I kept this site anonymous as I find it quite embarrassing talking about my acne, a bit of anonymity makes me more comfortable. For the same reasons I won't be posting any pictures of myself. My acne has never been as bad as some of the poor people you see photographed on dermatology websites, but it's worse than that on anyone over 20 that I've seen in real life.

I'm 23 and a student, I've had acne for 10 years. I live in the UK

Treatments - The Early Days

I started suffering from acne when I was about 13 years old, I had a very greasy face all the time and the usual little teenage spots that everyone gets, these developed into large nodules possibly partially due to my parents ill-conceived advice to squeeze them all the time, and and quite a substantial amount of large whiteheads would appear daily by the time I was 16. At this time I began using over the counter products like Clearasil Medicated lotion and Benzoyl Peroxide which helped slightly - enough that the thing I was most self-conscious about was the greasiness of my skin.

Treatments - College Years

By now acne was beginning to cause me a lot of discomfort. Large cysts and nodules were painful, and within a couple of hours of washing, 6 or 7 large whiteheads would appear. I started getting acne on my back, shoulders and chest to the same extent as that on my face. So I saw my GP about it. Over the next four years I was on prescription medication constantly. Here is a list of all the medicines I was prescribed and their effects on me:

• Differin Gel - Worked better than any OTC medicine but dried my skin and lost its effectiveness after 7 - 8 months.

• Dalacin T - This was amazingly good it practically got rid of all the large spots and most of the whiteheads for around a year before the acne bacteria became immune to it. The downside being it left a shiny film on my face, and did nothing for blackheads.

• Minocin MR - Amazingly good, practically cleared my face of spots for nearly a year with no noticeable side effects but didn't help my back much. Like all antibiotics it lost its effectiveness after a while.

• Oxytetracycline - I took this for 6 months - it did absolutely nothing.

Treatments - Uni Years

By now I keep my acne under control by using salicylic acid wash twice a day and wiping my face with a clean tissue throughout the day to remove the grease. Just a few minutes after washing and you can see the oil coming out of my pores - yuk! When I squeeze a spot I get an absolute load of clean looking sebum pour out as well as the usual yellow puss - double yuk.

Another course of Minocin MR was prescribed just in the hope that it had regained its effectivness - it hadn't.

I discovered Ketsugo spray on the internet. It improved my acne and the overall condition of my skin for a couple of months before losing its effectiveness.

Retin-A cream was prescribed. This reduced the number of blackheads on my face and the number of small whiteheads. However I found it irritated my skin quite badly so I could only use it once a day.

After 6 months of using Retin-A my GP referred me to an NHS Dermatologist who prescribed Roaccutane - Woo Hoo!!