I am 29 years old and have been suffering from acne since I was about 13years old - nearly 17 long years. I had it really badly on my face during my teens but it had subsided by the time I reached 18.In my early twenties I began to get spots on my upper arms and later on my chest. I have horrible marks on my chest. I’ve tried all sorts of antibiotics, hormones (the pill) and creams at great expense - there’s no NHS where I come from.
I heard about Roaccutane last year but didn’t take it because I was put off by all the side effects on the leaflet in the packet particularly the breakouts and depression. My brother told me that he knew people at his high school that had taken it and had broken out really badly - he used the term “pizza face” to describe them he also mentioned that they had extremely dry lips.
Matters came to a head when a dermatologist friend of my mum (who is a doctor) noticed my acne and her asked why I hadn’t tried Roaccutane. My acne at that point was quite mild, I’d get a few spots here and there but I do have dark marks on my face and chest (I’m black).
Until I saw my skin through his eyes I actually thought I was okay but then realized that I’m much too old to continue having this problem. Some of my mum’s sisters also have bad skin, they’re hitting 50 and still get spots - I decided I didn’t want to be them.
I started Roaccutane nearly 4 weeks ago and have great hopes. I decided to write my story because I couldn’t find any other black people on the site and there are some things particular to black skin that I wanted to share. I hope this helps someone out there.
