Spots/Acne

I have a prescription for acne from a doctor and i have never had any side effects before so I would try that and see if it works for you.

 

Hmmm for acne there are lots of things you can try. What have you tried?

Pharmacies have a lot of options for acne, however, if you're 23 and you still have acne, I would be seeing your doctor for a prescription. The stuff in pharmacies are good for mild acne, prescriptions are required for moderate-severe acne.

I'd expect them to prescribe you an antibiotic (doxycyline) and a topical cream to be used together. The topical creams that contain antibiotics, or that contain isotretinoin are excellent products to help get rid of acne. You'd probably try this first and give it 6-8 weeks before you notice it starting to clear up. These are generally well tolerated. (Approx $50 a month)

The next step up is oral isotretinoin. You'll need to get liver tests every 2 months while on it, as some people on a rare occasion get liver failure (extremely extremely rare). There are numerous side effects you may experience, including dry skin, peeling lips (>90% of people will get their lips so dry that they peel), and dry eyes. Sounds bad doesn't it, but it's the best thing on the market. Most people have a full remission without relapse (~ 60% if I remember correctly, the other approx 20-30% are better for a few months/years, but eventually relapse) - this stuff is excellent for moderate to severe acne. It is however, expensive (approx $100 a month). You'd be looking at about 6-8 months of treatment time.

My advice? Don't delay - acne can cause scaring, and really affects your quality of life. Start with the antibiotics + the antibiotic or isotretinoin cream - they work well for a lot of people, are well tolerated, and are cheaper. If that fails, there's always the step up.

 

It usually takes a combination of drugs to prevent outbreaks and heal the scars from the past, for example here is what I do with some success:

- Get prescription minocycline anti-baterial drug to prevent cystic acne from developing

- Take ibuprofen to curb any inflammation of the black/white heads that develop into gigantic bumps on the face.

- Use prescription strength 0.1% retin-a topical cream at night before you sleep to heal the scars, stimulate collagen regeneration to smoothen out the bumps, gouges, and wrinkles caused by past acne and make your skin elastic and fresh again.

If you have money to spend, about $400, then go to a dermatologist/cosmetic clinic, and purchase something called Obagi Nu-Derm. Its a system of creams that will exfoliate, bleach, stimulate, and blend your skin into that of a newborn baby's.

This will take long though, be very patient.

 

I spent years (and loads of £££) trying literally EVERY spot cream, wash, gel, etc, on the market before I finally went to the doctor. It was so easy to get a prescription. I just went in, said I wanted something to help with my acne and she gave me the prescription which I picked up 10 mins later. Don't know why I waited so long to be honest. I just take one pill a day then I have a perspiration spot cream that I put on after I have a soap/water wash every night.

I'm on a 6 month course of something called Tetralysal. I'm used to have really bad acne that in addition to being really obvious and covering my face, my neck and shoulders was really painful. I'm only a month in and already it's cleared of my neck, shoulders and forehead and the spots that are still there are a lot smaller and nowhere near as painful. The skin surrounding the spots is a lot less inflamed as well.

 

I take a mild antibiotic, no side effects and works like a charm. I now only ever get like one pimple around the time of my period.

 

Hey there! Well I don't have now spots or any acne, but I had some like a year ago, and I started using Clindamycin face cream/gel, and let me tell you that even that now I don't have any I'm still using it, it's very very good, it helps to spots, acne, wrinkles, fatty skin, it stretchs, and everything, I think its wonderfull! remember: CLINDAMYCIN FACE CREAM/GEL

 

I took antibiotics for a while and they worked well, but they just kept coming back. Honestly, the thing that seems to work best for me is leaving it alone as much as possible. A lot of people seem to go overboard with the cleaning, which seems to just make it worse. I'm in the same boat by the way, 23 and still getting spots, nice to know I'm not alone!

 

I take two minocycline pills a day, one in the morning and one at night, and that's it. I haven't had any side-effects from it and I've been on it for about a year or two now. The only thing that sucks is that if you get a sunburn, you're BURNT. It makes you more photosensitive to UV light, as does tetracycline. It totally cleared up my skin and stuff though.

 

You can start with benzoyl peroxide. It's over-the-counter and it has the dual affect of being both an exfoliant (something that peels off dead skin to open pores) and helps kill bacteria that can cause eruptions.

There's also other products that you can get at pharmacies or at cosmetics stores that help peel the skin. These products contain alpha-hydroxy acid (AHA) or salicylic acid (betahydroxy acid or BHA).

There's one product that has a combination of several drugs called ProActive. Because everyone has slightly different skin that responds differently to over-the-counter medications, the nice thing about ProActive is that it has multiple medications so if one doesn't work, the others might.

If those don't work, then your best option is to see a dermatologist for a consult and samples of stronger options.