spartan32

Accutane is your closest chance at a cure.  Don't follow a ridiculous diet either.  A diet (if it actually works) is nothing but a bandaid.  

 

Want to go on vacation for a week?  Be ready to breakout when you can't follow your diet.  

Want to go to the bar and drink?  Can't because this could cause a breakout.  

Want to go out to eat with your family? "Can we go somewhere with a gluten free, dairy free, taste free menu?"

 

By all means, work to IMPROVE your diet for general health.  But if you want a cure, diet is not what you are looking for.  

wow so flipping true lol its like i just read a post about gluten being a part of it aswell i am thinking what the hell will i eat then? loool its like i am on a diet i dont think i ate a proper meal today lol i can't think of one lol ...

>yah I am sick and tired of treatments too they actually make my skin a lot worse, dries it out, makes it look red and the texture? dear Lord it makes me want to cry so yah I totally want to try the holistic approach too  so where do you start?

lol Ruweyda i would tell you but it would me being a hipocrit wait for a month and i'll tell you of the results i've taken some before pics hopefully they'll be better after 1s i'll post up this time next month i'll directly email and say how its gone and so forth....

 

 

Some people (including myself) have tried to follow extremely strict diets in order to get clear.  It starts to mess with your head and you will begin questioning everything that you eat.  You will even start blaming totally unrelated foods on acne and it becomes a huge mess.  Searching for an acne cure has been nothing but mental masturbation for myself for lack of a better term   I always thought the next method that I read was finally it.   Other methods are ridiculous as well.  Did you know that people actually put urine on their face in order to clear their acne?

 

I have done all of the creams and methods as well.  Some have worked better than others but I am tired of being a slave to it all so I am going on Accutane next month.  Today when I spent the 25 minutes that I do every morning washing my face, waiting, applying bp, waiting, and finally moisturizing  I asked myself wtf I am doing.  I just avoided going to Atlantic City for the weekend solely because I wouldn't be able to use all of my products and didn't want to risk a breakout.  Sorry for the mini rant but I understand your burning desire for a cure and I hope that you find yours.

Where is the truth?

 

I've trawled the interwebs for the truth, nothing. This whole ordeal is probably just as bad as the religion debate, the creationism vs evolution debate; never-ending and seemingly without a proven, consise conclusion or evidence to support a side. Maybe there isn't truth?

 

I've pretty much given up on researching Accutane and it's side effects. There's only the black and the white. Depression/Crohn's Disease/Inflammatory Bowel Disease vs. The mild dryness of skin/lips. With the people giving advice being basically "sheep", the blind Christian or the manic Athiest, with only past experience to support their arguments. 

 

It basically comes down a coin flip right? Or maybe not?

 

What really confuses me is how on Earth, after 30 or so years of pure "Accutane is the only solution for severe acne", has the human race not discovered or developed a consistent, safe treatment for acne? Like c'mon, with all this technology, one would think.. ah well.

Google Glass is still cooler right?

 

Thank you.

 

 

I think you should take it.  I have finally made that decision and should have done it YEARS ago.  At almost 26 and still breaking out like I am a teenager, I am ready to give it a go.  I truly believe that none of the side effects can be worse than the constant anxiety, stress, and depression that acne has caused me.  Nothing is worse than not being able to look myself in the mirror.

 

Don't become me and some of the other people on this forum who are on multiple topicals, ridiculous diets, a ton of supplements, always searching for the "root cause".  Even if you find it, do you want to be on a gluten free/dairy free or whatever the hell it is diet for the rest of your life?

 

While Accutane doesn't cure everyone and for some people it does come back, there is no other medication that offers a chance at curing you.  BP, Diet, Antibiotics, all are all bandaids in the end as when you slack off or stop doing them, the acne comes right back.

i don't think coming off bp will be a problem, assuming your diet is good.  i did the same, switched from slathering 10% bp all over twice a day to just spot treating as i got clearer from diet.  no adverse reaction that i can remember from the switch.  another big improvement is washing with water only if you aren't already, I highly recommend it.  so go for it!  it'll feel great to finally be set free from topicals 

 

tl;dr, cold turkey, you'll be fine

 

It's terrible having to rely on topicals everyday isn't it?  I just want to splash water on my face in the morning and night and be done with it.  Hope your diet is working out great as well.

 

 

Please understand that every single time you come off a topical medication, your skin will get WORSE. If you quit cold turkey now, you'll be able to get out of the upcoming acne explosion chain much more quickly. The outburst can last up to 3 or 4 months, depending on your severity. So if you get a flair up by the third month, try your best to wait it out. This is especially true for cystic acne. I am a sever cyst sufferer, you are free to look at the pictures in my gallery anytime (I also got worse when I quit Dan's regime, or any regime I did in the past). The reason for this is because the chemicals that were killing the acne bacteria were ALSO killing your skins GOOD bacteria... the kind you need to keep your skin functioning properly. Until those good bacteria grow back and inhabit your facial skin again, you'll be prone to the acne bacteria you were attempting to kill off.

 

I think you are making a wise decision since it is unrealistic to continue using topicals and chemicals on your face when they only prolong the problem. Everyone has their own successful diet, it's just up to you to find out what it is. If you have yet to try a more solid diet (although the anti-inflammatory is a great way to start!), then I would recommend moving onto the Paleo, Southbeach, or "gut" diets. This way you wont need so much cod liver oil and can get your omega-3's naturally from fish. Getting the nutrients you need from whole foods as much as possible is more beneficial than vitamins and oils, plus it's cheaper too.

 

Thanks for the thoughts and your experiences.  That is my worry that I will breakout bad but I have to risk it as you know.  I am clear at the moment so I am hoping that it is the dietary changes that are clearing me as opposed to the topicals that never fully cleared me.  I am eating a ton of salmon and black cod so I will be coming off the cod liver oil soon.  Great progress btw!

 

I think you could quit cold turkey, but if you want to phase it ou, go ahead. Do whatever won't stress you out. I never found that it made any difference whether or not I used BP.

I would start taking care of your protective acid mantle by either not stripping it away with cleansers and topicals or restoring it promptly with an acidic toner like a little ACV in brewed green tea. Moisturizing or oil cleansing with a high linoleic acid oil is all good. And you can apply live yogurt like a mask once in a while. Those two things restore a great deal of normal skin function. You can read more in the God Things thread.

And any diet that is anti inflammatory is a solid diet. It's not just a "start." Dr Weill's is good except for the recommendation of 3-5 servings of whole grains per day. Especially when right next to there's a recommendation for 1 or 2 servings of legumes. Anyway, I wouldn't routinely have more than one serving of grains per day. Don't fill up on grains. Oh, and the soy. Avoid unfermented soy. And feel free to have more eggs.

 

i am going to wean off BP over the next 3 weeks as cold turkey would stress me out too much.  I want to try the acidic toner when I am fully off topicals.  How often do you apply it?

 

Regarding the diet, I am actually avoiding all soy.  Never liked it and it seems to be a problem for many people. Regarding the grains,  I generally have a cup of steel cut oats a day and either a serving of long grain brown rice or quinoa.  If I run into problems I will adjust that.  Also your thread regarding the good things to do is very helpful.  I took a lot from it when I started my diet and other lifestyle changes.

Do any of you feel like you will be never satisfied with how your skin looks or your looks in general?  From January until July, my acne was the worst that it has ever been.  My combo of Differin and Dan's BP that had worked for over 3 years just stopped working.  It has finally calmed down after I found a regimen that is working pretty good.  People are even starting to comment that my skin is looking great.  I even got approached at the bar this past weekend and have a date setup for Friday.  The girl kept calling me pretty (she was buzzed) which is always so weird to me as I am a straight guy but she wants to see me again and has been texting me non stop in spite of my pimples, red marks, and scars.  That was just a little confidence boost for me since I have basically become a hermit and not approached any girls this year.

The problem is, I can not stop obsessing over my skin.  I have one of those hard, painful pimples on the bottom corner of my jaw right now near my ear,  a pimple dying down on my forehead, some red marks on my forehead, and a rolling scar on my temple and above my eyebrow.  Whenever I go out, I always have my mind on the scars, the red marks, and any actives that I have at the moment.  In my head, I realize that it is probably NOT THAT BAD.  The problem is I am always waiting for the next breakout and thinking about it.  I will touch a small pimple and start freaking out that it will get inflamed (it always does) even after icing it early, applying AHA, and taking a ton of aleve.

Have any of you guys came to terms yet that you do have scars, you have red marks, and you will probably continue to have pimples?  It just seems impossible to me as by the time I accept one red mark or scar, I have another.

This guy is clearly a little slow mentally and you are not dealing with a normal person.  People over the age of 15 don't refer to someone as a butter face than try and justify it like it's okay.  The sad part is he probably didn't even realize that what he said was stupid unless he is a complete sociopath.  Nothing more than a worthless opinion from a dope.

Honestly, a ton of guys and girls with acne are in relationships.  You would be surprised at how many times I had a bad breakout and my friends forced me to go out and I got great receptions from girls.  I always come home shocked.  As hard as it is, I always force myself to act confident and never let anyone know that my skin bothers me. The biggest thing holding you back is probably not your acne.  I do not know what it is but it could be how you feel about your acne and how it is hurting your confidence.  A lot of us on this site deal with that same issue and it is really a constant battle.  Don't get into your head though that you have to get rid of your acne first before you can get a boyfriend.  That is a dangerous mindset and will prevent you from doing a lot of other things in life that you are more than capable of accomplishing at the current moment.  Clear skin is not a prerequisite to anything.

I think the regimen works great for A LOT of people.  This website also has an extremely helpful staff and support that will answer and assist you with any questions that you have about the regimen.  I did not have the best experience with it though.

Your acne seems similar to mine.  I am a 25 year old man and breakout with a few inflamed pimples daily.  I have tried the regimen 2 different times for at least a year both times.  I did it a second time when I was 23 as I felt that maybe my acne had become less resistant.  I also followed it exactly how Dan describes with only Acne.org products and was always super gentle.  I slowly went up to the 2 full pumps as well.

One thing that I know for sure is that it did decrease my breakouts.  The problem is it never got me clear and I would still breakout.  I feel like people that it works for have a different kind of acne that is not as resistant.  This is just speculation on my part and I could be totally wrong but if you look at this chart: http://www.acne.org/whattoexpect.html

According to the chart, many people's breakouts start clearing much quicker after as early as 2 weeks.  Even for people with moderate acne, it says that many people are clear after 5-8 weeks.  My experience has been nothing like that chart and I did not see any results at all until 3-4 months and those were not really good enough for me.  Instead of getting 10 big papules a week I would get 5.  

The amount of time it takes to do (20 minutes in the morning, 20 at night), the constant dryness and flakiness (even with Dan's Moisturizer and Jojoba Oil), and the eczema or dermatitis that I developed were just not worth it for me for marginal results.

I do not want to discourage you from trying it but I think it is important for you to know experiences from people who it has not worked out for.  We may have similar instances of adult acne so that could potentially be a factor too.

As another user pointed out, maybe spiro would work for you if you decide not to try the regimen.  I wish I could take it but that is not something that I am going to put in my body as a male.

Updating this thread.  I made the switch to Tazorac .1 on August 1st and it was a great decision.  No irritation or redness.  I am finally clearing up again after nothing has worked for the last 2 years (dan's regimen, retin a micro, differin).  I had been clear from Differin for 3 years prior to that but it stopped working for some reason.  This is really great stuff.