Acne woes

Hola dalimoo's

Being an acne sufferer since I was 14 years old and now Being in my 30s I have got to the point of enough is enough!

In my teens my GP said my spots/breakouts were  "teenage spots" and still being young I would "grow out" of it once my hormones settled down.

In my late teens-early 20s my GP recognised I had acne and said I would benefit from specific contraception targeted to acne prone skin.  This is when my quest for an acne free face/body began!

My first 'acne' pill was Cilest and what a difference this had made.  Except when I had my 7 day break then boy oh boy did it my acne breakouts come with a vengeance!

In my 20s I loved going on girlie holidays abroad but my skin hated it!  (Still does) - Sun cream broke my face and body out and instead of looking sun kissed I would have angry cyst/boil type spots on my face, chest and back!  To this day I have not found a sun cream that doesn't break me out.  This year I'm thinking of trying Bare Minerals powdered sun cream to see if that makes any difference...I digress...

Anywho....Cilest started giving me migraines, so I was put on Dianette* and given erythromycin topical lotion.  Both worked for a time but the monthly breakouts were as bad as ever and I started looking at over the counter products and came across quinoderm a benzoyl peroxide cream. My skin did not react too well at all not only did it cause severe dryness in areas I had used it on, my body came up with a rash which was so itchy and so sore I had to stop using it.  Side note: It also bleached my clothes, pillow case and towels!   I tried quinoderm face wash hoping it was gentler on the skin but instead this caused more breakouts, I am of the thinking this was because it dried my face so badly, my face was producing more sebum so it became a vicious circle!

*since being on Dianette it is no longer available as a contraceptive as the risk of blood clots are extremely higher than any other contraceptive available (told to me by my dr last month).

 The contraceptive was causing migraines again so the GP put me on another one called Yasmin.  I have to say This one seemed to be the best for my skin and even my 7 day my break outs weren't so bad, I used panoxyl 2.5% gel and face/body wash for the times I was getting breakouts and that was it for a a while I thought I and solved my acne problem.

Then back in 2006 I came off the pill to try for my daughter.  WOW did my body hate being pregnant.  I suffered with acne worse than ever on my face and body and being extra sensitive because i was pregnant the panoxyl gel and wash caused my skin a terrible reaction and I had to stop using it.  That had to be the worst time in my life for my confidence since my teens and early 20s.

Once i had my daughter I went straight back on Yasmin and surprise surprise Yasmin had also started giving me really bad migraines Because of my history of migraines I wasn't allowed any other combined pills and had to go on alternative contraception.

The GP gave my a few more topical creams and gels and I was put on the mini pill, but nothing worked! I have also tried many over the counter 'acne' treatments, i.e. murad, freederm, tea tree, clean and clear, nutrogena to name a few and more recently la Roche posay but to be honest I have not found that wonder product yet!

Roll on to the current day:  I have been on tetralysal lymecycline (an antibiotic pill) for just over a year as well as using epiduo gel but there has been no change.  My GP now agrees that after 20 years of suffering with acne I need something stronger and has referred me to a dermatologist.

I have seen my dermatologist and I am eligible for roaccutane, a really strong acne antibiotic that you can only get prescribed through the hospital as there are some nasty side effects.  I start my course in June and I'm hoping that this works, I so badly want to know what's its like to not have any spots, i want to have "no make up days" and not worry about how angry and red my face looks or worry about hyper-pigmentation from healing breakouts!  Really....I just want my confidence back.

It's hard to try and describe how i have felt living with acne in this short(ish) post without it going on for pages and pages, but what I will say it has impacted me a lot.  I used to think my spots were caused by dirt and would scrub and clean and cleanse and exfoliate until my face was raw and using all sorts of lotions and potions but this would make things worse.  It killed my confidence, I hate pictures being taken because you can see my acne in them, when I look in a mirror I just scrutinise myself, I don't go out bare faced, I don't even do make up in front of people as I don't want to draw their attention to my face, If I need to touch up make up I will do it in a toilet cubicle on my own or even use disabled toilets just so I am in private, I can be very jittery talking to people close up as I get conscious they are going to notice my face and the list could go on!

I am hoping and praying that roaccutane is the answer but if not I won't stop trying things and looking for that wonder product that will hopefully make me spot free by the time I'm 40!!!!!

You may feel there is no real point to this post as i'm not even trying to 'sell' you a wonder product. I just want other sufferers to know your not alone and don't suffer for 20 years like me, please don't let acne rule your life and kill your confidence like it has done to me.  There is hope...*

*I know there are exceptions to the rule and there are sufferers out there that will have acne a lot worse than I can imagine but this is only my story...

Here is to positive thinking peeps...

Ciao for now xx