[Acne] Is it finally time to throw in the towel? (Shorter Version)

Beauty Tips For Body Care
This is the shorter version. If you want ALL of the details you can find the long version here with weekly progress photos.Hey guys I just thought I’d ask your input because I am at a crossroads. I’m currently on Tazorac 0.05% and have been for the past ~8 months. You can see my first post about taking my skincare seriously here. In that post I talked about how Curology's formulation (0.04% tretinoin, 1% clindamycin, 7% azelaic acid) worked for me briefly before it began getting too costly and my acne progress began to plateau. My goal was to essentially emulate my formulation because it was one of the first few times my skin truly cleared up (at least for a little while before my skin got bad again). After that post I decided to begin taking progress pictures every week to track how my skin was doing because I know how easy it is to forget how much your skin changes.I started with a normal routine of a gentle cleanser (Vanicream), then followed with the Tazorac, and moisturized with CeraVe's PM Moisturizer.​First weekAfter about a month I decided to add in The Ordinary's Azelaic Acid 10%. (I want to note that prior to all of this I had gone an entire summer using The Ordinary's Azelaic Acid 10% as my main ingredient to test it's effects on my skin. Like the Curology, my skin essentially cleared up and as time progressed my skin began to breakout really badly again).Once again, my skin began to clear up. Now this is where it gets tricky. After browsing this subreddit and r/tretinoin, I knew that retinoids tend to take a long time to take effect. So I was left with the question, which one was fixing my skin?So naturally, in true scientific methodology, I decided to isolate a variable. I once again took Azelaic Acid out of my routine and relied solely on Tazorac as my main ingredient. Keep in mind throughout the entirety of this post and these pictures that I am using Tazorac. Surprisingly, after getting rid of Azelaic Acid, I breakout pretty bad. Regardless, I continued this for 4 months just to be certain. After that I decided reintroduce AZ to try Melazepam 20%. My forehead is essentially clear with the occasional pimple, but my cheeks still breakout a little.Clear SkinBad Acne on just Tazorac​Present Day with MelazepamThis leads me to present day. I have a dermatologist appointment for tomorrow. I am thinking about requesting the Finance Gel 20% because I had read that gel is 8x easier to absorb than cream (Source: here) and Melazepam's gel has a really odd texture. Essentially, I have come to the conclusion that Finascea is at the peak of AZ. What I am wary about is whether I should even request it or if I should just go on Accutane. My dermatologist has been trying to put me on it for the longest time and today after requesting a prescription of Finascea, they warned me that Finascea wasn't that strong and that I should come in so "we can discuss what we really want to do going forward".
Girls Blog 2015
Submitted by lilplumpman