I was too scared to start accutane so i tried everything else first
I’m 24 now and this is about a 2 year difference. My skin used to be constantly inflamed around my cheeks and jaw and i kept trying to fix it by adding more products. What I was using was salicylic acid, glycolic acid, benzoyl peroxide, niacinamide, masks, basically everything people recommended online. I was also scared to start accutane because the side effects freaked me out, so i kept trying to manage it myself first.
I believe some gut feeling told me I needed to simplify everything and stay consistent. I saw a derm, used tretinoin for a while, eventually started a low dose of accutane. I also realized I had no idea what was helping or making things worse because I changed products constantly, so tracking my routine and progress photos helped a lot too been using Thea for that as well mainly to keep everything organized and in one place also to avoid overdoing it again. My routine is really basic now but my skin finally feels calmm instead of constantly irritatedd.