On Differin
My face broke out pretty badly a couple weeks ago. I’m not sure what happened, but perhaps part of the problem was due to the fact that I was under a lot of stress from traveling, grad school, and work. Whatever the reason, my skin paid the price, and I looked like hell. (I should take a moment to note here that my breakouts aren’t of the cystic acne kind. I don’t get big inflamed red zits all over my face. I get “bumpies”, those small, skin colored bumps that are due to clogged pores.)
At any rate, I immediately went to see my dermatologist, who finally put me on a prescription med called Differin. It’s a retinoid, whatever that means, and is supposed to be pretty effective. It damn well better be, because I paid $245 for a 45g tube of this stuff! My insurance doesn’t cover this type of dermatology because they say it’s cosmetic and not medically necessary. Sure, I wouldn’t put acne in the same category as malignant Mesothelioma, but come on! It’s not like I’m having plastic surgery or something!
So I’ve been using Differin for two weeks now, and at first, it made my skin even worse. I guess that was the dreaded “initial breakout” that many people experience when going on these types of medications. I almost gave up using the cream, but read that a lot of folks had success with the product after giving it time to work — “time” being anything from one month to three months. Fortunately, I stuck with it, and am starting to see some nice improvements here in week three. the bumpies on my forehead are almost gone and aren’t even noticeable anymore unless you’re standing within a couple feet of me. Thank goodness!
Let’s just hope Differing keeps working. I haven’t even put a dent in the 45g tube yet, so that $245 might end up lasting me a whole year. That’s some consolation, I guess!