Mon. 6/14/04: Month 8 post-accutane
I didn't update last month, because nothing new was really happening, but I'm glad that some readers have wrote me asking about my progress.
I had my 5th glycolic peel this morning. My red marks have significantly lightened. They're still here, but it's more pink than red now. I'm happy with the glycolic peels and will probably continue indefinitely. I feel like I must get a peel every 3 weeks now; plus, it's just nice to be pampered by an esthetician.
I broke out a bit in the middle of my forehead and chin areas. Nothing to freak out about, because it's really not that major, but my dermo has prescribed me BenzaClin to use nightly. I don't really like BenzaClin because it's drying, so I use it whenever I feel like it. I still use Klaron sometimes.
By the way, I recently graduated and took lots of graduation pics and guess what? NO trace of acne in the pics!!!!!!!!!!!! =) I even enlarged some of the pics and my skin still looks good. Remember week 11 and 12 of accutane? I took some pics during those periods as an effort to keep track of my accutane progress and I looked like a monster out of a horror flick; it's amazing how far I've come since then.
My hair has been good; I don't really do anything with it other than wash it once a day with any shampoo I can find (eg. Head and Shoulder, L'Oreal, or Pantene); it's really not something I stress myself about anymore. I still notice hairloss after washing it, but I think it's normal hairloss, not accutane hairloss. I'm considering getting a trim soon since accutane has made my hair kind of dry and frizzy near the ends.
Daily Regime:
Morning:
1. Wash with Triaz 3%.
2. Moisturize with Purpose Lotion with SPF 15.
3. Makeup (Sheer Cover).Afternoon:
1. Hard Candy Press Powder to touch up makeup.Night:
1. Wash with Mario Badescu Glycolic Foaming cleanser to take off makeup.
2. Spot treat with Klaron or BenzaClin (whichever one I feel like using); note: sometimes I use Cetaphil lotion in non-treated areas, because my face still feels and looks dry sometimes.
3. Take Vitamin C and E when I remember, which is very seldom.Every 3 weeks:
1. Glycolic Peel with 2 masks at Mario Badescu.As you can see, my daily regimen is pretty simple. Just wash in the morning and treat once at night. In fact, I realize that the simpler it is, the better it is for my face. I don't buy skincare products too often anymore, but I still browse as a habit. Whenever I'm in Sephora or pharmacies, I steer clear of products with drying agents and acne ingredients in it. Not that my face isn't oily anymore; in fact, it is still oily; but I realize that dried out oily skin is worse. That's why, I still use Cetaphil at night sometimes even though my derma and my esthetician said that I don't need it. Sometimes you just have to listen to yourself and not some licensed professional. I mean, it's your skin; you know your skin better than anyone else. I use moisturizers because I know my skin likes it when I do; moisturizers soothe my skin and my skin breaks out less. Yet, I also don't use moisturizers every night, because my skin doesn't like it when it's too moisturized either. So, you have to listen to your skin to find that right balance. There's really only 3 things I always do everyday and that is wash with Triaz/Glycolic cleanser and moisturize in the morning with Purpose because I need that sunscreen. I don't go anywhere without sunscreen now. The other stuff such as BenzaClin, Klaron, and Cetaphil are things that I do according my skin's needs.
So far, my skin is doing ok for 8th month post accutane. Wow...it's been 8 months. This time last year, my skin was kind of nasty...now, it's much better, but it's still healing...
Stay tune for the next update!
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