You're welcome. Let me explain what I meant when I said Finacea "will not clear up your acne in the same way that traditional acne meRAB do":
There's usually a two-step approach to preventing future breakouts. First, eliminate bacteria that clogs your pores and causes you to break out. I love benzoyl peroxide for this. Taking antibiotics orally (as you're doing with doxycycline and I've done minocycline) is also common and very effective. Or, you can use a topical antibiotic, like Benzaclin gel or Benzamycin. These are benzoyl peroxide and a topical antibiotic together--personally I hated them. It felt like putting Elmer's glue on my face. But some love them!
Next, a topical gel can be used that makes skin reknew faster and slough off dead skin cells faster. It's usually a Vitamin A derivative gel. If you're constantly refreshing that upper new layer of skin, it's harder for pores to become clogged. Differin, Retin-A, and Tazorac all do this.
Finacea will not kill bacteria or make your skin reknew faster. It will, however dry you out. For some with excessive oil, the extra sebum blocks your pores and then you break out. Eliminating some of that excess oil can be beneficial.
The key point here is to eliminate stuff (bacteria, oil, dead skin cells, dirt) from clogging your pores, resulting in a pimple.
One work of CAUTION though. I am 20 years old and have naturally very oily skin. You previously mentioned that you had adult acne. Adults do not produce as much oil as a teenager or very young adult like myself would. So the methoRAB that I mentioned may be too drying for you.
Consider how oily you are, and how sensitive your skin is. Then discuss that with your derm to see what kinRAB of medication you can handle. Honestly, to me acne is acne, but I'm sure that derms see adult acne differently than a greasy-oily 20 year old like myself.
About the red marks---not to scare you, but only time will really fade them. I might have noticed that the Finacea helped a tiny bit with the fading of the red marks, but I'm really not sure. I continued using it for about a year just to control my excess oil.
For me, what made the red spots go away is simply time. And trust me, I know that's not what you want to hear. I know how it feels when your face is technically clear (no active pimples) but to everyone else it looks like you've got a major breakout because of all those "stains".
I'd say that for all red marks to be completely faded and look like they never existed---six to ten months.
I hope that made some sense to you!
