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I suffered from acne since I was 12. I remember...
I suffered from acne since I was 12. I remember starting to get pimples and my mom just bought me some Oxy Pads from the drug store and they worked for junior high. Then in high school they stopped working and I switched to the Clinique 3 step acne products, which were very effective. However, since my acne was chronic and probably hormonal, these were only masking the problem. If I forgot to wash my face with them even one single time before bed, I would wake up with sometimes 3 brand new, very irritated red pimples. It was always very noticeable and wrecked my self-esteem. However, I just sucked it up and enjoyed when I was able to keep my skin under control.
The closer I got to age 23, the more dramatically my skin started taking a turn for the worst. My behaviour was changing because of it as well, due to decreased self-esteem. Suddenly instead of going out with my friends and enjoying a meal or drinks, I would hide in my room for days at a time. My attendance at work wasn't so great directly because of this. I was waking up daily with 3 new pimples on my face and 1-3 very very large deep cysts a week. My nerves were shot and I avoided mirrors at all costs. In fact, to even go out at all, I sometimes eased the tension with booze. I was acting like an anti-social guy who just hated the world. Every day was a huge pain in the ass and the stuff doctors prescribed me (anti-biotics and topicals) weren't doing a damn thing.
So one day after being depressed about this for a few months, after quitting my job and hiding from the world for weeks on end (it was that awful for me), I woke up realizing one day that I can't live like this forever. I was so depressed I think I started developing suicidal thoughts. Then I realized, enough is enough, it's time to fight to get my life back. So I went on accutane November 18 2013 and it gave me an amazing amount of relief.
At first, it didn't do much. But on the bright side, I didn't get any initial breakout. The acne condition didn't slow down much until into the second month, and I still got a very large cyst about 5 weeks in. But the skin was quite dry and the pimples would noticeably dry out and just kind of flake off within a few days, so that was nice. At the 3 month mark I had the last pimple that left a large red mark. My new doctor increased my dose to 40mg a day from 30, and after that the breakouts were few and in-between. No more cysts, just little surface bumps that healed quickly. Overall I was on it for 7 months and I can say that the benefits outweighed the side effects by a LONG shot. Yes, my joints are still a little achy, and yes, my lips were very cracked during treatment. But now it is 1 month post-accutane and the few red marks I have are fading and I haven't broken out in probably a few months. The odd tiny pimple that you'd need a magnifying glass to see every now & then which I treat with topicals. The thing is though, my skin isn't oily anymore at all so the thing that was breaking me out is now gone. When I use topicals now, they are much much more effective.
Long gone are the days of letting my facial hair grow out to cover up spots and hiding in my room... I actually like how I look now and feel amazing. I shave every day and feel like my skin tone is very even and nice. I feel happy about life again, that's what accutane did for me. I can't thank the makers of it enough. My life is so much better now... and I never thought it would be. I didn't want to get my hopes up too much, but it did work perfectly. I recommend it to anyone going through something like I went through, it was awful but accutane is what you need asap. Once you're finished with it, there's a good chance you'll feel extremely relieved and happy after all the struggling. That's an amazing feeling.
The closer I got to age 23, the more dramatically my skin started taking a turn for the worst. My behaviour was changing because of it as well, due to decreased self-esteem. Suddenly instead of going out with my friends and enjoying a meal or drinks, I would hide in my room for days at a time. My attendance at work wasn't so great directly because of this. I was waking up daily with 3 new pimples on my face and 1-3 very very large deep cysts a week. My nerves were shot and I avoided mirrors at all costs. In fact, to even go out at all, I sometimes eased the tension with booze. I was acting like an anti-social guy who just hated the world. Every day was a huge pain in the ass and the stuff doctors prescribed me (anti-biotics and topicals) weren't doing a damn thing.
So one day after being depressed about this for a few months, after quitting my job and hiding from the world for weeks on end (it was that awful for me), I woke up realizing one day that I can't live like this forever. I was so depressed I think I started developing suicidal thoughts. Then I realized, enough is enough, it's time to fight to get my life back. So I went on accutane November 18 2013 and it gave me an amazing amount of relief.
At first, it didn't do much. But on the bright side, I didn't get any initial breakout. The acne condition didn't slow down much until into the second month, and I still got a very large cyst about 5 weeks in. But the skin was quite dry and the pimples would noticeably dry out and just kind of flake off within a few days, so that was nice. At the 3 month mark I had the last pimple that left a large red mark. My new doctor increased my dose to 40mg a day from 30, and after that the breakouts were few and in-between. No more cysts, just little surface bumps that healed quickly. Overall I was on it for 7 months and I can say that the benefits outweighed the side effects by a LONG shot. Yes, my joints are still a little achy, and yes, my lips were very cracked during treatment. But now it is 1 month post-accutane and the few red marks I have are fading and I haven't broken out in probably a few months. The odd tiny pimple that you'd need a magnifying glass to see every now & then which I treat with topicals. The thing is though, my skin isn't oily anymore at all so the thing that was breaking me out is now gone. When I use topicals now, they are much much more effective.
Long gone are the days of letting my facial hair grow out to cover up spots and hiding in my room... I actually like how I look now and feel amazing. I shave every day and feel like my skin tone is very even and nice. I feel happy about life again, that's what accutane did for me. I can't thank the makers of it enough. My life is so much better now... and I never thought it would be. I didn't want to get my hopes up too much, but it did work perfectly. I recommend it to anyone going through something like I went through, it was awful but accutane is what you need asap. Once you're finished with it, there's a good chance you'll feel extremely relieved and happy after all the struggling. That's an amazing feeling.
Provider Review
Dr. Lynn Dwyer
A very friendly and smart GP.