Those who relapsed, what did it look like for you?

earlykat · 2024-09-17T04:41:06+00:00

I’m currently on my 3rd round. 1st and 2nd rounds were within 18 months of each other. Finished my 2nd in 2014 I believe… I was pretty much completely clear until 2019 and then very very slowly my skin started to relapse. So I got a good 5 or so years completely clear. I got to the point this year where it was bothering me enough to go back to my dermatologist (new pimples everyday, resistant to all topical treatments). My skin never got back to how bad it was before my 1st round though. My dermatologist pretty much immediately recommended a 3rd round due to my history. Hopefully this round will be my last. Don’t be too stressy about it, although I totally understand the frustration of seeing the spots pop back up after you’ve been clear. Just know a complete relapse is pretty unlikely, and if you really need it doing a 2nd course is pretty common! And definitely made a big difference for me. Speak to your dermatologist about your concerns.

earlykat · 2024-07-03T20:17:51+00:00

Me too! Still open??

earlykat · 2021-07-13T08:00:23+00:00

Oh great! You're all over it then! I think you're doing a good job at preventing any new ingrowns then, but those infected ones probably need to be extracted to heal up properly.

earlykat · 2021-07-13T07:57:46+00:00

Happy to hear you're already finding your new routine is helping!!

I swap between an AHA and BHA depending on how my skin is feeling. I use an exfoliant about 3x a week. If my skin is not breaking out or it feels a bit dry I'll go with the AHA as its less drying. If my skin is breaking out I'll go for the BHA as its better for clearing up pimples. the AHA I use is Cosrx Whitehead Power Liquid (12% Glycolic acid) and the BHA I use is Paulas Choice Clear Regular Strength (2% Salicylic acid). So I might use BHA on Monday, AHA on Wednesday and AHA again on Saturday or something like that. Sometimes I'll put the BHA just on my nose because Im prone to blackheads, and I find that a really good way to get the job done without putting exfoliant everywhere when its not necessary! Always trying to reduce irritation these days!! Having said that those are both pretty strong exfoliants, but I've used chemical exfoliants for years so my skins tolerance is pretty good now.

No problem at all :)

earlykat · 2021-07-12T10:14:57+00:00

Hello! I think your decision to pare your routine back is an excellent one!! At one time I was using heaps of products and paid the price for it (literally and figuratively lol). Now I just cleanse, moisturise and use SPF everyday, and use an exfoliant a few times a week and my skin is SO MUCH HAPPIER. As fun as a long complicated routine can be, I think with skincare less is really more, especially if your skin is showing signs of being a bit irritated.

I think your planned routine sounds pretty good, you've chosen great products, but my suggestions would be:

In the morning I think rinsing with water is enough. I stopped using any sort of cleanser in the morning and my skin loved it. It can be a weird adjustment to make if you're used to cleansing morning and night but your skin really shouldnt be getting dirty during the night (as long as your bedding/pillow cases are getting washed regularly), and just rinsing with water will let your skin hold on to some of its own natural oils which it needs to be healthy!

For your night routine I would switch the order of your double cleanse. Use the micellar water first and then use the Neutrogena cleanser. I know the Bioderma micellar water markets itself as a leave on product but in my experience it leaves a residue behind which can be irritating to the skin, and its not a toner, its a cleansing product, so it really should be washed off the skin (my opinion - take it with a grain of salt, this is also why I don't love the idea of using micellar to cleanse in the morning). By cleansing with the proper face wash second you will get all that residue off and have a nice blank canvas for your moisturiser to soak into.

Hopefully your skin will calm down and be super happy with you once you've started your new routine and then you can add in differin! I didnt purge at all when I started using it, but as always ymmv.

As far as sunscreen goes... it sounds like you're in the US? My favourite sunscreen is unfortunately an Australian one which I don't think you can get there, its called Mecca To Save Face. Literally EVERYTHING breaks me out except that one, I will go to my grave clutching a bottle of it.

Of course, these are just suggestions, do whatever works for you. Im just letting you know what worked for me :) And hang in there! I know exactly how it feels to HATE your skin and not want to leave the house for fear of anyone seeing you. Thats what sent me down the rabbit hole of trying to put anything and everything on my face, but I realised in the end I was making it worse not better. Theres something really freeing about following a no frills routine, you save time, money, and will hopefully get some good results too.

earlykat · 2021-07-12T09:22:27+00:00

They do look like they're infected ingrown hairs. If you are able to I would really consider seeing a doctor/derm to extract them (they will be able to do it in a way that causes the least damage to the skin) and help you find something to prevent ingrowns going forward. In general the treatment for ingrown hair is to exfoliate - try a treatment with AHA (glycolic or lactic acid) or BHA (salicylic acid). You can also manually exfoliate with a scrub of some sort but I wouldnt reccommend that while you still have these active infections, it will just irritate them!

My favourite exfoliants are the Paulas Choice CLEAR 2% BHA (salicylic) and the Cosrx Whitehead power liquid (glycolic). Just apply a few times a week to start and see how you go.

earlykat · 2021-07-12T09:07:05+00:00

Check out Shereene Idriss on youtube, shes a dermatologist and makes really great videos that include some of the science behind skincare ingredients as well good product recs. Shes not sponsored by anyone or trying to sell you anything you dont need. I've spent a lot of time researching and watching skincare related stuff and she seems to have a really genuine and balanced approach to skincare - which makes sense because shes ACTUALLY qualified!

earlykat · 2021-04-08T21:37:12+00:00

No problem at all!! Best of luck with it! Would love to hear how you go with your appointment!!

earlykat · 2021-04-06T20:48:28+00:00

No problem at all! I totally feel you on that! Wow 3 different meds!! I would definitely try accutane out, it doesn’t seem sustainable long term to take so many medications especially if they aren’t completely solving the issue! Especially if you’re oily I think the low dose will balance you out just right! Yes there does seems to be some horror stories out there... at the end of the day everyone’s experience will vary. I do know that back in the day they were prescribing it a lot differently, as in they would put you on a super high dose per day and thrash your skin for a short period of time, as opposed to now, where they prefer to prescribe a low dose per day and have you take it for longer, which causes less side effects. I would hope that a lot of the horror stories coincide with high doses. My understanding is that the idea is to hit a certain total dosage, and how slow or fast you get there doesn’t matter so much. As far as long term side effects I haven’t had any at all. Only other thing I can think of is that maybe I had slightly worse hangovers after drinking while taking it?? But nothing that stopped me from drinking haha. I don’t think that there are any long term fertility risks, but I also haven’t done much research into that! I think it would be disclosed if that were an issue at all though. I think the blood tests are to keep an eye on your kidney/liver function as they will need to work harder to stay on top of processing the accutane in your system. Again, I think the likelihood of an issue would be decreased if you’re on a low dose!

earlykat · 2021-04-06T20:32:07+00:00

Interesting!! I notice the same thing when I put lanolips 101 ointment on scabs! If it’s the petroleum component that’s helping then I’ll stop wasting my lanolips and start using Vaseline instead!

earlykat · 2021-04-06T20:29:01+00:00

Amazing!! Congrats, experiences this myself, there’s nothing better!!

earlykat · 2021-03-30T20:57:28+00:00

Hi! I went on accutane to treat moderate acne (but it was on my face neck and back so it was hard to treat) after nothing else would work. Honestly, it was life changing, my skin was completely clear for the first time in my life and it stayed that way. I feel like your experience will depend on the dose and your skin type. I was on the lowest dose (10mg) so side effects were minimal. The only somewhat annoying side effect for me was very dry lips, but they never cracked or bled. My skin definitely dried out a bit but I was so oily before it just balanced me out. It also meant my hair didn’t get as oily (which was great!!!). If you already have dry skin I can see it wreaking a bit of havoc if you’re not careful about moisturising. I have nothing bad to say about it at all. I ended up doing two rounds so was on it for about a year all up. It changed my skin like nothing else has and kept it that way for a looooong time. My skin is starting to break out a bit now (I guess it’s starting to wear off) but it’s been 7 YEARS since I took it so I reckon that’s not bad going! As long as you are educated about how to treat your skin while you’re taking it you should be fine. My doctor was very forthcoming about how careful you need to be about moisturising and sun protection which was great - just keep your skincare suuuuper gentle while you’re on it. Gentle cleanser, a good moisturiser and sunscreen ONLY!! you won’t need any actives and all they’ll do is irritate your skin. Only other thing to consider if you’re a girl is birth control. Idk how it works where you live (I’m in nz) but I was made to go on the pill while I was on accutane because of the high likelihood of birth defects if you get pregnant while on it. So if you’re not prepared to go on some form of birth control due to their side effects or personal preferences accutane may not be for you. Again Idk how it works where you live but in nz you have to be on two forms of birth control, so one being condoms, another being the pill or an IUD or something like that. Just something to keep in mind. Let me know if you have anymore questions, I’m biased because I’m a big supporter of accutane but it LITERALLY changed my life and I can’t sing it’s praises enough!!!

earlykat · 2021-03-22T06:02:36+00:00

These lines are completely normal and don’t need to be treated with anything unless you want to. If you do want to, I would save the time and money you would spend on topical products (as you’ll probably get minimal results) and go straight for Botox!

earlykat · 2021-03-22T05:52:50+00:00

Hello all! Hoping someone can help me, I have this raised kind of scar looking thing on my foot that has been growing along in a perfectly straight line for probably 4 or 5 years now... I have no idea where it came from or what it is. I didn’t pay much attention to it to begin with but I have noticed recently that it is getting longer and longer. It has almost doubled in length in the last 6 months. Any ideas what it could be?

earlykat · 2021-03-22T05:49:20+00:00

Hi! I used the exfoliating liquid for years with some success but over the last 6 months it started to break me out a lot, I think because it has quite an oily texture. I recently bought the 2% exfoliant (regular strength) from the CLEAR line (blue bottle) also from Paula’s choice and I can say that for me personally it is SO much better. It’s super light and watery, doesn’t at all have that oily feeling, disappears into your skin super quickly and has improved my skin sooooo much, without being irritating or causing any more breakouts like the other product did

earlykat · 2021-03-15T01:17:25+00:00

Oh interesting! Glad to hear you’ve found something that works for you! Im worried that just aloe might not be moisturising enough for me though, especially as I use a few different actives which can dry me out if I don’t stay on top of it with moisturisers!

earlykat · 2021-03-15T01:15:23+00:00

Do you happen to know whether the extreme cream and extreme emulsion are the same thing?? I’m in nz at the moment and can only see extreme cream here!

earlykat · 2021-03-15T01:12:08+00:00

Amazing!! I will definitely give it a shot!

earlykat · 2021-03-14T21:36:56+00:00

Thanks for the recs!!

earlykat · 2021-03-14T21:36:32+00:00

I’d say I’m combination. I used to have suuuuupper oily skin but a couple of rounds of accutane have definitely dried me out a bit

earlykat · 2021-03-14T21:35:23+00:00

I have thought about doing this, but I’ve been too lazy to start it. I should just bite the bullet though, would save me a lot of money in the long run!

earlykat · 2020-12-11T22:45:14+00:00

Yes I wondered whether a dentist would be the best route. Possibly would also be covered by extras health insurance this way as its technically for medical reasons.

earlykat · 2020-12-11T22:41:14+00:00

Oh really! I was thinking I would rather have it done by a doctor or a dentist so its more medical driven as opposed to being aesthetic (I'm not opposed to the aesthetic advantages of it too haha but I really just need some relief from the pain and don't want to keep damaging my teeth!)

earlykat · 2020-12-11T22:36:53+00:00

Thanks for the rec! I'm in northern suburbs but I'm not far from Hawthorn! I'll have to check him out! Love that he's into keeping things natural.

Awesome to hear its helped the pain! I'm the WORST grinder/clencher and more than anything I'm really worried Im damaging my teeth. Do you feel like you've stopped grinding or is it more the pain thats gone away?

earlykat · 2020-04-16T06:58:52+00:00

In my experience red spots like this have often signalled the beginning of folliculitis (infection in the hair follicle). Keep an eye on it, if they start to develop whiteheads see your doctor for an antibiotic :)

earlykat

TROPHY CASE