00:00Have you ever woken up at 21 with a full face of acne for the very first time?
00:04Because I have, surrounded by all of my perfectly skinned friends.
00:09Hi, my name is Micah, and I have struggled until very recently with adult hormonal acne.
00:14When I was in high school, I never really had any skin problems.
00:18I didn't have a set skincare routine, I didn't wear foundation, I didn't wear concealer,
00:23I just wore eyeliner and mascara, and it wasn't until significantly halfway into college where
00:29I started to really break out, like bad, having acne all over my face.
00:36I felt really self-conscious, and so every time I went out, every time I went to class,
00:42I piled on the makeup, I wore a lot of makeup, and then even when I was home, I would
00:48stay
00:49home, I didn't tend to want to go out, I didn't want to go to parties, I just kind of
00:53wanted
00:54to hide.
00:55I originally started birth control purely for my acne, it was prescribed to me by my
00:59dermatologist actually.
01:01So I had a little over a year where I had pretty much consistently clear skin.
01:06Occasionally I'd have like one or two pimples kind of on my forehead, but at that time I
01:11had bangs.
01:12But it wasn't until I bleached my hair to platinum blonde like three times over, and it started
01:19to break off, and I decided, I think I need to shave my head and get a fresh start.
01:23That I lost the security blanket that I didn't even realize I had, which was my hair, my bangs,
01:29which were covering a pretty significant portion of my face.
01:32So it was in March 2017 that I started to wake up every morning, and the first thing I wanted
01:37to know was, did I have a new pimple?
01:39Did any of the ones from yesterday go away?
01:42First thing I'd do, I'd roll in about it and just like stick my face right up close to
01:46a mirror.
01:47It was really a time of big anxiety for me about my skin, and thus started my Accutane
01:53journey.
01:54I was so excited to start, a little nervous, mostly excited.
01:59Accutane is the only known cure for acne at this time, and if I could have a chance at
02:04never having another breakout again, or at least not a significant one, I definitely wanted
02:10that very badly.
02:11So the first thing I did when I was first starting, it was read a bunch of stories online
02:15of people who had taken it, mainly success stories.
02:18And most people were like, oh, I had one or two months where my skin got way worse for
02:23a second, but then all of a sudden I had clear skin, and it was a miracle for the rest
02:27of my
02:27course.
02:28No, my skin got worse, and then it continued to just be worse, so we had to keep increasing
02:35my dose.
02:36She amped me up to 80 milligrams, which is a high dose for my weight.
02:41Definitely had more side effects.
02:42So one of the first things that you'll notice if you go on Accutane is that your skin gets
02:47like hella dry.
02:49It's so dry, and your lips get more dry than you ever thought your lips could be.
02:54My skin was getting drier and drier, flaky, itchy, uncomfortable, but I was also breaking
03:01out more.
03:02Four months in, and I finally started to see a real change on that dosage.
03:07I was on it for a total of eight months.
03:10I got two months over what everyone was hoping for, I think.
03:14So I'm now 23, and I've been off Accutane for about three months, and I am so happy with
03:21my skin.
03:21When you go from having really significant acne all over your face to having mostly smooth,
03:28clear skin with a couple indentations, a couple red patches, you kind of, you feel good.
03:34You feel really good, and you stop caring about the tiny imperfections that you're definitely
03:38the only one that notices.
03:41The first thing I do when I wake up is I go and wash my face with Glossier's Milky Jelly
03:48Cleanser.
03:48I think that this cleanser works really well because it's non-foaming.
03:52It doesn't lather up at all.
03:54It stays kind of like a milky gel, and so I just feel very balanced whenever I use it.
03:59In the past, I didn't usually have a morning skincare routine, but I did have a nighttime
04:04skincare routine.
04:07So my holy grail product of my nighttime routine is this Tretinoin cream.
04:12It helps prevent your skin from getting clogged pores, it increases cell turnover, it can make
04:18you pretty dry, especially if you're already dry, which is why I use a bunch of moisturizers,
04:23but I love it.
04:25So I still don't look in the mirror all the time and think that I've achieved perfection.
04:29I don't think I ever will.
04:30I think I'll always be able to pick myself apart to some degree, but I do feel so much
04:36better.
04:37I have a much healthier relationship with my skin, I don't feel like I'm fighting it all
04:42the time, I don't feel ashamed of my face ever.
04:45And I think that even if I got to a point where I was sometimes breaking out again, if the
04:50magic
04:50of Accutane all wore off, I think that I would be better equipped to have a better perspective
04:56and a better outlook on it.
04:57I've learned that my skin doesn't define me, it's not the first thing that people notice
05:02about me.
05:02It's not something that I need to be constantly stressing about or worried about.
05:08And it shouldn't be a source of insecurity for you, it's your face, you know?
05:12You've got to own it at a certain point.
05:14Thank you so much for watching, and no matter how bad your skin may seem to you, just know
05:20that you're still beautiful inside and out.
