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

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?

(For adults only, since it's not clear it's been studied in kids, or that there's a known safety record for taking mega-doses of niacinamide for years on end.)

Since people are taking niacin (often, a less safe form of niacin not shown to have any relevance to acne) for acne, I thought it worth pointing out you can roll your own version of a niacin treatment that was actually studied and that produced a measurable impact on acne symptoms for a significant percentage of those studied. Though sold as a prescription med as Nicomide, you can get all the ingredients off of iHerb.com (probably many other places as well):

• 3 Niacinamide pills
• 1 zinc pill
• 1/2 tablet copper
• 1/2 tablet folic acid

Take one set of these per day with meal. Allow 8 weeks for results (if any) to be established.

Nicomide is one of the more successful supplements for acne/rosacea, assuming their study wasn't fudged.

Of course, self reporting is a lousy way to measure an acne treatment, one designed to give your product every percentage point due to placebo effect and optimistic patient bias. Still, for people dreaming of a pill solution, it's a chance to try something that was actually studied, where there's actually some record of safety (in adults, at least).

It may be that the megadose of niacinamide acts on acne exactly as one of the downstream effects of melatonin does: by regenerating glutathione, which takes out the excess superoxide that P. acnes needs to create inflammation.

Hi, I would really love to hear somebodies opinion that took accutane for mild/moderate persistant acne. I had very oily skin and mild acne and was given a normal course of accutane. I took 40mg/day for 2 months and 80mg/day for 4 months. I weighed 160 lbs. My acne was clear in a week. Was it right for the derm to continue to give me so much. i feel like i couldve been clear permanently from a few months on 40mg. The reason i ask is because i am now dealing with many side effects to this day. And i finished my course 3 years ago...

My skin is still dry

My eyes still burn

My joints kill me..i can no longer exercise or jog

My hair is still falling out excessively

And to top it off...i have so many wrinklessss now

I hate that dermatologist

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 JULY**

It has been just over a month since I made this discovery. I have stopped taking all other medication and only take a daily dose of 500mg no-flush niacin that I bought at the grocery store. I have realized that the multivitamin that I have been taking for the last 10 years has 50mg of niacin, so that was obviously never enough. My face now continues to heal wonderfully, including what I thought was permanent scarring. I have been eating lots of pizza and french fries lately. I guess I am making up for all the years when I could not touch that stuff without dire consequences. I even have a lovely girlfriend now who is considerably younger than I am. Two months ago I would not have had the confidence or the inclination to even talk to girls because I felt like a monster. I am glad to see that a few people have also had positive results from taking niacin.

Hi all,

I'm new to this website. I've struggled with acne since I was 15 years old - my main memories of high school are strategically styling my hair so I could cover up my face so no-one would see.

Pimples have become a part of my life and I've learned to manage having a few pimples at a time but recently I've started experiencing full-blown acne attach and it won't go away. Cysts, whiteheads, blackheads, scarring, scabs - I stare in the mirror and count the spots - there is no way to cover them up, make up just seems to make it more noticeable. I'm embarressed to go to work, I don't want my husband to look at me. I'm just so upset - I mean, I'm 30 years old...can't I catch a break...

I've been on acutane twice, the last time about 5 years ago. I will say that it did work and kept the breakouts at bay for a few years (after an inital 2 month period of horrible painful breakouts) but the side effects are tough - bleeding gums, dry eyes, the meds just suck all the liquid out of your body. I've used creams, over the counter and prescription, I've taken antibiodics, I feel like if it is out there I've tried it. I'm going to head back to the dermotologist...I know he's going to say actuane though - that may be my only option

Anyways, really just wanting to vent to people who understand where I am coming from. It is depressing and difficult to be a grown woman who looks like she is going through puberty. I look so unprofessional at work. I feel unattractive at home.

It's my achillies heal - always has been and looks like it always will be

Hi I'm Dulce and I am 26. My acne wasn't this bad when I was in high school. I had some pimples but they were pretty small. Now they are about medium size. LOL. To me anyways. Well I recently went to the doctors for something else and mentioned my acne. He looked at my face and said he will refer me to a dermatologist and prescribed me Clindamycin Phosphate. He said to use this once a day. Either the morning or at night. I use that at night and then put my benzoyl peroxide on top of that.

Now this stuff is a liquid and smells straight up like rubbing alcohol. I actually thought it was but obviously it's not it would say it's alcohol. Right? Well I just wanted to know everyone's thought on this product. Thank you for reading can't wait for your replies!

-Dulce

I was wondering if anyone here is in there 40s or 50s thats still gets acne like me?im in my early 40s and i still get acne.Im thinking of going on accutane im really getting tired of this i have had acne over 30 years.about 14 years my acne stoped for about a year.then after that it started again.so im wondering if anyone here is in there 40s or 50s that still gets acne like me?or am I the only one?

Hello All, I just joined the forums here but have been perusing this website for years. I'm going through a particularly horrible bout of acne and thought I would post my history... more as a sort of cathartic emotional therapy...

----

I first started to have acne around age 13. I never thought it was a big deal as a kid, as many other kids that age had it as well, but this stayed with me through the end of highschool. it started to affect my self image quite a bit in those days. once out of school and into my early 20's hardly a week would go by without 2 or 3 big red pimples on my face.

As I got into my late 20's the acne started to get worse. I began to develop cystic acne underneath the skin. these would last for weeks at a time and really affected my mood, self-esteem, temper etc. I had tried every over the counter medicine imaginable. nothing worked. NOTHING. the emotional distress was even worse at this time because I had always expected to "grow out of it" by then. most people my own age had, why hadn't I?

I discovered acne.org and Dan's regimen 3 years ago. Feeling I had nothing left to lose I jumped in. After about a month of using cetaphil, BP, and moisturizer my face really started to clear. it was pretty amazing to me. I went from have 4 or 5 constant big cysts down to having maybe 1 or 2 normal pimples a week. eventually this went down to 0, with the occasional weekly small disturbance. the only problem is the bp did irritate my face, and it had a pretty much constant light red tinge around my T area. I also suffered occasionally with dry flaky skin.

Every time I tried dropping the BP from my regimen the breakouts would appear again, so I would go back on it. I read a lot about the potential long term side-effects of bp even in small doses... cancer, toxification, sun sensitivity etc. but I stuck with this regimen for 3 years to pretty good success.

I am now 32, almost 33. in August 09 I started to develop some alarming general health problems related to inflammation and allergic responses. this forced me to take a look at what and how I was taking care of my body. I changed my diet dramatically in order to address these problems... no dairy, meat, or sugars of any form (no fruit, no honey, no white carbs etc). I revised the topicals I was using on a day-to-day basis. I cut out anything unnatural. No BP or Cetaphil. I started washing my face with just water and following up with ACV and jojoba oil as moisturizer. I also started drinking small amounts of ACV with water. I did this for 1 month. This helped my condition tremendously and I can safely say the ACV, taken internally, has been a real boost to my overall health. AND it controls those relentless sugar cravings.

One of the most dramatic side effects of my diet/regimen change has been a face perfectly clear of acne. My skin has not looked so clear and so healthy in 18 years! I was amazed, and emboldened.

I slowly started adding ingredients back into my daily life. I added tea tree oil to my ACV toner, which helped at first, but after a couple weeks this started to break me out again. I got rid of it, but now the pure ACV wasn't working nearly as well as before. Since my overall health had improved, I also started to eat meat again and slowly started consuming dairy products and sugar again...

BIG MISTAKE!

...4 weeks ago, after admittedly taking way too much dairy/sugar the week before, my face literally exploded with hormonal cystic acne around the jawline... at least 15 big red underground cysts! I was horrified. I immediately cut out the dairy and most extra sugar, and while this helped some, the extant of this breakout was just too much too handle. the ACV I felt had stopped working so I switched to witch hazel (couldn't find the non-alcohol kind). I felt this worked some, but not much. slowly over the past few weeks the pimples started to go away, but now there are new ones that pop up in their place.

I am now back on the ACV toner, though I've stopped taking it internally because I'm underweight and suspect that drinking ACV was a factor in preventing weight gain. This morning I went back on the BP regimen because I cannot take this anymore. I was trying not to use the BP but apparently my body combined with natural topicals and healthy diet just cannot get rid of these suckers. if the BP helps (hope to god it does) I plan on stop using it once the cystic acne goes away completely and going back to the natural regimen.

this whole recent experience has been very traumatizing. after having perfect skin for about a month, to wake up to the worst breakout of my life is very disheartening. If there is one thing I have learned from this recent experience it is this... what you put in your body affects your body, and if your body is under duress it will show in your face. Milk, sugar, yogurt, icecream... even cheese yes, cheese; these are things I will no longer be putting in my body. I will have to cut down dramatically on red meat. I've read it elsewhere too, but anything that comes from a cow should be avoided... they really aren't even cows anymore... just biological petri dishes.

I'm very grateful to this community and have garnered some very valuable advice over the years by browsing this site. I will keep everyone updated to my progress.

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.

Hi,
I would like to know if anyone has tried Seabucthorn products like the oil, a cream or a soap.

I am 33 years old and my acne is under control with Diane 35 and RAM.
I am noticing now that my skin is getting dryer and fine lines are appearing. There are a million creams out there for these issues, but even though i dont have active acne, i am still very much acne prone when i use the wrong products.

Seabuckthorn interests me, because it looks like a great moisturizer, and it seems to be recommended for acne as well.
I am hesitant to apply oil on my face... And I am not sure about using actual SOAP on my face either...

Any comments would be appreciated!

Anyone ever used Suave Men 3-in-1 Shampoo + Conditioner + Bodywash

Convenient all-over hair and body care
With keratin amino acids and glycerin
For normal hair & skin

I feel like its helping my face,
I also was using calamine Lotion on my face for awhile but Stopped because it felt it was poisoning me if that makes sense. The calamine lotion Cleared my Blackheads.

Anyone use Keratin Shampoo? and can give me scientific evidence? Maybe it breaks down the dead keratin better than those shitty acne Creams with Peroxide and Acids.

I am option # 3.

I just wanted to post my experience. I never had any acne to speak of really until age 25, then it just hit me like a bomb. I ended up going to a dermatologist, was put on minocycline and differin. After about six months, the infection was gone, but I still used differin, which is rather expensive. Lately I've just been using benzoyl peroxide and it works about 70 percent, but I still always have visible pimples on both sides of my chin, occasionally my upper lip, always at the temples and across my forehead. Any my face is always super dry from the Benzoyl Peroxide.
Plus the benzoyl constantly stains my clothes, and I'm 29, I'm really sick of having to deal with acne!!

So, five days ago, I bit the bullet, did some research on urine therapy, and decided what the heck, it'd be cheaper, and maybe my face wouldn't be so dry, since urine apparently is a good moisturizer. After five days of washing my face with facial soap at night and in the morning, and applying urine using a cotton swab three to four times a day, I have ZERO noticeable acne spots, and nothing getting ready to erupt, which has never happened before. If I had gone five days without applying BP at night, I would look like a pizza and probably wouldn't leave my house I'd be so broken out. I also haven't applied a moisturizer yet, which obviously means it works for that as well. The urine doesn't smell after you apply it to your face, it gets absorbed, I don't wash it off, and am 110% happy with the results. Just thought I'd report my results and let you decide for yourself.

I just joined the site and I'm looking for help. I have been suffering with adult onset acne for a while now. I have really painful cystic acne and it was under control for a while when I was taking birth control. I stopped taking the bc because it was killing my sex drive and I was getting horrible migraines all the time. Not to mention that I got worse PMS while on it and I was an emotional wreck each month. So rather than deal with that all the time I figured I'd see how bad my skin would be without it. 6 months later I'm starting to get really depressed about how my skin looks. I'm broken out all over my cheecks on one side of my face and my chin and between my eye brows. The dermo wanted to put me on accutane, but I said I wanted to exhaust my options first before dealing with a drug that could potentially cause far worse damage than acne.

I have taken oral anti-biotics in the past with not much improvement. I have really sensitive skin, so topical stuff almost always causes me to have a rash or some type of chemical burn if there's harsh chemicals in them. Even switching moisturizers or face cleansers tends to freak my skin out, so I try to avoid switching products a lot.

The Dr. put me on Duac about a month ago and at first I was just using it as a spot treatment because I didn't want to have a major reaction to it if I put it all over my face. That wasn't doing much so I decided to try a small patch on my chin and boy was that a mistake. My chin was actually fine, but I woke up the next day and one side of my face looked like I had a horrible burn. It got so red and sore and started to scab up the day after. I went back to using as a spot treatment but that really is useless. I can't figure out why if I used it on my chin a totally random patch of skin on my cheeks would get red and irritated, but either way, I'm done with Duac.

I have been reading a lot about this new stuff, Aczone, so I am going to go to the derm this week and see if he will prescribe that. From what people have said it can cause some dryness but I am hoping I wont have this horrible reaction with that as well.

Anyone else out there with super sensitive skin have any suggestions for what to use? Your help is greatly appreciated

Thanks!

2ra

Hi all

Am basically young, but look terribly old and still have acne - cut to the bottom of the post for the actual question. I think the rest is just me having a rant and looking for someone who understands what Im going through!

A introduction- I'm 28, have olive skin that tans/never burns, but grew up in the sun whilst using acne treatments (had acne only on face, since the age of 11) and ended up getting sunburnt on my face quite a few times because of them. Since 15 or so I have rarely been out in the sun, but I feel the damage was already done even by then.

At 19 I went on the pill and it worked ok for clearing up the acne but unfortunately wasnt for me for other reasons. At 26 after having blemishy but relatively manageable/clearish skin for the first time, I started getting a few really painful cystic spots along the side of my face and that has pretty much continued on now.

Historically I found AHA's, BP, Proactive range, Retin-A, Microdermabrasion and even the Clearasil Ultra range to be successful at managing my acne, however none of them gave me properly clear 'normal' skin. I do however believe they were all the cause for what I now have - in addition to 3 or 4 painful cystic spots along my hairline- I have extraordinary 'dynamic' wrinkles/crepiness all over my face, especially down the sides and on my cheeks when I smile, and melasma and deepish wrinkles on my forehead. Also very large pores on my cheeks.

As I am 28 and grew up under the sun (although never intentionally went out 'tanning') I expect to have a few premature wrinkles, but when compared to my mother who has near perfect skin at the age of 60 yet, and even friends and family who are actually all 5 or more years older, my skin has still aged considerably worse than average. I think the Retin-a exacerbated the problem, despite the common idea that it is meant to improve wrinkles!

I stopped the retin-a a week ago and the spots have come back. Am only using Aqueous Cream now as face wash and moisturiser in a desperate attempt to see if i can restore some plumpness to my skin. It seems to not affect the spots, at least for the moment. But I suspect that after about a week the blackheads, blocked pores and a sudden breakout all over my face might be the only result and the crepy-ness/wrinkles will remain.

Sorry for the long post.. just wanted to put it out there and see if anyone else has experienced damage from their acne products as well as the inevitable progression of wrinkles that come with age and wonder how people are dealing with it? It almost seems like you can only be free of one, as the treatment for each seem contradictory!

I have read through the forums and i haven't read anything that is like mine issue, so maybe someone out there can help me understand what is going on...


I never had bad acne growing up, but about 2 years ago i started to have "pimples" on my chin. nothing bad, thought it was my diet or the dirt from being outside all the time.

Well now i work in an office, i don't wear makeup EVER, i only use a mild soap to wash my face with. and now i have these cyst like things on my face (chin) same spot each and every time. so a few weeks ago i went to the doctor cause i wasn't feeling well and while i was there i asked him what they were. he said they were like boils and to put anti-bacterial cream on it. well that did nothing, and i mean nothing, didnt get better didnt get worse. just nothing. finally after about a week it "popped" and it was like a white pus mixed with blood. then 2 days after that a new one on the otherside of my chin appeared. now let me tell you about them. they hurt, they feel like the skin is very thin and i don't see a head.


So anyone know what the heck they are and what can i do to get them to go away and maybe stay away... Thanks

Hi ladies,

I need you help I'm debating on sprio or Androcure(cyproterone acetate).
I have severe acne and for many years I was on Accutane .about 9 months a go I started diane 35 but I had to stop it after only one month.I had adverse reaction to the pill.
now after six month I had to go back on accutane since I developed cyctic acne thanks to Diane
I was happy that finally my acne is getting better but hair started to shed.my derm told me that was because of BCP that I took and it will slow down by tiem.well that never happened and I feel my body hair and facial fuzz are getting darker.

so I 'mkind of worried.I keep thinking maybe mybody has gotten too sensitive to androgens.
I'm asking if anyone has ever used androcur with out diane or any other bcp.

I heard that it can mess up periods and that why it usually has to be taken with bcp

also anyone ever used both spiro and Androcur?I'm just too scared to choose between these two and my Dr is no help
Thanks

It would be a sin if I didnt come back here to share my success with everyone. I basically figured out on my own through much hours of research and trial and error how to get rid of my acne. I'll try to make a long story short and get right to how clear your skin. A little about my acne problem, my acne actually started at 18 from 18 to 22 it was horrifying and really bad, I had used every thing under the sun, proactiv worked for a while but in the end made the acne worse and dried out my skin. Well here I am now I will be turning 28 in January and my skin looks great, I only get maybe one spot around my period but most of the time my face is clear and I look good without makeup. Luckily I dont have much scarring because I did have severe cystic acne a couple years ago all over my face and my jaw area. I only have one indented scar but it is not noticable only to me. Anyway hers what I learned, we all have sensitive skin!!! Even men, most products for acne are loaded with chemicals and fragrance and are way to irritating to the skin. I think I tried every acne product known to man and none ever gave me good long lasting results and most made the acne and dryness even worse. So I quit using topicals, I slowly cut them out of my routine to where I was using nothin but cetaphil to help remove eye makeup and mineral powder. I only wash my face at night now and not even every night. Honestly it took a while atleast a few months of not using topicakls to see the acne going away. It takes time for the skin to shed and renew and recover from the topicals!! If I knew then what I know know I would of never suffered with acne. A lot of people will say its not the makeup or its not the face wash and then you start to go crazy because you wonder why the hell do I have acne then? If you have acne only on your face something you are putting on your face is causing it! Whether its makeup or face wash or shaving cream!!! I have a life now, I had such bad acne I wouldnt even leave my house and slowly over the past 2 years since my skin has cleared up I got my life back. It will take time but if you start using gentle healthy things on your skin over time the acne will fade more and more!!!! The only things I have used on my face are cetaphil face wash and lotion,acv,aloe vera gel, and now a month ago I started using Loreal Transformance cause it has antiaging benefits with vitamin c. Ofcourse drinking water,eating mostly healthy, and vitamins help as well, they help in not only keeping your skin clear but in healing scars as well. I just had to share my story, Im so happy to have my life back and be able to look in the mirror and say I look good today!!!! If I can help anyone, feel free to contact me. Good luck and god bless everyone I know your pain all to well but you can have clear skin ACNE CAN BE CURED!!!!!!!

I am at my wits end here...I am 31 years old and I still have acne. It changes in severity but is usually somewhere b/w mild to moderate. It also changes locations...sometimes on one side of my face, sometimes on my chin or forehead only, other times on my back or arms or neck or chest. It doesn't make sense. NO ONE elso in my family has had acne at this age. NO ONE. So why me? The only time I have been completely clear in my life was when I was a kid (previous to age 15) or during my second pregnancy. The whole being clear while prego thing really confuses me b/c I've tried bc pills with little to no avail. So if it was hormonal, why don't bc pills work? BP helps alittle. The only thing that has ever worked is Accutane but it stops working as soon as I quit taking it. I just keep thinking "maybe next year I will outgrow it." But it never happens. I don't even know where to start or what to do anymore. There is so much info out there and it's really overwhelming. Can anyone shed some light on my situation please

Are there any sites out thereor ways to find a good dermatologist? I'm thinking a place where real people can post real reviews/descriptions??

For me in particular, I'm looking to find a decent dermatologist in the Richmond or Charlottesville, VA area.

someone who talks to you for more than minutes, someone who doesn't just look at you for half a second then say here try this and give you a bag of retin-a.

Some doctors out thre really are a waste of money, and I fdont have much money or insurance and I'd like to find a good one.

thanks for any and all help.

Once again I'm stuck with acne on one side of my face while the other is completely clear. Sometimes it's the left side that breakouts, sometimes the right one, sometimes a bit of both. But I find it strange how often I end up with a breakout on one side only.

Right now it's all on the right side of my face, while the left side is completely clear. It's like night and day. What gives?

I have had much less sleep for the past week before of renovations close to my house, and I've been feeling sick to the stomach since Sunday and it's like I have diarrhea (not really, but sort of, it just doesn't feel right). I noticed this actually happens to me often, I don't know why.

Not sure if it's related to my breakout on one side of my face or what, but there has to be a reason.

And it can't be my pillow case, I never really sleep on the same side constantly, and I change it often. Also I don't use a phone daily so that's not it.

The only thing I did differently was eat some salmon on Sunday, and again yesterday. But it's not like this is the cause of my usual breakouts, although it could have something to do with the stomach ache, I'm not sure.

Any ideas?

Greetings All,
I am a very new member. Brief summary. I am 35, have acne problems for 20yrs now. I did the whole accutane thing 4 times. I use Proactiv every now and then in the Summer. However my main problem is the "over productive sebum producing glands" that is the main enemy.
It seems like annnnnnnything I eat, except for water, brings on the Oil war from my glands. Either I just eat water for good and die with a GREAT complexion or eat food and live with a constant oily acne face. Any food thoughts??
Also anytime I try to exercise, I break out more and more and more. And another fun tidbit, I heard that fish oil is good to stop acne, so I tried doing the Omega 3 pills everyday and it also makes my face worse. I even took many multi vitamin pills with lots of vitamin A but once again ruins my face. Is there any hope because I am at my wits end?? The only thing that really worked was doing Accutane 12 years ago, however I still have some side effects from it so I dont want to do it for the 5th time.

Thank you to all for your time for any advice or wisdom!

Sincerely,
20+ year frustrating acne veteran

Hi all. If you are 25+ and still have acne, please take part in this poll!
As for me, I am option # 2. My acne is due to genetics...

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!!

At what age is it most common for males to scar facially?

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I am new to acne.org. I never wouldve thought I would need to join, but here I am trying to get some help and advice from women that have been through this. At 15 years old, I finished yet another round of antibiotics and the Dr had no other choice but to prescribe Accutane. For 7 years I was acne free. Beautiful skin! I had my first baby November of 2008. I had absolutely no acne while I was pregnant or after. In January of 2009 I had the Mirena IUD placed. Then, thats where it all goes down hill. I started breaking out in June, July, and August. I went to the dermatologist and had the IUD removed. I am now on ortho tri cyclen lo, and minocycline. Its my second month of ortho tri cyclen lo, and 2nd day of minocycline. I am also using Acanya and benzoyl body wash. Please tell me this will get better. I am trying to be patient. But I am extremely down. I fixate on this all day long. It obviously has to be hormonal. Am I doing the right things here? I beg of someone to help me, or give me advice, anything. Its ruining my life. I no longer work out, I barely want to go to work, and dont want to see anyone anymore. I just want my life back. Anything would be so greatly appreciated.

I've been using Neutragena's Healthy Skin anti-wrinkle cream for acne prone skin. I've had great success with it. I just found out that they dicontinued it! The cosmetic girl at my local pharmacy told me that few product lines carry that combination because "there aren't many people with wrinkles and acne". (sigh ) Any suggestions?

Britney Spears





Cameron Diaz (bless her)







and found this info too:

Justin Timberlake

November 29, 2004 - Anonymous writes "Alot of people wonder why Justin Timberlake prefers to sit in the shade, avoids the sun in most cases, and prefers to occassionally visit the beach. The reason? The 23 year old has been taking Accutane the last 2 years to avoid acne breakouts. As a young adult, the *NSYNC star suffered from pimples in his teenage years and today goes to all extincts to avoid breakouts. Most cases he keeps a strict and healthy diet, drinks minimum 8 classes of water and keeps very minimal consumption of alcohol (most clubs lately he drinks only water bottles) Under accutane prescription the young Hollywood store is set to only occassionally receive limited sun exposure. The next time someone asks why Justin looks pale, now y'all got the answer. That's the inside tip- Beverly"


Keep posting if you have any pics people. This thread could easily make us all feel a lotm ore happier that even the celebs go through what we go through!