Acne update – Progress after 3 months of Apocyclin

adult acne apocyclin

Talking about acne seems annoying to me right now. I feel like I’ve come to terms with it and it doesn’t bother me as much as before. But me being annoyed about writing this is actually a good thing. Acne doesn’t control my life anymore.

Most importantly: I feel beautiful. I feel more like myself – even with the spots. Looking at the pictures you may not see the progress as clearly as I feel it – I think I’ve finally understood something important about beauty and life. Or maybe I’ve always known – but never really embraced it? That I am beautiful. Not the outer layer of me, not my skin, my hair or my body. All of it and nothing of it – me, as I really am, perfect and imperfect.

It may sound like I’m gonna go hug trees now, but that’s the best I could do right now. Now let’s get to the actual results, that you can see with your eyes.

acne progress apocyclin

February – March – May

acne getting better apocyclin

My skin right now.

My skin is doing better. It’s more even and I don’t get those inflamed pimples anymore. As a side-effect my skin is a bit dry and when it gets dry it develops these small bumps, spots. I’m not concerned on them though as I can see the actual acne going away.
The red areas that you can see is mostly acne scarring. It’s not nice, but it’s easy to cover so I’m not that worried about it yet (if it doesn’t start to heal then I may get a little worried).

I’ve found new ways to apply foundation so that my acne is covered, but the skin still shows through. I’ve actually worn more makeup lately – and that is always a good sign. It’s easier to apply now that the skin is more even and I don’t have any painful active spots. It’s easier to hide acne scars than active spots. For someone who loves makeup, it’s an empowering feeling to be able to use your favorite products again.

Can’t believe it’s already been three months of heavy medication. I’m not sure if I’ll eat the last month or not – I have a doctor’s appointment soon so I’ll ask her opinion. Anyway, here I am. Happy and beautiful, despite the skin issues.

I’ve also started to adjust to my diet and life without gluten or dairy. I do sometimes eat dairy products, but most of the time I’m very strict about what I eat. Wheat is something my stomach can’t take at all right now, I hope it’s something that I can eat (in small doses) in the future.

Apocyclin acne

Anyone else battling acne? Are you feeling better? I hope so.

My acne journey:

When acne just doesn’t leave you
Acne update / Progress after one month of Apocyclin
Acne update / Progress after 2 months of Apocyclin

(you can find all the Acne related posts behind the Acne tag, including my experience with Acnatac tretinoin gel)

Acne update | Progress after 2 months of Apocyclin

adult acne my progress

It’s so hard to evaluate the skin by just looking in the mirror. If that was the case I would still feel like my skin isn’t any better. Luckily I took some pictures too so I know if the skin improving or not. And looking at the photos I have to say that there is improvement! Last month my skin was kinda worse than it was when I started the medication so I’m so happy to be going forward now.

I still have some inflamed pimples, but my skin is doing much better than last month. I have some acne scarring on the sides of my chin, so the situation there may look the same as it was, but some of the redness is just scarring.

Another good way of evaluating the skin is using people that see you often, but not daily. My sisters were complimenting my skin at the dinner table and how even and clear it was. Yay!

apocyclin acne

My skin today 2 months + 1 day of Apocyclin. That annoying red pimple on my cheek is finally getting better – it’s smaller now and smooth.


About the side-effects I have nothing new to report really. The stomach situation is what it is and I still feel a bit sick on the mornings every once in a while. I notice that my stomach is more sensitive than ever and now that I don’t eat that much wheat or sugar, it instantly reacts to those foodstuffs (is that a correct English word?) quite strongly.

apocyclin adult acne progress
My acne progress from February (1 week of Apocyclin) – March (1 month) – April (2 months). 

blogger acne progress

February – April. The first pic shows my skin at it’s worst, before starting the medication. My acne is really inflamed there. On the April pic you can see that even though there’s redness, my acne isn’t inflamed anymore and some of that redness is just scarring.

Another thing I’ve noticed that I’m not sure what to blame though is that my hands are super dry. It’s not even that cold anymore outside so I don’t think it’s the weather. But now I get to use more hand cream and I actually just bought a new one that I love, ha.

Altogether I feel a bit better about my skin. I think I’ll be eating the antibiotics for at least another month, if not two. Let’s hope my skin continues to get better!

What comes to food & acne, I’m writing another post about the topic, because it’s something that I’ve been thinking about a lot. But for those of you that are wondering: I’m avoiding dairy, wheat and sugar at the moment. Those are the main things people say they get acne from. Even though my acne is hormonal, I still want to boost the recovery with clean eating.

Apocyclin acne

Anyone else on medication for acne? What’s your progress?
Thanks for the support and comments – it’s always nice to know I’m not alone with this. 

Related posts:
About birth control pills (the history behind my acne)
I’m not perfect (when my acne came back)
When acne just doesn’t leave you (when I started the medication)
Acne update:Progress after one month of Apocyclin
My acne-friendly makeup routine

 

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