Shoshi

I started getting very bad acne at age 10 or even a bit earlier.
I tried everything - over the counter stuff, Dr. prescribed antibiotics, etc.
Finally, when I was 19 I was prescribed Accutane. It cleared my acne up amazingly well in one summer (and it hasn't come back to the same degree at all and I am now 37).
HOWEVER, I would not recommend Accutane for the fact that it causes a lot of side effects: birth defects if you get pregnant on it, joint pain, etc.
For me, it caused a lot of stomach problems, nausea, loss of appetite and I lost a lot of weight. This was not unwelcome - I wanted to lose about 20 pounds anyway - however, it was unpleasant to say the least to walk around naseous for several months.
More significantly, I would not recommend Accutane to anyone with a history of depression, a history of depression in the immediate or extended family, or to anyone who is concerned about depression.
They now know that Accutane can cause depression (they didn't know when I took it, supposedly), and there are now some law suits because some people even committed suicide when they were on Accutane.
What happened to me is that I developed a pretty serious case of depression which lasted during the time I was on the medication and seemed to wane after I stopped taking it.
However, as with all clinical depression, any incident of depression makes you more susceptible to depression in the future, and since that first Accutane-induced depression at age 19, I have experience serious clinical depression again at various times in my life, at age 22, 28, 31. Currently after going through depression too many times (always accompanied by loss of appetite and drastic weight loss/nausea) I take an anti-depressant (an SSRI, which also causes weight gain, which leads to IR and PCOS, by the way).
I am convinced that that regimen of Accutane sparked my first depression and led to my having problems with depression ever since then.
There is no depression in my immediate family, but both my maternal and paternal aunt had depression.
Knowing this now and what I know about Accutane, I would not take it today, even though it did cure my acne.
Having experienced both, depression is simply far worse and more debilitating than acne (and I had moderate to severe acne for 10 years).
Depression can truly destroy your life (it is potentially fatal), and can make it hard for you to reach your dreams in life.
Since the Accutane, after a few years I began to get the occasional pimple, and I still have oily skin and large pores - I have a tendency toward acne although now my skin is usually relatively clear.
What works for me now is any product with 2% salicylic acid. Benzoyl peroxide doesn't work as well for me.
Phisoderm and Clean and Clear make some salicylic acid products. Neutrogena does too but for some reason they don't work as well for me and also irritate my skin.
I use the Phisoderm salicylic acid facial and body wash and I dab on a 2% salicylic acid gel on any zits I might have at night.
Clinique Turnaround Cream also has BHA, which is the same thing as salicylic acid, and it works for me too, but it's more expensive.
Phisoderm makes a facial masque with salicylic acid that I also like.
When I can't find it I use a MUDD mask - leave it on for 15 minutes or so and then wash it off, just to soak up excess oil and close the pores.