If you read through my blogs you will know how paranoid I am
with my chronic acne condition. It’s been there since my preteen days and
never quite left me. I could always relate to those commercials that had a pretty girl, with a forever surprising look, who wakes up every morning to new breakouts. That was exactly my story (except the pretty part) but sadly no OTC med could cure me of my breakouts totally. In subsequent days, I was made to believe that my acne will go away once I
become older. However, things got worse over the years. Much later, a few years ago, my routine
blood workup detected under active thyroid gland and low vitamin D level. I was
started on Levothyroxine and on Vitamin D replacement.
Almost two years have passed since and I am doing fine
except for the acne part. I can tell you it’s most annoying to live with
something that makes your life less extraordinary. It’s not worth to live with
a constant pain of not being able to get rid of an apparently benign medical
condition. There must be a cure and I must see the end and I decided
to see a dermatologist.
The first visit
The doctor heard me out. He sat through my ramblings, examined my face
and asked for a few blood workups and started me on medication. These are new blood workup for me.
LH (Luteinizing hormone), FSH (Follicle stimulating hormone), Prolactin, Testesterone, TSH (Thyroid stimulating hormone)
He also started me on:
Mizoz ER (Minocycline) antibiotic x 1 month
D Acne Foaming Facewash
UV Acne Sunscreen
Deriva BPO Gel
Asked me to stop all kind of cosmetic and market products
Asked me stop all natural products (yogurt, honey, facepacks, eggs, besan etc.)
After 3 weeks of first visit:
I was feeling much better inside and out. The itchiness had reduced, the cystic
pimples dried up. A few fresh bumps did show up but those were of harmless kind
and subsided soon with Deriva BPO gel. The only disappointing thing - the acne
had started to leave dark scars on my face.
On the second visit after 4 weeks
My doctor told me that I look better. My general pathology is reasonably
good. Meanwhile I also did ultrasound to rule out PCOS and it was normal too. He
then asked me if I am pregnant or planning to get pregnant because he wants to
start me on a medicine called Sotret which pregnant women cannot take since there is high risk of serious birth defects.
Sotret is Isotretinoin molecule prescribed for
treating severe nodular acne and is supposed to be very effective with my kind
of chronic acne. I was bit apprehensive but then I was willing to go to any extent to get rid off my
acne.
So, on the second visit I was started on:
Sotret 20 mg OD x 1 month
Emolene hydrating cream
So, he started me on Sotret 20 mg once daily and asked to drink
profuse water along with it. With all the goodness Sotret comes with some noticeable changes and my side effects got prominent pretty soon. Within 3-4 days my face
got noticeably tan, skin dried up, lips, throat and eyes were considerably dehydrated. This is inspite of applying the moisturizing cream 2 times at
least. I also started applying eye lubricant.
After 3 weeks of second visit:
I am on the third week of Sotret now and have not been too
much cranky as many on Isotretinoin complain of. However the hyperpigmentation,
dry skin and withered look continue to pull me down off and on.
My third visit is pending on the third week of July. Will
keep you posted.
