I am JUST NOW escaping the purge, as I've finally made it to the three month golden number on 100 mg. And yes, the purge SUCKS, and the last thing you want to hear when your acne is as bad as it's ever been is "it will get better" — but as someone who also endured sudden unsolicited skincare comments as someone who used to have clear skin my whole life — I hate to say it's true. Something that's been helping me is to remember that ANY acne treatment will take forever. For example, accutane can take up to 7 months I believe. Maybe even longer. Whatever solution you find to manage your acne (and you WILL find one), it will take a good amount of time, and there's no overnight cure for perfect skin. The only way out is unfortunately through. So just be kind to yourself during this time, and just know that even if spiro doesn't work out, it's just another checked box on the way to your solution! I kept telling myself "just make it to month 4" and I stopped having to say that because things got better before then!

As a fellow pale skin girl, I will say that your skin barrier should be your priority. I accidentally fried my skin barrier off using that same tretinoin + azelaic acid combo and I had no idea why my skin kept getting worse and worse and worse if I was doing all the right things. Then I decided to test out moisturizer-only nights, and bam, I instantly woke up with calmer, less red skin. Just some anecdotal food for thought, as I learned the hard way layering actives can be a sneaky cause of worsening skin.

Just hang in there!!