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Adult Acne Blog - 2002: February 2002
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, nurse, nutritionist, herbalist, or otherwise medically trained person.
I am an ordinary person who has suffered from adult acne since 1995 and have found no solution to my acne through conventional medicine.
February 23, 2002
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
7:28 AM (Pacific)
Wow...interesting...I'm about 2-1/2 weeks into using the Differin/clindamycin phosphate combo. It is very weird. It does work...section by section. Now, my cheeks are almost entirely smooth...there's still some (smaller) bumps around the sides of my face, jawline, et cetera. But this stuff is planing the acne right off. It's also reducing those reddish brown acne marks you get and my sunspots? It's also working as a "fade cream." The only area that hasn't cleared is my forehead...that is slooooowly clearing up.
My skin has pretty much gotten used to the stuff, too...there's still some flaking, some sensitivity, a tad of redness...but much less than before.
I'm using Differin at night (thin layer all over, very thin on the "cured" areas) with absolutely nothing else over it. You're supposed to be able to put moisturizer over it after half an hour, but I'm not doing that. In the morning, I wash my face (mild cleanser), put on the clindamyacin, wait as long as I can...supposed to be another half hour...and use my tinted sunscreen: 7 parts TerraSport sunscreen SPF 15 (will replace this with a higher SPF as soon as they make a Z-cote one--micronized zinc oxide), 2 parts jojoba oil, 1 part liquid foundation. The jojoba oil is for the flakes, it really helps minimize them.
*sigh* It's great, but I know better than to close this log...every other acne treatment I've tried has stopped working after a while. So stay tuned.
February 19, 2002
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
10:55 AM (Pacific)
OK...it's true. You should *not* put anything over the Differin, it completely destroys the effect. I tried a small amount of jojoba oil over it...the next day, it was almost as if I had not used Differin at all.
I am trying out a new tinted moisturizer/sunscreen thing, I don't know if I like it yet or not...I can't tell yet since I screwed up my skin putting jojoba oil on it. The proportion is: 7 parts TerraSport sunscreen, 2 parts jojoba oil, 1 part liquid foundation. I put very little foundation, since the idea is to use a lot of sunscreen. The consistency is thick, it is basically sunscreen with a little jojoba oil in it. So far it looks promising, but I like to try stuff like that out a few days before deciding either way.
I can see why someone would get fed up treating acne topically. Even Differin, which works better than anything else I've tried...how should I put it...it's tiring. You are not curing the acne. You are forcing your face to exfoliate the acne off. You can't sunbathe really, even with a handful of sunscreen on. If you miss even one day, the acne immediately rushes back. It's a tradeoff...I'm afraid to try Accutane. Who knows? Next year they may discover that Accutane causes long term side effects. Yet, it's only Accutane that promises permanent results, rather than this incessant treatment of the stuff.
Anyhow, well who knows. Maybe there will be other forms of treatment soon. It can't be that difficult to figure out what causes acne. Granted it's not life-threatening, then you shouldn't ask anyone who doesn't have it, what do they know?
February 13, 2002
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
11:35 AM (Pacific)
I'm experimenting turning this into a blog. So far everything looks normal, except for the "printable version"...for some reason, it appears to be putting the text to be printed inside a column...which is mysterious, since the applet strips off all the table tags. Oh well, I'll figure it out.
The topical antibiotic, Erythromycin 2%, that I was using since last September, stopped working a few weeks ago. So I got hold of some Differin. With it, I'm using generic clindamycin phosphate topical antibiotic solution 1%. (I don't know if the Differin has different strengths, mine is 0.1%.) I've been using both of these for 1 week as I write.
First of all, Differin. It's fantastic--it's the first topical acne treatment I've used that I can honestly say works. Retin-A did not work for me, the Erythromycin half-worked...I could still feel bumps under my skin, it's just that the Erythromycin kept the bumps from turning into bigger bumps...and clindamycin alone, I'm skeptical that that would work. Differin does work, it's industrial-strength stuff...it's like its own little chemical peel, it literally peels your face off. That's how it works.
Needless to say caution is highly recommended here...Differin, like all acne treatments, does not work better the more you use. In fact, using too much of most acne treatments destroys your skin and defeats the purpose. You're to wash your face at night with a mild cleanser (I use my trusty Johnson & Johnson Head to Toe Baby Wash), dry it and apply a very thin layer of Differin all over your face, avoiding eye, nose and mouth areas.
Up until last night that's what I did, but now that it's kicked in, I just put it over the pimply areas, rather than my whole face. I'm going to try alternating...I'll put it all over one night, then just over the pimples the next night. This Differin is verrrrry strong. And it's true, you *can't* get sun exposure while you're using it. Currently, I'm putting my Purpose Dual moisturizer SPF 15 over my face in the morning, but I'm going to hit the health food stores soon to find a micronized zinc oxide sunscreen...they still don't have these at drugstores.
Now, the clindamycin...it's less strong than the Erythromycin was. It smells a whole lot less (Erythromycin smells strongly medicinal), which is good...it controls oil less also, but it does control oil better than anything OTC I've tried for that purpose.
To date I'm happy with this combination, especially the Differin...it takes a deft touch, but as I say it's the first thing I've tried that works.
Side effects: it does make your skin dry. Since my skin is naturally oily, it's now dry as in dry skin, not dry as in parched.
My skin is somewhat flaky. You'll need something moisturizing over it. The first week I was using it, my face was also somewhat red. And it was very sensitive. It seems less so today, then today I've started using less of the stuff. These side effects don't bother me, it's worth it getting rid of this infernal acne.
I'm keeping this record now...all of the other acne treatments I tried before, stopped working after a certain point. So I'm not holding my breath over this one. I'll post here if any changes occur.
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