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Adult Acne Blog - 2002: April 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.
April 16, 2002
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
5:12 PM (Pacific)
Sheesh...it's difficult now for me to be objective about my skin. I suppose it's like having an ongoing weight problem...after a while you lose perspective.
My skin is definitely better...it's not perfect. But let's try to quantify what that's supposed to mean. Without any treatment, my skin had lots of clogged pores...big, yellowish clogs...and pimples. I never had much in the way of cystic acne, just regular pimples. The zits on my temples never seemed to change...there were never more nor less of them, they neither grew nor did they shrink. My forehead always had pimples...occasionally large ones but not usually. Usually just a carpet of smallish zits. These did change...a constant crop of the, well, buggers, coming and going and coming again.
Lessee...oddly, next to no zits on my nose or around it.
Always some zits fomenting on the sides of my face...and some more of the permanent type behind my ears. Some on the jawline.
That's all without any treatment.
With Differin/clindamycin phosphate and Ortho Tricyclen, my skin was almost clear. With Differin/clindamycin phosphate and Tri Phasal, hmmm...there are still clogged pores...the clogs are much, much smaller, they're white rather than yellow, and they're fewer. It's really odd. But they are still there. The sides of my face still have pimples although again they are much smaller and fewer.
Oh yeah, I meant to write that the extreme sensitivity to the sun is not all that big a deal...the first 5-1/2 - 6 weeks, I felt my skin was so sensitive to the sun (even with sunscreen) that I wouldn't be able to do what I normally do...garden, for example, and forget about sunbathing. But now I don't feel that my skin is that much more sensitive than it would normally be anyway.
I've been wearing my tinted sunscreen--you're probably not supposed to do this, I'm sure it cuts down the effectiveness of the sunscreen, but I know that I'll never sit down and put 4 layers of product on my face--it would be 4, since now it's 3:
1.) clindamycin phosphate
2.) tinted sunscreen
3.) loose powder
Using iirc, 7 parts sunscreen (TerraSport brand), 2 parts jojoba oil, 1 part liquid foundation. The jojoba oil is a moisturizer (I have hardly a flake on my face, it's nice and soft). The small amount of foundation is enough...since it's a sunscreen, you'll want to use a lot of it at a time.
Let's go into more detail...gory detail if you don't suffer from this condition (why anyone would want to read about it if they don't suffer from it, would be a puzzle). The greatest concentration of the tiny white clogs is on my forehead, all of the forehead, from hairline to the tops of my eyebrows. My jawline still feels sensitive, there are still pimples there. The ones behind my ears are gone though.
I'll admit I'm really angry about this whole thing. I'm 36 years old, I remember when there was no such thing as adult acne. You saw acne on teenagers, that's it. You did not see it on 36-year-old women. There was no Sage and no Proactiv. I don't think there was retin-A, Differin, all the scores of adult acne medicines there are now. Yet no one's running around screaming that there is a health risk here in the U.S. ...if acne is what you see, what is it that you don't see? Does anyone really think that massive abnormal acne attacks on young to middle aged women is the end of the story?
Another thought...I've been reading Internet beauty boards since 1998. I've never seen one single post from one single person whose skin went to crap like this, and ever changed...ever went back to normal. I don't know if it's because this phenomenon is new...and it is new...and no one, simply put, has lived through it yet. Or is it that once your skin goes to crap, it stays that way until the day you die?
April 14, 2002
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
10:59 PM (Pacific)
Pimples, pimples, pimples...it's amazing. I would say...after dealing with this problem for 6 years, with no sign of its ever going away...that my skin was best using the Differin and clindamycin phosphate, *and* Ortho-Tricyclen, about 5-1/2 to 6 weeks into the Differin.
I've been using Tri Phasal for almost a full cycle now...eh. Not as clear as the Ortho. But do I want to pay $80 for three months of Ortho, or $10 for three months of Tri Phasal? Is the Ortho $70 better?
I haven't decided yet...I'm going to finish up another month of Tri Phasal (even though I know in my heart that my skin is not going to get better than it is now)...
April 5, 2002
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
2:10 PM (Pacific)
Wow, this update is long overdue. Sorry about that.
I have now used Differin/clindamycin phosphate for two months, which is how long you're supposed to use any acne treatment before you judge. Hm. Well, here are the milestones...
At around 5-1/2 - 6 weeks, that's when I saw the real improvement...plus, at the same time, my skin "got used" to the Differin. It was pretty dramatic...suddenly, the bumps on my forehead...they didn't quite disappear, but all the bigger ones did. My skin was not perfect, but I could say that I liked it...I could say that it had "cleared up."
Plus, as I say, the major flakiness/sensitivity also disappeared.
Shortly after that, my HMO ended their contract with Ortho...Ortho as in Ortho Tricyclen. I can either pay $80 for Ortho Tricyclen, or I can try something else. I tried Zovia...that's what they gave all us ex-Ortho Tricyclen people...it sucked, God did it suck. Within four days, my forehead had broken out again, I had put on weight, I was PMS'ing all the time...my doctor switched me to Tri-Levelen (generic Tri Phasal), that's what I've been using for the past couple of weeks...but my skin is still not as good as with the Ortho Tricyclen (I am willing to continue using it, maybe it will get better).
Right now it looks the way it did right before the dramatic change...still some noticeable bumps on forehead...
And yes, Differin does make your skin super, super sensitive to sun exposure. Which I hate. I already hate having to wear sunscreen. I love being outdoors. You can get sunburn just like that, even on an overcast day. Your best bet is wearing a hat as well as sunscreen. Forget about sunbathing unless you totally cover your face.
All in all, I am happy with this combo. I read somewhere..."Allure" I think...that there is such thing as "stubborn acne"...that resists antibiotics, birth control pills and even Accutane. So part of the attraction of Differin is that it works manually, maybe my skin won't get so used to it that it will stop working.
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