Cheated a ton on my diet again; yay 4th of July! Had a red bean bun (sugar, milk), 1/4 pitcher of sangria, a piece of custard pie (sugar, milk, corn syrup) and a hamburger with a home-made bun. Hoo boy. Stress levels are up for various reasons, uncertainties about life after college graduation being reason numero uno. Hormones are acting wacky, might be the stress and might be the zinc.

I just wanna get my skin under control so I can focus on the important things in my life, but perhaps I've got it backwards. If I sort my life out first, maybe I'll "grow out" of this irritating problem in the process.

Trying gluten-free for two weeks. Started eating small amounts of yogurt.

Is it possible that skin can be so damaged by topicals that it can't heal itself any more?

Over the past ten years, I've used:
Clindamycin
Erythromycin
20% glycolic acid
8% alpha hydroxy acid
2.5 % benzoyl peroxide
2% salicylic acid
sulfur soap
oatmeal soap
Proactiv
Differin and Duac (I think this is where things started taking a turn for the worse)
Tea Tree oil in various forms

I keep eating well, taking supplements that are supposed to promote healing and using topicals that claim to do the same, yet the scarring that started suddenly is continuing to happen, even with the tiniest pimples. What gives?

I'd like to know the science behind how the skin heals itself, but I don't have enough time to research because I have a journalism class to pass and a life to get back on track. Le sigh.

Had some serious slip=ups this weekend again; seems to be a trend here. Went to a party and had a beer, binged on S'mores. Ate another one of those green tea popsicles.

Also ate more green apples than normal; one or two per day. No idea if eating fruit is good or bad for my skin.

Now using Kiss My Face olive oil and aloe soap 2x a day because it seems silly to use two different cleansers.

Skin looks like absolute crap, likely due to the chocolate and my stopping use of the TTO cleanser; it's red, tons of whiteheads and pustules everywhere. Body isn't doing so hot either; no matter what I eat, how much sleep I get or how many vitamins I take, my digestion still sucks, I get random stomach and chest pains and I'm almost always tired. Thinking about seeing a naturopath because I don't know if I can handle this on my own any more when my diet hasn't changed anything after 4 months.

Super-busy this week with schoolwork; no time to worry about acne.

Noticed that my dad, who keeps reassuring me that the pock-marks will go away, has several acne scars on his face, some fairly deep. Not very reassuring. Yay genetics. Maybe I should just suck it up and let nature take its course; my dad had bad acne and scars, but he's doing just fine now.

Skin really oily and red, probably from washing 2x a day, and have a few new zits that look like they'll scar. Pimples seem to be healing faster, though. Gonna try not washing tomorrow morning.

I want to try using BP again, but I feel like that's giving up at this point, and that it may make it even harder for my skin to heal. I'd probably have half as many scars if I'd been using it, but it burned the crap out of my face even when I used 2.5% once a day.

Ordered Yes to Tomatoes face wash to try to cut down the oil slick I've got going on, and some organic, cold-pressed coconut oil to make yummy food with. I want to get some raw cacao nibs to much on, as well.

Might be a coincidence, but I realised that the years my skin has been the worst have been the most stressful of my life. I'm not sure whether stress causes acne, but acne certainly seems to stress me out sometimes. I think my focus should be less on diet and more on stress management and exercise now.

Back to work!

Dropped the zinc because I think it was doing nothing except giving me jawline acne which I'd never had before. Got my raw coconut oil in the mail today, and am going to stir-fry some veggies with it for dinner tonight, yay!

Coconut oil on waffles = DELICIOUS

Got a seriously high fiber cereal at Trader Joe's (50% of daily fiber serving in one cup!). We'll see if this cereal and the coconut oil help with my digestion issues.

The phantom itchy red patch on the back of my right calf has returned with a vengeance! I had a bunch of Hemp/Flax granola that might have something to do with it. Does this mean I might be gluten sensitive? I got tested for celiac disease a while ago and the results were negative, but I could still be sensitive to the stuff. I'm gonna try the gluten-free thing again as soon as I finish the box of cereal I got from Trader Joe's. SO ITCHY

Legs have been itchy as all hell lately, digestion has been all effed up, and general feelings of faintness and fatigue aren't helping. Making an appointment with the doctor to see what's up.

Ate an entire jar of dark chocolate peanut butter and a bunch of homemade dark chocolate with coconut, a ton of spaghetti, two cans of tuna. Gotta get back on track; no more peanut butter or dark chocolate for the next month, cut back on gluten again.

Started taking 500 mg no-flush Niacin daily on Friday; no results so far. Toying around with eating less fruit.

Almost out of this hellish journalism course, then I finally get a break. Looking forward to a (more) regular sleep schedule, more exercise, better diet, and generally sorting my life out again.

More than 600 views? Who is reading this thing?

Hey Quirkypixie,

I am in much the same situation as you ... have been having acne for years (since an age of 12-13). I was a verry shy person when I was young and the acne on top of that... it gave me the worst time in my life. On top of that I was so shy that I turned red if most people even looked at me. My stresslevel was enormous, which did the acne no good at all. But anyway im not here to talk about my bad teenage years ^^

As most people now, stress DOES cause acne. So if your strest out about your acne, it only gets worse. Thats why most dermatologists tend to say; learn to accept it. Eventually you will benefit from it.

I am now 19 years old and mostly cured from my acne. Well atleast if you compare it to a few years ago that is... now my forehead has white heads, and my nose is full of blackheads/scars. My face is still a little bit red (red stains). At least I can live with it atm... although (like mosts of us now) I am not satisfied until im TOTALLY cured.
At the moment, im doing quite ok. Im emotionally stable and I eat quite healthy. Similiar to you diet, only yours is a little bit hardened.

I wanted to tell you that it is better to reward yourself once in a while, to prevent outbreaks such as your peanutbutter harvest . There are healthy threaths that do your skin rather good (thanks to the anti-oxindants). Verry dark chocolate is verry healthy if you take a few pieces each day and tastes verry nice ^^! (only verry dark chocolate is good for you). Also a beer is verry healthy also, contains lots of vitames for the skin and hair. BUT like all things, keep it to a minumum.

I would also suggest that you DO wash you fash in the morning. It just needs to be cleaned and needs protection during the day.

IN your case, stress is a big factor... So try to do something about it ! watch more movies, work out more and before you go to sleep.... listen to this!

* link wont work so copy paste ^^,

I was very shy as well, so I know the feeling of having to deal with pimples on top of shyness. Not fun, but I think it has made me a stronger person in the end!

I do seem to have a little bit of a peanut butter problem. Gotta work on that.

Thank you for the helpful suggestions! I just got a gentle, all-natural face wash to clean my face in the morning, and am trying to control my stress levels and my unhealthy food binges. I LOVE very dark chocolate, and am trying to get some raw cacao beans at the moment because they are supposed to be very good for you!

How did you get your skin under control?

I've been using the Yes to Tomatoes Trouble-Free cleanser two times a day since Thursday. I like the way it makes my skin feel after washing, even though it smells like potpourri. However, I think it's bringing all of the gunk to the surface because I've got a dozen nasty little pustules right now on top of the typical inflamed stuff, but that could be due to lack of sleep or the massive amount of wine I drank on Saturday. At least nothing big has sprouted up yet.

I'm going to try to keep my regimen fairly consistent until the end of August: wash 2x a day, take vitamins in the morning, apply coconut oil in the evening. I also want to get my sleep schedule under control and to get more fresh air and sunshine, because I believe that will have a great effect on my well-being.

Hey there ^^

Sorry for the late reply. Well for me it has been a struggle from my 12th birthday till today... There has been major changes though... When I think of it, in the past (because I was so extremely shy) stress and much unhealthy sugars where the ones that made the bomb explode. Ofcourse my harmones where crazy as hell as a puber . I have been down allot, lot of stressed out etc. But I learned that if you just live healthy ( not TOO tight, because than your getting stressed out if SOMETIMES eat some suger etc. which is not bad at all btw ) than you will feel better.

I cutted al my alcoholic skin things and are now (like u) only using a soft fash wash from Tea Tree. I got away from the spots, not by removing them but to make sure that they wouldnt come back. Just wash your face right in the shower (mild and cold water) every morning and night. I almost never touch my face. I drink at least 3 liters of water a day, and eat quite allot of anti-oxidents. But for the rest I just live, and I think that is one of the main keys... dont pay attention to it that much, because other people wont either.

Oh I have sometimes breakouts, but thats mainly because I want to remove a whitehead and than I touch my face and the next day.. you know .

btw, I think your living a good way, maybe a litte too strict even! If you dont work out much, than try to. Relaxing is the key I think good luck, and If you have questions

Thanks for sharing your experience with me; those are some really good suggestions (exercise, relaxation, lots of water)

I just entered everything I ate today into Nutridiary, and holy crap.

I only get about 800 calories a day.

Maybe this is part of why I'm so tired all the time despite eating so healthily.

I'm going to add quinoa and chick peas into my diet to see if I can bump up my calorie level with healthy foods.

Went to the doctor's today to get checked up, as I've had dizzy/fainting spells, ridiculous fatigue, and phantom abdominal pains for a few weeks now. The doctor was very nice, but she rushed me in and out without seeming to really ask enough questions or do enough tests to determine what's wrong. I got bloodwork done, and will find out the results tomorrow. Didn't pass out this time (score)!

Going to make an appointment with an allergist next, and maybe a nutritionist, as I believe they can probably help me more than a general doctor can. It seems like regular doctors are useless a lot of the time, honestly.

Got some quinoa, canned black beans and chickpeas, and cocoa powder at Trader Joe's. That place is now officially my mecca.

Had a bunch of dark chocolate and green tea popsicles this weekend. Whoops! Also started eating oranges again.

Niacin is drying me out and I'm not sure that it's helping much, but I'll keep taking it for a bit because many people have had success with it. I stopped taking Vitamin E because it did nothing for my scarring and I am trying to cut back on my supplements as much as possible because they are expensive.

My monthly cycle is messed up, and might be another symptom of whatever's going on with my health right now. Going to the gyn when I get back from vacation, and hopefully will get the problem sorted out.

While riding the train today, I was approached by a severely mentally and physically disabled man who struggled to talk with me. He seemed desperate for some sort of human contact, and everyone else was deliberately avoiding him. I had a hard time understanding what he said, but managed to talk to him about cats for a bit. Talking with this man made me realise just how lucky I am and how much I take for granted. Sure I have acne and scars, but how serious of a problem are they really?