This post has been a long time coming; I've been acne free for 7 years now. I wanted to share what I learned in the hope someone else might find it useful.

I'm going to cross post in the adult acne section too, and I likely won't be checking replies if any.

I'll preface this post by saying I first joined these forums over 10 years ago when it was still in its infancy. At that stage, in my early 20's, I was still plagued with inflamed acne breakouts daily. For years I obsessed over what topical product was going to be the final fix for my "special" situation; that somehow I was a bit broken, and if I could just find the right cosmetic product or combination of products to "click", I'd have "normal" skin.

In my experience, the "regimen" works. But it bleaches all your stuff, requires obsessive devotion to it, makes you look like a shiny android, and ultimately is a temporary stopgap - treating the symptom (acne) not the cause (which is where I'm going with this).

After devoting a lot of time and research (and money, man the money ...) on topical stuff, I eventually was led down the road towards a more holistic approach. I turned my obsessive research towards diet instead, trying 30 days each of vegetarianism, veganism and raw foodism to see for myself whether claims of health promoting effects were real and would help. Nope.

I also tinkered with fasting (bouts of water fasting for up to 10 days at a time) to no avail, and juice cleanses (before I realised they were bullshit). I looked into Candida (possibly part of my problem), trying colon "hydrotherapy" a number of times, as well as taking various supplements for parasites and who knows what else in the off chance that was what my issue was. These things also didnt really help, I dont believe.

For me, the thing that actually started to make a difference was Paleo. Later I'd discover that I have issues with dairy, but only so much as it causes me inflammation - ultimately at the root of my particular issue, and I'd wager the issue many people are having who are on these boards.

Acne is a condition involving an excessive inflammatory response, and the major driver of that is lifestyle; the lion's share of the lifestyle portion is diet.

Removing the Paleo brand name from the discussion for a second (I'm not here to sell anything). I undertook three months of an elimination diet that removed the top likely allergens (and thus, things that are likely to cause inflammation) - dairy, wheat, soy - and loading up on things that are likely to help ease inflammation and help gut health; probiotics, fish oil (I took 5mg per day for the first 30 days), glutamine and turmeric. I also reduced my carb intake, trying a portion of the experiment with low carbohydrate intake to see if insulin dysregulation may have been partially to blame (Ketogenic diets have been shown to be anti-inflammatory, but unclear whether it's the low carbohydrate part of the diet or the inherent elimination of other foods that is the cause).

Elimination diets such as the above have even allowed people with more severe disorders, such as autoimmune conditions, to get some reprieve - so surely this may help with Acne, yes?

For me, things dramatically improved. I then found a qualified Naturopath to help me with the remaining inflammation and some other gut issues we uncovered to iron out the rest of my issues. Boom, done. In 4-5 months from starting the experiment I had no more acne. None, gone. No topical anything necessary any more.

I stress "qualified" in the above paragraph as not all Naturopaths are created equal, like in any profession. I was in Australia, but in the US they're typically referred to as Functional Medicine Docs. I suggest finding someone with a chemistry background at least, so they understand the "whys" and "hows" and aren't fluffy.

tl;dr;

- Topical solutions treat the symptom, not the cause

- Gut health and diet were ultimately the cause of my problem, that produced excessive inflammation, resulting in acne until I was 25 year old.

- Try an elimination diet, with an emphasis on reducing inflammation and be honest with yourself; you'll need to be strict and adhere or you won't actually know whether a dietary route will help you.

- If you can, use the money you'd otherwise spend on topical stuff or cosmetic "solutions", and put some effort into finding a good health practitioner that sounds like they know what they're talking about - if they can't explain in scientific terms why they are suggesting something, or you don't get tangible results in 30 days, move on.
- You may consider trying the above with a Ketogenic diet too, as a separate or parallel experiment.

References if you are interested that I found useful:

- [removed] site. Its not necessary to buy anything; the podcasts are full of info, and you can find similar information elsewhere, such as [removed] work, or the [removed] foundation, or [removed] work.