Ouch

I am awake early. My face hurts. Really. In that inflamed-infected-itchy-but-too-painful-to-touch kind of way. The erythromycin is working a little. Slowly. Bring on Friday. Patience.

Visit to my dermatologist 1

Yesterday I went to the dermatologist. He will give me Roaccutane on my next visit, after I have had a pregnancy test. He also gave me oral erythromycin. Hopefully that will take down the inflammation and control the initial Roaccutane outbreak. Can't wait, frankly. I am trying to be patient for 6 more days. Roll on next Friday.

Needless to say, the Eryacne gel didn't perform the required miracle.

Day 2 on Eryacne

Well, my husband thinks it looks better. Hope so. Fingers crossed.

The dermatologist could have seen me Monday morning, but I work then so hopefully another cancellation will crop up or there just won't be a long wait.

Day one of Eryacne gel.

I managed to get in to see my GP today at last. My middle daughter's diagnosis of my skin as measles notwithstanding. She's only four, bless her. I even ventured out without makeup so the doctor got to see the full story.

I have a referral for a dermatologist so I can access the magical Roaccutane, but will have to wait until tomorrow before calling for an appointment. Then we will see how long the wait is.

In the meantime, I have been prescribed topical rather than pill form antibiotics, Eryacne. Which means a switch from the ASAP skincare products for the duration of the waiting period. Hopefully I will be able to use them up after the Roaccutane treatment, they were expensive. Maybe I will sell the unopened stuff on eBay.

Here is a pic of my skin on day one with Eryacne.

My skin after ten days of antibiotics and bc pill

As threatened, here it is today.

A blog is born out of frustration.

Ah the frustration of adult acne! Oh the itching, the pain, the hideousness. Finally I am getting serious help for my skin and I hope this blog will help me deal with it, and help anyone who cares to read it too, especially if they too are suffering from this problem.

I am almost 37 years old and my skin is totally out of control. Since adolescence I have been managing my skin by picking and squeezing it, which is a totally self-destructive way to treat your skin. And a horrible habit to break. Since realizing I needed to break this habit, I have been largely successful at stopping the picking. But. Now I have awful cystic acne all over my face.

My GP gave me three options:
1. Long term antibiotics.
2. Birth control pills
3. Seeing a dermatologist about Roaccutane.

I chose a combination of the first two, believing that antibiotics would clear it up and the pill would keep it under control. Wrong.

This is day ten of full strength doxycyclene, and it has done nothing. At. All. Except make me nauseous. Bleh.

So far the pill is doing nothing. All I can say is thank the Lord for makeup.

I will post a pic of my skin today after I take off my mask of makeup.

Tomorrow I will call for an appointment with my GP.