Home
This is my first post on these forums (but trust me I've lurked around here before!)
I guess I'll start with why I'm posting...I want to hopefully help someone else that is struggling with acne since i finally found something that helps me. I know how frustrating it can be, low self-esteem, being self conscious looking someone else in the eye, and sometimes when looking at someone you see their eyes glance around at all the marks at your face instead of your eyes, never wanting to take pictures, not to mention acne can be pretty physically painful as well.
For years and years I had been looking for some sort of Acne solution for my face. I started getting acne my 5th grade, So i think that means I was 10 or 11ish? And it haunted me all the way up until a few months ago and I'm about to be 20. I did all sorts of things to try and cure it.
-I looked through forums on the internet (like this one
)-googled random acne treatments, tried proactiv, tried proactiv knock offs
-went to a dermatologist and tried antibiotics (which helped mildly but sort of stopped working when i turned about 17)
-tried salicylic acid pads
-switched my pillow cover every night
-tried not touching my face at all and hoped that the acne would start to heal itself since i feared that maybe i was the cause of it with my pinching and squeezing.
- Tried taking a butt load of vitamin B5
- Tried using Fish oil pills
- Took ibuprofin consistently to try and remove inflammation from my face, hoping that would help the acne calm down.
- Tried changing my diet, multiple ways, multiple times.
- Using lancets to pierce some of the acne
- Tried stress relieving tactics thinking that maybe stress was the main cause
- Washing my face multiple times a day. (Which made my face more oily when using tap water)
- + many many more alternatives
And I could not find a solution. My dermatologist started to recommend accutane but I didn't really want to put by body through that drug, and i definitely didn't want to pay the money for it.
For years I sat frustrated trying to find some sort of solution. The acne I had, I'm not entirely sure how to classify it but it was much worse than many of my peers. I guess the way to describe it was I had alot of big red swollen pustules and they had quite a bit of ammunition packed behind them in terms of puss. Some of them seemed like 4 or 5 of them would be right next to each other and they would combine into a mega zit that took up a significant portion of my face. I also had many blackheads, especially around the nose. I suppose saying how my dermatologist suggested accutane may give some of an idea. I don't have any pictures to show of it (I often tried avoiding pictures because of it)
I moved around living spaces alot (and I still do) and I noticed something (after about 10 years
). My skin condition would worsen at some places I lived, while at some other places my skin condition would improve dramatically, and quickly. I was puzzled as to why, which is how my lengthy list of attempted treatments came about. During my college winter break this year I lived with my sister for the month. While there my face condition improved so quickly, I was starting to think OMG IT'S FINALLY OVER!. After the month was over I moved back to college, and I could tell right away the first time I washed my face back at college what my problem was. My skin is very sensitive to water. When I went back to college my face burned when I tried using the water they have there ( I assume it's hard water). Right after I washed my face i went and took a bottle of drinking water and poured it on my face to remove irritation my face had from the school water.After that night I figured I would try using "clean" water, or at least something better than tap water. So I went to the store and bought a gallon of distilled water for just 1 dollar. And my goodness the miracles it made. My face started clearing up so quickly. My face started to reduce in redness and inflammation within just days. Within about 3 to 4 weeks my face was nearly completely clear, just some blackheads and a couple red marks from scarring, which have pretty much faded now. I couldn't believe that after all this time, my biggest enemy was the water I was washing my face with. I was using Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser and Oxy Maximum at the time (both of which are very affordable) and i still do today. My acne condition had improved dramatically and has stayed that way since I started using distilled water to wash my face.
I hope this simple tip helps you guys out! I suppose i could have made this post a lot shorter, I just wanted to show that I know how it feels to have acne plague your life.
In closing I'll post my daily facial routine.
- Wake up
- Take shower (But I try to avoid letting the shower water touch my face, which isn't that hard)
- Wash face off with a towel and distilled water (I have a towel just for washing my face, that way the tap water never touches my face)
- Apply "Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser for Normal to Oily Skin" all over my face. And i have it sit for about 20 to 30 seconds.
- Wash the cetaphil off with distilled water.
- Apply a thin layer of "Oxy Maximum Face Wash 10% Benzoyl Peroxide" on my face (Thin enough so it isn't even visible).
Then I'm good to go for the day. At night I wash my face once more and go through the cetaphil and oxy routine, but I don't need to shower again haha.
That's all folks! I hope I help someone! And best of luck in your acne battle.
Edited by Fanciful, 11 May 2012 - 05:36 PM.
