4 replies to this topic

[bennochenno]

Hi,

I have incredibly dry skin on my face which by mid-day becomes incredibly oily.

I moisturise but my dry skin never clears up (until it’s covered by oil). Apart from the spots the oil causes major blackheads all over my face which give it a very bumpy, blemished look. I have now taken to avoiding rooms with certain lighting and sunny days!

My doctor has given me creams for my cheeks. I'm sure Benzoyl Peroxide was amongst them. They seem to have made my skin texture worse. I'm taking Tetralysal which also seems to have no effect. My doctor says seeing a dermatologist is pointless as he will say the same as the doc. I have never seen acne like mine before and as time goes on it has spread from my cheeks to all over my face. I need some help! Any advice? What wrong with my skin!?

[Fuman]

Im guessing your around the 18-20ish age? when your hormones are going outta wack around then?

I had the same problem with oily skin and like dry patches to..........you can try using a retinoid which will solve your overshedding of your skin which causes your breakouts

like Tazorac or retina........only thing that stops the oil is accutane which stops the shedding of the skin and oiliness

i'd go see a derm though, your doctor isn't a skin specialist so who is he/she to know

[ImOily]

Im guessing your around the 18-20ish age? when your hormones are going outta wack around then?

Thats young adult age... hormones are outta whack at adolescence.

[bennochenno]

Im guessing your around the 18-20ish age? when your hormones are going outta wack around then?

I'm 25 but my acne started at 17. I get spots but they aren't the major problem as they are managable and heal well. The real problem is the very bumpy texture of my skin caused by large blackheads which looks terrible. I've never seen anything like it. They're all over my face and seem to be getting worse as I get older! It's really bad on the sides of my face.

I have to moisturise my dry skin but the the moisturiser (even non-comdegenic stuff) seems to prokove my skin into becoming more oily. I think your right about the doctor not knowing what he's talking about. I think its about time I took a harder line with him.

[InsanelyOily]

(Damnit, I need to discontinue new topic notifications! Too tempting to reply and I'm short on time.)

But I saw this post and I can totally relate.

I'm 35, male, and there are people in their late 40s and beyond stuggling w/ this shit, so prepare for another good 20 plus years of this as I have. hehe.

I have total texture issues as well. Millions of clogged pores, not all black, in fact most are just clogged w/ white stuff. Every once in a while I go on a squeezing spree and squeeze a bunch of them out. But I'm trying to avoid that since I think the squeezing w/ my finger nails often ends up busting the folicles or something like that which then turns my blackheads and whitehead into inflamatory zits, sometimes cysts. Plus w/in a few days they are filled up again. Plus they look worse when they're empty and they are giant holes.

Anyway I went decades with really, really dry skin after I wash my face and then super oily not long afterwards. And when it was super oily it was still really dry and tight and irritated.

Lately I've made considerable progress in balancing my skin out, so that it's not super dry. It's still super oily, but at least it's not super oily and super dry and tight and irritated feeling. My mouth area is still fairly dry after I wash, but as of fairly recently I don't have to put any moisturizer on my mouth area which is a major improvement. The salicylic acid I use has some moisturizing qualities though.

I think it's key to not go overboard on the washing which strips everything away and to not overly irritate your skin w/ acne treatment products.

How about this, right when you get out of the shower and look in the mirror can you see all your pores filled w/ white shit, if so, I am you and you are me and it sucks to be me.

I too am struggling to find a way to keep my pores clear, but I think it's impossible w/ so much oil. But I'm making some progress.

If you follow my route you'll be experimenting for years to find a fix.

I'll go ahead and let you know what my years of experimentation have led me to, however, I change stuff all the time, though for the last 3 months or so I've been doing roughly the following, and my skin is probably the best it's been in a long long time (not saying too much, but still...)

Use Paula's choice "Skin Balancing Cleanser" -- this actually might really help w/ the balancing of the uber dryness and oiliness and at least help minimize the dryness. This is my favorite cleanser thus far and I've used thousands.

Morning: after washing apply Paul's Choice salicylic acid 1% gel all over my face neck and behind my ears. Then neutrogena 2.5% benzoyl peroxide on the top of my face to cover the shine which the sal leaves and to help absorb oil throughout the day, then Paula's Choice 2.5% benzoyl on my beard area and behind my ears, not my neck since my neck has been under control since using sal day and night.

Night: after washing apply green cream level 9 on face (not neck and not behind ears), 1% sal on neck and behind ears, and Paula's Choice 2.5% behind my ears which needs bp twice a day to keep it under control. I then dab some sal and bp heavily on any big spots.

Green cream is a retinoid like retin-a but less powerful. I've used some form of a retinoid, mostly prescription for like 8 years so I don't want to stop in case stopping makes all hell break loose. Unfortunately my pores have been heavily clogged the whole time.

But if I did stop, I would try the sal 1% and bp 2.5% together day and night. Although if you're not already dependent on bp and don't have problems w/ inflamatory acne, maybe you could just go w/ the salicylic acid. Maybe do the 2% night and day.

The acids, sal and glycolic and mandelic are supposed to help unclog the pores but I haven't had much success. Glycolic acid seems to actually help, but it makes my face too red and irritated and, like I mentioned I can't give up bp or all hell will break loose and I can't give up a retinoid since I'm scared what might happen.

So w/out bp and a retinoid, I might very well be able to tolerate glycolic acid and could be on my way to clear pores. If I was't making decent progress w/ my current routine I might try to ditch bp or the retinoid in favor of glycolic acid, but things are progressing, albeit slowly.

Oh well, I'm turning off my new topic notification because I'll end up spending all my time posting because most of us can relate to everyone else and always have something to say, productive or not.

I'll leave you w/ a huge recommendation of Paula's choice products. Her website has tons of great info too.

I also leave you w/ this thread http://www.acne.org/messageboard/index.php?showtopic=97433 if you want to feel assured that you're not the only one w/ psycho oily skin.

I'm living proof that you can help the dryness. Can't wash too hard and can't go nuts w/ the products. That's why I'm using just the 1% sal and 2.5% bp, if I go much higher I end up w/ dry irritated skin underneath my crazy oil.

Last but not least, all these products take time. It takes a long time to shed away the top of closed comedones (i.e., whiteheads), but it's happening to me slowly but surely. The blackhead, i.e., comedones that are already open, always seem plugged up, but I think their getting better to. I hope.

GOOD LUCK AND GOOD NIGHT! (Phew, that was a long one, par for the course for me )