Acne help needed please.

First let me tell you some stuff about my history.

I think it was in 2002 when I was prescribed Roaccutane, which worked
great. In 2003 I started to get breakouts again so I went on the old
wash at night with Panoxyl wash and then use Acnegel 10 twice a day.
This worked ok until I noticed that my breakouts were becoming harder
to control. I went back to my GP who tried me on various things -
Benzamycin and then Dalacin T. Neither of these worked so he referred
me to a dermatologist about a year ago, who I first saw in October
2005.

The Dermatologist put me on Retin-A at night and Duac during the day.
He prescribed me Minocin MR tables - 500mg once daily and wash with
Dermol 500 lotion. This was the worst thing ever as it appears that I
have some kind of an allergy to Clindamycin, contained in Duac, and it
brought me out in very red swollen areas that I needed to apply
hydrocortisone to clear up. I went back to the derm and he said just
use the Retin-A twice a day. I did this for 3 months and it made no
difference at all and the Retin-A was proving to be very irritating for
my skin.

I went back to him for my review appointment and he told me to stop
using the Retin-A and put me on Nicam Gel for individual spots. He
said for me to moisturise with the Dermol at night and to continue
washing with Dermol twice a day.

It came to about March of this year, about 2 months after I'd stopped
using the Retin-A and I was getting ALOT of little small whiteish
pustules. I'd go to work clear somedays and come home with LOADS of
the wee things - perhaps about 10 on each side of my face. I had never
noticed these before.

I went back again for another review appointment in July 06 and
mentioned these - he gave me Panoxyl wash. My skin simply cannot
tolerate using this wash nightly and I've tried working up slowly from
once a week for a week, twice a week for a week, three times a week for
a month and this is as far as I got because it causes me to get very
red, ithcy areas around my mouth.

It's these small whiteish pustules that I keep getting. I don't really
get big spots anymore, just loads of these small things nearly
everyday. I have tried using Brevoxyl, as it seems to be a little less
harsh on my skin than Panoxyl, and it works to a certain extent. Thing
is, I can't use it daily as it causes me to break out with red itchy
areas - I'm guessing that I'm now super sensitive to benzoyl peroxide,
maybe something to do with using Retin-A?

I'm posting here because I need to know if anyone's experiencing these
little spots? LIke I said, I've never had them come in as great
numbers and as frequent as this before. Could it be the after-effects
of Retin-A? If I didn't have these spots everyday my skin would be OK.
I get them around my beard area mostly - I've tried not shaving for a
few days and still got them. I sometimes get them on my forehead but
very rarely. I get them where I have facial hair mostly, but they're
not limited to that particular area of my face as I also get them on my
temples.

I'm 26 now and really desperate to get my acne cleared up - I think I'd
do anything that my dermatologist told me to do and I'd pay alot of
money if I was guaranteed clear skin.

If anyone can offer me any advice on this matter, it'd be greatly
appreciated.

Marcel.

Well i tried a lot of things and nothing has really worked for me either. I
just finished an apple fast and am steaming my face religously. It seems to
have helped some. And with any luck it'll work long term. I lead a pretty
bizzare exsistence as a musician so it's hard to keep up with any intensive
regime. I'm off theroad for a bit now so I'm gonna try and stick to steaming
to open the pores and eat better food. Hopefully it'll help and I'll post
the results as I go along. We need to get this group up and running. It so
dead you'd think nobody has a problem with acne............. Wish I
didn't...........

S,

"Marcel" <marcel.marjanovic.DeleteThis@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:1158784842.315874.149100@m7g2000cwm.googlegroups.com...
> First let me tell you some stuff about my history.
>
> I think it was in 2002 when I was prescribed Roaccutane, which worked
> great. In 2003 I started to get breakouts again so I went on the old
> wash at night with Panoxyl wash and then use Acnegel 10 twice a day.
> This worked ok until I noticed that my breakouts were becoming harder
> to control. I went back to my GP who tried me on various things -
> Benzamycin and then Dalacin T. Neither of these worked so he referred
> me to a dermatologist about a year ago, who I first saw in October
> 2005.
>
> The Dermatologist put me on Retin-A at night and Duac during the day.
> He prescribed me Minocin MR tables - 500mg once daily and wash with
> Dermol 500 lotion. This was the worst thing ever as it appears that I
> have some kind of an allergy to Clindamycin, contained in Duac, and it
> brought me out in very red swollen areas that I needed to apply
> hydrocortisone to clear up. I went back to the derm and he said just
> use the Retin-A twice a day. I did this for 3 months and it made no
> difference at all and the Retin-A was proving to be very irritating for
> my skin.
>
> I went back to him for my review appointment and he told me to stop
> using the Retin-A and put me on Nicam Gel for individual spots. He
> said for me to moisturise with the Dermol at night and to continue
> washing with Dermol twice a day.
>
> It came to about March of this year, about 2 months after I'd stopped
> using the Retin-A and I was getting ALOT of little small whiteish
> pustules. I'd go to work clear somedays and come home with LOADS of
> the wee things - perhaps about 10 on each side of my face. I had never
> noticed these before.
>
> I went back again for another review appointment in July 06 and
> mentioned these - he gave me Panoxyl wash. My skin simply cannot
> tolerate using this wash nightly and I've tried working up slowly from
> once a week for a week, twice a week for a week, three times a week for
> a month and this is as far as I got because it causes me to get very
> red, ithcy areas around my mouth.
>
> It's these small whiteish pustules that I keep getting. I don't really
> get big spots anymore, just loads of these small things nearly
> everyday. I have tried using Brevoxyl, as it seems to be a little less
> harsh on my skin than Panoxyl, and it works to a certain extent. Thing
> is, I can't use it daily as it causes me to break out with red itchy
> areas - I'm guessing that I'm now super sensitive to benzoyl peroxide,
> maybe something to do with using Retin-A?
>
> I'm posting here because I need to know if anyone's experiencing these
> little spots? LIke I said, I've never had them come in as great
> numbers and as frequent as this before. Could it be the after-effects
> of Retin-A? If I didn't have these spots everyday my skin would be OK.
> I get them around my beard area mostly - I've tried not shaving for a
> few days and still got them. I sometimes get them on my forehead but
> very rarely. I get them where I have facial hair mostly, but they're
> not limited to that particular area of my face as I also get them on my
> temples.
>
> I'm 26 now and really desperate to get my acne cleared up - I think I'd
> do anything that my dermatologist told me to do and I'd pay alot of
> money if I was guaranteed clear skin.
>
> If anyone can offer me any advice on this matter, it'd be greatly
> appreciated.
>
> Marcel.
>