Thursday, June 2, 2011

I HATE HAVING ACNE!

I'm one of the unfortunate individuals out there. My face gets punished for no reason and it sucks. I am susceptible to horrible acne. There is NOTHING fun about it. It hurts like hell, it’s embarrassing, and they scar your face.

I started noticing break outs the end of my freshman year of college. Prior to that, my face was crystal clear. My brother and sister had acne as well, so I just thought I got lucky with the ‘clean face’ genes. Oh boy was I wrong! I’m just a late bloomer.

Out of nowhere, there was a crazy infestation of zits on my face. I was horrified. They didn't arise gradually, they came in swarms. Last summer my acne got so out of control, that I had to stop using normal face washes and see a Dermatologist. He prescribed me three different things to take.
  1. A special face wash I had to use morning and night
  2. A gel I had to put on before I went to bed and
  3. An oral pill to take each morning.
It was such a scam, my acne didn’t clear up at all. It was literally EXACTLY the same after a month. I went back to his office and the doctor reclined me back in the chair. I thought he was just going to examine my acne...until I see a giant needle from the corner of my eye. I looked at him like he grew three heads, as he pointed it directly at my face and said "this is going to sting". What happened next was one of the most painful two minutes of my life. I had a death grip on the sides of that chair.

He injected all 35 of my white heads with a cortisone needle. It was so painful. I wanted to get up and deck the guy in the face for not asking for my permission to do it. He had to bring in a female assistant to apply pressure on every pimple he stabbed, because of the amount of blood and puss oozing out of each one. It was disgusting.

After that visit, I told my mom I never wanted to go back. Plus, his little needle trick didn’t cure my acne. I was getting desperate and then remembered that my brother and sister used Proactiv on their skin which cleared their acne up, so I ordered it.

Proactiv literally feels like it's burning your skin when you apply their products. My face has made some improvements since using it, but I would NEVER want to use this stuff permanently! It took several months of using their three step kit to see results. A word of caution, once you start using Proactiv, expect your face to become red and irritated. Your face is going to hate you for putting such strong chemicals on it.

After about six months or so of using Proactiv, my face only had a few white heads. I always felt like I was on the verge of breaking out though. My face adapted to the products and it was just acting as a Band-Aid to my acne and not actually killing it at the source. As soon as I stopped using Proactiv twice-a-day (religiously), I would break out immediately. That's how they play the game and keep getting your money though. If they actually sold you a product that worked, they wouldn't have return customers. They offer a renewing subscription for a reason. I've been to several Dermatologists and they wouldn't prescribe Accutane. I need to look into more Holistic ways to fight acne because putting all these chemicals on my face can't be good for my skin.

6 comments:

  1. I had a bad bout of it years ago. I took accutane for about 6 months. It ended my acne for good. It is still used today but you have to have blood tests done to make sure you don't have any problems. Just thought I would throw that out there as well...

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  2. Well from the recent pictures it looks like it's working! You're looking good!

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  3. AGD: Yup, it works cause you are looking great. And happy!

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  4. My doc has me on some really good meds for acne, no side effects at all it's so good, having nice skin makes so much difference to my confidence. Except the course ends next week and he says it's bad to stay on it for too much longer, I'm really dreading the acne coming back. I read this, and this weekend I've been bombarded with proactiv adverts... maybe i gotta finally try this out! cool blog by the way bro.

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  5. Not all products are for everyone. Glad to hear that you've found a product that works for you. I'm sorry that your previous dermatologist didn't help your acne problems. The next time you consult a dermatologist, do some research about them. Know his background and experiences, and make sure that they have a good reputation when it comes to dermatology. The face is a revelation of your self and it is called a face for a reason, take good care of it.

    Stone Dermatology

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  6. Did it also get rid of the scars which the acne left you? That’s great if it did! Sometimes, those could be more difficult to reduce than the acne itself, and trying out products to do away with it might trigger more breakouts. While it’s easy to try out any product that you think or some say would work, my advice is to get you skin tested before you try on anything that may either improve or worsen the condition of your skin. You could even ask the dermatologist directly about products that might help with your situation.

    Hugh Barber @ Laser-Clinique

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