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| {Stephens Experience} |
| Acne. A horrible word! Even worse if you have got it! Well, since around the age of 12 or 13,i have had acne. And it has gotten progresively worse! However, i am 17 now, and until January of this year(2001) my acne never really bothered me all that much. However, it was around this time that mine exploded out of absolutely nowhere! This is something I have learned about acne-it is totally unpredictable and I never know what it will do next! Before The "BIG BREAK OUT" i had walked the usual path-back and forward to doctors frequently for all the antibiotics and so on. These did not seem to work too well, but in saying that, my acne was never really bad. However-there comes a time when it might get bad- and if it affects you phsycologicallythen i recommend you ask about seeing a dermatoligist. That is what i did-and despite the wait-i think it has really paid off! I needed a cure-as many of you may be able to relate to, acne can REALLY ruin your life-and that is NO understatement. I am a funloving outgoing person-but things were getting to the stage when i would not leave the house unless i absolutely had to-even missing school-that is how bad i felt. So if you feel like this to-dont worry; you are not alone.however-head up-the story does get better! After the antibiotics,the next step for most is Roaccutane-a strong+powerful drug,as Paul has explained. Eventually,i started a course of Roaccutane in late April-how thankful was I?! I expected instant miracles-instant miracles i did not get! It got much worse for a while-even after 12 weeks of the course. However-at the time of writing this(04/09/01) i am 18+ weeks into the course-and things have improved SO much since before i started. OK, my back is still not good-but my face is now as good as spotless-AND IVE STILL GOT WEEKS TO GO YET! i have bad red marks-but these fade(as Paul will tell you!) If you are wondering about going on Roaccutane-you may be worried about side effects. For me,so far I have been lucky. I have had DRY SKIN+LIPS; BLEEDING NOSES(AT FIRST) BAD INITIAL BREAKOUTS, OCCASSIONAL MUSCLE ACHES AFTER FOOTBALL-other than that i can't say it's been bad! I have felt depressed-but i put that down to the acne-and now it is clearing i feel happy(ish!),while still on Roaccutane,so i don't think Roaccutane has caused me depression-just the acne has! HOWEVER- you also may be worried about drinking alcohol-and i havn't done what i was told to- I have been drunk a few times when on Roaccutane. However-although I would not recommend it(though i had not ill effects) if you do decide to drink while on Roaccutane then at least do what i have done-don't drink so often and don't drink heavily! As far as the actual acne goes-Roaccutane(after much patience) seems to have done a good job on my facial skin atleast so far-i expect my back to follow suite soon. I am 18+weeks in, so i am really hopeful that i will not flare up again-i have been relatively clear for a number of weeks-and slowly,my confidence is beginning to come back! If anyone is considering Roaccutane, i am perhaps not qualified to say so-after all i am still doing my course.However,having experienced 18+ weeks when writing this(@04/09/01) so far-i would recommend it. My side effects have been fine-bearable and worth it anyway. And although it takes months to work-i think it might just turn out to be very much worth it-only a prediction, but so far it had finally started to do something right!I will update everyone on my later progress-when hopefully the news will be bright and more concrete instead of predictions! Feel free to E-mail me. jambos_98@hotmail.com |