The way retinoids (or at least retin-a) work is that they induce your skin to grow and shed faster, and prevent them from clumping together.

So your pores get less clogged, because they are continuously flushed out, and your red marks dissappear much faster since your skin is shedding faster.

The only problem is that you have the initial breakout due to it pushing all the old crap out from your pores. My initial breakout started at the second week, and lasted for about 6 weeks on and off.

Retin-A isnt the magic answer. You'll still get acne, but it'll last much shorter, and less severe. I started out with moderate/severe acne, but now im in the mild/moderate range, and i don't get the cystic type anymore.

once you go on, your skin becomes more fragile, so no picking, and sun screen always.

Good luck

My initial break out started at the end of week 1 and started to clear by week 3 and Now it's week 5 and I only have 2 active zits and the red marks from previous break outs. No new breakouts so far

Taking an anti-biotic greatly speeds up the process of clearing and preventing acne because it curbs the body's production of bacteria, which is a huge contributor to acne! I'm taking doxycycline at the moment and like it. Just make sure to take with food.

If you DO get put on retin-a, youll notice that his face will get red and dry, but that will go away once his skin becomes accustomed to it. When this happens it's extremely important for you not to quit because of this…it's just the retin-a doing its job. you might want to refer to my other post here:
http://{$MySite}/ubb/Forum1/HTML/019471.html

Talk to your doctor about the anti-biotics, I've had GREAT success with the cycline family (mino, doxy) they definately help

good luck with your son

Tazorac and Retin-A go about treating acne by preventing new lesions from appearing and treating active lesions, but they are completely different active ingrediants. I think it would be worth your time to try it for your acne.

Retin-A is good for the redmarks left over from previous breakouts because it peels the skin sometimes, leaving you with a new layer. Not too sure about ice pick scars tho..

Try it out! I'm on it. I didn't like taz, it was too powerful for my skin

I don't think that there is a treatment that works as fast as you'd like … but if you have an event or something, maybe people could tell you about some of the treatments that you could start now (goal: permanently get rid of it)and ways to maybe cover it up in the meantime (temporarily hide it)? I'm sure people have ideas on how to temporarily cover it for an event or whatever…

P.S. If you're in Canada, there's a line of make-up called "Cover FX" that was designed specifically to cover scars by/at Sunnybrooke Hosptial in Toronto. Now they're selling it commercially in regular stores. I'm not sure if it's available in the US … but might be worth a web search. It works to cover everything from scars to pigmentation to acne.

well i hope this helps you. good luck. :angel:

Good luck though.

Has anyone tried any type of treatment (laser / surgery), immediately after treatment is Accutane? I know you suppose to wait 6-12 months, but i cannot wait that long, I really wish this problem would go forever.

Also I have some left over red marks and many swallow marks on my neck and lower part of my face. I have a dent in my cheek, in principle, all cysts acne I had in that area, I figure that will be the most difficult to treat.

Anyone have an opinion on what treatments to choose these types of scars / marks? I also want to smooth my skin a bit. Ive never had any kind of treatment scar on my face and I looked for things on the web only to find im more confused about what help do.

Please.

I break out in little rash like marks every once in a while they fade a few hours later leaving a very tiny whitehead behind so i guess my skin is still sensitive.

Anyone know any good creams?

I see my derm next week maybe he can give me some good advice.

[This message was edited by ollady (edited 01/10/2003).]

There is a couple things you can do for scars. But there is by no means "not much" that you can do. There is always one way out there that will work for somebody. People just have success with different treatments..

There is a couple things you can do for scars. But there is by no means "not much" that you can do. There is always one way out there that will work for somebody. People just have success with different treatments..