Skin Diaries - Week 1

Watch out, o peeps of the interwebs. This is going to be a gross, long post. With a lot of rambling. *__*

I decided to keep a little skin diary of sorts as a frame of reference. My skin is suffering from some serious uglies. I mean....I think it is the worst it has ever looked....ever. I suffered from a serious cystic acne breakout in March 2013 that has left my face scarred and with some crrrraaaaazzzzzyyyy hyperpigmentation. 

I have had acne since puberty, but it has only gotten bad over the past several years. I am 27, should be focusing on anti-aging, and instead have to worry about cystic acne. Yay. 

I have tried a number of things over the past several years....but nothing has worked. I have not had a single day, since the age of 13, that I have not had a pimple on my face. 

I went to the dermatologist last Thursday, and told him I wanted to be put on Accutane because I was so tired of the constant war I had been waging. It has caused me enough grief and stress. I am well versed in the possible horrible side effects but I have gotten to the point that I am willing to take the risk. The derm talked me off the ledge, said he would be willing to give it to me but I should try this androgen-blocker called Spironolactone first. Well, I had already done a ton of research on spironolactone anyway, so I knew exactly what it was. I was pretty pleased  he knew about it (supposedly a lot of derms do not like to prescribe this) so I agreed to try the Spiro as well as use Retin-A every other day (at least).

He told me to start out on 50mg a day, and when I felt ready, to up my dose to 100mg. So I have been taking the Spiro for a little over a week, and use the Retin-A micro every other day at night. I used Finacea gel in the morning (followed by Sunscreen) and on the other nights I am not using Retin-A micro.

Mini rave starting about Finacea: I LOVE IT. There is no topical that I love more than Finacea gel. I have been using it about 2 months now, and it seriously takes all of the redness out of my face (until I added Retin-A in, of course >_>) I do not know if it is helping fade my hyperpigmentation or if time would work just as well on it, but for the redness reduction and evening of skin tone alone it is fantastic! I neeeever plan on stopping this stuff.

Anyway. Here are some pics. A little over a week in to the treatment.

le bare face

Right cheek-- couple active/healing breakouts, hyperpigmentatin, scarring, huge pores, oily skin, the works. 

Left cheek-- nothing active, just scarring and hyperpigmentation.

Chin area isnt horrible, just a bit pink from Retin-A Micro.

Yuck, right? I currently have a few healing breakouts and sooo much hyperpigmentation and a bit of scarring too. HUGE craterous pores that seep oil like crazy...I am hoping Spiro will help with the oil as well as the acne. But only time will tell-- supposedly it takes a couple months for your hormones to get adjusted to the medication.