I know that it has been
months since I posted but there’s a lot going on in my life since then. You can’t
imagine how much I appreciate all of you following this blog and I’ve been
stressing out a lot over it just because I wanted to share so much and reform
the layout of the blog to look much better and professional. However, it has
been impossible for me to stay at home and take pictures and write posts
because I have a full time job which requires a good deal of travelling
resulting to a great deal of stress especially during March, April and May.
So, I decided to spicy it
up a bit doing a post with updates of what has been going on in my life and
write about a topic that has been troubling me lately and not a loaded with
photos one that you or brands will appreciate much more.
Point being, I have been
dealing with acne for the past 3 months. You might have realised from previous
posts that I am an acne winner and have been left with scars, blackheads, acne
prone and oily skin. But it has come back. And it’s stressful and makes me feel
miserable. That’s why I wanted to share it with you. Mainly because many of you
might have been going through the same and this post could have a slight chance
of helping someone.
I’ve had acne since I was
9 and that was the age that I got my period. I patiently waited until I was 16 just
seeing my acne expanding to my chest and back having tried all the mild therapies,
until I was prescribed ‘accutane’ treatment which cleared up my face. I was
super happy and only got the occasional spots those days of the month. My face
was totally normal and the drugstore skincare just made my face glowing.
Especially when I went on the pill, purely for birth control reasons, my face
even switched from oily to normal/combination. I had almost forgotten about any
skincare and the only thing I did was wash my face day and night! That’s the
way it’s supposed to be right?
Three months ago I decided
to stop the pill because it was giving me high cholesterol and that’s when it
all started. My face started to sparsely break out with spots and within a week
it was completely covered in white heads which made it rough to the touch. I
tried effaclar duo (there’s a full review for it here) only to witness it
getting worse. Since I only trust dermatologists and not aesthiticians I
thought I’d pay a visit. The first one suggested I go on Accutane again but
with a milder approach, just getting a pill every week or so. For the record, Accutane
comes with a list of tremendous side effects. Apart from the aesthetic result
which is dry and flaky skin, it should not be taken by women who are pregnant
or even thinking about it due to birth defects that it can cause. It may also
result to fertility problems in the long term. That being said and given that I
am a 26 year old woman who is engaged and dreams of having a kid someday, I don’t
think that it would be a smart thing to take the chance to go on a treatment
that would clear my face but possibly f* up my life. Next dermatologist
reassured me that the problem is hormonal and resulted from stopping the pill
(tell me something I don’t know) and suggested a treatment with a Ducray
cleanser, a Frezyderm non-comodogenic lotion mixed with an antibiotic, a spot
treatment that contains benzoyl peroxide 2.5% and oral treatment with antibiotics
for 3 weeks. I religiously stuck to that only pairing it with an oil free non-comodogenic
moisturiser before applying make-up. That worked wonders, my face started
clearing up and I was up in the sky thinking it wasn’t that bad, just a side
effect of the pill. Until the oral treatment came to an end because you can’t
take antibiotics for life. Then everything came back like I’ve never tried to
erase it. Third dermatologist, and I had to travel to my hometown for that (!),
gave me a treatment with adapene (known in the Greek pharmacies as ‘adaferin’) which
I am currently on. On first impression it’s hell. I’ve been using it for about
a week now and my face has seen better days. It is flakey, it’s breaking out
with cystic acne and it’s very dry, itchy and red even at the eye area where I
don’t use the gel; as a bonus I have very chapped lips as well! Obviously I can’t use any sort of make-up because we all
know well that foundation on non-moisturised face looks even worse. The only
thing I use, and I sort of have to, is an spf cream, because you can get
dermatitis if you go out in the sun without any while on this treatment. Even
when I apply moisturiser my face is burning for about 3 minutes. However, it
was exactly like that when I was on ‘accutane’ which is the only thing that’s
helped so far, so maybe that’s the way it should be in order to heal.
The reason for this post,
apart from the obvious that I had to take it all out in the public in order to
feel some sort of relief, is that it might actually be of help to one or some
of you. It’s kind of a confidence booster to someone out there who is as self-conscious
as I am about their skin issues. I won’t deny that I had bad days. I recently
went to one of my school classmate’s wedding and I was dreading the fact that
my classmates that hadn’t seen me for years were going to see me still dealing
with acne after all those years. I was a laughing stock back at my school days
and kind of isolated; imagine what they will think and say now. Acne is a
disease for teenagers and for adults, mainly because of the psychological
damage that it causes. You are constantly thinking about it and check in the
mirror every now and then to see whether any miracle has happened. You occasionally
touch your face to check whether those annoying bumps have vanished. You wake
up in the morning and touch your face before you check in the mirror to see if
it feels softer to the touch than last night. It’s a constant battle with your
inner self to find the strength to go to work bare faced and let everyone see
the ‘real’ you with no make-up on. Well, you can clearly see that I totally
know what you are going through. The key is to be patient and it takes trial
and error until you find the treatment that suits you because what suits me
will not necessarily be your cure. Whatever the doctors say, do not risk to
damage your health to get and even complexion and a nice looking skin. Most
importantly, do not damage your soul thinking about what others will think
about you. Because after all, that’s what we’re left with at the end of the
day, isn’t it? Enjoy life and good luck!
P.S. I will definitely try to review all those acne treatments one by one but it takes time you know! <3
Georgina x x x
