Ziana and peeling and hydroquinone 4%

I had moderate acne during up until I was 17 y/o, when I started using Neostrata.  I had been doing splendidly until, all of a sudden, horrendous breakouts began appearing along my cheeks.  I freaked out and sought went to 2 Drs.  The first gave me Trentoin for night and Clindamycin (1%) for day.  I was not pleased so I looked up Castle Conolley's Top Drs in New York and went to a dermatologist who is a prestigious attending at Cornell Med (I know this to be true bc my friend says he is her attending and corroborates this).  This Dr. prescribed my Ziana (pretty much the same thing) but the gel is nicer, I think.  Problem is my breakouts have not truly gone away and I see new ones popping up.  In addition my skin looks horrendously worse because of the dry skin peeling and the red acne scars.  I am afraid to show my once pretty face in public.  By the way, I am entering my 4 th week.

That being said,

1.  Will the peeling ever stop?
2.  Is there a safe method to "brush" off the peeling, or is light scrubbing with a dry, clean towel ok?
3.  For the scars, will 4% hydroquinone gel, placed specifically in the scarred areas alone help?

Please, I will not see the derm until the 19th and have been crying over this.

[loiloi]

Hi. We would expect to see a clinical improvement in your skin after 4-8 weeks on this regime and further improvement with continued use. If topical acne meds cause fragility of the skin use a bland cleanser such as Cetaphil or La Roche-Posay. It may also be prudent to use topical meds every other day and gradually build up to daily use.
I am not familiar with Hydroquinone gel (I am in the UK) but topical tretinoin will improve scars as well as active acne.
If you have poor tolerance to topical meds, discuss oral medications with your dermatologist. Acne usually responds well to a course of oral antibiotics such as Oxytetracycline or Lymecycline.
Female acne patients often benefit from taking the combined oral contraceptive pill since the oestrogen it contains blocks the actions of androgens -the hormones responsible for acne. Diane35 (called Dianette in the UK) and Yasmin are particularly effective. An anti-androgen such as Spironolactone (often prescribed in conjunction with Diane35) will also help.
Eloise.

[Cammy660]

I have also been using ziana and my acne is begining to clear up but now all i see are these hrrible scars. I cry all the time. I am african american and my scars are big and dark. They dont blend in wwith my skin and i have been wondering what to do  because i hate going out in public like this