(At least for me).
About me: I'm a long time lurker here at acne.org, and even when I don't sign in under my username, I still have come here to look at how other people are treating their acne. I've had acne since I was really young (probably 12 or 13). However, it was mild-moderate. It was only within the last year or two that my face blew up in cystic acne and pustules and blackheads. Literally my whole cheeks, chin, and jawline was covered. Same with my forehead. I'm not going to go into detail about what I have tried because it is a long list and I just want to get to the point to help others.
I have come here to say I got clear from diet (ridiculous strict dieting changes) and detox stuff. But shortly after I post that I'm getting clear, BAM! Everything comes back, or especially if I stop (detoxing for example), my acne gets SOOOOOOOOOOO bad.
I finally decided to just look at what I've been lacking in, and personalize my diet based on me.
I have found that iron supplements cured my seborrheic dermatitis on my face, eyebrows, and hair which I have had for around 7 years.
I have found that magnesium cleared up my back acne. And I had very bad back acne (probably since I turned 16). Hurt so bad! Filled with puss, EVERYTHING. All over my shoulders. People stared when I went to the beach in the summer. Blood all over my shirts and crap. Magnesium for a week stopped the new ones. Still have some minor hyperpigmentation but NO new pimples. Not even a little small one. I have been on magnesium since October 2013.
Magnesium helped my face acne... but it was not until I added a calcium supplement that my face cleared up. I mean literally, it was like day and night I'm not even joking you. Of course my face still looks fucked up from the scars but WOW no new ones.
I do not have a theory why magnesium and calcium works for me... It just did.
I have a feeling most of us who have acne give up dairy (I've been off dairy for a long time + I'm asian so I don't eat a lot of dairy or cook with dairy.. plus I HATE cheese, yogurts, milk... all that stuff. disgusting. I'd rather eat rice and noodles). I feel like my experience answers these questions:
1) For those of you who give up dairy, and still have acne. Especially those who go dairy and gluten free... and very restrictive diets....
2) For those who lack calcium in your diet and still have acne
3) For those that have tried zinc and vitamin D3 and still have acne.
I think most hormonal disorders are lacking in CALCIUM. But, calcium is interesting you see... It needs a lot of cofactors to absorb it properly (vitamin D3, magnesium.....) and it needs to be taken separately from zinc and iron because it affects their absorption. I have had some success with Vitamin D3, but it all came back. Zinc never made didly squat of a difference in my acne. But my god when I added magnesium .... DAMN I felt like.. really? That was it? And then when I added calcium... lol I wanted to scream because I was so happy!!!!!!
Please make sure you check with your doc.. For instance, people who have kidney problems should stay away from calcium supplements.
I take Natural Calm magnesium + calcium and an extra calcium supplement (NOW brand calcium citrate POWDER). I drink both in the morning. I also take a magnesium supplement (I have both liquid and pill form depending on how much of a rush I'm in). But point is, make sure the magnesium and calcium are absorbable, and that you do not overdo calcium. Although I only get about 30 mg of calcium in my diet (because I'm busy and hate most calcium foods. Even oranges are high in calcium and I break out from oranges so I avoid at all costs.. even orange juice which is fortified with calcium gives me probs). So... yes... In total, I get about 500 mg of magnesium and 800 mg of calcium in supplements. I don't know how much exactly magnesium I get from foods.
As for diet and cleansing... I still eat clean, but I've always eaten clean. I mean.. green smoothies and the whole nine yards. For cleansing, I threw out all my cleansers and crap. I just wash my face in the shower with water (i don't think about it.. just do it because it feels good). After I get out the shower, I use a glycolic acid toner. At night, I do NOTHING. I don't wash my face or whatever. Nothing nothing NOTHINGGG. Again, I've been doing the diet and cleansing thing for a while so I know it is the calcium - magnesium thing.
Lastly, if you do take calcium and magnesium, I highly recommend you take zinc, and vitamin D3 just to help since D3 helps with calcium absorption, and calcium depeletes zinc which most acne sufferers here have had success with anyways...
As for other supplements, I do take a multivitamin (always have), and a B complex.
Good luck.
I do have pictures of my face, so if you want them, just message me.
Oh and I wanted to add I wonder if this is why PCOS women have much success with vitamin D + calcium? Since it is a hormonal disorder... ???
AND I also want to say I have tried magnesium oil. It might work for you but I had no success with it. It was not until I tried magnesium citrate in powder form (absorbable) internally that I got results. Plus magnesium oil burned and dried out my skin (used it for about 3 weeks and gave up because it was so irritating). I also tried epsom salt baths for magnesium absorption and despite all the rave reviews, I had no success until I took it internally. Just for consideration...
Lengthy Magnesium thread from back when we had lengthy informative discussions. I miss that. http://www.acne.org/messageboard/topic/183604-magnesium-might-heal-you/
All kinds of things can't happen without adequate magnesium. And that's true of many other nutrients. You have to eat right.
Interesting!
Thanks for this!!!
how old are you?
unless you are over 25 or at least 23 there's no point in making acne theories, really.
*this should be a required field for registration imo
I am 21 years old. I will be 22 in 2014. I'm not trying to make theories. I don't even have an explanation for my experience with calcium and magnesium. It's just something I have noticed from being on acne.org and other boards regarding psoriasis and PCOS for example. And my experience kinda makes sense... and it might help for those that did not have much luck with zinc or D3. And I made the title like that so people would view it. But as you can see,... I said in the post "(at least for me)" Just sharing because I really appreciate everyone that came back to share what worked for them. Take it or leave it, I am happy either way. Good luck!
i can see you have the best intentions man and i appreciate that. the only thing is that more than 60% of all people *on this planet* had acne in their teen years. so it's almost normal to have acne when young. now.. acne should normally go away by itself at max 25y age (this is the normal way, it has to do with hormonal normalising). i can't say that it doesn't matter what you do, because some treatments help of course, but if the course of hormones are ok it will be gone sooner or later.
so let me make a small list of cures that "cured acne" for some people that i know:
-one ex girlfriend cured with argile (clay) masks. she had bad acne and was cured at ~21 (i did so many clay masks but never worked)
-one friend is so convinced that tea tree cured him, and of course was convinced that i didn't try it, when i actually used it a lot every day
-one girl was so disgusted by me not because of my acne but because she was sure that she cured her acne by washing more often -> so she called me "the unclean one"
-of course most boys say having sex is the only cure, but i had a steady sex partner after 20y
-what else.. oh a woman told me only urine curred her, cause she tried "everything" and didn't work (i used it, like she said, and it doesn't cure acne)
and of course what i've heard on this forum:
-flossing, the guy was convinced that is what it finally cured him (hey i floss..i'm quite passionate about dental hygiene)
- and i can't remember what other crazy cures that "only worked for me, you just have to find your own personal cure".
hey i'll try pissing on electric cables maybe thats my personal cure.
this reminds me of those dogs caught in cages, everyone was doing his own thing, one was scratching his back, one was barking, etc. and at a random moment they were fed. after that the dogs repeated those actions thinking that's the formula for getting food.
so that's why it's crucial to mention your age.
Cool post.
And I'm a girl... 
I don't know if this makes a difference.
I had mild-moderate all throughout high school. But once I hit 20-21, my acne turned cystic and affected my neck, cheeks, chin, my whole face. It would've been described as "hormonal". Plus, when I was 16, I took a drug called spironolactone, which has been known to deplete CALCIUM and IRON. Go figure.
Congrats on finding something that works for you! Have you been diagnosed with PCOS?
Common vitamins and minerals women with PCOS or other hormonal disorders tend to be deficient in (or their body is unable to produce/ absorb enough of):
- D3
- zinc
- magnesium
- some B vitamins
- calcium
These are usually ones most frequently mentioned in PCOS-related deficiencies.
For what it's worth, I don't think men -- or anyone without ovary-related disorders - should undermine the severity of hormonal acne just because the poster is under a certain age. No, HORMONES DO NOT AUTOMATICALLY SORT THEMSELVES OUT AFTER REACHING A CERTAIN AGE, especially if one has particular hormonal/ ovarian disorders. Those don't magically disappear.
^ I agree. Also, just because you are going through puberty and diet of course won't stop it, doesn't mean what you do to yourself doesn't worsen the severity and that a healthy diet/lifestyle can't improve it.
There are claims from anthropologists studying cultures with more natural lifestyles that say that puberty is not supposed to be nearly so traumatic & the changes not so dramatic. I had a friend that in Junior high her breasts grew so fast & so large over one summer that she had stretch marks. Like women get during pregnancy. That can't be right. Now girls are going through it younger and younger. Menstrual problems shouldn't be as severe as many women experience either. I've also read observations from anthropologists studying a certain tribe that said none of the women seemed to have any complaints. And it really makes no sense to hemorrhage so much blood. No other animals do. Many raw dieters claim their bleeding nearly stop and not because of lack of body fat.
Im going to give this a try im going to buy Magnesium Citrate Powder (8 OZ). It's 315mg magnesium per serving. What do you mix your powder with?
Hi Mark,
I buy the ORIGINAL flavor because it does not have sugars or other crap in it that might negatively affect me. The original flavor tastes just like lemon water/lemonade. After trying the original flavor, I doubt I would like the other flavors... I love lemon number 1, but number 2, it is already kinda tarte/sour as is, so any other "fruity" flavor would just make it nasty/too sour. I mix the powder with just plain, filtered water. You can mix it in whatever you'd like I think. Also, you can mix it with hot water (I think that is what the directions said I forget), but I'm lazy so I just use room temperature or cold bottled water from the fridge. Just keep moving your glass around when you're drinking it so that the powder gets fully mixed with the water. I do not measure how much water I'm using. I just sort of do it, and go by taste. If it is too sour, I add more water. I drink it first thing in the morning, although I have heard magnesium is better at night since it helps you relax and stuff. Also, yes Natural Calm has 315 mg in it. This is what I started with and when I realized what was happening, I went out and purchased another magnesium supplement to get more of just magnesium (and not the other minerals that are part of Natural Calm because I get enough of those). But you should see results (if are you deficient in it) from this dosage, I believe. At least something. You will know if you need more or not.
i'm taking calcium anyway for a couple of months, there's no big deal getting one with magnesium, although i took it in the past.
anyways happy christmas, may all of our only wish come true.
Awww Thanks! Happy Holidays to you as well!
WishClean + Alternativista:
Hey ladies! 
Thank you guys for your input and sharing your knowledge! I found it very interesting. You guys' ideas and findings. And WishClean: I was never diagnosed with PCOS but I felt like I had most of the symptoms. So I would say I've never been officially diagnosed with PCOS but could relate to most of the ladies who were diagnosed with PCOS, and spent a lot of time on those boards. 
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I've gotten a few messages about calcium and how it is dangerous to supplement calcium. I first want to say that I do think the RDA for calcium is too high (1,200 mg I think)? In the UK, the RDA for calcium is only like 700 mg. In countries that have low breast cancer, heart disease, etc only get 300 mg of calcium or so. The Japanese get about 500-600 mg of calcium from just foods alone. So.... my goal is to get around 500-800 mg of calcium a day. I'm sort of doing the high end right now just because I know I am deficient. Second, I think it is important to take a calcium supplement WITH its cofactors. What is the point of taking calcium if it will be not going to the right places and into your soft tissues? Needs to be absorbed properly. Third, I know that I am deficient in calcium... that is why I take it. I can not fufill my goal for calcium through diet alone because I am busy, don't pay attention, and hate most foods that are rich in calcium or fortified with calcium. It is not like I eat calcium foods all the time and just want to supplement extra. So yes, I believe calcium supplements have a bad rep... but you just gotta look at the big picture. Are you really deficient? Look at your diet... what do you eat? What type of calcium is it? Carbonate? Citrate? Gluconate? Does your calcium supplement have other fillers in it? Does your calcium supplement have cofactors or are you at least taking its cofactors? But I strongly believe most people should not take over 800 mg of calcium a day.... I think 500-600 mg is perfect.