Acne.org Products
Hi My name is Lizzie, I am a 26 yo female and I live in London, England. I am new to this community.
I never ever had pimples in my teens but in my early 20's got the occasional cystic pimple which was bad enough but at least I'd get one every couple of months and once it was gone, that was it sort of thing.
But in the past few months I've had full blown acne (moderate), which has come out of NOWHERE.
People have complimented me on my flawless skin my whole life and having low self-esteem since always, it was pretty much the one thing I took pride in and which boosted my confidence a little.
Now I have zero confidence left!
I changed my diet drastically over Christmas and lost a lot of weight this year, developed an eating disorder and worked out obsessively every day. My skin was fine at first but progressively got really bad!
I first put it down to my change of lifestyle or sweating at the gym so I cancelled my membership and started eating "normally" again, hoping it would all go back to normal. It didn't.
I had blood tests done as my period stopped from my eating disorder and was starting to get hair growing in weird places (notably, my face), but nothing was wrong with my hormones/ovaries/thyroid, etc
I tried Tetracycline and it didn't do much so my doctor prescribed Doxycycline and Dianette which I've been on for about a week. I saw a slight improvement at first but now it's back to normal again. On top of this mess I am now putting back on all the weight I'd managed to lose as I no longer workout or diet for fear of new breakouts and the pill has increased my appetite.
I also thought it could be some sort of allergy to my foundation and switched to a different, more expensive, mattifying one but nope, no difference.
I am so depressed at this point. I have just gotten back with my ex boyfriend who is the love of my life and he is talking about getting married one day, having kids etc and this is like a dream come true but my skin is just spoiling it as I'm so self conscious all the time around him and I'm dreading him leaving me if it gets worse or if I put on a ton of weight.
Also being on Dianette makes me uneasy because of the weight gain, side effects (DVT, cancer...) and also because I would like to get pregnant some time soon.
I want to see him all the time but I've had to cancel some dates because I'm so insecure about my skin.
It's awful really, especially because he has psoriasis quite bad and I guess he can probably relate but although it is all over his body, his face is perfect.
Do you guys have any advice? I could just cry right now, it's ruining my life.
Thanks
Okay so first of all your period stopping and the hair growth is a sure sign of increased testosterone (or at least some sort of hormonal imbalance, despite test results which are notoriously wrong when it comes to hormonal imbalances) which is basically what causes acne (thats why most teenagers get it to some degree, and why boys usually get it worse).
This being the case the birth control you're on should hopefully deal with that and bring your skin back to normal - it has good reviews for doing that on this website:
http://www.acne.org/dianette-reviews/130/page1.html
The only thing is that it can take a long time to work, so you should work on topical skincare - i cant reccomend the acne.org regimen enough, it has saved my skin - see my signature for the exact products I use. Specifically the main part of the regimen is the Benzoy Peroxide treatment which you can order from Amazon.com - it comes to around £18 including delivery but an 8oz tube should last at least 2 months if youre only using it on your face (a little less if you have body acne aswell). By the end of those 8 weeks you should see a huge improvement in your skin if not a total clearance of acne.
I couldn't agree more with everything that circumambient said above. The acne.org regimen works great as an acne preventative (rather than a cure) and since you're in the UK I would recommend that you just buy the treatment (BP) - it's the second step of the regimen which is the key behind its effectiveness.
You can purchase a substitute cleanser and moisturiser - most Boots stores sell Cetaphil products which are recommended by Dan for those on the regimen using store branded products. The only reason you should get the BP from Dan is because it's 2.5% (which is much gentler on the skin) and the bottle is huge compared to any you would find in-store.
I hope you eventually get the clear skin and happiness that you deserve! 
Hi Lizzie,
Sorry that you are going through such a tough time with your skin at the moment both physically and emotionally. It probably isn`t that much of a consolation but there are plenty of people on these forums who have gone or are going through similar experiences - you will find a lot of empathy here!
As circumambient and LewisS have said, many people who post on these forums have had a lot of success using the acne.org regimen. It may be worth considering as a topical treatment to use in conjunction with the birth control that you are taking.
Hope you don`t mind me saying but it seems that a lot of the insecurity stems from the fact that you are worried that your boyfriend may leave you/not want you because of your skin/weight. Have you talked to your boyfriend about you insecurities over your skin/weight? If not, although it is a hard thing to do, it may be worth confiding in him. If he truly loves you he won`t care about your skin and weight and the fact that he has a skin condition himself will probably make him even more understanding and supportive.
Good luck - I hope things work out for you.