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.

Hello,

Every six months or so, I break down and come to this board searching for advice. I usually get a handful of responses. If anyone can relate to my experience, please help me.


I'm now 23, and have had complexion problems since I was 14. I have been on six courses of Accutane. I've gone to 8 dermatologists, 1 research hospital, 1 infectious disease specialist, 3 family doctors, 1 allergist, 1 internal medicine doctor, multiple aestheticians, and several walk-in clinics to try to resolve my problem. I've been on every antibiotic possible, probably at least 5 times or more for certain ones. I've tried every topical possible, all the retinoids, BP, SA, other acids, light therapy, and strange things recommended on this website. I've also tried extensive diet modifications, and vitamin supplements. My family has easily spent tens of thousands of dollars to try to remedy my situation. Two times, my acne evolved into gram-negative folliculitis and was so bad pictures of me were used in a teaching college for new doctors.

My skin problems come in waves. I'll attach two pictures to show you what I mean. Sometimes my skin is flawless (and somehow never seems to severely scar) and other times my skin is so inflamed I lock myself in my room for weeks at a time.

Right now, my skin is pretty bad again. I have two giant, watery pus oozing things on my cheek, and countless inflammed folicles, which emit hard pus deposits every few hours. It's like they're unhealable wounds and they just won't go away. I also have a giant boil on my back, with a giant red circle around it. My doctor has me on a newer antibiotic called Solodyn, which is basically just time-release minocycline, which I have been on probably 10 times. This medicine has horrible reviews online and seems to not really work for anyone, only cause liver enzyme damage and permanent drug-induced lupus - great! Also, even if this drug does begin to work (I've been on it a month), once I stop I'm sure the problem will only come back worse than before, as that's what tends to happen with antibiotics. No doctor is going to put me on a 7th course of Accutane.

If anyone has some suggestions, I would be most grateful, as this has substantially ruined my life for the past almost 10 years. I'm currently washing with a betadine wash (Iodine) and a hibiclins scrub. I also put betadine on topically when I sleep. I'm taking the antibiotic Solodyn, and I'm taking vitamins A, C, E, D, Zinc, Iron, and some others.

[attachment=23211:me.jpg]
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Hi,

I have been watching these boards for a long time, but have been away for a month now and it occured to me that I should come on here and post what has worked for me.

I have no idea what part of this is working, but here is the history briefly. Acne from 12, never really went away unless on the pill, but side effects were horrible. tried everything over the years, retin A, antibiotics, finacea, proactiv, murad, BP, Klaron, 3 different pills etc etc.

This summer I decided to change my diet, with the help of a great, and very $$$$ nutititionist I started a very healthy no sugar, no processed food, organic diet. (no meat and little dairy). I did this because I was coming off the pill and thought it would help reduce the expected breakout.

Oh boy was I wrong. Worst break out of my life. cysts for first time, acne on cheeks (NEVER had this before) it was awful. Nearly missed a family members funeral as I looked such a mess. just awful.

Well a couple of trips to derm did nothing, gave me Klaron which Ive read great reviews of, but did little for me. I tried the healthy diet for 3 months, until I could take it no more.

Well, I finally just decided to go back to the thing that had kept me about 75% clear in the past, Dans BP. (I stopped it because of cancer concerns). I started eating regular again, introduced dairy, and a little sugar back into diet. starting taking a lot of zinc for a month, but now just take it once a week when I remember.

I made a regigm for myself with meds I had lying around at home. Finacea in the am (so soothing and makes skin look great) BP at night, except 2 nights per week I dont do it, just do Dans AHA cream instead.

Well, yesterday for the first time in forever I nearly went to work with no makeup on. I totally forgot. There is not a mark on my face. Have been clear like this for a month now, so I hope its not to early to say this. I believe this combination of finacea with a little BP and AHA is working for me. I feel that the zinc helped to get me clear initially, and the diet it seems was making things worse all along. Now I am back to eat normally, my skin has never looked better.

I have no idea what part of this is working, if anyone has any ideas I would welcome hearing them. But I just wanted to put this out there, the finacea alone was good, but the finacea, BP and AHA together are amazing!

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!!

I'm 25, and about to start a couple new things to help combat my awful acne... if you can shed any light on either of them please do- I appreciate any input or experiences you can share!

First: switching to YAZ birth control from Seasonal (which has been like any other run of the mill bc pill)... I am hoping this will help me manage my skin- I dont need it for any other reason. I have heard some horror stories, but at this point I suppose I am willing to sacrifice my easy-going temperment for clearer skin!

Second: trying the Mary Kay Timewise Miracle skin care set and Mary Kay mineral powder makeup. There are so many different skin care regimens, and it seems like I have tried them all... maybe this will be a winner.

Thanks for any input you might have!!!

(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.

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.

OK, so I've been on the regimen for awhile now and my skin has really cleared up. For the most part, I have hormonal acne. A cyst here and there and maybe 2-3 whiteheads at a time. It doesn't sound bad and it's not especially since I'm about 85% clear . I have scars, (whatev, my skin's better) but my NEW issue is that I have tiny little bumps on the tops of my cheeks. They're not poppable (I tried, yikes!) and it's like 9-10 of them and u can really see them. I think it's milia. My question is how can I get them to hit the bricks? I heard glycolic acid was good for them and I just got Alpha Hydrox enhancing cream with 10% AHA that got really good reviews online, so my ?uestion is "has anyone else dealt with these bumps, and if so how did u make them go away? I'm so close to being clear I can taste it so help would be appreciated!

Hello everybody,

I just turned 29, and I suffer from the worst acne of my life. Actually, I never really had acne besides the occasional zit up until a few months ago. I am living in South Korea as a teacher, after living in the Northwest US for my entire life. I'm beginning to think I benefited from the good air, I'm not sure. I've been here about 8 months, and the first 5 months or so, my skin was completely normal. Then, out of nowhere, I started getting really bad breakouts on my forehead. They were far different than I had before. It would be several tiny whiteheads in one small area. At first, I thought maybe I wasn't taking good care of my skin, so I became more vigorous in my face washing (from one time daily to twice). I saw no results.

I had my sister send me some face wash from the states that had BP in it. I had used this before, and always thought it did a nice job keeping me clear. Instead, it seemed to irritate my skin, and make my skin very dry and flaky. I toned it down, used a different cleanser, applied BP at night, and used moisturizer. I saw improvement, but now I am stuck with a lot of faded red spots all over my forehead with the occasional zit scattered in.

I was trying to think of what changed for me as I began to break out. I had mold in my apartment, and had been living in it for a little while (gross, I know, but in Korea things take a little longer to get taken care of). I finally was moved to a different apartment, and noticed a difference. Is it possible that the mold in the air contributed? I wouldn't be surprised...

Though the breakouts faded a bit, the red spots remain, making it look like I still have pretty bad acne. I gotta say, this has been a really humbling experience. I've always had good skin, and this has made it really hard to be social, etc.

Since I live in Korea, it's difficult to find decent products, and when I do, I can't exactly read the labels. BP is basically non existent and I can't order it to deliver over here. I wouldn't even know how to begin to look for some of these products here, and to order them is really expensive or can't be done.

So, basically, I want to know if anyone has any tips for me... I really want to get clear. The breakouts have subsided, but the redness is turning out to be really hard to get rid of! I've been reading on the forums about some of the suggestions for the redness, but I have no idea how I am going to get these products.

I am going to limit my cleansing and BP to once a day, and see if that helps. Is it possible my washing is making it worse? Will the redness ever go away? Will it ever get better?

Thanks in advance...

Hello everyone,

Dermatologists in the past have not been able to help me. So right now I'm trying to look for recommendations for what else to do to stop my skin problem with the use of OTC products. In the past I have (in chronological order):

Used:
Tretinoin 0.01%
Panoxyl soap bar (5% Benzoyl Peroxide)
Application:
Twice daily
Acne location: Forehead, temples, jaw line, nose and cheek area under my eyes
Result:
Ended up with really flaky skin and moderate cystic acne, and later found out that Tretinoin's affect is canceled with the use of benzoyl peroxide


Used:
Differin 0.1%
Panoxyl soap bar (5% Benzoyl Peroxide)
Application:
Used the panoxyl soap bar in the morning and differin at night
Acne location: Temples, jaw line, nose and cheek area under my eyes
Result:
Skin was less flaky, but still had moderate acne. I decided that I would like to move off of prescription drugs because I still had cystic acne


Used:
Clean and Clear Blackhead Clearing scrub (2% Salicylic Acid)
Aveeno Clear Complexion (0.5% Salicylic Acid)
Panoxyl soap bar (10% Benzoyl Peroxide)
Application:
I use the clearing scrub in the morning and follow it up the aveeno moisturizer around the sides of my nose and temples. At night I use the scrub again and then follow it up with washing my face with the soap bar.
Acne location: Temples, jaw line, nose and cheek area under my eyes
Result:
Skin isn't flaky anymore, but I still have about the same amount of acne. There is less cystic acne, but I have a milia seed problem all over my face which sometimes causes really large pimples (I know it's caused by milia because after my pimple heals, usually a rice like seed remains and can be squeezed out, sorry for being gross). And around my forehead, milia seeds seem to surface all the time. For example, I can run my finger across my forehead and at least one hard milia seed would be removed.

So does anyone have any suggestions of what else I could do? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hello everyone,

I've been using this forum as a source of information and emotional support for a long time, but recently I decided to become an active member.

This is my acne story: I am a 31-year old female and will shortly finish my (hopefully last) roaccutane treatment. I had cystic acne, never a lot at a time, but sometimes very exceptionally deep, and which sometimes took months to heal, in my face and on my back. I used to never have much success with topicals, but birth control pills cleared me up pretty much completely, and I took Dianette from age 15 until 27, until my chloasma (brown discoloration often seen in pregnant women) got so bad that I decided to go off the pill. Slowly but surely the acne came back, but I also realized that my general physical wellbeing improved greatly once I stopped taking Dianette. Gradually, after about two years, I began to see the surfacing of some deep cysts, the way I had them only as a teenager.

In January 2009 (aged 30), I finally started treatment with roaccutane for six months (my acne had been a real problem by then for a year, and, needless to say, antibiotics were completely useless): Month 1 30 mg, months 2-3 45 mg, months 3-6 50mg. My face generally cleared up nicely within the first month, with the exception of one absolutely horrible cyst on my forehead, which took more than 4 months to heal. It was unlike anything either myself or my dermatologist had ever seen. The content was completely hardened and had spread into the deepest layers of the skin, as if it had been there for years and years. An injection would have been pointless, because the inflammation was caused not by an acute infection, but by this stuff slowly being softened by roaccutane and penetrating to the surface. Fierce. There was a time when I thought it was never ever going to heal. It did eventually, but over the last two years I've had to deal with deep cysts on my back and sometimes on my forehead, which slowly, one by one, here and there, came to the surface.

At the end of the first 6-months roaccutane treatment my back was not fully clear (I had four active cysts on my back which had only surfaced in the last month, and, like the one on my forehead, they surfaced very slowly, bit by bit), but I was advised to take a break anyway, since things might still improve afterwards. And, indeed, my back cleared completely within 3 months, but once I was ready to celebrate that the battle with those cysts was definitely over another one of those acne fossils, if much smaller than the first, surfaced on my forehead! I'm now 3 weeks into my second round of roaccutane (60mg a day), and the cyst is nearly resolved, but still looks ugly and red, and will continue to do so, I would say, for another two weeks. I had no breakout this time when I started roaccutane again, and I can see that the dryness (which never really went to the extent of being a problem in my case, but got very noticeable towards the end of the first treatment) has set in earlier.

Anyway, I am hopeful and absolutely determined not to let the acne continue to eat away from my life's happiness anymore, but I also hope that I can avoid taking hormones again, as I feel that they mess things up even more and I would like to give my body a chance to make friends with itself - and stay friends - after all these years. I'm wondering if any of you who might have a similar kind of acne - deep, cystic (severe in appearance but not necessarily in terms of frequency at any given time) - have used the Regimen successfully for maintenance? I want to be able to live a normal life again, and if taking hormones is the only way I will do that, but I really don't think it should be necessary.

I was malnourished and very unfit as a teenager. There was not much body awareness where I grew up, and my family, I think, had no way of coping with my acne. My mother and one of my sisters had it too, but not as severe as I did, and it was something that was never talked about. They maybe thought that if they pretended it wasn't there it would somehow go away. The effect that had on me was that I started to totally internalize the problem, thinking it was somehow in my head, or certainly my fault. I felt huge shame and guilt about suffering from that condition. Even though I was in treatment with a dermatologist (sent by one of my classmates at school, since it didn't occur to my family that that might be a good idea) from age 13-18 approximately (I was reasonably clear by then and stopped using topicals, using just birth control pills for maintenance), I was ashamed even to trust the dermatologist with my problem, and I avoided showing him my body acne, for example. And since he wasn't even aware of the extent of the problem, we didn't really have a basis on which to discuss more rigorous treatments, such as roaccutane, which, I think now, would really have been the treatment of choice for me then. So, no good relationship with my body as a teenager, but in early adulthood I started to change that. I have never lived a healthier life than now. I know I have some endocrinological imbalances, I have hypothyroidism, for which I have been taking tablets for about 10 years, but all my lab results always come back normal these days, even last week, 2 weeks into roaccutane, everything was absolutely perfect, including cholesterol, which sometimes tends to be a bit high. I eat a healthy diet, I exercise regularly, do yoga regularly when I'm not on roaccutane (I can't at the moment due to joint stiffness from the medication).

Most of the time I'm optimistic, thinking that I am on the right path and that I will soon be able to normalize my relationship to my body again and live a (relatively) normal life, but there are days when I lose faith, simply because this has been going on for such a long time now. So, if any of you have any thoughts or advice, that would be most welcome.

Good luck to everyone on this forum with their journey.

I'm male, upper 30s. I had moderate but very persistent acne since age 15 and it's 95% gone now. I also had seborrhea since 18 and it too is gone. But the big big surprise is my forehead wrinkles are 80% improved. My skin looks much younger. Here is my regimen:

Accutane 20mg/day for 5 months, but now down to 10mg/day maintenance dose
tanzorac .05% 1-2 times per week for the past 6 weeks.
AHA 8% lotion 3 times per week for 5 months.
Clarisonic 2x per day.
No chocolate at all; minimize greasy foods like hamburgers.

That's it.

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for their contributions to this site, I have learnt so much in the past 2 months that I have gone from feeling totally depressed about my face to really positive.

Just a brief overview of my story. No acne as a teenager, hit 18 and start getting massive cysts on my cheeks and jawline, struggle with this for about 2 year and then decide to go on the pill, I was on Diane for about 6 years and came off it to try have children - consequently as most pill user know, you come off it and all hell breaks loose! The pill is no cure for acne, just a time bomb. Anyway, it took me about a year to get pregnant and during this time i had some hormone test and discovered i was low in progesterone, so I started using progesterone cream which helped my skin and also helped me get pregnant. 2 pregnancies later my skin has gone through really good times and then bad ones as well. I am now 30 and my 2nd child is now 17months and the last 5 months my skin has got progressively worse. I toyed with the idea of the pill, as it is just such an easy fix, but knew if i really wanted to treat it i would have to work a bit harder. So after reading so many different topics on this site and researching many things i decided to go with the following regime. It may sound a bit full-on, and it did cost me some money, but when you don't want to look at yourself in the mirror each day, I would have tried anything.

1. I went back on natural progesterone cream, I have all the symptoms of estrogen dominance and truly believe my acne is hormonal.

2. I started drinking bragg's organic apple cider vinegar 2 times and day and also applying it as a toner 50/50 with water 2 times a day.

3. Cut out nearly all sugar and most dairy except organic yoghurt and eggs. Started drinking lots more water and green tea. This has been the hardest part as i am naturally very thin, so i have been having to increase my serve sizes otherwise i could easily get to the point of being anorexic. I already eat lots of fruit & veg and wholegrains.

4. I added a stack of supplements to my diet: vit A, D, B, C, E, niacin,fish oil and evening primrose oil.

5. I started taking a probiotic. Also vitex chaste berry & DIM (these are particularly helpful for
hormonal conditions)

6. My dr prescribed me with duac antibiotic gel, i didn't feel comfortable using this as i am not a great believer in antibiotics and the impact they have on your body. i did lots of research and found a gel made using nicotinamide 4%, studies had proven it to be as effective if not more than the topical antibotic i was prescribed.

7. My skin care regime is as follow:

Morning
Wash with water
tone with apple cider vinegar
spot treat with tea tree oil
apply nicotinamide gel and some SPF 30+ (I use Kosmea brand, it is a natural sunscreen for your face)
Make up etc

Evening
Wash with Medimix Ayurvedic Soap, this is especially for problem skin
tone with apple cider vinegar
spot treat with tea tree oil
apply nicotinamide gel
moisturise with a couple of drops of coconut oil, jojoba oil, vitamin e oil and some aloe vera (i have a plant in my garden).

I also every few days will do a manuka honey or egg white face mask.

The change in my skin has been amazing. For the first week or two my skin purged, which was terrible, but i kept thinking it can't get any worse, i kept going and now it is looking so smooth and glowing. I still have the scars, which will take some time to fade and also i have had the occasional pimple, but no cysts - yay!, just small ones which don't upset me. I am only 2 months in so i am wondering what will be my results by 6 months. I have decided to go totally natural, as i didn't feel BP was a long term solution as my family has a cancer history so i try and avoid putting chemicals on my skin as much as possible.

The hardest part of my regime has been cutting out the sugar, but from some of the reading i did, sugar can really impact your hormones and put them out of balance. I still have honey & some 100% natural maple syrup. When i feel my skin has become clear I am going to try re-introducing cheese and the occasional sweet treat, but right now i would prefer to go without and feel happy about my skin.

I hope this helps someone, I know it might not work for everyone, but i hope each person on here finds their solution. Acne is a horrible disease to live with. Thanks again to everyone for contributions they really saved me!

I started getting acne when i was 18 but managed to control it with retin a micro and my skin was actually clear and pretty flawless for years, that is until i took plan B and birth control (ortho tricyclen). I used to get acne only from stress, etc. once in a while but since the birth control i would get acne almost daily despite how stressed or stress free i was. Also, they would be under the skin type acne that would never go away and i started getting jawline acne that i never ever got before. I've since stopped birth control for almost a year now and the constant acne is still persisting. Since then, i've tried switching from retin a to tazarac and using benzaclin (which doesn't help at all) and i've also been using oral antibiotics (almost 2 weeks now) and it seems like my acne is just getting worst. It's really affecting my self confidence and my daily mood and life. I just don't know how to treat it!

I feel like topicals are not giogn to do anything and so far oral antibiotics doesn't seem to work either. What's my next step exactly?? I feel like i've exhausted all options but accutane, which i'm scared to death to try.

I was debating trying out yaz or yasmin, i figured since my acne began when i started orthotricyclen, maybe i can fix it with a different type of birth control. lol, it doesn't make sense at all but i'm pretty desperate. Also, i would really like to try spironolactone but i feel like it's out of the question since i have pretty low blood pressure already.

So, what should i do? Give the topicals and antibiotics more time (it's been getting worse and has not been helping at all) or ask for accutane or try yasmin or yaz? I just hope getting on birth control again doesnt make it worse.

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'm looking at the possibility that the precise mechanism by which P. acnes triggers inflammation has at long last been uncovered, and this fills in details in my hypothesis that zinc superoxide dismutase (ZSOD) is a key preventer of acne (which fits a great many other facts reasonably well).

In any case, I was looking for drugs that increase ZSOD levels, and noticed that some statins (pitavastatin, atorvastatin, and simvastatin) may have such an effect -- and indeed (at least in the two older drugs) have been noted to decrease acne. Just wondered if anybody here is taking a statin? I would predict that both a zinc supplement and creating a normal melatonin cycle would be synergistic against acne with one of these particular statins.

Probably easier for any adult >40 to get prescribed a statin than accutane (and certainly a whole lot safer!).

Just to let anyone reading this know about my story which is hopefully complete.

I never had acne as a teen bar the occasional zit or two. Then, all of a sudden as I hit my early twenties I started to develop big nodule and cystic acne.

I cannot tell you how this has affected my life. I would not go to parties because I was so ashamed. I love swimming and going to the beach but would never put my head underwater cause I was afraid my makeup would run off and people would see my skin. I would be afraid to step out or been seen by my boyfriend in direct sunlight cause all my lumps and bumps would show.

I would spend days crying because I wanted to see my boyfriend but I was too scared to let him see me so I would just stay at home.

Another problem is that I am a lawyer, and in meetings with clients and colleagues I would be so embarrassed about my skin and I would always feel so self conscious which affected my ability to appear confident with clients or in court.

All this was happening yet I am 25. I couldn't believe it!

So I was so fed up. I visited a dermatologist who prescribed Roacctune but I heard so many bad stories, including a friend who went into deep depression whilst on it, that I was too scared to try it. After searching through the internet and looking at independent acne review sites to see what others say about the different products I found out about Acnezine Acne Medication through this random review site that I stumbled on, which I think was http://treatments-for-acne.info/ but it might have been one of the other of hundreds of review sites out there.

Anyway since using this my skin has cleared!!! Big sore red lumps gone! . I can't believe it. Its still in the early stages so I don't want to get my hopes up too high but on the weekend I went swimming with my boyfriend in the day time and I put my head underwater. I know that sounds like such a silly thing to get excited about but it made me so so so happy!!!!

For now, I feel confident at work, I don't need to hide my face with my hair down. I can wear it up with confidence.

With Acnezine, which is a medication but not prescription, I just wash my face with a general cleanser, and that is all i have to do..its amazing

I hope that it continues to work but I just wanted to let other people know what worked for me cause I know how tough and depressing it can be, to have acne when you are an adult

Hello everyone, I stumbled upon this website recently and was pleasantly surprised at the amount of support that exists here. I wanted to share my story with all of you and ask for some feedback on successful treatments and/or similar stories. Well here is goes...

I just turned 24 in December last year, and I have been battling acne since I was around 12 or 13. It started very small, but, as I progressed through high school it got very severe. I went on Accutane for around 6 months only to have my skin flare up again later. I would characterize it as being moderate back in those days.

Currently, I have a static level of mild acne for the most part. Mostly around my mouth, neck, and parts of my body (i.e. shoulders, chest, back). Usually it is pretty off and on. I can't want for the occassional day once per month where I am completely clear .

On a typical day I use a Detoxifying Facial Scrub in the shower for roughly 30 seconds, scrubbing most of my face. I scrub my body with a loofah for about a minute as well. I wait till my skin dries and then I shave with my electric razor. One problem I have found is that I will occassionally get ingrown hairs which cause ridiculous bumps that inflame to gigantic size. I will then apply a moderate amount of Proactiv BP.

I hope one day I can wake up every morning with clear skin and share myself in an authentic manner with others. Thanks in advance for any support any of you have to offer.

My story begins at about 16 when I started taking birth control. Ortho tri cyclen was pill of choice for most of that time. At 30 I got engaged and knew we would start a family soon after marriage so I decided to stop taking the pill and let my body adjust. Well that started the nightmare. The breakouts started on my face and moved to my back. As if this wasn't enough, I later developed cyst acne. These large mountains on my face would last at least 7 to 10 days. I was devastated and in shock that I was having to go through this. I went to the dermatologist a few times and got new prescriptions each time. These included topicals like 3% benzo wash, an expensive foam that was like $300 and finally the little blue pill, doxycycline. And let's not leave out ALL the different skincare lines I tried as well from drugstore brands to proactive to philosophy. I got facials every other month trying to exfoliate my skin. The money I was spending and my face was out of control. So here I was a year later, 31 taking an antibiotic(doxycycline) which was absolutely great to begin with but was definitely not working so good anymore and two months til my wedding day. I was completely stressed I would have pimples and cysts in my wedding photos. That's when I ordered acne statin. I followed the regimen exactly except I used the acne treatment cream (orange bottle) both day and night. I kid you not when I say in three weeks I was in the clear. I do use a makeup remover but otherwise I only use the acne statin. My cyst acne is completely gone. I'm not gonna say I am 100% clear 100% of the time, but it's pretty close and my wedding was beautiful. The best part is I can use this when I get pregnant. This worked for me so I hope this helps.

I am a 25 year old very frustrated female- I have dealt with acne since the 7th grade... and when I say I've tried everything, I mean it. Dermalogica, ProActiv, Accutane, Retin-A, SkinID, countless prescription topicals and pills, Zeno, and every over-the-counter treatment imaginable. I shudder when I think of the money that has been spent on my hopeless skin over the years. And although I have had to unfortunately accept that there is nothing out there that will truly work for me- I fear my makeup choices are only hindering any progress I might be making. Does anyone have a makeup suggestion for me? As of now I am using Neutrogena skin clearing foundation for on the spot, and their mineral powder for an all over cover... and even though it does cover fairly well- it feels somewhat thick and pore-clogging, causing more harm than good. Please help!
Also wondering if anyone has tried the light treatments available? I know they are expensive, but I am getting married next year (July)- and if I have to bite the bullet for clear skin at my wedding, that's what I'll do.
Thanks for listening, it's really nice to know I am not alone- not many people understand how upsetting and hard this is.

~Amic13

Hello acne.org readers,

I have had a Paragard copper IUD since I went off birth control pills 6.5 years ago. After I stopped the pill, I broke out terribly. I was not surprised, since I know the pill can help to keep skin clear. I figured I would have to suffer a while with acne until my skin adjusted to not having the skin-clearing hormones.

Unfortunately, my skin never cleared up. For 6. 5 years! I am 44 and full of acne! I am so sick of it, I don't know what to do.

I have tried the regimen, ACV, baking soda scrubs, diet changes, supplements, EVERY expensive and inexpensive skincare systems out there. It's hopeless...

I was reading online about IUDs and acne as a side effect. Usually, the device associated with causing acne is the Mirena IUD which releases hormones. The one I have, the Paragard, does not use hormones and acne is not listed as a side effect.

I did stumble upon a site where many women have complained about acne and weight gain with the Paragard. I am scheduled to have mine removed later this month. I've been researching the way the copper iud works, how it can elevate copper levels in the body and decreases zinc levels, how it creates inflammation in the uterus, and how that can lead to stubborn acne. I believe this could be source of my long battle with embarrassing acne- and now scarring.

Okay, that's the story...

Now my question...

How many women out there are acne sufferers and use the Paragard copper IUD?

Anyone else with this IUD been struggling with acne like I have? Similar stories? Any improvement after removal?

Thanks for reading and responding.

this year has been one of the MOST stressful of my life to-date.

to make i short & sweet. i done a lot of dumb things to my face; coupled with how stressed i was... it's a miracle my ENTIRE face isn't riddled with poc-marks.

first stop when i got tired of my acne: dermatologist
....they're booked till 2011 (in my area)

called an esthetician that works for a plastic surgeons office
.... to me, that's the next best thing( if not better!) than a derm.




anyway, she offered me some expensive soap for my cystic acne (obagi clenziderm)
... tried it for a few days... amazing difference! BUT i suffered severe redness, irritation.
dropped down to 1-2 days/week for obagi at night (other days neutrogena deep clean)


honestly, the only difference i notice is everything.
obagi:
a) tightens my skin (1st bottle)
b) sucks dry the clogged pores (bp bottle, the 3rd)
c) when i find myself encountering stressful situations, i do my best to talk my mind out of getting upset. (it is my belief, if i warn myself 'dude, you're gonna break out'.... i'll immediately clam down!)
d) the bp is great for spot-treatment. haven't had a failure with it, yet. once i spot a bump, i douse it in bp and within 3-4 days, it withers away.

the neutrogena will dry out my skin amazingly (in a bad way) if i use too much.

this esthetician stressed that i use a minimal amout of everything obagi, because it's "medicated" type soap.



i followed her instructions to not only obagi, but to my neutrogena fix too. it seems to work. my cheeks have cleared up 110%! i'm very happy with the results.


only thing i did different from her routine than mine (other than use diff. soap) was severely LIGHTEN how i washed my face....


...a) she suggested i 'massage' and not scrub
...b) she suggested i not use a washcloth, but my fingers ever-so-lightly (feather touch)


since i (personally) feel a drastic turn-around, is this all i needed? was someone to tell me how to wash my face properly??



skin BEFORE any treatment: extremely sensitive, highly active acne (major) cystic, on cheeks only.

pics: http://www.acne.org/messageboard/findpost-p2744725.html these are all with scarring only. the only acne present is probably 1-2 bumps, nothing major. (these are 'after' acne attacks)

i still find, that my cheeks (most acne-prone, but NOwhere else) is super red after high exposure to neutrogena (ie. used much more than a 'dime'... causes my face to turn BEET red), and, i do break out with too much exposure.


summary: was i washing TOO much, before? was i irritating my skin and thereby CAUSING acne, based on how furious i was washing?

......( i used to spot a bump and furiously scrub it until it exploded. only until i discovered this website in oct. did i stop doing that!)

I have a sneaking suspicion that what may be good solutions for men's acne, may not be appropriate for women's. So here is a women only thread where we can write out our solutions.
It would be helpful to list your experiences with the best one at the top.

Here's my experience:

Accutane: ---Worked completely for 3 -4 years
minomycin antibiotic: ---Worked excellently but I had 1 zit come every 2 weeks or so
omega 3 (DHA/EPA combo): ---Didnt do a damn thing when I stopped the antibiotics.
Niacin (included among B complex caps): ---Broke out like 4th july when I stopped antibiotics
zinc: ---No noticeable effect
changed shampoo: ---Zits around my temples disappeared
complete diet change: ---Didnt try it. Too much effort, too much research to absorb.
Complete caffeine avoidance: ---No effect

About the caffeine..
A: makes breasts hurt, especially a lot of caffeine.
B: if I have more than 2 cups, I break out more than usual (double?)
C: if I cut out caffeine completely, its no better than if I drink only 1 cup per 3 days.

birth control: Id rather avoid it. havent tried.

Im especially interested if any women have had success with food regimens.

I went to my local Health and Nutrition store today, and I picked up a bottle of "Zinc 50."

It contains Zinc as:

Zinc Methlonine
Zinc Lactate
Zinc Citrate
Zine Tartrate
Zinc Orotate

I plan to take 1 pill a day, which is 50 MG. I'm not sure if this is the Zinc I should be taking to effectively treat my acne. Any idea?

Thank you in advance, guys!

Hello All,

This is my first post on here, so let me introduce myself. I'm 30, female and live in London with my husband and my cat.

I've had iffy skin on and off for years; I was taking Dianette for about 6 years, which just stopped working one day and as we were trying to start a family, I naturally stopped taking it.

I go through bouts of bad-ness (as I like to call it), which make me want to just stay under my quilt all day and never face anyone. I've lost count of the amount of times I've excused myself from parties, etc because I couldn't bear to let anyone look at me. Most people aren't crass enough to say anything, but I can see it in their eyes. I do know that I'm sometimes being paranoid and that many people don't care either way and it doesn't diminish how they feel about you, but it still has an extremely detrimental effect on my personality.

I can empathise with so many of the thoughts of the members on the forums here and it makes me feel so much better. For me the 'a' word is a big taboo:I detest talking about it and having any attention brought to my skin, so to have a sounding board with so many like minded people has helped me no end.

I wanted to ask anyone if they had any experience with F2F capsules, which are a Dutch brand of supplement, which contains a substance called 'Lactoferrin', which is similar effect-wise to the anti-bodies found in breast milk to improve one's immune system.

I would really welcome any comments, so thanks for reading all of this post.

B

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

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.

I will describe my skin, and mention some problems I have that might or might not be related. I'm a 27 years old male, had acne since I was 13 or so. Was practically clear for a year around four or five years ago when I was sleeping full nights and getting tanned a minimum of 10 minutes a week, if not 20, and was on Proactiv for some time. I was not masturbating often back then since I was working from 9am to 9pm 5 days a week, was living with my dad, and was sleeping full nights from around 11pm to 7pm (and could fall asleep quickly).

Anyway, here goes:

Skin
I have oily skin. If I take a brown paper towel and put it on my nose or forehead or chin, or cheeks, it becomes all greasy like if I rubbed greasy food on it.

Nose
My nose shines like it's sweating, it is very oily, and the pores are very large (easy to see). The pores are often dark as if they were dirty (not like a black head, at least nothing "big", just the inside of the pore looks dirty). I sometimes get white heads on the nose, mainly on the nostrils, or where they connect to the cheeks, but it's not too much of a problem. I think it is due to rubbing my nose with my finger which might push the oily back inside and such. If I masturbate I definitly get white heads on my nostrils by the next day.

Chin
My chin is also very oily, but the pores look normal. I often get white heads on it, practically always. Could be due to shaving?

Upper lip
Not really oily (I'm pretty sure the area surrounding my mouth is the same actually). But I often get pimples on the side (the ends of the "mustache" area), and I believe it is due to shaving. This part is difficult to shave without irritating it.

Upper Cheeks
Cheeks are quite oily, the skin pores are very large. The size changes sometimes, there are rare occasions when they become smaller. I noticed so when I did my masturbation-abstention attempts. I rarely get pimples on the cheeks, BUT, when I remove my contact lenses I put a finger on them and I noticed that even if I wash my hands when I do so, I sometimes get a large red mark where I put my finger, which can turn into a large red bump with a white head on it. I noticed this happened if my skin had become more oily than usual and the skin pores have gotten bigger. I believe that my finger pushes the oily back inside and this causes a bad reaction. It is 100% guaranteed that if I want to I can "create" this pimple by pushing on my cheek with my finger. It will start with an itchy sensation and reddish skin, then turn into an itchier red bump and then a white head might appear on top. It can be the size of the tip of my finger that touches the skin. Otherwise I have no pimples on my cheeks.

Lower Cheeks (I think I made up this term)
This is basically the part of your cheeks that you can "suck inward" like the models do. I almost always have pimples there, at least one one side or the other if not both. Might be shaving related? The part near my sideburns are always clear on the other hand.

Forehead
My forehead is also quite oily as well, but I NEVER breakout on my forehead. The skin there looks very normal, even good, but it is oily. I don't mind tho, if the rest of my face was like this I would be happy. I never get pimples on it unless I scratch it a lot or something like that. Really, it's a "no issue" part of my face to me.

Jawline
Oily but not TOO much. But I often get white heads on it, and I believe it is due to shaving because this area is easy to irritate too when shaving.

Neck
Back of the neck is usually clear, so not really a problem. If I do get a pimple it is more likely due to touching (my skin is oily after all, so touching is always bad). But in general I never get pimples there except maybe near the hairline. Washing it good seems to keep them away. When I was younger it broke out like mad when I was drinking smoothies I would make once to twice a day (orange juice, two kiwis, two eggs, a banana = sugar overload!!!!!!!!), it was like a volcano.

Chest
Not oily, normal skin, no acne there, but if I shave my chest and don't use aftershave on it I might get one or two.

Upper Back
Oily, annoying. ALWAYS some pimples there, but it comes and goes. Like, right now, it has been clearing up a lot recently, but now I have two rather large red spots/white heads on it. Sometimes it is full of pimples. I feel like wearing a tight wife-beater makes things worst, so I wear some lose ones instead and wash them often. I think the pressure of the clothing on my oily back pushes the oil back in, causing pimples.


Conclusion
That is all. The rest of my body is acne-free. So as we can see, it seems that:

1- Touching oily parts of my skin, especially those with large open pores, causes a reaction that leads to formation of pimples.

2- Parts of my face that are really constantly breaking out, other than my upper back, are parts that come in contact with my razor blade. Sideburns-area are perfectly fine tho, even if I shave them.

3- Masturbating increases skin pore size, oil production, and makes me breakout bad.

Stomach problems - Masturbation-related?

If I masturbate for a short time I will usually get a breakout in the following days. But if I masturbate for like two hours, I can end up with cramps in the lower parts of my abdomen (a bit to the left and right, below my navel, like where you put your hands if you hold your belly). I might also end up with cramps in my testicles. That is usually a guaranteed breakout within 24 hours, and on a shorter term my skin feels like crap like it is becoming tighter and oilier, with white heads starting to emerge on my nose, upper lip, chin, etc.

I also noticed that, might not be related, but I often have loose stool.

Sleep
I don't sleep enough. I'll work on that. I get around 6 hours of sleep a night, except on the weekend. I got to bed at around 1am and wake up at 8:30. It takes me around an hour to fall asleep.


That's all I can think of for now.

hello,

i have acne prone skin and when i was younger had bad acne, i went on accutane and it cleared it all up..... yay!!!!

anyway i now 28 and for the last 2 years i have noticed a change in my skin again.

1) after washing it will get oily very quick (even if i use a mositurizer)
2) i have loads(when i say loads i mean loads, my forehead looks like a blinds mans dictionary) of closed comedones(some flesh coloured bumps and some reddish) on my forehead and quite a few on my cheeks and the sides of my head.
3) even tho i dont have loads of spots/acne, the spots i get(about 5/6 a week) are quite big and will leave really bad red marks that take ages to heal. so as it is, not only do i have closed comedones i have a face full of red marks, some stronger in colour than others( depending on how old they are)

im currently using agera ultra mild face wash and agera spf25 moisturizer, i do find them good and gentle for my skin, i have also tried many products that use BHA's (salicylic acid), but overall they havent been very good. i have also tried things like apple cider vinegar and i've just purchased paula choice 2%bha liquid, which im currently using now.(fingers crossed)

i was thinking about giving green cream a try, the reason being.

1) i have quite blotchy skin and green cream says it can help with pigment and uneven tone
2) it says it can help with red marks and blemishes
3) it says it can reduce subum glands and help with larger pores.

i do think that the main problem im having is with oily skin, i reacon if i could slow the oil down a lot ofmy problems will disappear.

can anyone help with a bit of advice, or has anyone used green cream, i have seen the thread from lion queen, just wondering if anyone else has used it.

thanx steve

p.s if only i could go back on to accutane, i know that would stop my oil production