I had extremely clear skin until going off to college and then the cystic acne started- anywhere from 1-10 around my chin area at any given time. My self esteem plummeted, didn't want to go to class, avoided people and functions, grades suffered. It was a complete 180 degree downward turn since high school and I couldn't handle it.
Antibiotics, birth control pills, creams and lotions worked fairly well throughout my twenties, but I never gained back the confidence I once had b/c every time a big event came up I had a major breakout. Finally at age 30 I was offered accutane and it cleared my acne. Luckily I did not even have any scars. I had my life back!!!! My career flourished, met the man of my dreams and got married, and had a baby!! However, after 7 yrs (age 37), the acne came back. I didn't want to go back on accutane b/c we wanted a second child and so I suffered through acne until I finally got pregnant at age 39. During the second half of my pregnancy my skin was awesome - glowing and virtually zero acne. It started coming back when baby was about 10 mo old (I was tapering breast feeding). In last 1.5 yrs I've been on antibiotics and for last year on spirinolactone. Once added the spiro, my skin cleared up nicely (except for scarring) however had to keep increasing the dose and was maxed out at 200/day. In Sept of 2015 I started needing injections in the large cysts on my face, and so the accutane discussion started again. From Sept to Dec I have had 2 injections and several large cysts and Derm recommended accutane. With all of the IPledge checks,I just started my first dose a couple days ago.
Antibiotics, birth control pills, creams and lotions worked fairly well throughout my twenties, but I never gained back the confidence I once had b/c every time a big event came up I had a major breakout. Finally at age 30 I was offered accutane and it cleared my acne. Luckily I did not even have any scars. I had my life back!!!! My career flourished, met the man of my dreams and got married, and had a baby!! However, after 7 yrs (age 37), the acne came back. I didn't want to go back on accutane b/c we wanted a second child and so I suffered through acne until I finally got pregnant at age 39. During the second half of my pregnancy my skin was awesome - glowing and virtually zero acne. It started coming back when baby was about 10 mo old (I was tapering breast feeding). In last 1.5 yrs I've been on antibiotics and for last year on spirinolactone. Once added the spiro, my skin cleared up nicely (except for scarring) however had to keep increasing the dose and was maxed out at 200/day. In Sept of 2015 I started needing injections in the large cysts on my face, and so the accutane discussion started again. From Sept to Dec I have had 2 injections and several large cysts and Derm recommended accutane. With all of the IPledge checks,I just started my first dose a couple days ago.
