This question comes up so frequently.

Here’s what to do when you’ve messed with a pimple and it looks horribly swollen, red and painful now.
Keep in mind that the treatment may also prevent an incipient cyst from getting worse.
The treatment may also help prevent Post Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation (PIH) or ‘red marks’.

Basic recommendations:
Apply ice.
Take ibuprofen or naproxen sodium.
Do not mess with the lesion anymore AT all.
Antibiotic cream/ointment and a band aid/plaster for night.

You can repeat these techniques for as many days as you like. Do not give up too early, try the icing and bandaid/ointment for at least a week before assuming it won't work.
Detailed explanation and rationale:
Ice how-to:
Wrap an ice cube in a thin cloth towel or paper towel so the ice doesn't directly touch your skin or just stick it in a plastic baggie. Some recommend freezing a bunch of water-filled little paper Dixie cups in the freezer. The thin paper cups make it convenient to hold and apply ice to the lesions. That’s a great idea from Laura, the esthetician that Willow569 goes to.

Hold the ice to the lesion for one minute or so on, five minutes or so off. Repeat as often as necessary throughout the first 24 hours, but not to the point that your skin turns pale or feels uncomfortable. The ice will reduce the swelling and the pain and the redness. The ice may also limit the development of post inflammatory hyper-pigmentation, PIH, or ‘red marks’.

You could also just glide an ice cube gently over your whole face, not holding it in one spot for too long. This technique will help decrease inflammation over the entire surface of your face. This is also a good technique for use after cleansing and prior to applying your active, medicated topical.

Anti-Inflammatory how-to:
Ibuprofen and naproxen sodium are anti-inflammatories. Inflammation is redness, swelling, pain. One or the other medication will help reduce the inflammation of any type of infection and may also help with pain. Use only as directed on the package, pick one or the other, and don’t use for longer than directed. Of course, don’t use one if you’re allergic to it! Depending on where you live there may be other anti-inflammatories available as well; ask your pharmacist or chemist what you can take as an anti-inflammatory. Over the counter medications for arthritis are generally effective.

If your doctor has ordered an antibiotic due to the inflamed lesion(s), continue to take the antibiotic as ordered. You may still take an anti-inflammatory for pain and swelling. The antibiotic is for the infection (bacteria) and the anti-inflammatory is for the pain, redness, and swelling.

Topical antibiotic cream/ointment and band aid/plaster how-to:
(Neosporin, Polysporin, Bacitracin, etc. I use Polysporin more often.)
Apply a dab of antibiotic cream/ointment to a small band aid (this prevents contamination of the tube provided the bandaid is sterile and you’ve not touched the pad part with your fingers or anything else).

Put the band aid/plaster on the lesion. Leave on overnight. This is the part of the step that helps prevent PIH; the petrolatum jelly in most antibiotic ointments/creams is what provides the soothing relief that irritated, inflamed skin needs. You CAN use plain petrolatum jelly. It is not comedogenic. The bandaid also helps keep you from picking so you can use it during the day if you're going to be at home or not much in public, unless of course your self-esteem is high enough so that you can go in public with bandaids/plasters all over your face.

The antibiotic cream/ointment may help prevent indented scarring.

There you go. Good luck!

i have tons of scars and a couple of cysts. But the thing is, my skin is smooth, for the most part, it just has a ton of red bumps. I hate them. What do I do??

P.S. I'm not going to do any major medical procedures.

I've tried everything, antibiotics, topical creams, diets, herbal medicines, green tea... I'm still getting this STUBBORN F*****G ACNE, I feel like giving up... Where do I take it from here..? :'(

Hi.

Over the past month or so, I've started breaking out extremely badly on my chin and worse than usual on the rest of my face. Usually my acne is pretty mild, but now I'm starting to get cysts on my chin and numerous pimples. I've been taking 150 mg doryx orally, but had to stop taking it for about 2 weeks because I was taking an antihistamine for a sinus infection. Now I've been back on the doryx and have been taking it for about a week. I've also switched over from differin .3 to tazorac .5, and wash my face twice daily with seb-prev wash. All of these have been prescribed by my dermatologist before the bad breakout, but I can't get in to see my dermatologist for a month or two because of insurance or something. I was told that the acne on my chin is probably hormonal, but since I can't get in to see my dermatologist, I don't really know what I should do to help it. My parents also won't allow me to take accutane because my sibling used it and had an allergic reaction, so they think the same will happen to me.

Any suggestions would be appreciated as my face has been in severe pain, and it doesn't seem to be getting better.

Also, I'm male if that makes a difference.

Hi.

I have an extremely extremely large and painful cyst on my cheek that has been drained 4 times and injected 4 times. It continues to come back ever larger and more severe each time. I also have a larger one one my chin/jawline, but it doesn't hurt unless It gets knocked into. I'm going to begin accutane in a week, but i'm using it through an experimental study therefore i cannot get any injections or other medications/treatments at all before i start or during the course. I was just wondering what I can do to maybe make the size of them less GIGANTIC without medications and whatnot and stop feeling like a monster?

Oh, and HOPEFULLY the accutane will cure these horrid cysts, right?

Ive noted down since i first had a hunch that having a mouth ulcer has a VERY positive affect on my acne...

It sounds very odd but ive noted down each time for the past 10 times that when a mouth ulcer occurs for the period that i have it, my acne nearly all but vanishes. Theres no logic to this conclusion but i cant keep calling it a coincidence.

Any thoughts on this?

I'm a 24 y/o female with moderate cystic acne. I have 30 days before starting either Claravis or Accutane. I'm prob going with Claravis b/c it's considered a generic with my insurance.

I've been on 4 prescription acne treatments for almost a year and they puttered out and quit working:
Tazorac .05%
Clindamayacin Solution 1%
Differin .3%
Differin .1%

I use all of these daily with the exception of Differin. I toggle between the two strengths so I don't dry out. as you can see, I'm exhausted of having this routine. Just exhausted.

I would like testimonies from women in their mid to late 20's regarding Claravis please.
Great moisturizers? I currently only use Cetaphil products.

Hey I think I'm just as sick of acne as everyone else here =( and im looking for ideas

I have tons of white heads, a decent (7-8) amount of zits and 2or3 nodules; my skin has been kind of dried out so i used moisturizer -- only made it worse; decided to do nothing for a while; now im open to most suggestions; please help? Ill post picks up later maybe (if im not too selfconscious =[)

ill add more info later; just throwing this out there right before bed.. hoping to get something =[

ugh, acne is so disapointing.. PS see my other topics for more detail

When your face is really itchy, sort of tingling, more itchy, what does this mean?

I'm pretty sure it usually comes from the area where spots are..

yeahh, what does it mean?

Do you guys just spot treat your cysts with sunscreen or put it all on your whole face?

I find it makes too much oil, but how important is it?

it's been about 3-4 weeks since I started my DORYX cycle again. My marks are getting redder. Will moisturizing help?

Should I let them dry out? What if they feel irritated?

is it healthy to moisturize cysts?

Hi everyone, I am looking for advice about my 15 yo. sons acne treatment. He has been treated now for approximately 8 months. Here is what he has done:

Minocycline 100 mg. 2 x a day

then he changed to

Solodyne 135 mg. x 1 a day

he has also been using Cetaphyl for washing his face, tretinoin 0.05% at night, and erythromycin 3% and BP Gel 5% every morning.

After about 3 mos. his face greatly improved. In August about 5 mos. in his face started to get really bad again. The only thing that he changed was he started football practice (its hot here, lots of gear) He also did not get as much sun exposure on his face and back as he is a outdoor kid that goes shirtless,swims at the lake etc.

the dr put him on Doryx DR 150 mg. once a day about 3 weeks ago and he is seeing no improvement. It is redder, more blistery and pussy and very dry.

I am at my wits end. He is so upset. He wants to start accutane which I am fine with, HOWEVER, i have a history of anxiety/depression in my family. The dr.wants him to see a Psychiatrist before he starts the accutane. My insurance has paid for all of the tx so far ($35 co pay) but it will not pay for this appt. I cannot afford to pay it. I have a call into the dr. I am hoping they will let him go ahead as I KNOW all of the signs of depression. My son and I are very close and he talks to me very openly. I know him so well I would see changes. He would tell me too as he is so anxious to get this problem taken care of.

I guess I am just asking r there any other txs we should try on our own first?? Should we ditch the dermatologist?? My 27 yo.son took accutane when it first came out and he was fine on it with no mental health issues.. and it did work to fix his acne.

Any advise or help would be appreciated as Im not really sure what I am asking or looking for.. i just want to help him as I feelso bad for him. Thx so much, Beth

Hello,
I have suffered from acne since I was about 13 (I'm 17), and was recently shocked when my face broke out so badly that I stopped spending time with my friends, and even family. I developed an extremely large cyst on my cheek and had it drained and injected over 3 times.
It came back about a week afterwords each time and decided to just give up. Once I thought things couldn't get worse, my chin erupted with a huge mound under the skin that hurt so badly i had major trouble brushing my teeth or eating. Over a few months, my chin got worse. I got another extremely large cyst on my jawline and cried in pain every night when tried to sleep and every morning when I tried to hide the redness with foundation. Also, all around the cyst on my chin were large under-skin pimples which may even be more cysts that are in a big cluster. I would wake up constantly throughout the night crying because of the pain. Now, where I am today, the cyst on my cheek is bigger than ever and so tender that I have to wake up about an hour earlier in order to put my makeup on slowly. And the one on my chin has stopped hurting because it got so big that now It looks like a golf ball poking out of my face. At least the pain is gone, right? Well... the other day, I noticed an intense pain from the other side of my chin. Another cyst. I'm currently awaiting the process of Accutane and hope to god that It will fix my problem. I'm sick of staying home every night and fearing going to work because I constantly get the looks of disapproval and sometimes someone will even have the balls to ask me "what's on your face?" Throughout high school, I was so used to going to parties and being at my friend's houses every night. Now, my bedroom is my security cave and I will barely come out to do anything.
My life has definitely done a complete flip and I've turned into the person I was always scared that I would be.
Can accutane fix this? I feel like nothing can fix these cysts, they're so big, red and angry. I just need some comfort

Okay, so I was out over the weekend, and I guess I drank a little too much. Not a lot, but enough to make me forget about something so little.

I put on my gel, but I left it out all night on the bathroom counter.

Benzamycin gel is supposed to be refrigerated.

Now... would this mean the entire container of gel is wasted now? Because I left it out?

Or can I still use it?

Hi, I have be suffering from acne for 5 years, My GP has been giving me anti biotics for most of this time, last august i went on holiday in Asia for 6 months, and was very hot thier, i went to the doctors thier to see i they can help my acne, they prescibed me some tablets, and was giving injections to clear up my acne, it worked at 1st, but over time, i still use to gwt break out's, when i come back to england in may, my skin felt very weird, like pin's n needles in my face, i went to the GP and she gave me a stronger anti biotic and fwded me to a demortoligist, in this time my acne got really bad, had a lot of break outs and gradually got worse, my appointment was in august and the demortoligist put me on roaccutane, and its has cleared most of the acne spots, but still have loads of red acne marks and have breakouts from time to time, its has been 2-3 months since i been on roaccutane, i use dove extra sensitive soap in the morning at at night, in the first week of my roaccutane treatment, i start to get acne spots on my head like before, i went back to my GP who prescribed me anti biotics again, which has helped, im taking both the anti biotics and the roaccutane at the moment, can any help me get rid of my red marks or for some advice on wat i can use to help fade the scars?

i know white pus coming out when popping is normal...but sometimes i get a type of "pimple"
that usually no heads..after awhile it becomes soft...imagine a soft water balloon.

when i squeeze it at the right time ( when it is really soft ) clear jelly like things come out a lot! but no white pus. i know how white blood cells is but this is thicker and a bit less clear.

i have no idea what it is.
the pimple is usually pretty big and hard no pain. again...after a while it turns into a soft squishy bump and if i press my finger on it i can feel the "jelly" in there moving around...

anyone know what it is???

hey guys, so i'm starting accutane in about 2 weeks. I'm really anxious to try this and see if it works i have my fingers crossed! but im not only concerned with the pimples but after accutane will be skin look less oily? If anyone can give me some feed back that had this problem please let me know! i dont know what to do to control the apperance of the oil on my face, im hoping that accutane helps that.

I have 4 big ones growing right next to each other. It makes my face look swollen! I haven't left the house in days. I hate it so much.

Hi everyone...well, I have just finished taking a course of flucloxacillin for a huge, painful 2cm cyst. I looked like I had a gobstopper in my mouth because it was so swollen!

After a few days, the cyst 'burst' on its own and a lot of pus came out, and I encouraged it to do so by gently pressing against it with my tongue. It would sort of 'drain' itself every few days. I also tried putting a hot wheatbag over the cyst to encourage blood flow to the area, and this also encouraged it to drain.
The swelling has gone a lot. However, there is still a large, hard lump under the skin. It is almost like the cyst is in three parts and one part of it has not come to a head, even after the antibiotics, but is not near the surface to get it drained etc (at least, that's what the doc told me 2 days into the fluclox course). My question is, should I go back to the doctor since there is still a lump there (and it is still quite red, although not as bad as it was) or should I just hope it heals on its own?

Has anyone else had an experience like this? What did you do?

I am so fed up with acne, and I have a couple of other cysts on my neck, although they are nowhere near as big, painful and obvious!

I'm not sure what acne I have..

..and how I should go about clearing this up?

Is this severe?

Thank you very much..


[attachment=23282:acne.jpg]

Hi everyone,
i posted once before and i want to upload my photo to ask you guys about acne scarring treatment and how deep my scars are. Im 16. The oil on my skin just keeps coming out and out! I took the complete treatment of accutane and it got better for a while now its poping right out again. Yeah i know its bad and its killed 4 years of my life and needa treatment for it preferably for deep scar treatment.costs isnt a big issue

So i had cortisone injected to my cyst last tuesday at first it got rid of it completely but then i think the cyst want vengeance so it came right back up, i wouldnt say its that big but its big enough to be notice... just wanted to know if anyone had this problem before and what did you do to stop it. thanks in advance

This is my first post on Acne.org and really want to get some input from the acne community. I'll give some brief background...18 years old, ive had acne since my freshman year in high school but started off really mild on my face and i noticed throughout the years in high school there was always times when i broke out on my face but nothing major, i am a bodybuilder and i have never taken steroids BUT this past May i experimented with Pro-Hormones and yes this is where my life turned upside down for me...this has to be the WORST break out i have ever had in all my years and my self-esteem has dropped to its lowest and my self-consciousnesses has never been so bad about my acne...i have face, upper back, and chest acne...i mean before any of this happened i felt like a super stud walking around! then to top things off I have a beautiful gf with flawless skin (6 months together) and sometimes i ask myself "what is she doing with a guy like me?"...but there was one time when i broke down in tears next to her just telling her how much my acne bothered me and she reassured me that she doesnt even care if i have acne, she loves me for who i am which i dearly love her for it...but still i wanna get this fkn acne cleared out so i wont be embarrassed about taking off my shirt in front of her...anybody with the same situation that i am in??

heres a pic with my gf and i taken about the end of july

[attachment=22672:cass_and_aaron.jpg]

Hello All,

I'm new to the forum but I've been visiting this site for years. As of late, I've been getting small and large nodules around my mouth, upper lip, and the side of my face-near my eyes. I have also noticed that when my scalp begins to itch or feel irritated, my nodules form. I do touch my face from time to time, after I itch my scalp. I have tried Dan's regimen also, I've seen results but I would end up breaking out again after devout applications but now my spot acnes are nodules instead of pimples. I attempted to try Paula's Choice products but it doesn't seem to work...

My regimen is as follows:

-Paula's Choice CLEAR Anti-Acne System
1. Cleanser
2. Toner-2% Salicylic Acid
3. BP-5%
4. Hydralight moisture-infusing lotion

*I usually apply the 2%BHA Beta hydroxy acid gel before BP.

-I take one 1200 mg of Omega Fish Oil capsule a day.

-I am using Aveeno Nourish + Soothe Shampoo which has lavender and peppermint, plus wheat moisturizers for dry and itchy scalp. I have tried everything for my scalp from head and shoulders, Neutrogena T-Gel, Selinium Sulfide 2.5% to 5%, and medicated shampoos from doctors.

-I have not had this kind of reaction until now, I am 24 years old. I would use to get small white heads and pimples. My skin isn't healing as fast either.

-I am on Microgestin 1.5/35 mg (Birth control).

-I currently do not have health insurance.

-My recent stressors have been resigning from FDA on 9/11/09, and now recently losing my part-time job as a caregiver on 11/11/09. I am also studying for my state licenses to become a financial advisor.

Does any one have suggestions? I would greatly appreciate your input. Have a great day!

Pandora6

i am 16 male and i had acne for 4 years and its literally destroyed my life and now im left with deeep deep scars. I just want to get ride of most of it before im 18.
Anyone know any preferred treatment for this? Money isnt a big issue atm.
thanks guys.

I've been doing alright for a while after taking accutane for 5 months, just the odd cyst here and there (and a severely scarred face). Recently I started taking anti inflammatory pills for a fractured elbow, and it seems that my acne is getting worse. I got a couple spots on my chest where I haven't had anything in 4 months, and my upper cheak area, which used to be alright.

Is that normal? Or am I just looking to hard for an answer.

Hi there, this is my first post on this site although I've been familiar with it for a few years now. I wanted to hear what you guys all thought about my situation and see how you dealt with the treatment you had. Maybe if my situation sounds similar to yours, I could use your example to get a better understanding of what's going on.

I'm a female and I've had acne since I was in my early teens which never let up until 10 years later when my dermatologist put me on bactrim antiobiotics, differin gel, and retin-a cream. In addition, I was put on birth control (ortho tri-cyclin lo) and was overall eating much healthier and leading an active lifestyle. For the occasional cyst, I received cortisol shots and for about two years I had absolutely clear skin.

What has changed since then is that I no longer had health insurance coverage for treatment, so I could only use OTC creams which did absolutely nothing. Nowadays, I have pretty large, painful cysts on my cheeks and along my jawline. It's usually rather warm to the touch and appears in the same place all the time. I have a few pimples on my chest and neck as well. The acne I have now is worse than I've ever experienced in my life and is really affecting me negatively.

I have health insurance again with my new job, so I've been back on birth control for a month, and I'll be seeing a dermatologist in a month. I do place a lot of importance on natural remedies, so that is something I am willing to explore. What have you guys used (both natural and prescription) that has had the greatest effectiveness without too many side effects?

This seems like a pretty supportive community, so I look forward to hearing your responses. Thanks everyone!