11 replies to this topic

[lalovelyj]

I should note that I haven't had any inflamed acne in years (just minor every now and then)- my problem is congestion & comedonal "blocks". The problem is pores which are constantly full of oil & gunk.  They then are covered with dead skin cells, with no opening to be removed (crazy because I exfoliate no nobodys business!)  Mainly forehead, hair line.  

 

I also get cysts (yay!) on my jaw and chin area (related to shaving for extreme hairy face). But regardless I will get them occasionally if i don't shave. Cysts in EYEBROWS painful-I'm so done!

 

Currently use minocycline, clarisonic, andalou naturals cleanser, retina-a, murad acne gel, oil free moisture murad (i hate-dimethicone) ....I'm extremely diligent about skincare.

 

I try to avoid "cones" dimethicone, cyclomethicone they clog pores very nicely =)

 

 

Help.

[a.p.]

I know you're on an antibiotic so it might help to add a topical bacteria killer like de la Cruz sulfur ointment. It can be found online or at target, Walgreens or Walmart.

Also, after you're done with your antibiotics get some probiotics! Eat the Dannon activia or go to a health food store and buy the pill form probiotics. The best probiotics are keep cold so look for the refrigerated kind.


Hope this has helped you!

[lalovelyj]

What does he probiotic do?

[Quetzlcoatl]

Probiotics are good for digestions, if it helps it might be an internal problem. You're on antibiotics - have you considered a fungal thing? Or maybe antibiotic resistance

 

I have many many many blackheads and closed pores, some of them I extract yield a small yellow sand grain which I think might be keratin, others are normal blackheads, others have stringy white stuff. I started using a salicylic acid wash 2x a day and they are going down, but not gone yet. Salicylic acid is known to be good for lots of clogged pores, you could try that  if you haven't yet

[a.p.]

Probiotics are good for digestions, if it helps it might be an internal problem. You're on antibiotics - have you considered a fungal thing? Or maybe antibiotic resistance
 
I have many many many blackheads and closed pores, some of them I extract yield a small yellow sand grain which I think might be keratin, others are normal blackheads, others have stringy white stuff. I started using a salicylic acid wash 2x a day and they are going down, but not gone yet. Salicylic acid is known to be good for lots of clogged pores, you could try that  if you haven't yet

I have the same problem! Closed comedones and blackheads are the hardest to get rid of sometimes. Salicylic acid works great on closed comedones and so does mandelic acid. Mandelic acid goes deep down into the pore like a bha but also repairs the pore. It's also an aha so it removes the top layer of skin like glycolic acid. Sulfur also helps with those closed comedones. It brings them to the surface or just completely dries them up.

I've been using salicylic acid, mandelic acid, 10%sulfur and 10% bp for my skin. It's slowly working! My skin was really bumpy and I could squeeze my pores all day and get stuff out. It's gotten a lot better.

What I do for day time is;

Wash my face with a gentle SA face wash. Mario Badescu acne treatment face wash works good.

Apply a thin layer of de la Cruz 10% sulfur ointment, let it sit on my face for 10 mins and wash off with warm water.

Apply a SA 3% moisturizer then a light SPF moisturizer.

What I do for night time is;

Wash face with my Mario Badescu face wash

Apply 10% sulfur ointment and wash off after 10 mins

Apply my 5% mandelic acid toner by makeup artist choice. I apply the toner to my entire face.

Apply some Cerave moisturizer.

Then I spot treat red, inflamed really sore pimples with 10% bp.

That's a lot of stuff but, it's working!!

[Tom Busby]

Salicylic acid should not be used on the skin by people with skin color darker than 3 on the Fitzgerald Scale.  Over time, topical salicylic acid can cause dark spots where melanin accumulates unevenly. 

 

You mentioned your eyebrows, and I want to suggest that eyebrows are a good environment for malassezia yeasts to grow.  Malassezia can result in slightly raised and hardened skin that does not exfoliate with scrubbing or brushing.  I posted a long write up about products that treat this:  http://www.acne.org/...acne-bacterial/  This is a fairly complicated treatment regime and I suggest trying the products to see if some or any of these work for you.   For example, Selsun Blue is a useful diagnostic product but nearly useless for long term treatment.

 

Your photo shows that you have somewhat darker skin, so if you want to produce a lower pH out of any over the counter body wash or facial wash, you might try adding small amount (less than 1% total) of citric acid, instead of salicylic acid like I use, but please research this further -- I haven't tried citric acid but I wanted to point out that using low pH products (about 5) is easy, and cheap, and creates an anti-fungal environment on the skin.

[TheGoodSon]

Note to self: No more Salicylic acide for me thanks! Dark patches are definately appearing on my face.  I too can't seem to resolve the massive number of clogged pores. EVERY pore on my face is clogged! I didn't even know this was humanly possible. Also, all these chemicals never seem to break up or clear the pores. The only time I get gunk out of my pores is if i squeeze it out with a comedone extractor. I'm failing to see how all these topical creams etc actually work.

 

Edit: I've removed some gunk from my pores before and then poured salicylic acid and other topicals on it to see if it actually disolved the gunk. It doesn't seem to do anything at all - just gunk covered in cream i paid $$$ for. 

Edited by TheGoodSon, 20 March 2013 - 08:21 PM.

[Tom Busby]

Some research into using citric acid as a pH modifier shows that it is much more acidic than salicylic acid, so if you try it you'll need to buffer it (raise the pH) with sodium citrate (a salt). Both of these products are super cheap and widely available.

 

This link shows the amounts to use: http://www.docstoc.c...TRATE-SOLUTIONS

I believe that lowering the pH is very important to treatment, and I'd like to know how this works out for other people of every skin color. Most cleansing products are somewaht alkaline (high pH) and don't treat what appears to be a closed comedone.

 

Also, I'm very surprised that all products with salicylic acid don't have a warning label concerning possible hyperpigmentation on darker skin.  That's not right.

 

 

 

[lalovelyj]

Thank you for all the responses!

I am new to using SA,a week now and seeing much improvement Paula's Choice BHA liquid and BHA gel.

 

@Tom I've never heard that SA can create hyperpigmentation, where did you read this?My skin is much lighter Halle Berry skin tone.(photo is of Model Arlenis Sosa beautiful skin).

[Tom Busby]

I first read about possible hyperpigmentation in a medical research article that I can't find right now, and here:

http://www.facingacn...acne-pros-cons/

 

I didn't want to lead anyone astray with my opinions about salicylic acid being useful as a skin treatment.  Also, I should have written Fitzpatrick Scale, not Fitzgerald Scale, as I wrote yesterday -- I'm a "2" on this scale.

 

Attached is a .jpg that someone else put together showing famous models and the six skin color types in the Fitzpatrick Scale.  I never even knew about this Scale until I was researching salicylic acid -- obviously there are more than six colors of people but it's useful to simplify the issue for medical purposes. 

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[lalovelyj]

Thank you for your posts, you have been very helpful!

[a.p.]

I first read about possible hyperpigmentation in a medical research article that I can't find right now, and here:
http://www.facingacn...acne-pros-cons/
 
I didn't want to lead anyone astray with my opinions about salicylic acid being useful as a skin treatment.  Also, I should have written Fitzpatrick Scale, not Fitzgerald Scale, as I wrote yesterday -- I'm a "2" on this scale.
 
Attached is a .jpg that someone else put together showing famous models and the six skin color types in the Fitzpatrick Scale.  I never even knew about this Scale until I was researching salicylic acid -- obviously there are more than six colors of people but it's useful to simplify the issue for medical purposes. 

Thanks for this info! Had no idea about it. Ill keep this in mind when recommending members products