How To Treat Acne Now

Ok, so I would say my acne is moderate. It’s certainly not severe, and sometimes it even appears to be very mild. However there is pretty much always at least one zit on my face. Sometimes it’s just one that’s deep and protruding and others it’s several little bumps.

However my skin does not respond to any treatments well. I’ve tried epiduo, differin, benzaclin, acanya, ziana, many prescription washes, even oral antibiotic therapy and blue light.. Nothing. It does not respond. To top it off, my skin is ridiculously oily. I look greasy 24/7. I have been monitored by a dermatologist (one that no longer handles accutane patients) for quite some time and we have not made much progress. Sometimes I clear for a week and bam it’s back again. And nothing stops the oil!

This is why I want accutane. I think it’s time to find a dermatologist that will prescribe it for me. However I’m not sure if anyone will put me on it because my acne is really not cystic or nodular. It doesn’t appear to be terrible either, and I don’t (permanently) scar easy. I feel like there are almost microscopic little ice pick marks (no one else can really see them without getting close or a magnifying glass, but they’re there.) And without makeup, my face is full of red marks. I know PIH goes away, but I can’t stay clear long enough to even it out! I don’t want to worry about scarring or dealing with crappy skin forever! I cannot find relief with any prescription! And I don’t wanna have scars. Can I get someone to put me on accutane? Is it possible? I will pay whatever, do whatever, it doesn’t matter I’m just sick of this skin!!!!!

Pay whatever, that’s a good one, you do realize without insurance accutane is about $2500 per MONTH, over the course of a 6 month treatment that’s $15000, plus another $750ish for the pre and post blood work and Dr’s visits. I’m sure if you had an extra $16000 lying around you wouldn’t be on here, you’d have already gone to a Dr and had the problem cleared up.

This begs the question how long are you actually using these treatments, how regularly, are you using them correctly? I find it hard to believe that with only non cystic/nodular mild/moderate acne you can’t find something that works. I had horrible severe cystic acne and even I found products that helped (although I did need accutane).

As was said, there is a reason they only use it for the bad patients, it’s dangerous, people have literally died while taking this medication, some get harsh side effects (like hair loss, night blindness, etc) that DO NOT go away after stopping treatment. It’s also not a cure, it’s not as if you take this drug, go through hell (or not, my side effects were pretty mild by what my Dr said) and then you never have another zit. I’m having a break out right now, not bad, mostly caused by stress and a change in my birth control but you will still get zits from time to time. Not to mention the hoops the government makes you jump through to get it.

Perhaps, you should start looking at your lifestyle and see if you can’t make changes there, you said you’d get clear then break out, well why? Did you have stress that week? Did you eat something? Stop taking care of it for even one night?

One thing I would suggest is monthly facials, most spas have an acne facial, I found that even helped my skin. Really, there are other options besides trying to get a harsh drug you really don’t need and I would be wary of any Dr willing to prescribe it to you.