Re: Obagi
femme, I used obagi for a number of years and now am using skin tx (the same thing but in canada they changed their name for whatever reason). i had/still have very deep acne scars and nothing (yes nothing) would make them go away. nothing my doctors gave me worked. so i went to a dermatologist after an auntie told me about how she went to this dermatologist to get rid of her age spots and freckles and her skin was gorgeous (she was like 55 yrs old or something).
anyways, i didn't need a referral or anything, or any prescription. the doctor had a look at my medical history and checked out my skin. his office had a supply closet and i just paid for the products myself. he told me to use the cleanser/toner/and clear/blender mixed with some kind of retin a cream (this was back in uni so i kind of forget the same). it worked really well and i noticed a huge difference after 3-4 months. but you really have to be religious about applying it (day and night) - well i'm a lazy person...but you get what i mean. some of the beginning weeks were horrible due to redness and peeling skin and i just wanted to die. but after it was so amazing...my skin was actually clear and not oily at all.
i stopped using it after i got married because you cannot be on it and get pregnant because there can be horrible side effects (the doc recommend you being on birth control while on it). my skin went back to it's regular acne within a year which totally sucked.
and now, a few yrs later, i'm on active mixed with tetrazoin or something like that which is used to treat psoriasis, but i'm finding it is not that effective as it was before. maybe it is because i'm lazy about applying it day and night, or the fact that i'm using a slightly different product. i didn't find i was any more sensitive to the sun than i was before.