4 replies to this topic

[undercoverpete]

Hello anyone thats reading, im almost 18, and ive had moderate acne for around bout 1 and half years... at the moment im breaking out all over, but my main problem area is surrounding my mouth, moustache area, chin, and side of mouth worst of it within smile lines (feels now like smiling push out spots ) if you imagine a goatie of spots then thats bout right anyway heres whats happened...
feels like a neverending journey, I have been on antibiotics for around about a year now, and im not sure what to think anymore, it started really well, i got prescribed an antibiotic which i had for about 5 weeks, which did actually make quite a noticible difference but i had to take it an hour before meals or 2 hours after and because i have a very high metabolism i wanna eat as much wenever i can P: so i went back to the doctors and they prescribed me LYMECYCLINE...
It was great, my skin cleared almost completely in 6 weeks of having them, i hadnt got to worry about it, and i was using a facial wash every 2 days, was quite drying but at the time i thought this was good because it seemed to hide the redness.
When summer was over my skin seemed to take abit of a knock, maybe due to the stresses of going back to school having failed my previous year (will get to that). I had also met a girl who i really liked and i was told she really liked me, altho i never grasped why she would with me looking how i did. It got to october 2010, around about a year since i had started shaving, which i still feel is the moment my acne started, could be a coincidence... I had gotten to know this girl and i was in a relationship with her, my skin was not too bad until after christmas, after christmas when we had to go back to school my acne flared up real bad, i felt i had got to change something so i went to the doctors again and he prescribed me some ISOTREX gel which i currently regret excepting!! i was with my girlfriend all the way up til about 1 month ago, it was pretty tough, i wasnt sure how i felt about her by the end and we broke it off, i feel like acne played a large role, i couldnt b confident at all and really wanted to see her some days but felt like i would embarrass her because of my acne. Since christmas i have felt emotionally destroyed, i dont know whether its a side effect of the antibiotic, or whether its due to some family problems im trying to deal with... i really am unsure what to do, last year i failed my exams and im currently re sitting AS level which started really well this year as i decided to take art and graphics which i have been told is my talent, i am supposed to be at school currently and i cant force myself to go, i feel like acne is holding me back from doing anything, i have not been hanging out with my friends, i havent been going to school very much, i dont feel confident, sometimes i dont even feel like leaving my own room if my mum is in.
I feel sooo unnatural waking up every morning and having to take a pill, and then applying some gel on my face at night which tightens my face completely :/ My acne, after a year of antibiotics and couple of months with a topical gel, is just about at the level it was before i started anything! i wish i had just kept going with out taking anything because now im trapped... if i come off the medication then my skin will break out even worse! and if i stay on it i feel just as bad about myself...

Right here is what i do everyday for my face
MORNING:
get up take my antibiotic pill with some fruit juice and a bowl of cereal
take a bath, (sometimes a shower, but i feel like a bath is gentler) wash with only water, probally use facial cleanser once a week, but the isotrex gel is very drying so i get unbelievably dry after using a facial cleaner!
pat dry with towel
EVENING:
Sometimes have another bath, but lately i have been not washing during the evening because my skin was getting to dry so i have been getting some natural oil back...
Apply ISOTREX gel on whiteheads, and red patches, and alot on any cystic bumps.

thats about it...
NO moisturiser because ive tryed loads and they all make my skin look horrible and break me out the next day with spots all over.

I shave once a week at the moment, my skin breaks out everytime after i shave! and then heals itself slightly by the end of the week, I want to shave once every 2 or 3 days because its growing back on my lip and chin that fast, but im worried if i do that i will destroy my face for couple of months before it adjusts? shaving helps to exfloiate everything and get all the dead dry skin off at least.
I do masturbate everyday at the moment, I wish i could stop that as well... its not even that i want to half the time, but i have experimented with not masturbating for a week or couple of days on and off and i break out loads i dont know why, but when i masturbate everyday my skin seems to adjust and calm down, maybe its just placebo but if anyone knows a way to stop masturbating and not break out i would b very pleased, for me it works to do it everyday :/

I just want to be free of all my medication, if i could come off my medication without having to worry about my skin getting even worse than it is then i would do so right now even tho its breaking out at the moment...
Im very worried about summer as ive been invited to go on holiday twice with mates and i cant use my topical gel on holiday because it peels my skin over night like crazy!! i really want to go on holiday away with mates with out worries :'(

IF ANYONE can help me, or has read this, theres so much more that i want to put up but i doubt people will read all of that this stuff anyway.
im pretty much desperate at the moment finding myself crying ever few days over everything, wish stuff could go back to how it was or at least end soon so i could be stronger for overcoming it :/

PS : im also currently on a high calorie diet about 3000 a day and working out every few days not too much, but i duno if this plays any role...

[pokemonster]

i just know if ur on antibiotics, u should get probiotics supplement (afterwards or while ur on it as well idk tho) and at least try eating more healthy

[undercoverpete]

yer i used to take some yakult, probiotic drink everyday, but i stopped for ages, ive just started taking some more 2 days ago, i hope it doesnt make things worse :/

[hatori]

Please don't get too discouraged! Hang in there! Chances are that even if this continues for quite some time, it will go away on its own in a few years. Not what you want to hear, I know, but just remember it's NOT PERMANENT.

In the meantime, are you picking at your face? If so, don't do it! It really tends to make things worse rather than better. It caused me to get a really bad infection on my face, and also it regularly causes my tiny blackheads to turn into zits. So please, don't pick!

I can't really comment much on diet. I personally believe that it doesn't play a huge role, but others disagree. (I admit though that milk/dairy might have a significant role, however.)

Masturbation? It will NOT affect your acne! If you think that doing it/not doing it is affecting your acne, I think you're just making some associations that aren't really there. It takes acne 4-6 weeks to become visible, since it starts way under the skin where you can't even see it. THEREFORE, if you get acne the day after you do/don't masturbate, there's no connection. That acne is in response to something you did 4-6 WEEKS AGO. This holds true for just about everything else, too (lotion, bacteria, etc).

Shaving... you mentioned your skin breaks out after it? Are you sure those aren't just ingrown hairs? My boyfriend gets those a lot because he has curly hair, and also because he's just silly and dry-shaves.

Self-Esteem advice: This is not the end of the world, I promise. You have a long, awesome life ahead of you. Don't let this stop you from hanging out and having fun with people! All that matters is that you're having fun and actually LIVING life! Your friends won't judge you for it, and if they do, you need real friends. Acne controls you only as much as you LET IT control you. People with terrible birth defects and burns and missing limbs still manage to go out and have fun. In fact, many of them strive to do great things in spite of their setbacks. You might feel a bit self-conscious at first, but it's a lot better to go out and do things even if you feel a bit awkward than to sit at home wishing you were out there.

Anyway, my last few tips: Don't pick, calm down, TRUST YOUR DOCTOR EVEN IF IT SUCKS (he's licensed for a reason -- he knows what he's doing!), and go live life.

[undercoverpete]

thank you for your reply hatori with regards to picking, wen i first had it i was picking everything that came up, and last summer wen i was almost clear i would pick the whiteheads and that seemed to speed up the recovery, but now i dont bother because theres quite alot of whiteheads and i know that if i pick one im just guna pick them all and screw up my face lol, so i just put the isotrex gel on them before bed and they seem to dry up in couple of days, within which time another 5 have replaced them in different places grrr...
thanks for saying bout the masturbation thing, i didnt yesterday after posting and im not going to today, i think im going to go for a week without doing it and just not care about it, it must have just been in my head cas i read that it relives stress and stress caused spots, that i would do it regularly everyday, but i will feel alot better about myself if i dont have to do it and my skin doesnt get worse.
shaving wise its not ingrown hairs, i might get a few like i have a red patch from where i might have one ingrown, but generally im extremely light wen i shave and just go gently over, also im only growing darker hairs on my moustache and my chin and those areas seem to be clear more often that the sides of my mouth, but a day after i shave whiteheads always crop up no matter what i tried putting moisturiser on, ive tried leaving them really dry afterwards, ive tried shaving in shower, before, during and after, tryed using cleaner straight after shaving, nothing seems to stop them from coming up the next day, but its half term next week, so i reckon im going to try and shave 2 or 3 times during the week and see how it goes, hopefully my skin will start to adjust because im needing to shave that often...
Thank you for your encouragement, im looking abit more forward for the day today