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[Marshall Mason]

I've had acne all my life, and 10 years ago, I decided to take control of it. I started on Acne.org, and I found so much information and tips here that has helped me along the way. I didn't know it would take me so long to beat the acne, not to mention so much money and frustration. But, after much trial and error, I've finally got it under control a few months ago. As you probably know, there's no such thing as a "silver bullet" treatment, and what works for one person doesn't work for everyone, so YMMV. Nonetheless, I'd like to share what I've learned here in the hopes that it may save at least a few others some time, money, and frustration.

Dan's regimen didn't work for me. It helped a little, but I needed more. I experimented with several different prescription treatments. The best I've found were Tazorac and Doxycycline. That kept it under control for a few years, but it was very expensive and toilsome, so I didn't consider the problem "solved." I stopped the Doxycycline for a while, and was able to keep the acne at bay with Tazorac alone, until one day it completely stopped working. I could have started the Doxycycline again, but I really wanted a better solution, so I started reading and experimenting some more. What eventually did the trick didn't come from Acne.org, a dermatologist, or a book. It was something I pieced together from everything I've learned, with the help of a veterinarian, of all people. Here it is.

Every morning and night, I wash with Dan's cleanser.
Except three nights a week, when I clean with a salycilic acid wash.
Every evening, I spot treat with Dan's 2.5% BP treatment.
Every morning, afternoon, and evening, I spot treat with Neosporin.
Every morning and evening, I apply moisturizer.

I have to be extremely proactive with the spot treatments. Any slight blemish or sore spot, anything that might conceivably become a zit, I hit with everything. Every zit I've had since starting this (only two so far) was something I noticed but waited too long to treat, thinking, "nah, probably nothing."

This is a very light regimen, by design. The insight the veterinarian friend gave me was that less is more. She said she thinks it's actually all my treatments that's causing much of my acne, as it was aggravating my skin. The Neosporin is fairly gentle, but the rest is very hard on the skin, so they should be used sparingly. The salycilic acid is an exfoliate, to keep the skin shedding and not blocking pores, but only a few days a week is necessary. BP is like the perfect treatment, serving as an exfoliate, antibacterial, and antibiotic. However, even at 2.5%, I've found it's still too hard on the skin to cover the whole face. It works better as a spot treatment. The Neosporin, of course, is a topical antibiotic. Axzone is better, but it's an expensive prescription. The Neosporin is a big part of this regimen. As a spot treatment three times a day, it's like a targeted, constant, rapid-fire machine gun, destroying any acne bacteria that even thinks of setting up camp in my skin and wreaking havoc.

I hope this helps someone. Even if the exact regimen doesn't work for you, maybe it will give you some ideas of some things to experiment with.

Good luck!

Marshall