I started to develop Cystic Acne when I was 17 years old, I am 29
years old now and still struggling with this affliction. Initially I
started to notice a color change in my skin, a redness in my face that
never appeared before. Shortly after that followed lumps that started
under my cheeks.
My first mistake was that I tried to treat it like
normal acne with over-the-counter treatments and harsh washes. The
result was a face full of painful cysts that covered my entire face
except my eye sockets and lip line. My only luck was that it did not
spread to the rest of my body.
Eventually, I went to an Air Force
Dermatologist who got me through the worst of it. I went through the
usual medicinal rituals of antobiotics like Tetracycline, birth
control pills for hormones, and the gamut of topical creams and gels.
By this time, my face was soo heavily filled with cysts that I looked
like I had a Halloween mask on, as one guy so pleasantly pointed out.
It was soo painful, I could hardly touch my face to wash it. I would
get up hours before I had to be somewhere to start the process of
taking Ibuprofen to dull the pain, slowly washing my face, and then
making every attempt to cover it up.
Finally, I got on Accutane.
This is the drug that is still used to "cure" people of this. I
followed my Accutane treatment closely, hoping that the "cure" would
work on me too. Accutane seemed to have helped, and I remained
relatively cyst free for a period of about 3 years. I was even able
to get the excess scar tissue removed that has built up into mounds on
my jawline.
However, I noticed that any kind of trama to my face
still resulted in a cyst and this has been something I have lived with
since. To date, I use Tetracycline, Ortho TC for birth control and
Differin as a topical gel. This seems to keep my face under control,
but still, any trama to my face, like accidently bumping my face just
putting on a seatbelt results in a cyst. I am not a big drinker, but I
have learned that I cannot drink alcohol when I have a cyst, as the
cyst will start to throb and swell up, and in some cases even swell up
soo bad that it starts to leak.
It is all still very depressing and
frustrating. I am getting married in the next couple of months and I
only pray that I don't get a cyst. We plan on having children, and my
fear of having my face covered in cysts is overwhelming because I
won't be able to be on the medicine I am now. I know things could be
worse, as I recently heard of a woman who is afflicted with this all
over her body. But this is my disease that I have yet to find a cure
for.
Wash the skin
Avoid oily substances
Shampoo the hair daily
Don`t "pop" pimples
Exercise regularly
Don't stop the acne medicine
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