My entire family has had acne, very bad cases. My dad was from a poor family and didn't get any kind of treatment until his early 20's. Now his face is left very scarred up from the acne. Eventually, he was put on various creams and even radiation treatments (which were what was used 30-35 years ago). He says the radiation treatments were very effective but now in his 50's he's got skin cancer so it wasn't such a good idea.
My brother is 2.5 years older than me, he's 22 right now. He began getting acne at the onset of puberty which for him was very early, 11 years old. His continued to get worse and worse and his medications here upped more and more. He tried everything from benzoyl peroxide to retin a to every antibiotic under the sun. He went on several doses of accutane that did keep it under good control while he was on them. However, he did not like the side effects and refuses to go on accutane again. At 22, going on 23, he still has BAD acne all over his face, neck, and back.
I started going through puberty at the normal age, 12-13 is when my acne started to show up. Around maybe 14 it started getting bad, and what REALLY bothered me was when I got a particularly bad blemish I would get a little depressed ice pick scar. I was overly precautious about my acne and my mom took me to the dermatologist every month or two. I went on a very strong concentration of retin A and contunually had the doctor give me stronger and stronger prescriptions. This was not enough to curb my acne. I continued to try every cream and pill known to man. I was on many different kinds of retin a, salicylic acid, sulfer based creams, benzoyle peroxide, antibiotic, ect... There was no cream or pill that would get rid of my acne. For this entire period I would have multiple blemishes all over my face no matter what I did, just some days it was worse than others. In addition, teh more medication I used, the redder and more irritated my skin would get. I was very self conscious about the acne although people rarely commented on it. However, I was ridiculed to no end about my red irritated skin. People who don't get bad acne just don't understand how devastating it is to one's self esteem. I was very depressed throughout this entire period about my face.
At 16 years old I was put on accutane for the first time. This is the most effective pill there is for acne and it did work like a charm. However, acne is considered a dangerous drug with many side effects. MY skin and lips turned dry and irritated beyond belief. There is potential kidney damage from accutane, potential hair loss, severe birth defects if you are a female and get pregnant, and it exasterbates depression big time. This last one is the one that baffles people. How can a drug so effective for clearing up skin actually make someone MORE depressed? IT should have the opposite effect. I thought it was all circumstantial my friends, but I went on accutane 4 times, once each year for 4 years and every time I got very depressed about a lot of things and went into little downward spirals that ended when I stopped taking the drug.
When Supra came to this board I befriended him and he told me about his terrible struggle with acne and how the only things that worked good for him were accutane and laser treatments. I did some research and made appointments to get smoothbeam laser treatments done on my face. I have had 3 so far and my acne is pretty much gone. I have a few red spots from previous breakouts that take months to fade, and I have minor scarring. But, the laser has cleared my acne and they say it also smoothes acne scars in time. This, however, takes a lot longer to clear up than the pimples as cologen has to be rebuild. I will have to wait and see how this laser treatment affects my scars as I want them gone at some point.
In conclusion, acne has been a major source of depression and anxiety in my life for almost as long as I can remember. It was so frustrating to go to the doctor every month who specializes in acne treatments and take all his advice and still have terrible looking skin. At 20 years old, I am FINALLY beginning to be coming out of the woods with this and I honestly feel the end is near with my struggle with acne due to these laser treatments. And let me tell you, it is a good feeling.
Yippee!
