Where to go from here [Acne]

Beauty Tips For Body Care
Before we get started: here are pictures of my skin currently I have been seeing a derm since January of this year, and despite incorporating 2 topicals have seen little to no improvement in my skin (it is arguable worse than when I started). My initial complaint were a plethora of small, under the skin bumps, mostly centered around my chin. They were really only noticeable to me, but I felt that they made the texture of my skin look a little wonky and I felt like my routine at that time wasn't doing anything to help them. I saw the derm and she recommended I start using CeraVe foaming and the moisturizer in the tub after I started using tretinoin .025% nightly. Cue enormous breakout (purge + a reaction to the CeraVe ingredients) for about 3 months my skin was full of deep, painful, huge red bumps that I never had experienced before. It was awful. I switched my moisturizer to Vanicream, which I had used previously with no obvious problems, and switched my facewash to Cetaphil. Things cleared up! It was going well! Cut to last week. Small red bumps had begun appearing occasionally, but last week all hell broke loose. It's like I am having the same issues CeraVe was causing, but nothing in my routine has changed. I had a derm appointment scheduled anyway, so I decided to see what she had to say. She added Aczone to my routine (applied in the AM), and let me know that spiro and BC were the next step she thought I should take. Most of my breakouts are along my jaw line. I realize this really probably is hormonal - but I am nervous/hesitant about starting BC. I had bad reactions to it in college (several mental health side effects) and don't particularly want to revisit that. I guess I am just at a loss here. The initial problem (small, nearly invisible bumps) has not gone away, and now I am dealing with painful, cystic type acne that seems to only be getting worse. The way I see it, I have a few options: *1. See a different derm and get a second opinion *2. Go to my Gyno and get BC *3. Try some natural solutions (evening primrose, elimination diet, etc) *4. Keep forging ahead and see if the tretinoin and aczone start clearing things up *5. Cut my face off and buy a new one on the black market. tl;dr - Skin is getting worse despite use of tretinoin and aczone. Need advice as to what next step to take.
Girls Blog 2015
Submitted by veggieswillsaveusall