I saw a thread in the Research forum recently about naproxen sodium (Aleve) ... said it was supposed to be very effective against premenstrual acne. link here

I tried it out this month, and it worked very well for me. I took two Aleve tablets each day, one with breakfast and one right after dinner -- and I only got two tiny, tiny pimples the whole week.

Normally during PMS week I would get a number of these little ones popping up on my nose and chin each day.

I stopped taking a regular dose of the Aleve as soon my period started, although I have taken one at night a couple of times since. From what I understand, you really have to be careful not to take too much ... it can cause stomach bleeding and other unpleasant side effects.

Has anyone else tried this?

just for curiosity sake, let's see where everyone is.
I'm 36.

Hi everyone if you bothered to open well why dont you go ahead and write down what cleanser it is you use for your face?? Dont be shy to anwser the question

Well the last time I was on this site was several months ago and I was complaining of loadsa sml white bumps. OMG if I could have seen the future!!

Now I have inflamed acne and am literally waking up each morning to new whiteheads that I can squeeze or just red pimples. It won't stop coming up and it's often painful. So far I've been using concealer to, at least, disguise the redness but, this morning, after applying it, my skin looked obviously bumpy.

So I rang in with some BS excuse and I feel totally shitty as a result. With guilt and also that it has had to come to this. I am gonna make an app with GP later, hopefully, to do me a sick note for depression. I love my job and am otherwise a healthy person, but this is the final straw.

I saw a derm yesterday but it was the same old story, been there done that......
I'm female and 34yrs old next month. I should not be having to deal with this same shit that I had to when I was a teenager! None of us should! People don't realise the psychological damage it does and the distress it causes. It affects your quality of life in every way and stops you doing things the clear - skinned take for granted. I can't go to the gym as I'm scared the sweat will wash away the concealer, for example. Pathetic!

TBH, I have several different symptoms that all smack of a hormonal imbalance, oestrogen dominance, to be specific, so it's not just acne, tho that is the most upsetting and damaging, for me. I've been doing a lot of research online ( read Dr John Lee ) including the effects of low progesterone, and I tick a lot of the boxes. So yesterday I ordered some saliva hormone test kits ( oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone ) as, it seems, saliva tests are far more accurate than blood tests as they measure the "free" amounts of the hormones that are available to the body to use, as opposed to the hormones that are bound to protein in the blood and unavailable to the body.
If my progesterone comes back low, I'm gonna start taking natural progesterone cream. I'm sick of antibiotics that stop working and topicals that only work for as long as you're using them. This is how pharmaceuticals make their money! I'll bet my GP offers me antidepressants, they can shove it!

What's important is getting to the route cause, not treating the symptoms, which is all doctors know and care about. Nobody seems to wanna treat us holistically. Not once has a Dr asked about my lifestyle, stress levels, diet etc. A pill is a cure-all in their world cos their world is profit - driven.

I was on the pill for 16yrs on and off and it's screwed up my hormones. I was put on a high oestrogen pill as I complained that I'd lost my libido, and was advised this would help. If only I knew then what I know now. But we trust that doctor knows best and don't question their decision. I'll keep you up-dated with any developments but if anyone can relate or has had similar experiences with hormonal issues, it'd be great to hear how you got on.

thanks, kaz x

Hi,

So, most of my life I would get the usual pimple here and there but starting last October I started getting lots of really tiny pimples all over my forehead, and once, maybe twice a month I'll get more like a large acne pimple or two. Right now is the worst at 3, all gathered in one spot. I thought this was due to stress because I had a ton of stuff to deal with in October and I thought it would go away once November rolled around, but nope.

For some background info, I'm 26 and my lifestyle hasn't changed much at all, except it's winter now. I eat very healthy through the week (fruits and vegetables for breakfast and lunch, turkey sandwiches and the like for dinner) and on the weekends I'll indulge a bit and get a hamburger, a nice southern breakfast or maybe ribs. I usually get moderate exercise but now that it's winter I've been pretty lazy.

I don't use that much hair product but when I do, I try and wash it out at the end of the day. Since I don't use much product, I compensate for messy hair with a hat. This may be the culprit but I don't like the idea of not being able to wear a hat ever again so I guess I've been trying to sidestep the issue. I also try and keep a new, clean towel on my pillow every night.

As far as cleaning goes, I use a salt soap to wash my face and for a while I've been using this Neutrogena salicylic acid cream meant for spot treatment for severe acne. It seemed to have worked really well for a while but my forehead seems to have built up an immunity against it now.

I put hydrogen peroxide on the 3 I have right now last night and it dried them up well but I don't see this as a permanent solution. Or is it?

Any help is greatly appreciated, everyone here seems to know their stuff well and it would be nice to get more info and try some new things out. Thanks a lot,

Josh

Zinc has a very long and proven association with acne. What I have been doing is assuming that problems in zinc metabolism are the root cause of much acne, and asking what would have to be done to change it. On the plus side, this model of acne helps explain why acne is so variable and hard to cure (lots of things affect your zinc status, and science simply doesn't yet know the best way to change your zinc status). On the minus side, that means I (duh) sure don't have a cure for acne -- I'm just trying to summarize what I think so far, and if you want to try it and see if it helps, more power to you. The usual disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, you should talk to yours, if you have existing medical conditions then don't do weird things you read on the Internet without talking to your doctor -- there's no action that can't hurt someone in some condition somewhere in the world.

The basic approach here is simple. Since we know chronic acne is associated with lower serum levels of zinc (and see lots of other clues that are consistent with that), push every button possible (well, not every button -- I'm not going to tell you to start smoking, even though that raises zinc levels) to stop doing things that can lower your zinc levels and start doing things that can raise your zinc levels. No miracle cure here. I'm sure this hypothesis is not 100% correct. But it is a different way to try to look at acne, and I want to see if it can evolve into something useful.

Quick Summary

• Choose good parents. There is no definitive test for zinc deficiency, and probably multiple genetic defects that can lead to zinc deficiency, so some of us (hopefully it's a small percentage) may be fighting our genes.
• Try to lower the total glycemic load (not glycemic index) of your diet.
• Engage in at least modest aerobic exercise at least a few times a week.
• Keep your Vitamin D levels above 50 ng/ml all year long. www.vitamindcouncil.org can tell you how. Allow 3 months after you change your dose to see what your new serum level is.
• Get Vitamin A the safe, rate-limited way, not from a pill (e.g. cod liver oil), but eat some carotenoids every day.
• Take 50mg zinc picolinate twice a day. If possible, take the zinc with the Vitamin B6 and on an empty stomach. Preferably, one of the zinc doses would be just before bedtime. Try to avoid taking zinc near the same time you take aspirin or iron or iron-rich meals; an iron-rich diet may make it harder to raise zinc serum levels.
• Take a Vitamin B complex containing 50mg Vitamin B6 twice a day.
• Take 150mg magnesium (e.g. magnesium citrate) 2-3 times a day.
• take 500mcg chromium/day (e.g. Natural Factors Chromium GTF Chelate).
• Don't screw up your melatonin cycle. Try to sleep >=8 hours in a 100% dark room when the sun is down, and get outdoor light in your eyes when the sun is up. Avoid sunglasses.
• Take an evening primrose oil pill every day (may not help; unlikely to hurt).
• Take cinnamon (e.g., NOW Foods, 600mg Cinnamon Bark twice/day). May not help; unlikely to hurt, but there are much worse things than cinnamon to burp up after you take your pills!

This is a relatively low-risk program. I doubt it will represent a miracle cure for anyone. What it represents, at least, is a first stab at a coherent strategy based on the zinc hypothesis, one where every part of the program is trying to push in exactly the same direction. All these things have to do with trying to improve your zinc status. Also, I can't eat dairy. Don't know how/whether that's tied to zinc, YMMV, but there ya go.

When I have time, I'll try to write a rationale to detail what I think each of these points has to do with zinc metabolism.

About 3 weeks ago I stopped drinking all milk and sodas. I literally drank nothing but water the entire time. It took time but my face started to clear up and all that was left were red spots left behind with scars. (I stopped sodas before I stopped milk, and milk seemed to be one of the things that also contributed)

Last night at our super bowl party I decided to treat myself to several Cokes. Sure, they tasted good and the caffeine high was something else - but my entire face broke out in whiteheads. Now this morning I am paying for it and deciding if I want to avoid class today.. I wish I would have avoided them so much....

I'm just going to stick with water from now on. It's what humans have been drinking for millions of years and is what we are supposed to drink. It just makes sense.

Okay okay, so now I'm forced to make up another thread so that I can get a couple supporters JK, lol. For those of you who don't know who I am, 15 days ago I decided to quit wearing foundation makeup for good because I got sick and tired of making myself up. I am now looking for supporters of this "say no to foundation thread" because i think having people that are doing the same thing, makes it all easier for us all. We can talk about how we feel about it or whatever you would like. But being a new no foundation wearer after wearing it for 10 years straight, is giving me a whole new perspective, from more time in the morning, to the frusterations of everybody seeing my red marks. I look foreward to hearing from you all. Please join me

**Please see the important update below this original entry**

I feel like I have just broken out of prison to find the sky blue and the birds singing. My face is finally clear, six months before I turn 40. I have had acne since 1982, and it just got worse as I got older. In the last two years, it had really become horrible. I had cystic acne on my cheeks and nose, with some of the individual blemishes lasting for six months each. I also had hair follicles below the surface of my skin that would become encased with cysts, particularly when I ate fast food. I am very sympathetic to all the posts of people who understand how depressing it is go have to go to work, let alone any social event, with a bad complexion. I have felt that way for decades.

I have learned through experience that doctors have no idea what they are talking about, so I never bothered with a dermatologist. What I have tried includes the following: a low vegetable oil diet, antibiotics, AcnEase, Acnezine, Vitamin B5, Vitamin E, barley grass, the 3-day apple diet, an infra-red laser, lots of other pills and of course all the soaps and creams you can think of. I also got my own prescription online for Differin gel, and have been using that every night for the past 6 months. To be fair, the AcnEase, Acnezine, and Differin were somewhat effective at reducing my acne, and the other stuff helped too, but up until last week I could never make it go away 100%.

8 days ago, in my usual desperate attempt to search the internet for a solution to my acne, I read that NIACIN "may be helpful at reducing acne." Continuing on my desperate and endless quest to find a natural solution, I strolled down to the store and bought a bottle of niacin. I took the first dose at 3 pm that day. In the middle of that same night I woke up and I could tell that my skin felt different, like it was somehow much less sensitive than usual. It felt like normal skin. I have been taking niacin all week, and you are simply not going to believe the results. I am telling you the 'acne' was gone in less than 24 hours, and the following 7 days was just a matter of the existing blemishes I had healing faster than I have ever seen before. To make sure it wasn't a fluke, I have been eating fast food most of the week with no outbreaks. Now I love going to work and even have enough ambition to go to the gym. It has been a miracle! And it was all in a niacin bottle that you can get at Wal-Mart on the vitamin isle for $5. Tell that to your dermatologist! (but it will cost you $300 for the visit; he has to make his Mercedes payment after all) How much? Get the largest amount available and take the dosage recommended on the bottle. I did it with 400mg/day.

I really do not care if anyone believes me. This is my one and only post to this site. Maybe niacin only works for some kinds of acne. I don't know. I am still taking all the ingredients of Acnezine just in case. I nearly start to cry when I see others with a bad complexion because I know how awful they feel. Sometimes I just wanted my life to be over. That is what has driven me to post this, so that someone else might stumble upon it and finally get the results that I did after trying for so many years. Take Care.


**UPDATE JANUARY 2010!!**

Well the niacin did not solve my problem, but I finally figured out where my acne came from and how to completely eliminate the condition that I had suffered, but didn’t understand, for fifteen years. The end of the story is that I am 100% acne free now and have been so for months, and I can eat whatever I like as well. The details below explain how I got there.

You can imagine my horror when, about six weeks after my last post and while still taking niacin, my cystic acne began to return. All of a sudden I was back to square one, or even less than that, because I was out of ideas. There was really only one avenue left to research because I had tried everything else.
Although I have learned not to be skeptical of alternative medicine, I had read about acne being caused by candidiasis before, but dismissed it because those whom I had read discussing it were people who had no medical background at all, like the 3-day apple diet guy. Well since I had nowhere else to go at this point, I began to look into it. The truth is there is very little connection to candidiasis on any site that is discussing acne. Similarly, no medical web site discussing candidiasis makes any mention of acne as a symptom.
The best web site available on the subject of candidiasis is www.healthyinformation.com, which is run by a guy named Dr. Whiting. The site has some great videos that discuss the condition and its causes and treatment. Unfortunately this website is geared toward women with chronic yeast infections and makes no mention of acne as a result of systemic candidiasis. However, Dr Whiting’s website has a free downloadable candidiasis questionnaire, www.healthyinformation.com/CandidaTest1.pdf, which asks some questions and you score yourself on the available answers. The higher your score, the more likely it is that you are suffering from systemic candidiasis. Well it turns out that this questionnaire reads like a diary of my life for the past decade and a half, so I knew when I read it that I was on to something. I made the final conclusive connection between candidiasis and my resulting chronic acne when I did an internet search for photos of ‘facial yeast infections’ and I saw that these infections looked just like what I had when it was at its worst.
Finally I understood what was wrong with me. Using the information from Dr Whiting’s site, all the mysteries of my condition finally made sense. Fifteen years ago, I was prescribed an antibiotic for 4 weeks to treat prostatitis. That was about the same time frame that I first began to develop itchy areas on my face and neck. After about 5 years those gave way to cystic acne. I had been on doxycycline intermittently throughout the years since then, and I understand now how this led to my acne. It also explained why my acne only affected some parts of my face, and why it responded favorably to almost every treatment (like niacin) but then would always get worse again as the bacteria developed resistance.
I am not going to explain the cause of candidiasis here because you can read about it at the website I have already mentioned. But nothing that I say from this point on will make any sense unless you have educated yourself using that website. I should point out, however, that most treatments I have seen for candidiasis only treat digestive candidiasis, and as Dr. Whiting’s site explains, those treatments will do nothing if the condition has spread to other parts of your body (such as your skin). The 3-day apple diet treatment is one of those.
I think the best way to test yourself to determine if you have the same condition is this: If you score high on Dr. Whiting’s candidiasis self-test AND your acne is reduced on the candidiasis (low carbohydrate) diet, then you can be reasonably assured that your acne is resulting from systemic candidiasis. Until I read about the candidiasis diet I never understood why my complexion would get better or worse depending upon what I ate. Lactose in particular sent my acne into a drunken rage, but I never understood this connection until I found this information.
Since Dr Whiting seemed to have the best understanding of candidiasis of all the websites I researched, I decided to order his 8-week Oxy-Aloe flush treatment ($200). When I called to order it, the customer service rep asked me if I wanted to speak to Dr. Whiting, since he was in his office that day. Can you imagine that? They actually asked me if I wanted to talk to the doctor for free. Well I was in complete disbelief. I declined the consultation because I was committed at that point to use the oxy-aloe flush treatment. I did however call back a few weeks later and spoke with Dr. Whiting himself for about 15 minutes and he was very helpful. I still find that quite amazing.
Ultimately Dr. Whiting’s treatment did not work quickly enough for me. My girlfriend was out of town for a few more weeks, so I wanted to get better as quickly as possible before she returned. Using my own reasoning, based on what I had read, I came up with the 'nuclear option.' Candidiasis is not caused by antibiotics, but it results from the discontinued use of antibiotics, when the candida bacteria take over and spread prolifically if they are not kept in check by the other intestinal bacteria, acidophilous. My own idea was to get back on doxycycline and then, upon concluding the antibiotic treatment, start taking acidophilous right away, which is the same thing you do at the end of Dr Whiting’s Oxy-Aloe flush treatment.
I still had a 10-day supply of doxycycline from a previous prescription, so I used that up. That cleared up my acne quickly, so I began to think I was making progress. Within 12 hours of my last doxycycline pill, I started taking acidophilous every day. My acne started to return within 7 days. Then I remembered from 15 years earlier when a doctor first prescribed doxycycline for my prostatitis (this was the original cause of my candidiasis). The doctor said that I should take the doxycycline for the entire month, even if my symptoms went away in a few days. It turns out that bacteria can be very stubborn, and if you do not completely eliminate it, your infection will return.
Using that reasoning I decided that I need to take doxycycline for a longer period until my symptoms of candidiasis are 100% gone, and then continue for at least a month after that. Then I can stop taking it and just take acidophilous with my vitamins every day thereafter. Well so far this has proven to be true. A few months ago the Air Force sent me to Afghanistan to fly there. Everyone here is given doxycycline to prevent malaria, so I have been taking it for a few months for free. Additionally I have been taking garlic pills as an antifungal treatment as well. Most of my acne cleared quickly, and it remains clear regardless of what I eat, but some of the worst areas and the itchy patches that I had for years took many more weeks to finally go away 100%. That has taken about 3 months on 100mg of doxycycline every day. I think that is why I never thought the antibiotic was the solution before, because I did not realize how long it takes to finally eliminate 100% of the bacteria from my face, so I didn't believe it was effective when I was using it. More importantly, I never took any acidophilous pills after stopping the doxycycline, so the candidiasis always made a dramatic comeback. I return to the U.S. in two weeks, and I have one month’s supply of antibiotics left, after which I will start taking the acidophilous. I fully expect that to be the end of this ordeal. I will be sure to keep you updated, as you well deserve. But I am quite busy so my updates will only be once a month or so. By the way, I still take niacin every day because the beneficial effect it once had demonstrated that my skin can certainly use it.

Hi,

I am 26 years old and have taken Ortho TriCyclen birth control pills since I was 18 (about 8 years). I never had major problems with my skin before or during my time on birth control pills (I was VERY blessed). I stopped taking the pill about 5 months ago because my husband and I want to start having children within the next year, so I figured this would give my body time to get adjust. I have had terrible problems with my skin for the past five months! I am breaking out all over my face and back, my skin is VERY oily, and my hair and scalp are SOOO greasy! The breakouts mainly occur one week before my period and the week during. I know it has to be directly linked to the pill and hormones, but I thought it would get better with time!! It actually seems to be getting worse with time. I have tried Proactiv and tons of other face washes and products. Has anyone else experienced this and had anything work for them? Thanks!!

Does anyone suffer with polycystic ovarian syndrome. If so, what symptoms and treatments do you have? Just curious, as I think I am a candidate.

Hi Guys,

I'm getting a lot of acne around my mouth lately. I'm a 35 year old guy and have been suffering from acne since I've been 14. At the moment I'm using the exposed skin care range and also taken minosil. Any advice would be really welcome

Thanks.

Anyone else experienced this? If I cry, it often makes my acne much worst by the next day. Not sure if it is because of dehydration or some such.

It's so stupid. Acne really feels like a curse. You can't even allow yourself to cry when sometimes it's all that will feel right!

I am looking for a good mineral based makeup as an alternative to wearing foundation. I've notice that my breakouts get progressively worse when I wear foundation.

I am an African American women with medium brown skin and many of the major product lines don't carry my shade; not to mention makes my skin look ashy. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Please someone give me some guidance....

It was finally confirmed that I have folliculitis and not adult acne. I had suspected for years that I had folliculitis but I didn't know that I also DID NOT have acne. I believe I have other issues going on as well. My folliculitis didn't have any fungi or bacteria in the rupture biopsy so it was like a immune over response to my own hair/follicle.

I am now in the hands of derm that was a microbiologist first. With his new treatment I had a day and a half for normalcy and I made the most of it. I was back doing the things I loved and even started to make plans but last night and this morning new & old bumps have returned.

I'm into research by nature but researching my own issue for 7 years has made me very weary and tired. I was back to it today. Whenever I have new flare up I dive back in looking for the answer. Hoping for some detail, some angle I have missed that will cure me. Then you have to have guts & tact to show your doctor a study without offending him or looking like an idiot.

I'm so beyond the debate between a natural & orthodox approach. I just want a treatment that works with side effects that aren't too harsh.

Because I had that day and half of normalcy I realize how damaged my life as been due to my health challenges. It's impossible to to explain this to healthy friends though I've tried. At the moment I'm not in a good space but...

So what do I do? Why do I post this? I post this cause I know you guys get it. To wake up and have infections on your face is an experience that you don't soon forget.

Why do I keep fighting? I keep fighting because it's my right to have a happy life. I'M REALLY TRYING. Because I have a crappy health plan the costs are adding up. I'm gonna stick with this derm and see what he can do or discover. If he can't crack it then I have very few options left.
I've done holistic MD, I've done Ayuvedic, I've done antibiotics, I've done Accutane, I've done Clindamycin, I've tried Evoclin, I've done Oracea, I've done, 100% Raw low fat diet (lost 37 pounds), sulfur, salycilyc, glycolic, Cetaphil, Ivory, cortizone.

If they gave Michael Jackson an updated face can surgeons help me? I mean what are my options?

I can't tell you with each failure I get more weary --it compounds but let's keep trying. Let's win this!

Recap:
Zinc is one of the longest-studied nutrients that correlates with statistically significantly less acne. Some months ago, I discovered that around 200mg/day of zinc picolinate could, under some circumstances, make me dramatically acne-free for the first time ever. That led to a very long course of study, research and experiments.

For a megadose of zinc to affect acne dramatically, a good bet was that zinc is a cofactor in a reaction that affects acne. If you have a chemical reaction in the body like Zinc + X -> Y, then flooding the area with zinc will at least modestly increase the production of Y, since it makes it more likely that all the available "X" will get used up. After much study, I concluded that "Y" is actually zinc superoxide dismutase, or ZSOD. ZSOD comes with the usual labels people grope for in acne cures: anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, etc.

But then, what is the "X" that must be combined with zinc to make this reaction? If I have to overdose on zinc to get enough "Y", the implication is that what I'm really deficient in is "X". Like most people in America who eat meat, it's highly unlikely that there is any lack of zinc in my diet. If I could remedy my deficiency in "X", then I should be able to be acne-free without taking any zinc.

More study led me to conclude that "X" is melatonin. Melatonin slows cell division. It may decrease the production of androgens right in the skin. And perhaps most importantly, melatonin crosses the cell membrane and directly stimulates your DNA to produce the precursor to ZSOD, the molecule that zinc must combine with in order to create ZSOD.

Experiments with melatonin were immediately fruitful. By tending to my sleep cycle, I was soon able to be acne-free on less zinc, but still could not be acne-free reliably for long periods without any zinc supplement. Something was still missing.

The final piece of the puzzle was finding the fairly recent discoveries that show that, in modern life, we fail to effectively suppress daytime melatonin because we live in relatively dim indoor light. When you don't effectively suppress daytime melatonin by having your eyes in outdoor light all day long, two bad things happen. First, your gut thinks it's nighttime and you get carbohydrate malabsorption that keeps it from effectively digesting tryptophan (the fuel your body needs to make melatonin) and (tada!) zinc! Second, you get a "flattened" melatonin curve when you sleep at night -- your body simply doesn't produce the giant burst of melatonin at night that nature intended. The data fits this hypothesis nicely, including the most obvious points:

• Do low zinc levels correlate with acne? Yes.
• Do low tryptophan levels correlate with acne? Yes.
• Do low ZSOD levels correlate with acne? Yes.
• Can this explain why primitive tribes are acne-free? Yes.

This effect of daytime light is simply astounding. For example, I have long struggled with the ability to consume legumes. I bought into the standard advice that it's a problem of gut flora, if you eat them long enough your gut will adjust and digest them better without gas, etc. If I had a large Coke and a large burrito, the result was 100% predictable: great intestinal discomfort. However, I now know that was simply another problem of failing to suppress daytime melatonin. By living in outdoor light all day, I can slam down a Coke+burrito with zero intestinal discomfort, hardly any gas at all. I've repeated this experiment reliably several times, and outdoor light exposure is like a light switch (heh!) on my ability to digest legumes. I speculate that the growth in acid reflux disease (and the esophageal cancer it can lead to) is probably another result of living in dim light during the day that produces carbohydrate malabsorption.

The unfortunate thing is, although the pill-free cure for my acne is conceptually very simple, it's also very hard for modern people to accomplish. I had to buy a laptop with an extra-bright screen so I could work outdoors during the day -- most people have indoor jobs with no option of working outdoors. Just look at some the many ways we guarantee we won't have a natural melatonin cycle:

• Work indoors all day. Indoor light simply does not produce the definitive OFF signal for pineal melatonin that outdoor light does. Even on a severely overcast day, outdoor light is much more intense (and also simply contains much more of the blue-green frequencies most effective at shutting down melatonin production).
• Sleep in the midst of light pollution. Ironically, while bright light is needed to shut melatonin all the way off, very little light is needed to depress the nighttime surge of melatonin that you need to make lots of ZSOD. A night light, a street light shining into your bedroom. Trying to sleep when the sun is up. Flipping on a light when you go to the bathroom. All easy ways to destroy your nocturnal melatonin surge.
• Go to bed at different times. Want to catch that late movie on the weekend? It's just like a form of jetlag -- your body's 24-hour clock just got bumped and may take days to settle back down to match your regular bedtime again.
• Take in lots of caffeine. Caffeine will both depress your nocturnal melatonin peak and shorten the hours you sleep, both ways to become melatonin-deprived.
• Vegetarianism. Without meat, it becomes more difficult to get enough tryptophan and zinc in the diet. If you combine that with eating high-fructose foods like apples, pears, etc. and living in dim light during the day to produce fructose malabsorption, that greatly raises the odds of acne. This is not to say you can't be a vegetarian and acne-free, but it is plausible that some vegetarians might have to take a couple of pills to get there.
• Sunglasses, hats, travel in cars, etc. If you compare modern people to the completely acne-free primitive tribes that still exist, it's almost like we are comically trying to avoid getting any daylight in our eyes. We stay indoors all day. When we travel, we run from shaded building to shaded car (often with dark-tinted windows). We cover our eyes with dark glasses not just when the light is bright, but often just as a fashion statement when the light isn't even bright at all!
• Depression. Depression and a screwed-up melatonin cycle often go hand-in-hand. But of course, acne itself is strongly correlated with depression. This is a real chicken-and-egg scenario. What causes what? The mess is more complicated by the fact that anti-depressants may tinker with the melatonin cycle for better or worse themselves. What is easy to say is that it would be better to not be depressed if you want a normal melatonin cycle (but that may be a complete tautology for some people!).

A Zinc-less Zinc Regimen

I probably can't think of all the inventive ways people destroy their melatonin cycle, but here's the basic remedy to achieve natural levels of melatonin and ZSOD:

• Go to bed at the same time each night.
• Sleep in total darkness. (Black out your bedroom, go to sleep when the sun goes down, wear a sleep mask, never turn on a light in the middle of the night, etc.).
• Avoid caffeine, especially evening caffeine.
• Spend all day in outdoor light without sunglasses or hats.
• Sleep >= 8 hours. (This becomes easy when you stop megadosing caffeine and suppress your daytime melatonin.)

FAQ
That's too hard. I just can't...
Since I've been doing it for weeks now, I agree with you. I have the luxury of being able to choose to work outside, but it's a pain -- I essentially do office work out on my deck. It's a pain to say I can't go to that midnight movie. It's a pain to put tinfoil on the bedroom windows, wear a sleep mask, etc. It's a pain to open every shade in the house every morning and get my eyes outside ASAP. All I can say is, it's nothing like the pain of cringing when I have to go out in public with acne.
Can't I just take a pill?
Since there are periodic reports in the medical literature of people who hurt themselves by taking extreme doses of zinc (400mg/day, 800mg/day, even more) for their acne, I suspect you can just take a pill, but it could send you to the hospital eventually. I could argue in great detail why you cannot achieve the desired effect by taking melatonin orally, but the fact is many people have tried melatonin pills for acne and they just don't cure it. A melatonin pill before bedtime might help you sleep a little better and jumpstart a busted melatonin cycle, but you really won't need that if you effectively suppress your daytime melatonin. Put another way, if you need that bedtime melatonin pill to sleep, you probably still have a busted melatonin cycle.
Why me? How come my acne-free friends can...
I used to just throw my hands up at this and invoke the fairy dust of "it must be our genes". However, now that I have a detailed theory of the mechanism of acne that seems to me to hold water, I can say that there's a decent chance it's "you" in significant part because you are doing some things different than your friends. For example, in college, were most of my friends staying up until 4am and virtually never going outside like me? Hmmmm, not really. And once you induce carb malabsorption by screwing up your melatonin cycle, then suddenly all the Coke I love to drink does make some difference, and the formerly confusing fact that trying to eat "healthy" by eating fruit really didn't work is incredibly frustrating. The fact is, I suspect I can induce acne in most of the "acne-free" people you know: just keep them in dim light all day every day, keep them in bright light when they're trying to sleep, give them lots of high-fructose foods with every meal (Coke or apples -- your choice), and supply lots of caffeine. There may well be a genetic component to the "why me?" question, but it may be quite small compared the actual details of your acne-inducing lifestyle.
What about dairy?
I still don't know. The fact is, while living the outdoor lifestyle, I have been able to eat a suspicious amount of ice cream without the usually reliable cystic acne response, but I haven't pushed it. It is plausible that the mechanism for dairy producing acne is not beta cellulin, but simply sugar (lactose), and that once carbohydrate malabsorption is cured by suppressing daytime melatonin, dairy isn't a problem. But I do not yet feel certain of that.
Are you acne-free? What pills are you taking?
Every week that I stick with all the rules to maintain my melatonin cycle, I'm acne free. In fact, I sometimes cheat and have caffeine, or miss my bedtime. That sometimes results in a zit, but not always. I stopped taking zinc. I have stopped taking my normal complement of vitamins for a couple of weeks and stayed acne-free, but won't give them up for longer than that because I start getting arthritis.
Maybe it's just Vitamin D?
No. I've been Vitamin D replete for years (>50ng/dl) with no effect on acne. It's possible that if you're horribly Vitamin D deficient (many modern people are) you won't be able to absorb zinc well, compounding your problems. While working outdoors, I work in the shade with no direct sunlight on my skin (though as much view of sky in my eyes as possible). The only times my skin is in direct sunlight is when the sun is low in the sky (little UVB). So, despite spending massive hours outdoors, I haven't tanned at all so far this year. As always, any hope that Vitamin D is really a significant factor in curing acne has to overcome the hurdle of explaining why there's no epidemiological evidence that it varies strongly with latitude (Canadians should have way more acne than Texans if Vitamin D were crucial to the disease).
Can I do [...] instead?
Who knows? But if it's really important to you to get rid of the acne, set aside 2 weeks where you can strictly control your light exposure, and see whether this works. I say "set aside", because I find this regimen amazingly hard. The indoors couch is like a magnet for my butt; I initially had to literally keep a stopwatch outside to keep from fooling myself that I was spending more hours outside than I really was. If you can do it religiously for 2 weeks and it doesn't eliminate all new acne, then the heck with me and my theory. If it does, then you've gained some understanding of how you can control the disease and you can do your own experiments and make your own trade-offs.

wasup ya'll

so I went to the dermatologits like 1 month ago and given ( clindoxyl gel, retisol-a, and trimethoprim ) within a month I no longer have acne, but a shitload of redmarks that looks just as bad. Anyways, the doctor told me to put the clindoxyl gel all over my face, my acne is mostly on my cheeks, between my eyebrows and chin. I was like no way am i going to put this shit on my forehead for the tinest little bumbs ( like the girl on the proactive commercial - EVERYONE HAS THESE... SUCH A MARKETING SCAM.. FU PROACTIV) and he said fine, expect acne on your forhead... well one month later my forehead is complety clear and I couldn't be happier, i didn;t use anything but water. I had started going to the sauna and working up a huge sweat and would jump out and wash my back with soap... what do you know, giant pimples started forming a week later. So the last few days i havent touched anything to my back and what do you know... not a new spot has formed. I'm seeing my derm next week and im going to tell him all of this. What i'm saying is washing might be causing your acne, give your skin a break here and there and see what happens. you might be surprised.

im a 25 yr old male struggling with horrible skin. in the past i never really had acne, my face was clear and i never really had to worry about acne up until i was about 21. a few years ago my skin became bad all of a sudden and i began to experience several different health problems. as well as acne and red skin i have had seborrheic dermatitis on my scalp, psoriasis on my arms and legs, and hair loss.

i have tried everything to help my skin:

-benzoyl peroxide (horrible and probably ruined my skin the most)
-apricot scrub
-oil free acne washes/moisturizers
-cetaphil
-tea tree oil
-salycic acid
-apple cider vinegar
-pantothenic acid (B5) megadose

nothing has helped. i have really sensitive skin too.


ive also taken supplements (multi vitamin, milled flaxseed, fish oil, biotin, coral calcium) and have improved my diet (natural & organic products, eating more fruit)


i went to a dermatologist twice and he wasnt helpful. the visits lasted about 5 minutes tops and he just said "oh you have acne" and prescribed me some stuff called clindamycin phosphate topical lotion (1%) that has done nothing. it costs $30 a bottle and may be making my skin worse. he prescribed me somethin else but i never bothered to fill it. when i attempted to discuss my hairloss he didnt do much and just gave me a "oh youre probably balding, try rogaine" answer.

i have extremely red discolored skin on my entire face up to my forehead. on the side by my ear you can clearly see where my skin is red and then becomes a completely normal skin tone. it seems like the red skin has crept up higher.

over the past couple years ive been to different doctors numerous times as well as several blood tests. they cant tell me whats wrong and dont want to help. im very weary of doctors/dermatologists since they've done nothing for me except waste my money.


as i type this, i now have a huge breakout on the left side of my face right by my nose

i know this is acne.org but i suspect my skin problems are coming from a deeper health issue and no acne products will help because of it. ive been sick for awhile now and it cant be just coincidence that i notice these things at the same exact time.

im desperate

I have battled with acne for about 3-4 years now. It started after a majorly debilitating stressful event in my life, and persisted since then.
I get acne on my cheeks and on my forehead when I eat too much sweets and sugar, and never on my nose or chin. Weird.
After trying a bunch of holistic remedies I lost hope and went to a derm who put me on Solodyn 45 mg. I've been on it since then.
I tried topicals but have been unable to find one that would work without irritating my ultra sensitive skin. I am allergic to BP.
Last month I went to a different derm who prescribed Finacea gel as a topical.
This stuff is fabulous. My pores look invisible, and my skin glows after a month of using it. I still get occasional zit or two but no more clogged pores and uneven and rough skin texture. My skin is so smooth and touchable. The tube says to use it twice per day but I only use it at night.
I am still taking Solodyn but plan on stopping even though I am scared this will make me break out. I think I will wait until after my Birthday to stop the Solodyn.
Highly recommend Finacea for those who are prone to clogged pores and comedones. I am not sure if it works well for inflammatory acne though.
Please wish me luck as I am getting ready to stop Solodyn. Has anyone had any success stopping antibiotic? how are you supposed to do it? wean yourself off of it or stop it cold turkey. Any suggestions appreciated.
Let us stop acne it its tracks!

I was reading reviews and I read about Hibiclens. I wanted to try it and I cannot beleive the difference it has made. I had huge cysts on my face, zits on my lip line, zits that would never really go away but come raging back. I am clearer than ever! I have been using it for a week with my coconut oil - and my skin is clear. With coconut oil alone I was clearer--but could still feel the hard lumps under the skin. Then I had two little pimples turn into infected disgusting spots. I thought it might be staph- so I read on this site about Hibiclens. Its weird, runny, smelly, you cant get it in your eyes or ears--but its cheap, over the counter, and it works!!!!!!
My skin is glowing, smooth--no lumps!! red spots fading, and my pores (once the size of quarters ) have shrunk. My once insanely oily skin that wouls separate my makeup by the end of the day is now normal. for the first time in almost 20 years- I went to work today with minimal makeup--minimal foundation put on with a sponge--no concealor--looking fresher than in my 20's. I dont know how long it will last-- but I hope you all will at least try it! I had never heard of it --- until here. And I have tried EVERYTHING like many of you.
My father who is a surgeon just said - hmm yeah. and I was like "I COULD HAVE SAVED MY YOUTH" i know - a little dramatic- but acne SUCKS!
rub in the solution and then exfoliate for 2 minutes. Rinse off
then I rub coconut oil into my skin. I still use an eye cream but thats it.
good luck!

Sorry if this is a repeat by any chance...

So, yesterday I talked with a woman that is 35 and who has really beautiful skin.
She told me that she has been battleing acne since she was 14, right until 5 years ago.
I asked for her secret, and she told me that at least 4 times a week she takes her husband's sperm (I don't think I need to explain how? ) and she puts it on her skin for at least half an hour (eew?)
She claims it has done wonders not just for her acne but also wrinkles.

Does this sound a bit far fetched? Anyone tried it?

P.S. If it worked for someone else, then while I'm at it, I'd like to say that I'm single and available

Okay here goes.

I have had acne since I was 13 years old. From that age I have been using acne products till now. I'm 24 years old now.

I have been prescribed with benzoyl peroxide creams and gels when I was younger and was prescribed retin-a when I was around 18.

So basically I have been putting chemicals on my face for about 10 years now, I don't count everyday because I sometimes stopped using the medicines for a couple of months and then started it again.

I have also been on and off antibiotics (oxytetracycline). I am still taking this medicine now but I am trying to stop it slowly. I understand that this medicine if taken for a long, your body will get used to it and will depend on it, so I am stopping it very slowly so that I don't get a sudden increase in acne.

Anyway, just recently I have been thinking to myself that if doctors have given me all their medications and still my acne does not go then what could be the problem. Then I thought to myself that if I let my skin just do its job naturally without using any chemical or cream it should put it back into shape.

So I started to wash my skin only with water and nothing else, I don't even use a moisturizer.

What I do is every three to four days I wash my face at night with a cleanser and I exfoliate then apply coconut oil before going to bed.

Then the next day when I wake up I just wash my face with warm water, then cold water then just leave it to dry.

I do this every morning and night for the next 3-4 days.

Overall my skins colour has returned back to normal and the texture is coming back to normality.

The problem I have is my skin is oily but at the same time dry, how can I explain this? Well, its very flaky outside but inside it oily.

I just wanted to know if by using this method will return my skin back to normality? Does this happen in the beginning stages, meaning the oily/dry flaky skin?

If someone has used this method can you please tell me the results of how your skin went by doing this?

The reason I want to do this is simple really, when I was a child I never ever used cleanser to wash my face, just splashed plain water to wash my face then I applied some sort of cream afterwards but not all the time. So if I done this when I was a child and there was not skin problems before than doesn't it make sense that the more simpler it is the better it is?

And I don't believe in dermatologists any more or any cosmetic companies, I think all of them are in it just for the money.

You buy a cream to deal with problems then this cream gives you more problems, so you go to the dermatologist and they give you some treatment, this works for a couple of months then stops working, so you go back and they give you something else, and that works for a couple of months then it stops working and your skin just gets worser and worser because of all the shit that its going through.

Anyway, sorry for the long post, I hope someone here can tell others that keeping it simple is the right method.

I am a thirty yr old women who has suffered with acne for 5+ yrs. I have used proactive and everything else I can find on the market, nothing has helped. I just moved from NY to Long Beach CA. and am meeting new people everyday, looking for a job and trying to not be completely embarrassed and self conscious. I am in tears. I need clear skin to get a job. I am a waitress and no one wants to see pimples and bumps and scabs and scars when they go out to eat! I need some help!!

Hi everyone,

I posted a longer version in the Aleve section as I had been experimenting with Aleve when I started this but I thought everyone should hear what I have to say. I started wiping my face with rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball about three times a day, everywhere (even where there was no acne), and after 6 weeks, I have gotten maybe two pimples. I felt some tiny places that seeemed like a pimple was going to form, but they went away really fast. At night I also use BP all over my face. I know people say rubbing alcohol is bad for your skin but my skin loves it right now and it's not dry and flakey because I use a good moisturizer. I'm going to use this stuff until it stops working! I haven't had clear skin since a few months after I went on Accutane when it slowly came back (but not nearly as bad). I also clean my make up tools before and after I use them with rubbing alcohol now to make sure there is no bacteria on them when I put them on my face and when I touch it to my makeup jars (as those can accumulate bacteria). I wish there was some sort of solution to put in foundation every once in awhile to kill bacteria. I feel like you could put a bit of rubbing alcohol in there and it would evaporate quickly but I haven't tried.

Anyways I will post in a little while to let everyone know if it's still working. I went through my first pms cycle without a breakout a few weeks ago- it was amazing! And rubbing alcohol is so cheap. I have prescription BP with an antibiotic in it (clindoxyl), but I have just been using store bought BP at night, which is waaaay cheaper and clearly the antibiotic wasn't doing wonders for my skin. I'm trying to look up online to see if bacteria can grow resistant to rubbing alcohol, but I don't think so.

Anyone else have success with rubbing alcohol? Any feedback, suggestions, etc. would be great!

Has anyone noticed their acne treatments have any effect on facial wrinkles?

I noticed that accutane has the most positive effect on wrinkles. It reduces them very significantly. I'm also on tazorac 0.05% but it's irritating so I only use it 3x per week, hence I doubt it's doing much for wrinkles. I've also used AHA 8-10% for years and it doesn't seem to do much for wrinkles.

Hello girlys,

Ok, am freaking out!!


Since I have started taking Dianette which has been amazing for my skin and boobage growth, I have found that I have developed celulite for the first time in my life on my bum and thighs!

I have never in my life had even one dimple of celulite and now in the space of two months I have been on dianette I have started getting it!

Am v upset now as I feel that I have permenantly affected my body because of this pill and am not sure what to do. I know I must sound like a paranoid health freak but im really not! I thought mabey i am being paranoid about this sudden occurence of celulite so i did some research on the net and have read that women on oral contraceptive pills are more likely to get cellulite because the body cant get rid of the great amount of oestrogen and how the oestrogen enlarges fat cells under the skin.

This is a quote from one of the article

Cellulite often forms in postnatal women and those who take birth control pills because the waste system can't get rid of the enormous flow of estrogen in the body

http://www.fredysnet.com/id68.html

So now I have read all this Im very sure that dianette is the cause of my sudden cellulite especially as it has a high oestrogen content.

I even have love handles now where as before I had always been so skinny! I used to wish to gain weight so much but now I have I dont think I like it!


Feel like I have caused irreversable damage to my once smooth dimple free thighs and bum. Damn it!

Has anyone else experienced this?

Dont know what to do now as Im going on holiday at the end of july to st tropez in south of france and everyones so damn stunning there and im worried that if i stop now I will get a major breakout all over my back and chest and that wont be good. Also my boyfriend is coming back from abroad after 5 months and it wont do for him to see me all spotty!

Can any one also advise on when I should stop the pill in order for my breakout to not coincide with my holiday or arrival of sex starved boyfriend?

Mabey I should switch to a pill with a lower oestrogen content. But all the ones for acne are all high in oestrogen damn it!

Damn acne and celulite! Damn then all!!

Sorry to go on but had to get that all out.

Feel sligtly better now.

But still dimply

I have an open wound on my face that wont heal. I normally have clear skin, but recently I broke out with bad cystic acne due to stress- I was prescribed doxycycline but had to go off of it after just a week because of the horrible side effects- nausea, burning itchy skin, etc. So now I have been trying natural remedies/ supplements like coconut oil, zinc, acv, probiotics, omega 3 oil, etc., and I think everything is definitely making a difference because my skin is soft and smooth now with less acne in general, so I know I am on the right track. My main problem still is this one spot that simply wont heal. I don't know how to describe it except as an open wound. It is flat- not a bump at all, and it is "wet" for lack of a better word. If I put a tissue on it, it leaves a wet spot on the tissue (clear). It's not oozing, it just wont form skin over it. Overnight it forms a thin cover but this comes off the second I wash my face because it is not skin- it's like a thin film that is basically the pus dried up on it. I have to cover this with makeup TOMORROW so I need to figure out how to deal with this today! So far today, I have been putting neosporin on it and putting a tissue over it to absorb any wetness every 30 minutes or so since I figure it's best to let anything like that come out. It is the size of an eraser tip. It is close to my jaw, but on the side of my face, almost on the jaw. Has anyone ever had anything like this? What helps?

I read a lot of stuff about acne in females being related to hormone "imbalances." So I was thinking about weight-lifting, which increases androgen production. I didn't start getting acne until I was about 18 or 19, and am now 25. I started lifting weights religiously when I was about 18 or so. Could I have messed up the hormone balance in my body? I have six siblings and am the only one with any acne problems. I am also the only one who lifts weights. I realize a lot of people who go to the gym don't have acne, but everyone's body is different. Maybe some of us can't handle the increase in androgen production brought about by strenuous weight lifting.

Just a thought--