I went to a new dermatologist today hoping to be prescribed Retin A.

To my disappointment I was prescribe Aczone stating for my “type of acne Retin A wouldn’t be as effective as Aczone.”

I used Retin A for a year in 2008, and I wanted to use it again for 2 reasons.

1)It cleared my skin from acne after 8 weeks, and made my pores smaller.
2)It also works as anti-aging and I did notice my fine lines disappear

However once the acne disappeared, the combination of Retin A, Duac Gel and Loestrin made my skin oily. That after 10 mins of washing you could see your reflection on my face

I’ve used other medications since then, which made my skin even worse. On January 2010, I was Frustrated with my skin. I stopped all medication and used AcneFree, which can be found in Walgreens, Duane Reade, Rite Aide. It made my skin better, and decreased the inflamation to 20%. It didn’t get rid of my acne completely but decreased it to a more manageable level. Maybe, a couple here and there.

So why did I go to a Dermatologist today?

My skin had a really bad reaction to the weather in Philippines when I visited last August 2011. The scars you see in my face are from that. It’s getting better, because once I returned I used acne free which improved my skin. However I’m returning to Philippines next month and I’m afraid my skin will break out again. I made an appointment with a new dermatologist to get a prescription for Retin A. Hoping that the Retin A would get rid of the scars faster, and stop the acne. Instead he gave me Aczone.

I’ve never used Aczone before, and I’m nervous about using it. It’s a new drug. From what I read you apply it only on affected areas twice a day. He also told me to stop using acne free and switch to Cetaphil to clean my face, which won’t dry my skin. I’m supposed to follow up with the dermatologist in 4 weeks.

So today’s day 1 of using Aczone. From past experience of acne medication, I expect my skin to get worse the next few weeks before it gets better. I’ll update you in a week and hopefully I’m wrong about Aczone, and hope that it does help my skin.