At 13 after consultation with a dermatologist it was decided that I would start the pill to try to control my acne. This was met with a lot of negativity by extended family members, they argued that I was too young and so forth, but my mum, understanding how hard it was for me agreed anyways, I also started using more medical topical creams, like benzac, and retin-A, my acne calmed down, but not by much, I lived like this hoping from product to product for 4 years,
When I was in matric I begged my mum to allow me to start Roaccutane, but being a doctor she knew and understood the dangers and would not agree, I started researching my condition and became obsessed with it, I found out that all the scrubbing I was doing only activated my condition, and that strong over counter products, were doing more harm than good!
I also started going for facials, and thi was the worst mistake ever for me. I went to an upmarket salon in rand burg for my facials, the lady there used a sterile lance/razor to open my skin and push the blackheads and pimples out, and she scarred my face for life!
When i turned 21, my mum asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I told her the only thing I wanted was to go onto Roaccutane, finally she agreed! I started the course, and was taking 20mg daily, about two months later, I got married, and the side effects of the treatment was so bad, that I could not bare to be touched on my upper arms they were so painfull, after many tears it was agreed I would stop the treatment,
That was in October, in February I found out I was 6 weeks pregnant, surprisingly my skin cleared up quite a bit and I was glowing, in August, my baby girl was born, and my acne came back. Worse than before, my second pregnancy was the same thing, my face cleared up while I was preggers, but after baby was born, it came back again!
Last year, at age 28, I decided enough was enough! I went to my dermatologist, she did a lot of blood tests, a pregnancy test even though I was already sterilized, and then I had to sign a document that I would not fall pregnant while on treatment and would use at least two different contraception methods.
I started on Orratane, 20mg daily, and after 6 months up to 40mg daily, I am currently in month 11 of my treatment, I have constant nose bleeds and have a head ache every single day, also my skin is severely dry all over my body, with it so badly dry on my arms it is scaly. But there is a light at the end of all this... my face is totally clear, not one single pimple!!!
I will be taking orratane for another two to three months to get rid of my marks, and ensure my pimples don't come back when I stop, it was not an easy road, but honestly I would do it all again.
After I complete the treatment, I have to wait 5 months for the drug to be completely out of my system, and then we will be doing a Medical Chemical Peel to get rid of the last of the marks,
In the picture below, there are only the scars of all the acne I had, and not one single pimple. See part 1 of my journey to clear skin to see the before pic.
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