My story

[Andy]

Hey!

First I'd like to say that it's great to see this board finally up and running and it's great that we have Dr Nase with us!

I thought I'd post a presentation of myself and my "case", it is a bit long and somewhat messy. It all started with me getting seb derm a few years back and I got some steriod creams and it did help, but I've come to understand now that it wasn't so smart after all. I also used cortizone creams.

Then after a while my skin just started pumping out oil like hell and I had to wash my face several times a day. It was hell! So I got on Accutane, 20 mg/twice a day, which I suspect now was a bit much for just reducing sebum production. Anyway, it worked like a charm and all was fine until about a year later. I started getting red all the time, by warm or cold wheather, stress, embarassment etc. So I don't know if it was Accutane which kick-started my rosacea or if I would have got in anyway. A really hard time followed and I got three V-beam laser treatments, which did help for a while but now things are back as they were before the treatment, and I can't afford V-beam every 4 or 8 weeks.

Now I'm thinking that the way too high Accutane dose has thinned my skin, as Dr Nase mentioned somewhere, by at least 25% and that I need to re-build it with NLite, or CoolTouch which is something similair and the closest thing to NLite I could find here in Sweden right now. My skin is really ultrasensitive, if I just touch it I get red and the texture just ain't right when I look at it close up.

Right now I'm using Rosacea Care's ultramild cleanser and strontium calming lotion and Linda Sy's ZincO during the days to protect and conceal some of the redness. I try to take care of my skin and really "spoil" it. And I've got my hands on a beta blocker I use sometimes and boy does it help. A great deal of this redness comes from within myself, I think a lot about it and blush in certain situations. And since my skin has gotten so think every little "mood change" shows. I think many of you know of this vicious cycle. I know a beta blocker ain't a good idea in the long run, it's pretty addictive, but right now it's helping me a great deal. Inderal, is the name btw.

Dr Nase, if you're out there - what is your thoughts about all this? Should I go ahead with the laser to try to re-build my skin and then proceed with IPL? I actully found a doctor who had read your book and agree with most of it, so that is a kind of "seal of quality" for me when choosing a doctor for IPL-treatment.

Thanks,
Andy

[tryingtogetoverit]

Thanks for sharing Andy :)
I wish you luck with your treatment.
I love Accutane, but now I am a bit worried cause I'm on a very high dose (80mgs) that my derm deems necessary to treat acne.

I think a lot about flushing too...I'm very self conscious. My redness makes me selfconscious and feeling self conscious makes me red.
My skin isn't as sensitive as yours, my flushing/burning happens at strange times and my triggers are very inconsistent. But, my skin texture isn't right either.

Sorry I can't be of more help in terms of answering your questions.

[Andy]

Hey!

80 mg sounds very high. How severe is your acne? I remember the first couple of weeks I was on Accutane, it was horrible. My then mild acne broke out and got ten times worse, my whole body felt like I was in another dimension or something and I got nose bleeds more or less every day. How are you coping?