprising that my skin has cleared up. Why would it be worse when I'm on medication to clear it up?

I am using a few new products in my skin-care routine, which I will indicate whilst going through my normal day to night skincare regime, but I don't think that that really has anything to do with clearing up my skin, although who knows?!.
Morning I use Hibiscrub and double cleanse my face, and after I tone with Vichy's 'Purifying Astringent Toner' (new), and then apply Vichy's 'Capital Sun SPF 50 Mattifying Face Fluid Dry Touch' (new), and that's it for the day.
My night-time skincare routine comprises of a little more. I take off the majority of my make-up/face cream with a blob of Cetaphil and a cotton pad, after which I use the Hibiscrub to double/triple-cleanse my skin and make sure it's squeaky clean. Then I have two options. Twice a week I just use Retin-A on clean skin. The other nights, I follow my cleanse with the same Vichy toner, and then apply Nuxe's 'Huile Prodigieuse' (new) all over my face until it has sank in, and then a layer of Lush's Vanishing Cream (new), and then after that I layer Eucerin's 'Aquaphor' all over my face until I'm a gooey sticky mess! And then I'm done! I find this is the only way to combat the drying effect a retinoid has on your skin.
I'm also using No7's 'Total Renewal Microdermabrasion Exfoliator' and Lush's 'Cosmetic Warrior' (new) face mask. I normally do this after my skin is moisturised enough and before I apply the retinoid for the week.

A break from oral acne antibiotics is maybe what my skin needs, but right now I'm really pleased with the way my skin is behaving, and I just hope it clears up more and more each and every day (one can wish!). I'm also looking forward to seeing what effect starting the new medication Dianette has on my skin, and let's just keep our fingers crossed it gets rid of my acne for good!

Me and my acne: Week 27 update.

I think this is week 27. To be honest, it's been such a long time since I did an acne post that I honestly can't remember! Apologies. Hopefully this will be a weekly post now, not a bi-monthly one.

In the months that have passed between the last acne-related post and now, nothing has changed. Even though I'm still on antibiotics, there are spots popping up here there and everywhere! It has been like this ever since I can remember. And it is seriously trucking me off. If I'm on medication, surely it's going to help?! But no.
I'm thinking that maybe I'm getting used to the antibiotics and they aren't as effective as they once were (I had perfect skin when I was prescribed them in the first instance!)
I'm using Hibiscrub to wash my face 3 times a day to help prevent the bacteria on my skin making my acne any worse, which I suppose is keeping it more under control, but hasn't helped to beat it, and it's not really making any difference. It was recommended by my sister's dermatologist when she went through a phase of serious acne, and it helped her so I thought I might as well jump on the bandwagon.

Good news is that I've booked a doctor's appointment tomorrow (YAY YAY YAY) and demand that they do something about it, because whilst I know the acne I suffer with isn't the worst acne ever (I admit that openly), it gets me down and I'm really unhappy with it. Plus I've had it for about four years now, and now I think I'm getting to the end of my tether with it and I just want clear skin.

Here is what my skin is like right now (the photo is lame, it's adjusted to make my skin look better so you can't see the full nastiness. You have been probably been spared a gross sight):

I am tending to get a lot of large, sore spots under my chin and on the skin underneath my ears, which I'm finding very peculiar. Has anyone else with acne found that?

Next week's acne-related post should hopefully contain some good news about the decisive action the doctor has taken regarding my skin to get rid of my acne ONCE AND FOR ALL.
There is always hope, right?

Me and my acne; Week 12 update.

Well, my doctor has RUINED this little weekly feature.
I went to see him yesterday because my prescription had run out and I wanted to continue with the Retin-A, but wasn't so bothered about the antibiotics. I do have spots, and they do bother me, but I was of the mindset that I will deal with them.
I told him this, and then he basically said that there were no long term side effects from being on the medication, and because I was unhappy with my skin without being on the antibiotics, so he renewed both my antibiotics (Lymecycline) and Retin-A for another year. This really pleased me, because I don't like having bad skin. It makes me feel dirty, gross and so unattractive.

So, the plan for these little weekly posts changes a bit. It isn't going to be feature analysing my skin without the antibiotics anymore, from now on it will be a feature on how my skin improves with the antibiotics! I will carry on doing them along with the photo of my fat little face, so you can hopefully see an improvement in my skin as I continue taking the medication.

Here is my skin as it is at the minute, as you can see it's a bit spotty;

(Please excuse my panda eyes, photo fail)

Regarding a skincare routine as of right now, I'm just using my Clarisonic and my Korres soaps to cleanse the skin every morning and night, and if it's the morning, I follow it using Kiehl's' 'UV Protect' SPF 50 (review to come soon!), and in the evening I either use Retin-A alone, Aquaphor alone, or combine the Nuxe Oil I recieved in the February Feel Unique box followed by my Darphin cream.

But hopefully carrying on these posts whilst taking my medication for the next year should hopefully illustrate how clear my skin has been in the past and how much it improves with a little medical help!
It may encourage some people to seek help for acne. I know mine isn't horrific, but it really affects me. And if you're sitting there thinking 'mine is way worse, what is she moaning about' arrange an appointment to see your doctor! There are lots of things that can be done for acne these days, so it's worth just talking to your doctor about it!

Me and my acne: Week 11 update.

God, what was meant to be a "weekly feature" has been pushed to the side. For four whole weeks. I am such a bad person, tschk.
I'll promise to try and be more reliable from now on!

If you've never read the other 'acne-update' posts I've written before, then basically what I did 11 weeks ago was come off my oral antibiotic (Lymecycline) which was prescribed to me for my acne. I had been on it for about two years, and had tried to stop before, with horrible consequences (my acne came back raging), so I gave up the abstinence and started taking them again.
This time I thought I would try stop taking the antibiotics and really stick it out, charting my success/failure on this small part of the internet.
I started the 'trail' (as I liked to call it) back at the beginning of December, and did a post explaining why I wanted to give it up here, and subsequently did a week 1, 2/3, 4, and 5 update, just in case you wanted to have a look at the pictures of my skin and/or read about my experience about giving up my antibiotics.
Right, at the moment, as you can see in the pictures, my skin is a little red and sore looking, especially around the forehead area. And my eye-bags are terrible and I'm not looking attractive at all, FML. This is only due to my Retin-A where it's made my skin peel off, revealing new skin which is a little tender and, let's say raw. Yum!

My skin recently has cleared up a hell of a lot though, and I'm actually amazed about how good it's been. I still get the odd few spots, but it's literally like ten small ones, and on a good day I may only have three tiny ones, as opposed to having those plus big fat 'boil' type spots.
This is really pleasing, because when I came off my oral antibiotic, I thought I wouldn't be able to cope. But I can, I don't actually need it any more at all! I still need and use my Retin-A to keep them under control and to help reduce the little red marks and the slight scarring I've got, but my skin is nothing like what it used to be.
To be honest I think this is all thanks to the Clarisonic 'Mia' I got in January which will be getting a glowing review all by itself soon enough! I'm always updating and swapping the cleansers and face creams, and always was, so I don't think I can attribute my clearer skin to any of the new products, I definitely think it's 'Mia'.

So that's a little update on the acne front. Short and sweet I know, but I don't want to babble because it's only an update!

Fucibet.

As I've explained in this post, I explain that I came across this product whilst having a bit of a breakdown about my peeling and spotty cream.
Whilst looking despairingly at my face in the bathroom mirror (as I do on a regular basis) I saw this out of the corner of my eye. Like a magpie drawn to silver, I swooped upon it and claimed it as my own.

After a wee bit of research (after I plastered it on my skin) on the British National Formulary (a medical database for health professionals) I found out that it is a topical corticosteroid. Now these have few side-effects but should be used 'with care'. They are to be used in inflammatory conditions such as eczema or contact dermatitis.
I have NONE of those, however, I was desperate to try and 'fix' my skin, so I slapped it on regardless of any side effects or indications for use (quite silly of me really).

Now this is what the tube looks like. Very medical-looking and not so pretty. Although I like the wee lion on the tube and the red and yellow stripe...
It's in a 30g aluminium (I think) tube, which I think are the best tubes to put cream in. I don't like plastic tubes very much, I don't know why, I just prefer the metal ones.

So it comes out of the tube as an opaque white cream. It's not really that thick in texture, it's quite light, which I totally wasn't expecting. I would have thought it would have been a thick heavy-weight cream, but not so.
There is a smell associated with steriod creams, and the only way I can describe it is that it reminds me of the faint smell of PVA glue, you know, you glue you stuck pasta to paper when you were in little school?
It might be quite unpleasant to some people because it is quite strong, but personally I don't mind the smell.
But if you don't like strong-smelling creams then this clearly isn't for you.


After you've rubbed it in (or as I do, let it soak into the skin), it doesn't really leave any residue upon the surface of the skin. There is a slight shine (which you can't actually see on my hands-it looks quite matte!), but I mean, that's to be expected with a prescribed steroid cream such as this.


So this is what it looks like on my skin when applied, and then when it's sunk into the skin.
As you can see, I put a lot of the cream onto my skin, but even so it's all gone and only left a small smear on my nose.
It has left a slight shine, but this is irrelevant, because I would only use this overnight, because it is so intensive and doesn't have an SPF.
It does feel light upon the skin, and doesn't feel as though it's smothering it. Which is good, because skin needs to breathe otherwise it'll get clogged up with cream and other nasties. It was quite smoothing too, I think because it's for inflammatory skin conditions, it really helped sort out the redness resulting from my Retin-A.

Aaaand this is what my skin looked like in the morning. No peeling, no dead skin, no irritation. Just the nice healthy moisturised feeling which makes a girl like me so happy.

Obviously, it is a medication, so unless you go to your doctor (or possibly the black market-I JOKE) you won't be able to get your hands on this.
I won't be able to use this everyday because of the side-effects (just Google it and you'll find lists of side-effects) and the fact that just dry, peely skin IS NOT what it's meant to be used for.
I think it is to be used in the case of emergency and when I'm near a mental breakdown because my skin is playing up.

This is kind of an irrelevant review in light of the fact you can't go out and buy it off the shelf, but I'm just showing that it has helped me and my skin.
If you do have any of the ailments (psoriasis, contact dermatitis, eczema) then it would probably be quite helpful. Obviously I'm no doctor so I can't say 'people with this should go on this and that blah blah blah' but it might be something to look into.

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...

Me and my acne; Week 2/3 update.

Well, I have been struggling a little. After I came off my period, my spots decided to stay and not recede. I'm getting quite a few small red ones on my forehead like I had before I went onto medication, and I'm getting a few on my cheeks. The ones appearing on my cheeks are quite big and full of pus (I hate that word).
I'm trying not to get down about it, considering it is not that bad as it was in the summer, however I think this is due to the fact that it's not summer and I'm not trying to cover myself head to foot in suncream and not sweating in the heat.
I'm still using my Retin-A three times a week overnight, so I think that really helps sort of bring the nasties out and get rid of them, and 'dry' the spots I already have out.

Also, not yesterday the day before I actually took the skin off my forehead, leaving a nice big area of rawness and soreness (OMG it rhymes!). Partly to do with the use of Retin-A and a new facial brush. As you can tell, NEVER using the two in combination ever again!
In a morbid and quite gross way, it's been really fascinating to see it heal over and get better. Eucerin 'Aquaphor' has been my knight in shining armour (click here and here to hear me blab on about how great it is). Therefore worrying about spots and pimples has not been my priority, it's been treating my skin to incredible amounts of TLC. It sounds really gross, but I think that I may have taken a few spots with it when the skin was taken off (I did say it was really gross!). It's healing really nicely, although I'm not exfoliating for another week or so just to give my skin a break. I know, it's killing me. I hate not exfoliating (either chemically or using physical exfoliators), it just makes me feel dirty.

So yeah, just an update to say the spots seem to be slowly coming back, but not horrendously. However, there is plenty of time yet. Fingers crossed nothing happens!

Me and my acne; Week 1 update.

So I've been off my antibiotics for about a week now.

I am fairly reluctant to draw any conclusion as of yet, because last time I came off my antibiotics it took about a month for the spots to come back in their full (horrid) glory, so a week really isn't much time for my skin to get used to not having the antibiotics. But hopefully they won't come back like they did last time (you can read aaallll about it here).

I did decide to come off them at a stupid time, cause it was that time of the month. Now, for me, this means horrid spots even on my antibiotics, so a fair few have popped up over the past week, but they are nothing to really cry over. I can cope with one or two spots, but when it reaches ten...that's when I start to feel a bit shit.
However, my saving grace this week has really got to be my topical retinoid, Retin-A. It is frankly the best thing ever to come into contact with my skin. If you need more information just Google it, there is loads of stuff online about it!

So yeah, overall, there hasn't been much change in my skin, apart from a few small spots due to my period.
Hopefully it will stay that way, but I'll do another post next week to let you know how it's all going!

Me and my acne.

As I mentioned in my very first post, I was on antibiotics for my acne, and have been for about three years.

As recommended, I came off it during the summer to see how I could cope without it, and if my skin could cope with it.
Turns out it couldn't, and I got about ten really big, really cystic spots. I expected my skin to get a little bit spotty, however these spots were like boils. Really big, horribly sore, and really delicate (I remember coming out of the shower and they had all spontaneously burst, which horrified me). Also, they left really nasty red marks on my skin that still haven't gone after a few months, which actually is the thing I hate most about myself right now.
So after a couple of months of doing what the doctor said, I literally couldn't cope any more. I ran to the pharmacist with my little repeat prescription paper and got myself my antibiotics again!

There are a lot of people with worse acne than me, I admit that.
But even so, no matter if it's just ten or twenty, nothing compares to how utterly shit you feel when you look in the mirror and all you see is spot after spot.
Your confidence goes, and I was definitely less enthusiastic about stuff as I used to be, due to the fact I didn't want people to look and notice me (and at my spots).
Also you feel like people are judging. I think things have changed more recently and a lot more people have more understanding about acne, but I still think there is a stigma attached to having it. 'Urgh you don't wash your face' is the sort of thing I think people still think. But again, as I have said, there is a lot more support and help available for people these days with acne, whereas many years ago it was brushed off with 'you'll grow out of it'.

But I'm giving myself another trail at the moment.
I've finished my current box of antibiotics, so I felt that it is a good time to see if my skin has finally cleared up, or if I need something else. I am aware that I need to come off my antibiotics at some point, but I don't want to suffer!
I am still on my topical retinoid (Retin-A), so hopefully that helps my skin along whilst I'm off my antibiotics. The emphasis being on hopefully!

So I'm going to do a post a week about how my skin is doing and keep everyone posted (you lucky things!) on how it goes. I might not post pictures because if I'm feeling shitty about my skin I'm not exactly going to want to share it on the internet! But I might change my mind, so I'll just wait and see.