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I'm 27 years old and have suffered from acne since...
I'm 27 years old and have suffered from acne since I was about 18. I've tried almost everything except Accutane. Every esthetician told me my acne was hormonal so I tried birth control... the ring and a couple others. They all made me gain weight nope nope nope. I tried changing my diet giving up dairy, ect ect. About a month ago I went to a new derm, he prescribed Spironolactone 25mg the first week and 50mg after that. He also prescribed the topical Epiduo and said it should take about 3 months to see real improvement and to come back then. Here's my journey updating as I go week by week... Photos to come I promise.
Week one: 25mg of Spiro, I didn't start using the Epiduo yet because I was afraid of the initial breakout and I just didn't want to shock my body with too many things
.Although, I did shock my system with a whole lot of whiskey, I can usually handle, but for the first time in a long time I got really sick the following day, threw up, and had to leave work early. Ooopps not a good look... So word to the wise ... don't drink on Spiro or least not at first, more about that later.
Week Two: 50mg of Spiro, one pump of Epiduo every other day, applied at night
Again I started out easy with the epiduo, I didn't want to freak my face out. I noticed less oiliness right away, a few small cyst and a few small pimples would pop up but would come to the surface quickly. My face felt tight. I happened to have a music festival fall during this weekend, it also happened to be 90 degrees during this festival. So I faced heat/sweat, mixed with drinking, mixed with dirt and oil. I honestly expected to break out a lot worse but the damage was minimal. I also have to mention that I didn't take the spiro on the weekend because I wanted to have fun at the festival and not worry about mixing stuff with medication. Hey, I’m 27 I only have so many more years before it’s not socially acceptable to go to music festival anymore. Gotta live it up while I can!
Week Three: 50mg of Spiro, one pump of Epiduo but this time I applied every night
Due to my previous weekend of partying, and the new pop ups on my jaw line, I thought I'd be aggressive and apply the Epiduo during the day a few of the days. More about that later... Overall no real significant changes except I did notice my face stung a little more when I applied especially around my mouth, nose, and eyes. Ohh and chapped lips super chapped lips... but I was also in the sun all day the whole weekend at the festival so not sure if that attributed to the chapped lips and stinging. I used sunscreen but still the sun will get ya.
Week 4: 50mg of Spiro, one pump of Epiduo at night
Awww yea here we go improvement... My pimples are shrinking! Whoo hoo! I had no huge cysts. BUT by the middle of the week it got rough; literally... my face was rough, dry cracking, and flaking. Remember last week when I went all agro with the epiduo? Well yeah, maybe shouldn’t have. OR maybe I should have…? I have a clairsonic and I had been hesitant to use it while on the epiduo but if there was a time to use it, it was now. Steamed my face in a steamy shower, applied a hot wash cloth, and then ran through two cycles of the Clairsonic using the sensitive skin brush. My skin looked squeaky clean. It also looked red as hell but once the redness went down and makeup was applied the next day.. Oo la la my skin looked good super smooth, ok ok, smoother. I still had a few cysts that were taking their sweet time to heal. Also to note I drank a good amount of wine and beer this week on Sprio and was fine.
Next weekend is Halloween and this weekend I have a Witches pup crawl. (God I sound like a real booze hound party animal on here). Anyway, face paint will be involved on this little witchy pup crawl so we will see how that will affect everything next week.
Week one: 25mg of Spiro, I didn't start using the Epiduo yet because I was afraid of the initial breakout and I just didn't want to shock my body with too many things
.Although, I did shock my system with a whole lot of whiskey, I can usually handle, but for the first time in a long time I got really sick the following day, threw up, and had to leave work early. Ooopps not a good look... So word to the wise ... don't drink on Spiro or least not at first, more about that later.
Week Two: 50mg of Spiro, one pump of Epiduo every other day, applied at night
Again I started out easy with the epiduo, I didn't want to freak my face out. I noticed less oiliness right away, a few small cyst and a few small pimples would pop up but would come to the surface quickly. My face felt tight. I happened to have a music festival fall during this weekend, it also happened to be 90 degrees during this festival. So I faced heat/sweat, mixed with drinking, mixed with dirt and oil. I honestly expected to break out a lot worse but the damage was minimal. I also have to mention that I didn't take the spiro on the weekend because I wanted to have fun at the festival and not worry about mixing stuff with medication. Hey, I’m 27 I only have so many more years before it’s not socially acceptable to go to music festival anymore. Gotta live it up while I can!
Week Three: 50mg of Spiro, one pump of Epiduo but this time I applied every night
Due to my previous weekend of partying, and the new pop ups on my jaw line, I thought I'd be aggressive and apply the Epiduo during the day a few of the days. More about that later... Overall no real significant changes except I did notice my face stung a little more when I applied especially around my mouth, nose, and eyes. Ohh and chapped lips super chapped lips... but I was also in the sun all day the whole weekend at the festival so not sure if that attributed to the chapped lips and stinging. I used sunscreen but still the sun will get ya.
Week 4: 50mg of Spiro, one pump of Epiduo at night
Awww yea here we go improvement... My pimples are shrinking! Whoo hoo! I had no huge cysts. BUT by the middle of the week it got rough; literally... my face was rough, dry cracking, and flaking. Remember last week when I went all agro with the epiduo? Well yeah, maybe shouldn’t have. OR maybe I should have…? I have a clairsonic and I had been hesitant to use it while on the epiduo but if there was a time to use it, it was now. Steamed my face in a steamy shower, applied a hot wash cloth, and then ran through two cycles of the Clairsonic using the sensitive skin brush. My skin looked squeaky clean. It also looked red as hell but once the redness went down and makeup was applied the next day.. Oo la la my skin looked good super smooth, ok ok, smoother. I still had a few cysts that were taking their sweet time to heal. Also to note I drank a good amount of wine and beer this week on Sprio and was fine.
Next weekend is Halloween and this weekend I have a Witches pup crawl. (God I sound like a real booze hound party animal on here). Anyway, face paint will be involved on this little witchy pup crawl so we will see how that will affect everything next week.
Provider Review
Dr. Alvin Coda
Dr. Coda is awesome he called me when I had a few issues with the prescription. Very attentive and jsut all around I got a good warm feeling from him, like he genuinely cares about his patients.