Cystic acne/redness. I am desperate for help!

[Anonymous]

Hi, I had cystic acne and did go to my dermatologist..twice. the first time I went and was prescribed Accutane, but did not finish up using every dose of medication. The second time I was prescribed another antibiotic and did the same thing, I have the last bottle of antibiotics left but is expired. I know I made a huge mistake by not finishing up the antibiotics and I can't stand my acne scars, and redness anymore. I am desperate for clear skin, but I am afraid of taking more medications because of the side affects listed. I am also embarrassed to face my dermatologist about not finishing up my antibiotics the second time which was my last choice she had told me. I am scared to go only to hear that there is nothing else that could be done, or if she might put me on more antibiotics which I am afraid of. Please any advice ?

Updates

+1 y

I believe it has to be genetic because my mom had it ever since she was 12, and my sibling also had it. The only difference is I never finished off my prescription. I am very upset with myself because I don't know if my dermatologist would even be able to prescribe something else, which I know us my fault but I am so worried now... :(

[bombdotcom]

Cystic acne is usually either genetic or hormonal; rarely is it ever a "phase."

Personally, I took Accutane for 6 months back in 2011 and that was the best decision I ever made. I did have occasional cystic acne, but because I am brown they would leave scars and my skin was ridiculously oily.

So my dermatologist prescribed Accutane out of concern for the scarring, because scarring from cystic acne is usually permanent.

The side effects I experienced were dry skin, dry lips, indigestion and oh no, constipation (even with the massive amounts of water I drink).

For me it was genetic because my sister also had cystic acne and had to be put on Accutane.

Have you taken birth control pills? Sometimes it's a hormonal issue.

I wish I could tell you that there is some magical secret to make it go away but there's not.

Do you respond better to Salicylic Acid or Benzoyl Peroxide? I would recommend alternating (morning/night) between a gentle face wash such as Purpose or Cetaphil and a face wash with Benzoyl Peroxide.

Use a sulfur mask as your spot treatment. But on the nights that you're gonna use it as a spot treatment, use the gentle face wash.

This helped me a bit but this was shortly before I had to go on Accutane.

If you're willing to and can afford to, you could try an alkaline diet plan to help your body's pH balance.

I would DEFINITELY recommend going back to the dermatologist though.

[05Jueey]

I'm sorry that you're going through that. All I can suggest is honey. I saw online people with severe acne having a lot of success with persistent use of honey on their skin every day. It's so soothing for my acne and it clears it up really really well. It's natural and I'm so happy with the results. I would suggest looking online about it and seeing other peoples experience with it for yourself

[Anonymous]

I do not know if it have cystic acne or not but I do have numerous scars from acne. I had severe acne when I was 12-13 but I thought everybody had acne so I did not say anything to my parents and regularly wore two shirts underneath my school polo because the acne on my shoulders would regularly bleed through onto my polo. Well after half a year of this I went to the doctor for a physical and he saw it and asked why I never told anybody etc. I then went through a slew of Benzoyl Peroxide topical treatments. None were working so he would have me try something else. Eventually we ran out of stuff like that and he put me on amoxicilin pills as a last resort. This stopped most new stuff from coming but I still have a lot of scars. Now he also has me on a sulfur based antibiotic wash as well. You could ask about that I suppose. Fair warning if you do then you will basically take two showers every morning. One with the sulfur wash and another because you do NOT want to smell like the sulfur wash all day.

Also do not fear antibiotics I have been on them for years and have no side effects unless I don't take them (my acne gets bad again) but it does not sound like yours is like that.

Hope you can find something that helps out of this.