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Marvolo

Member Since 13 Jun 2011
Offline Last Active Mar 21 2013 07:46 PM

#3254147 Is Clear Skin Asking Too Much?!? Help!

Posted by Marvolo on 11 June 2012 - 01:31 AM

I agree with arqa in terms of diet. Whatever the quality of energy (food) you put into your body is the quality of result you'll get from it. Hormonal birth control is a good option, and actually what I used to clear up my acne. The only problem with it is once you get on it, you can't stop taking it for a good long while. It makes most women's hormones go completely out of whack and their acne gets 10x worse than it was before starting birth control. I know it happened to me and I had to get back on it as soon as possible. Not all birth controls are created equal. What seems to work the best for a lot of women (myself included) is a pill with a fair amount of Ethinyl Estradiol combined with Drospirinone like Yaz, Yasmin, Safyral, or Beyaz. Also, there are just plain male hormone blocking medications out there that have the same effect (minus the contraception, of course) like Spironolactone. For a lot of women, topical medications just aren't enough and medications like these are often the safest, least expensive and most promising.
I feel I should add for good measure that you are definitely not alone in feeling this way as you'll no doubt discover, if you haven't already, on this board. When my acne was at its worst, I was just a couple years older than you, and until it cleared up I stood in front of the mirror every morning, every night, and cried; mourned the loss of my pretty face, because of the monster I saw in my reflection. To the sufferer, a spot the size of a pea looks like Mount Olympus. A vast majority of the people with acne feel this way. I hate that our society brands acne as a stigma- a taboo, that we must be 'dirty.' We're the lepers of the 21st century. It's just plain ignorant and sadly, a lot of acne sufferers internalize that and inflict the most damage upon our own minds, ourselves. There is one good thing that comes from having acne, though. After having it, most of the time people find that they're no longer burdened by shallowness. Once we, ourselves, are inflicted with the shame of hiding our faces behind hair, makeup, and fake smiles, we see people for who they are; not their percevied imperfections.
-Marvolo


#3249748 What Helps Swelling?

Posted by Marvolo on 29 May 2012 - 03:21 PM

There's a few tips and tricks I've learned that really do help. Crush up an Aspirin tablet (capsules won't work) with a spoon on a plate and then add a few drops of water to it to make a sort of paste and apply it to the spots. It works because Aspirin is an NSAID (non-steriodal anti-inflammitory drug) so it literally works by reducing inflammation when put directly onto the area. It also helps a bit if you take one orally but make sure you have no blood clotting conditions it could exacerbate. Ice does seem to work some as well but only if done correctly; incorrectly and it could damage the skin further and cause more redness. There's actually an old post somewhere around here with detailed instructions on how to use ice, but I digress. I'm a big fan of BP as well, but I've never heard of it reducing inflammation quickly. It works by introducing oxygen into the pore, thus destroying the infection which would, after a while, reduce the inflammation so it'd be a good idea to use it as well as long as your skin isn't too sensitive to it. Sorry for the rant, hope this helps.

-Marvolo