[Before&After] Curology and my cystic acne (1.5 years progress)

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Link to photo timeline.As you can see, my cystic acne started at around October 2015 was at its worst in January 2016. I'm not sure if the pictures do it justice but it was BAD. At an airport, one little girl came up to me during the worst of it, stared at me for a long time, and said she was really sorry about my face in the nicest way, but it still hurt.This breakout period coincided with me working 10+ hours at work and then coming home to work on grad school applications/interviews with cross country traveling every other weekend, so stress was a MAJOR factor here. Before starting Curology, I had tried everything: drink more water, eat for vegetables, cut out dairy, honey masks, spearmint tea, etc. You name it, I've probably tried it. I finally bit the bullet and signed up for Curology because I was spending much more than $20 a month trying to cure my acne at this point.My provider prescribed 50 mg of doxycycline daily for about 1 month, I think? She also started me on the gentlest formula, which was niacinamide 4%, clindamycin 1%, and zinc pyrithione 0.25%. The antibiotics helped A LOT. There was a purging period after I started the treatment, but it felt very controlled. Once the purging was over, my face started healing. By March, there was probably no more active acne (this was also when my grad school interviewing periods ended). From then on out, it was just healing and scar fading.By October 2017, most of the PIH were gone. I would say this was when I got "cured", which took 9 months to clear up 90% of the acne from January. At this point, we switched to tretinoin 0.009%, clindamycin 1%, and azelaic acid 9% to help with the PIH and texture. Unfortunately, I had another breakout at the exact same location as that giant pimple as before (seen in the middle column) and that one red spot came back. I'm still on this formula, and I barely get any breakouts anymore besides the occasional hormonal pimple. Even then, those come and go fairly unnoticed.I'm REALLY pleased with the service Curology provides, and I feel very happy to be where I am right now where I don't have to avoid mirrors, cameras, and other people anymore. A lot of people say no one notices your acne besides you. That's total BS if you have major breakouts. People with perfectly clear skin who wash their face with body soap would give me so much unsolicited "advices" (YES! I WASH MY FACE EVERYDAY!!). It was very depressing to scour the Internet for any information on acne and to try every single anecdotal advice to help with my acne, and if you're in that situation now, I feel you, sincerely. Ultimately, my solution was Curology, and I hope you find that solution, whatever it is, for yourself.
Girls Blog 2015
Submitted by ktlene