I have some minor break outs on my noseand forehead probably because i am so stressed, suffer from something like social anxiety (anxiety of making phone calls to be precise) and now i have to call 600 people and ask them a 30 minutes long questionaire.. i hate it...

Hey Maria, sorry that you're going through some hardships, I hope that after first 100 calls it will feel more relaxed I absolutely hate to have phone conversation with strangers too.

 

 

I'm breaking out a little bit, mostly because of huge stress and mental pain my relationship is putting me through. I think it's my body's way to show that I should get a better grasp on myself and stop crying, stressing and starving. Epidou helps me a little bit.

I have already made the first 100 calls.. i hate talking to strangers, i am sure they are not so willing to trust me and noone likes a 30 minutes long questioning. It's too long, it shouldn't last more than 10'. At the end of the day i feel drained, as if i was in battle, trying to explain what i want, to make them trust me, to keep the conversation under control - so many people just can't give a direct, exact answer. But the professor obviously doesn't care, he won't be the one who asks or answers. Another girl has to fill in 1000 questionnaires but at least it takes no more than 5 minutes! Possibly she is the drop that spilled the cup, the reason i am now even more unwilling and afraid to call these people.. not only the duration is rational, but also one of the people she called threatened to sue her!

Is there a problem with your boyfriend?I hope things are going to be better for you soon, you should definitely listen to your body.

Today wasn't great. I had to go out clothes shopping (I need to buy more 'professional' type clothing for my uni course) and it just was one of those days where I didn't want to look at myself - but 'had to' with the change-room mirrors. Lighting in some of them was terrible which made me feel worse.

I guess it's different for me than most women who complain about clothes shopping... I assume in most cases of women who don't like clothes shopping it's because of some 'insecurity' with their body - For the most part I'm fine with / don't care about how the rest of me looks - it's just my face/skin that 'gets to me'

Funny how something like lighting can completely change your day though. I woke up feeling ok... not great... but better than a few days ago (I've been having to film some things for uni and I've been a bit more concerned with how I look than usual lately and it had me feeling quite down and depressed this past week).

But as soon as I walked into one particular changing room and saw my reflection with that lighting, it completely changed my mood for the worse. Oh well... trying to forget about it and not care so much. Hoping tomorrow will be better

I'm in a mood. I can't pinpoint what i am feeling but i know i am feeling plenty. At the moment, i feel an overwhelming sense of sadness, some minor anxiety and just general uncertainty. So many changes have taken place in my life, some good, some not so good.

I've recently become a Christian and its been a crazy good journey. I struggle however everyday with it.

My work life is going well - I am at a place of contentment

My home life has been more stable and I have been more social the last few months than i have been the last 2 years

On the flip side, I have discovered I do want companionship despite swearing up and down a relationship is not for me

I miss being part of more than myself

Acne affects me more deeply than i ever thought as even though it is under control somewhat, i think about it alot.

I don't know where i am going with this post but i figured that it is part of my acne.org journey so i might as well document it.

Anyone else feel this way at times - would love to speak to others in the same boat.

3 break outs on my left side and one still on my right :/

Well, I went out to eat today. I decide to have just the salad bar as I'm on the road to clearing my acne. Unfortunately, I am reminded why it isn't a good to eat out when I have acne.. My skin turned all red, and my road to clearing my acne took a detour. Ugh! It is back to the drawling board, and remaining on my original food schedule. Sometimes, I am tempted to think my acne is here to stay or will I never get better.

You think you have made progress, you are relatively happy about your skin and the same day you break out.. Nice big deep red and painful..

today i feel like doing a vasectomy. if we were humans we would reseach, but without a spirit we are just apes who put their base on genes. and from this perspective, indeed not everyone should have children..

Well, I've had acne since

I was 14, and in two months I'll be 23.

My acne is still ongoing. It's hilarious when my grandma tells me that I'll outgrow it. Ok, grandma, I'm already an adult. My mom tells me that she got rid of hers after she adapted a proper facial washing routine. Ok, mom, I've had a facial regimen since I was fifteen.

And......to finish my lovely acne journey, I found out I have facial seborrheic dermatitis.

I'm in a crappy mood, haha.

Breaking out in underground bumps- 2 on my forehead and one on each side of my lower cheek - bummer. Rash on my neck is worse so going to see a derm about that. I have cut back on the amount of BP i'm using so i wonder if that is why i am breaking out a bit more. So tired of this process...........Aside from my skin woes though, i feel great. Tired but great. Thank God for the things going right in my life.

meh.

Seems like it's been ages since I've checked in...hope all my friends here are doing well! Little update on me: I'm still on the Regimen (only nightly) and it does a great job of controlling my acne. I'm never 100% acne free but I can pretty much bank on not getting huge cysts or clusters of pimples anymore like I used to. As I type this I only have a fairly small pimple on my chin. We're finally starting see some warm weather in my part of the world and I'm SO happy about that...winter is depressing as hell around here and it just makes me feel like a hermit.(I live in WV, mountains everywhere and makes you feel isolated during colder months, lol)

Things are going well at my job. Have a new social circle of friends and we go out on a pretty consistent basis so that's fun, definitely better than hiding away in the house all the time when I'm feeling down. My confidence is up to a level I feel comfortable with, I still have lots of work to do, but I'm getting there.

Been doing a lot of writing lately, catching up on my Walking Dead addiction, and working out as often as I can. Joined a new gym recently (super cheap and great place, very chill environment....I've done weight training at home for years but this expands my horizons even more because there's so much equipment that I don't have access to at home)

Still single unfortunately...I get the occasional flirty smile from girls at work but I'm still a little too shy to capitalize on it and start up conversations with them, and in the dating game we all know the guy is supposed to chase the girl otherwise nothing ever happens...so I'm trying to work on that too, but it takes time. I'm at a point where I'm not terribly concerned about it, if I meet a girl and we hit it off then that's awesome...but I'm not gonna stress about it because other aspects of my life are going well and I've got a lot to be thankful for.

That about covers it

Seems like it's been ages since I've checked in...hope all my friends here are doing well! Little update on me: I'm still on the Regimen (only nightly) and it does a great job of controlling my acne. I'm never 100% acne free but I can pretty much bank on not getting huge cysts or clusters of pimples anymore like I used to. As I type this I only have a fairly small pimple on my chin. We're finally starting see some warm weather in my part of the world and I'm SO happy about that...winter is depressing as hell around here and it just makes me feel like a hermit.(I live in WV, mountains everywhere and makes you feel isolated during colder months, lol)

Things are going well at my job. Have a new social circle of friends and we go out on a pretty consistent basis so that's fun, definitely better than hiding away in the house all the time when I'm feeling down. My confidence is up to a level I feel comfortable with, I still have lots of work to do, but I'm getting there.

Been doing a lot of writing lately, catching up on my Walking Dead addiction, and working out as often as I can. Joined a new gym recently (super cheap and great place, very chill environment....I've done weight training at home for years but this expands my horizons even more because there's so much equipment that I don't have access to at home)

Still single unfortunately...I get the occasional flirty smile from girls at work but I'm still a little too shy to capitalize on it and start up conversations with them, and in the dating game we all know the guy is supposed to chase the girl otherwise nothing ever happens...so I'm trying to work on that too, but it takes time. I'm at a point where I'm not terribly concerned about it, if I meet a girl and we hit it off then that's awesome...but I'm not gonna stress about it because other aspects of my life are going well and I've got a lot to be thankful for.

That about covers it

Sounds like you're doing really well and things are going really well for you too! That's great - Happy to hear it

Hope it continues like that for you!

(Also just randomly - doesn't West Virginia get a really pretty fall / autumn season? I don't know why but I have that idea in my head for some reason haha)

I feel like moving to a place on a mountain, where noone lives, just me and nature. No humans, no mirrors..

I am convinced that dirt and oil cannot cause acne. And that washing with cleanser causes acne. The only thing I have to do now is stop rubbing my face so much with water in the shower, because while I'm not breaking out anymore, I am pretty sure doing that negatively affects the tone and texture of my skin, and prevents marks from healing. I think simply letting lukewarm water run on my face for 10 seconds will solve all my problems. I just have to get over the need to rub the "dirt" off.

Clearing up after my horrible period breakout, yay! But my chin loves to be zitty so I can feel a few little ones and blocked pores. My chin needs to be nice to me.

Things just seem to be getting worse for me, the right side of my chin is now constantly broken out. The pimples are small but red and numerous, as one heals two or three more come in its place. It's my own fault, I took a break from Dianette and am paying for it. Have started taking it again but who knows how long it will be before it kicks in, if it even does. I'm so depressed I'm in the verge of a breakdown...again

Not too well, nothing's working at all.

Well going into my 6th month of spiro I thought for sure I would be clear and for the most part I am but still getting a painful cyst right around my menstrual cycle. I decided to change my birth control from Lutera to Ortho Tricyclen and when I see my dermatologist I will ask to bump me up to 75 or 100 of Spiro. So as of today I feel just ok about my skin.

Feeling quite stressed and a little anxious in general over this weekend. Anticipating things that I need to do this coming week. Hoping that after Wednesday I'll be feeling more relaxed again (I'll have finished an exam that day) and hoping the stress doesn't show itself on my skin!

I feel depressed and discouraged. Every hope I've had for getting rid of my acne has disappeared, one by one.

I've had acne since I was a teenager, but instead of getting better over the years, it just got worse. I've seen two different dermatologists and nothing either of them prescribed helped me in the long term. The only thing that did seem to make a difference was antibiotic pills, but even those only worked until my skin "adjusted" to the medicine and then the acne just started coming back again. And even if that didn't happen, I can't just suck down antibiotics for the rest of my life anyway.

I tried the Regimen for about a year. At first I saw some improvement, although it still didn't get rid of my acne completely. But then for some reason it just stopped working altogether, so I stopped using it. It was really irritating my skin anyway--making it dry and tight and achy, even with moisturizer--so I figured there was no point to continuing to make myself physically uncomfortable when it wasn't really helping my acne anyway.

I had also held out some small hope that my acne might eventually just go away on its own. My mother has told me that she had acne until her late twenties before it went away on its own, so I thought that maybe it was hereditary and the same would happen to me. But I'm turning 29 in two days, and my skin today is as bad as it's ever been. Happy birthday to me. I even tried giving up milk--my favorite beverage--because I read that milk and milk products can exacerbate acne, but so far I've still seen no difference.

The only thing that still gives me a little hope to hold onto is that there's still two things left I might try: Accutane and birth control. My current dermatologist suggested Accutane about a year ago, but I balked at all the potential nasty side effects, so that was what prompted me to try the Regimen instead. But since the Regimen didn't work for me, I guess Accutane is the next thing to try. I figure, hey, if I get liver failure and die, at least I won't have to worry about having a grotesque mass of zits for a face anymore. As for birth control, I've noticed that, while it's always bad, my acne tends to get even worse around my period, so I wonder if it might be partly a hormonal issue.

I just hope I can find something that works. I'm already an extremely introverted and shy person who's never been comfortable in social situations, and having severe acne is just another blow to my self-confidence. I already hardly ever leave my apartment except to go to work or buy groceries. The only way I can ever feel somewhat normal is to try to just cover up my face with makeup as much as possible and to leave all the lights turned off in all rooms with mirrors in them.

Was wondering how things have been going for you! If your derm doesn't think moving to a higher dose would work, I know a lot of women just add a bit more the week before their period/inactive pills in the pack to try and keep the balance. Hopefully your new birth control will help. My endo just bumped me to 75mg from 50 and still on Yasmin and entering into a clear period. I hope things keep looking up for you and look forward to seeing your progress and if you too increase your dose.

Well going into my 6th month of spiro I thought for sure I would be clear and for the most part I am but still getting a painful cyst right around my menstrual cycle. I decided to change my birth control from Lutera to Ortho Tricyclen and when I see my dermatologist I will ask to bump me up to 75 or 100 of Spiro. So as of today I feel just ok about my skin.

Hi there Selkit! Just to let you know you are not alone. I am 32 years old and my hormonal acne decided to flare up this year as well. Being a female (which I assume you are since you mention BC) can be really tough when it comes to hormones and acne. I would suggest before you look into Accutane that you do some research on Spironolactone. There are tons of blogs, forum posts and reviews on this long term hormonal acne treatment. It is an off label prescription that helps block the androgens that lead to acne flareups in women. I started my course 12/30 last year and finally seeing some great results. There is hope, something led you to this site to try and find answers. Research it and if you have questions there are tons of knowledgeable women on this board. Also, you can go the herbal/nautral route if you prefer that. There is Saw Palmetto, DIM and Inositol that are also helpful balancing herbs for hormones. It's just a matter of what fits into your life. Just know it is by no means a quick fix, but if you've been dealing with acne for years a few months until clarity is well worth it. Hope I have offered some kind of help to you today!

I feel depressed and discouraged. Every hope I've had for getting rid of my acne has disappeared, one by one.

I've had acne since I was a teenager, but instead of getting better over the years, it just got worse. I've seen two different dermatologists and nothing either of them prescribed helped me in the long term. The only thing that did seem to make a difference was antibiotic pills, but even those only worked until my skin "adjusted" to the medicine and then the acne just started coming back again. And even if that didn't happen, I can't just suck down antibiotics for the rest of my life anyway.

I tried the Regimen for about a year. At first I saw some improvement, although it still didn't get rid of my acne completely. But then for some reason it just stopped working altogether, so I stopped using it. It was really irritating my skin anyway--making it dry and tight and achy, even with moisturizer--so I figured there was no point to continuing to make myself physically uncomfortable when it wasn't really helping my acne anyway.

I had also held out some small hope that my acne might eventually just go away on its own. My mother has told me that she had acne until her late twenties before it went away on its own, so I thought that maybe it was hereditary and the same would happen to me. But I'm turning 29 in two days, and my skin today is as bad as it's ever been. Happy birthday to me. I even tried giving up milk--my favorite beverage--because I read that milk and milk products can exacerbate acne, but so far I've still seen no difference.

The only thing that still gives me a little hope to hold onto is that there's still two things left I might try: Accutane and birth control. My current dermatologist suggested Accutane about a year ago, but I balked at all the potential nasty side effects, so that was what prompted me to try the Regimen instead. But since the Regimen didn't work for me, I guess Accutane is the next thing to try. I figure, hey, if I get liver failure and die, at least I won't have to worry about having a grotesque mass of zits for a face anymore. As for birth control, I've noticed that, while it's always bad, my acne tends to get even worse around my period, so I wonder if it might be partly a hormonal issue.

I just hope I can find something that works. I'm already an extremely introverted and shy person who's never been comfortable in social situations, and having severe acne is just another blow to my self-confidence. I already hardly ever leave my apartment except to go to work or buy groceries. The only way I can ever feel somewhat normal is to try to just cover up my face with makeup as much as possible and to leave all the lights turned off in all rooms with mirrors in them.

Everyone please read this:

My face gets very dirty from dust and debris at my job, and I've been relaxed with my diet, but my skin is clearer than ever. Why? Because I don't wash it with any cleanser or moisturize at all. I am now convinced that dirt, oil and diet do not cause acne, over-washing does.

Now I've known this to some degree for a long time - my face is always clearest when I stop washing it with cleanser. But I've still had trouble with rough, red, bumpy-looking skin that would SOMETIMES erupt in a whitehead or two due to being overly dry. When that happened I would question the no-cleanser method and break down and use some, which would just make matters worse and leave me confused. I've now gotten to the bottom of this as well...

First of all, I believe it's important to rinse with water once a day in the shower, and gently rub the oil/dirt off with your fingers. I've always done that. But it turns out I was even going overboard with that, which is what prevented me from having perfect skin. The trick is this: no hot water, don't over-rub, don't over-rinse. Keep it brief and gentle. Also, once a week if possible, skip showering/face-splashing entirely. So go 48 hours without getting your face wet. I do this on weekends, when I'm not working. It allows my skin to heal and it always looks its best during this period.

I only feel the need to rinse off the grease and dirt for my own peace of mind. And because if it collected to the point that visible dirt was on my skin, that wouldn't be good, whether it caused acne or not.

god. I look like hell.
Just yesterday I was just fine really and overnight BAM - zit city. It's fascinating really how quick we can break out, but obviously it doesn't feel good.

Everyone please read this:

 

My face gets very dirty from dust and debris at my job, and I've been relaxed with my diet, but my skin is clearer than ever. Why? Because I don't wash it with any cleanser or moisturize at all. I am now convinced that dirt, oil and diet do not cause acne, over-washing does.

 

Now I've known this to some degree for a long time - my face is always clearest when I stop washing it with cleanser. But I've still had trouble with rough, red, bumpy-looking skin that would SOMETIMES erupt in a whitehead or two due to being overly dry. When that happened I would question the no-cleanser method and break down and use some, which would just make matters worse and leave me confused. I've now gotten to the bottom of this as well...

 

First of all, I believe it's important to rinse with water once a day in the shower, and gently rub the oil/dirt off with your fingers. I've always done that. But it turns out I was even going overboard with that, which is what prevented me from having perfect skin. The trick is this: no hot water, don't over-rub, don't over-rinse. Keep it brief and gentle. Also, once a week if possible, skip showering/face-splashing entirely. So go 48 hours without getting your face wet. I do this on weekends, when I'm not working. It allows my skin to heal and it always looks its best during this period.

I only feel the need to rinse off the grease and dirt for my own peace of mind. And because if it collected to the point that visible dirt was on my skin, that wouldn't be good, whether it caused acne or not.

I have the same theory about cleanser being too harsh. I'm slowly working my way to where you are at. On day 5 of using my cleanser once a day. Haven't used BP or SA in months. Loving the results so far. Just wondering are you a guy or a girl?