Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Monday, January 28, 2013

Day 130- Complete.

I just finished my first 10 day pack on month 5 of 40mgs. during my last visit the dermotologist also gave me tazorac cream to use.. i have been using a very small amount of that twice a day for the last 10 days. My skin is SOOOO DRY!  it went from being oily on just the pill to being super dry and flaky on both the cream and the pill.
like stings/burns when i wash my face, put lotion on, put make up on.. i have to fan my face until the lotion and makeup dry completely for it to stop stinging. but its working.. i only have 2 little bumps on my cheek and some scabing from the ones around my chin (in the last picture i posted) left on my face. however my face is flaky and red and irritated.
I am no only applying the tazorac cream once a day and will probably tier it down to once every other day once I go back for my next months prescription ( the derm is going to bump me up to 60 mgs this "last" month).. not sure if it will really be my last month or if ill have to go longer.. we'll just have to wait and see.


Monday, January 21, 2013

Day 120 : Month 4 Complete!
I went to the Dermatologist last week to get started on my month 5 prescription.. what was supposed to be my last month on isotrentenoin. but unfortunately my skin condition is not where they expected it to be.
plus I started getting cystic acne again.

during my appointment, we discussed increasing the time i would be on 40 mgs. so he is extending my treatment 1 month. during this appointment he also injected a few of those cysts with cortizon to bring down the swelling. which actually works pretty quick... and he gave me some aczone cream samples to try and help with the redness that appears to be scaring my skin.

I have been using that cream for about a week and yesterday I woke up with 5 more cysts all over my face from my chin line, mouth, nose and to my forehead. all very swollen and soar. I called the dermatologist up and got an appointment that day to see him and show him what is going on.. He also doesnt think i should be breaking out like this, this far into the game... and thinks that my body has gotten used to the dosage and it just kinda stopped working. he injected all the cysts i had with cortizon and suggested that next month we are going to bump up to 60mgs and see how that goes.

Its just very frustrating right now that i thought i was done with all my painful breakouts and... they came back.
The pictures below are from this morning. (less than 24 hours after the cortizone shots ) and the swelling came down significantly. however the breakouts are still there..
I must say looking back on my pictures, my skin has gotten better.. but just not in the amount of time it was supposed to. I am hoping maybe another month or even 2 on this medicine i will be clear.




Got the pics uploaded!

Picture from end of month 4 begining of month 5

Above is 1 picture from the end of month 4/ begining of month 5. like I said in a previous post, I am having issues with uploading pictures on the blog.. this is the best i can do for the time being.
As you can see, the acne on my left side of my face ( on the right in the picture) is still pretty active around me chin. however my right side of my face (left on this picture is starting to clear up ( even the red, under the skin "scaring" is starting to clear) 

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Day 110: complete.

Sunday I finished my 2nd 10 day pack of month 4. So far i have not noticed any changes since ending month 3 and it is frustrating.
I started breaking out again around my chin pretty bad. almost everyday there is a new pimple.
I have a dermotologist appointment in 2 days so this is something I am definitely going to be bringing this to his attention.

Originally the Dr. said 5 months at 40 mgs will be my course on this medication but right now, I just cant see this being cured in another 40 days. I have a feeling I will either be upping my prescription to 60mgs, or increasing my time on this one.. who knows.. maybe even both.

I really have not experienced any new side effects (except a little drier in the skin, but it is January and the weather is very cold, snowy, and I do participate in winter activities that can attribute to the extra dryness)All my bloodwork I have gotten has come back good. no increases to any of my levels of lipids/ triglecerides etc. so my body should be able to handle increased prescription or increased time.. but we'll see on Thursday.

Next post will have updated pictures and I will keep my fingers crossed for a miracle to happen in the next 10 or so days with the status of my skin.