6 replies to this topic

[fettered2freedom]

Helloooooo All fellow sufferers here... Shall we stop suffering, and kill this grotesque facial disfigurer called acne? Yes, yes.

Acne CV

I'm a 28 yr old female and have had acne since I was 11, and the past few years it has been more cystic/jawline hormonal, with many clogged pores in my chin and around my cheeks. Now that I'm older, red marks take FOREVER to fade, and on the left side of my face I have a bunch of clogged pores around my temple (in pic it's pretty clear ((er, not clear but, clear to see how clogged it is)) - not something you'd notice except in the light - and not something that is bad but it annoys the heck outta me). I have this one cyst on my chin that has graced me with its horrid, ridiculously huge presence for no shorter than 6 weeks. And a scar from it's brother who only recently receded - hopefully, to never ever return again. But for those of you with cystic acne, you know how it is... out of nowhere, an old scar can continually re-emerge, re-recreating crappy chaos in it's ever evolving wake. FML.

Like many of you on here, I've tried EVERYTHING: Accutane (5x!) / Retin A / Retin-A micro / Antibiotics (many diff kinds, oh joy) / Tazorac / Facials / Peels / Extractions / Micro Derm / AHA / BHA / Glycolics / Topical Antibiotics...ETC (grrrrrr).

Oh, and, diet - eliminated dairy, wheat... Sugar is a tough one for me, but I've tried to reduce it. For awhile I was excusing greek yogurt from the dairy category - somewhere I had read that the probiotic bacteria 'eat' the lactose and so therefore yogurt wasn't necessarily 'actually' dairy.... As of the past week, I've decided to get very strict on the no dairy (meaning NO yogurt, no drop of cream or milk in coffee, no nada) and I have seen a little bit more improvement. Instead of having, say, 5 active pimples, I'm down to maybe 2 or 3.

My acne seems hormonally related: Birth control made me crazy(er) and so after 7 years on it, and mostly clear(ish) skin, I went off. I honestly can't remember how much worse this made my skin, and I'd rather not use BCPs to control it - however, I DO take 50mg spironolactone 1x/day and while this seemed to work pretty well, I still don't have that perfectly clear skin I am after and I wonder if it works at all anymore. Hoping diet, exercise and strict faithful application of DKR will get me there, so that I can taper off the spiro and say hello to my nice clear face.

Supplements I've been using anyways:

• Good n Natural: Zinc for Acne (has A,C,E,B-6 also) 1 pill 2x/day
• GNC: Triple Strength Fish Oil + Vitamin D-3 2 or 3 pills a day
• KAL Pantothenic Acid 1000mg down to 1-3 pills per day after mega dosing for a month - this DEFINITELY helped dry out my oily skin, but I still have hormonal breakouts
• One A Day, Teen Advantage when I remember
• Emergen-C vitamin C packet

Diet and nutrition is of HUGE importance to skin, I am merely doing topicals to up the ante. If I could cross list this log with holistic nutrition, I would. I worship Alternavista and have been reading up on her advice for YEARS on here. She knows her shhh.

• Green smoothies work wonders for skin!!!! Include in diet 3-7x per week + Green Vibrance powder
• NO WHEAT, NO DAIRY (when I cheat, which I do, I'll let ya'll know how it effects skin)
• Very limited sugar
• Organic veggies, fruits, fish, nuts, oils... some grass fed beef on my moon, very rarely I'll have chicken

Also have been doing some Herbalife supplements/allergy free shakes but I'm not sure about the products' efficacy at this stage. I was sort of conned into it by a well meaning friend who got sucked into their MLM scheme, and I was curious. Anyways, just wanted to throw that out there as something I've been consuming.

TODAY = DAY 5 on DKR, faithful morning/evening application exactly as outlined in videos on here. Yesterday the dryness was way too much so I have just moisturized this morning. So far, so good - I am noticing no new acne, but the acne I do get has been quick to dry yet slow to heal...

Skin Condition:

• 1 giant old relentless cyst (who teases me each morning pretending to be more flattened out and then rages throughout the day and is like, huge before bed, maybe I should call it 'Walter' - ugh, I haaate Walter).
• One big pimple on my neck (neck acne is a new thing I am blessed with)
• Same amount of clogged pores scattered throughout - too many to count, in fact.
• And a few small scattered small red pimples that I attacked last night. MUST NOT PICK ANYMORE.

Overall my skin looks a little bit like a very very very old person's skin right now (wrinkly itchy old neck), so it's dry and damaged from the BP in the Regimen but I am NOT giving up - it worked for me when I was 23, so hopefully, 5 years later, it will work again. I will keep updating with pix. I'm using Photo Booth on my mac so the accuracy of the pics are a little bit blurred, which makes it hard to post detailed skin pictures, oh well.

My skin is doing OK - not great - but it's improved quite a bit in just a few days by tightening up my diet, drinking loads of green smoothies. Hopefully it will keep moving in that direction. I considered not putting my whole face on here, but you know what, I don't give a damn anymore. SO here I am, world: acne and all.

SO: DKR + Diet + Exercise + Supplement + Happy thoughts + Meditation + No Picking + Some Sun = fingers crossed: clear skin.

......MUCH LOVE TO YOU ALL ON YOUR JOURNEY'S AND MISSIONS.... Let's beat this thing and then help get everyone else in the world clear through diet and love and topicals and exercise. A multi-pronged approach hopefully works!

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[fettered2freedom]

Ok, so, my skin is reeeeeallllly irritated right now you guys.

I just considered taking pictures, but honestly it looks the same but the pimples are more RED (NOT INFLAMED THOUGH - except for the stupid cyst) and the skin is pink and flaky and wrinkly!!! So I am going to take a 1-2 day BP break, and just wash and moisturize until things calm down.

One thing I might do is apply BP over the areas I'm broken out after moisturizing. I saw another poster did this and she didn't mention having ill effects, so I think until things calm down that will be my approach.

The main problem I have with the methodology of the regimen is that I use the recommended amount of BP (I went full on and did a full finger/two finger's worth straightaway since I've been attacking my skin with SA peels prior - well, not a great idea, the irritation was SLOW to develop but now the flakes and redness and dryness are FULL FLEDGED so definitely start slow no matter what routine you're used to going into it...just my two cents). Oh so, to finish that other sentence I started - the main thing is that the moisturizer, while awesome, definitely spreads the BP around to areas I don't need it - and the method of application (POST-LARGE AMTS OF BP) just spreads it to my neck, and forehead - all these areas I'd rather not put it on because they are already clear!

I am about 85% clear though, overall. I never really have to worry about breaking out on my forehead anymore (fingers crossed). I attribute this to DIET. I've been trying to avoid wheat and dairy for many years now, and as time goes on it is definitely natural as in I don't really crave these things. Still, I like pizza and ice cream, cookies and cake like anyone else... Well, perhaps MORE than most. So The past 4-5 years I am more 60% faithful to the diet, and I've only had some random bouts of clear skin but usually there is ALWAYS at least one zit ready to ruin my whole face (cuz that's what 'just one' does when you're otherwise clear - it makes itself known). Ugh, I hate acne! Anyways. Where was I? Oh, diet. Today is day 6 of ABSOLUTELY no wheat and almost absolutely no dairy (I had 1 oz of brie, it was goood).

Green smoothies daily, generally just really rockin the great eating thing. And you know what? NO NEW PIMPLES. Next week is a little 'hormonal' if you will - ladies know what I'm talking about - so we will see if I manage to make it through that escapade and continue to clear.

I gotta admit, I have been picking at my face today. Like, as soon as I woke up, I was feeling around like - what's the status? Anything good? Oh, just get that little bit of dried skin.... off.... Gross! I know. Thing is, the reason I'm writing it here, is that I find it interesting that I didn't have to be in front of the mirror to pick. Nope, I just did it right from my bed. And I do it subconsciously like, 50% of the time. If you are anything like me, I'll bet you may do this too. Especially if you're not in an office and no one is watching you on your laptop or whatever. It's totally automatic.

So, I'm not gonna harp on this too much, cus it stresses me out - listing maniacally all these things I sorta feel like I have NO control over (how skin reacts to meds, whether diet 'works', subconscious picking etc). Just wanted to share this diary for the moment.

Will update soon to let you know how the DKR is going, with the moisturizing first then heavy application of spot treatment after adjustment.

[Daniel Lee]

Hi,

Your acne isn't that bad atm, and I find you attractive enough already. I hope it works though (you seem very determined ^^) but expect it to take 3-6 months. When I put too much BP on like you did, it also took a while to manifest itself.

Oh, and you probably going to break out soon

Good luck

[ScorpioGirl604]

I don't think your acne is that bad but i understand it's frustrating. I'm 31 and have had at least one cystic pimple on my face that leaves me with big dark scars cuz im asian with hyper pigmentation.
Ive been trying estrosmart to control my hormonal acne and it seems to be working for me. you seem to be very proactive with your health. Keep it up.
Good luck and keep us posted on ur progress!

[LoveGreenSmoothies]

There are a lot of us going back on the regimen after many years off right now. Anyway, good luck!

[cysticface]

what is DKR ? another miraculous supplement ?

[Green Gables]

Can you up your spiro dose? I didn't see results until I upped to 100mg.