Documented on 9-10-08
My skin has been absolutely horrendous for the last months. More notably so within the last month. I looked at myself last night and honestly burst into tears. I broke down and started scrubbing my face with a cotton ball soaked with a 2.0% salicylic acid toner. It was painful, blemishes were erupting from the harsh scrubbing, blood was everywhere. I couldn’t handle it any longer. My skin has been flawless for most of my life with the typical teenage zit here and there. I had a tube of Clearasil that has lasted me for over 6 years and it’s only 25% used (It finally expires this month by the way)! I am not used to seeing my skin covered with numerous large, inflamed, and painful bumps.

I started taking Yasmin for a while but couldn’t keep up with the $120 for a 3 month supply (with insurance). After going off Yasmin for a generic BC, which only cost a mere $10 for a 3 month supply, my skin has gone absolutely mad! But I considered it bad back then. After I stopped taking the generic BC, my skin has become even worse and has gradually become worse and worse as time passes. I expected my skin to eventually calm down, but this is just too much and too long. If I have to jump back on the BC train, specifically the costly “brand name” BC train, then I guess that’s what I’m going to do.

I’ve tried zinc supplements, Flax seed oil supplements, and seriously ODed on Salicylic Acid and Benzoyle Peroxide topical treatments, all in vain. And no, don’t try to blame it all on my makeup. I’ve gone weeks without makeup only to see no subtle improvement. I’ve been trying to do everything I can to fix the problem before going to a dermatologist because I don’t know if my insurance will cover it. With how shitty my skin looks, insurance or not, it has to be done. I don’t want to see myself having indented acne scars that can only be “fixed” with silicone injections, which aren’t even permanent… I could just have a refill on Yasmin and save myself the copay, but I want to get the professional medical analysis and confirmation that my acne has in fact, formed due to a disruption in hormonal balance. I’m leaning towards this cause, but for now, it’s only a theory.

Documented on 9-12-08
Okay, so just got back from seeing the dermatologist. I love her! I basically described what I’ve written and she said I was completely right. She prescribed me a BC again. What I love about this doctor is that she’s totally sympathetic with patients financially. I told her I used Yasmin but could not afford it and asked if she could prescribe me cheaper generics instead. She took the effort to find out which products would be cheaper for my insurance and in the end, she just prescribed me Yasmin and did an override. Meaning, I’d be getting a name brand prescription with a generic price! I had no idea doctors had the power of “override”. That means I payed $120 once for a 3 month supply of Yasmin when I could have payed only $10 if the doctor I had was nice enough! When I told her how much I paid before, she asked me, “Your doctor didn’t override that for you?”. She told me, “I wouldn’t want you to pay that much for medicine, because then seems like, What’s the point of insurance?”. *clap clap* Finally I have a doctor who isn’t money hungry with the pharmaceutical companies. She’s a keeper! She even made the extra effort to inform me verbally and on my visit summary that if the corrected price does not show up in the pharmacy, to have them call her.

So, I ended up getting a 3 month supply of Yasmin, and two topical treatments which include: Two tubes of 1% clindamycin phosphate gel (antibiotic), and one tube Retin-A. ALL for only $30! I should have done this earlier. I told her I don’t like topical treatments, but she told me that it would take about 3 months for the Yasmin to kick in, so I agreed to use the topical treatments to help the acne until then.

Oh yeah, and I’ve finally been diagnosed with (scalp) Psoriasis. She just told me to try Neutrogena T-Gel and get a humidifier, and if it doesn’t help, to come back. I might have arthritis (something that compliments a few people who have Psoriasis) too We’re going to pay more attention during the winter months. I’m all sorts of unhealthy aren’t I? 2008 has definitely been the year of diagnoses for me. I’ve accumulated like… what four, five so far? Two emergency room visits, countless hospital visits. Life is AWESOME…

I laugh when I read comments and messages asking for me to do skin care/routine videos. I have so much shit going on with my skin, are you sure?! HAHA.

Here are photos of my skin without foundation. There you go. Flawless? HELL NO! See, I am not being modest or fishing for compliments when I say that I do not have healthy skin. I’m just being completely honest.

Hopefully it improves when 3 months passes. Will keep you updated.

Left side:

Middle:

Right:

EDIT: Sorry, I have not yet adapted to this whole internet thing. You encounter people that you normally wouldn’t in your daily life. When you’re mostly surrounded by educated people, you forget that there exists those who can not handle even mildly mature topics.