I'd like to know of a few topical gels and oils to supplement unheathy, low quantities of sebum being produced by my sebacous system. More importantly, however, what are some vitamins, foods, herbal supplements, and possibly perscriptions (e.g. testosterone/ androgen gel) that will accomplish said tasks? Perferably I am looking for a long term method, since accutane and B5 have permanently crippled my body's moisurizing mechanisms.

i am not sure what you can take internally, but i know that jojoba oil has the same chemistry as sebum and so works wonderfully as a moisturizer by itself (some people also use extra virgin olive oil). You may also want to look into the Oil Cleansing Method, or OCM, which is a method of cleansing (using castor and olive oil) that does not strip your skin of sebum. A lot of people swear by this method and it makes a lot of sense, just do a quick google search

Well, I don't know if anyone noticed but if you go to the thread starters profile he talks about starting to take accutane again. Sooooo he probably did what everyone else on these boards does and posted his problem with extreme exaggeration after it had been occurring for 2 days 😥

That's actually not true. I'm rereading my OP for the first time in a long time, and I definitely sound like a whiny kid, and I was, but it's mostly accurate. My skin had gotten into a deplorable state, and I was despairing because of it. I thought I had done irreversible damage (to some extent true) and that my outlook was dire for ever having normal skin again.

Hey guys, it's been ~6 years and I've wandered back to the site from time to time. I've gotten a few PM's about this topic (people having similar issues) so I figured I should post and clear things up.

I'm 24 now, and sadly not clear. Accutane was the only thing that cleared me up, but alas it was only temporary. I don't regret taking it since it allowed me to experience normalcy and healthy social interaction in a key development stage (college). While not clear, I'm actually mostly there. I have a few small whiteheads and some red marks but it's manageable. In normal-res photos I look fine.

I'm still not sure what the best approach is to skin care for someone acne-prone. I think washing with water-only holds a lot of promise and is pretty good for the skin. However, everyone out there seems to say gentle cleansing + moisturizing is the way to go. One girl I know with extremely beautiful, smooth skin uses only water and some Shishedo (spelling?) moisturizer. Two other people I know have had success using just water - they said their acne went away when they started being gentle and stopped using all products. There's not a lot of info on this, but there are a fair amount of people out there doing this I think. I wish more wrote about it!

It took a few years, but I've almost returned to normal. My eyes are still dry and bother me a bit, but don't affect my everyday life. My lips are chronically dry and I need to use lip balm daily. My hair seems drier than most peoples so I only shampoo 1-2 times per week. My skin is not very elastic for my age and has some fine lines and wrinkles, exaggerated smile lines. Besides this I look and feel pretty normal. So I think time, healthy living, and being gentle heals most of this. I produce some sebum now, albeit less than before.

Here are some things I have learned:

- Applying all-face acne products is really rough on the skin. Now I put tiny dabs of 10% BP, 2% SA, or sulfur directly on the pimples or forming pimples. It's very effective with almost no collateral damage. If your acne is caused by being rough on your skin (rather than hormones), I think isolated assaults while minimizing collateral damage is the way to go. It has been working in Iraq.

- Almost all products are rough on my skin. Washing with just water means I'll still get some whiteheads, but my complexion is nearly normal and skin feels better this way instead of being red, blotchy, taut, and wrinkly (that's how my skin gets now even if I use just cleanser 1x a day).

- I'm still trying to figure out moisturizing. I really don't know if it's going to heal my complexion and skin health or not. It definitely causes more clogged pores. So I can't give you guys a good answer on this. I'm going to try gentle cleansing + moisturizing for a few months and see where it gets me.

- Eating healthy and getting cardio exercise, especially running, seems to help, especially with the sweat. It feels great... It increases blood flow and seems to speed the healing process.

- Sleep seems to help, but I still neglect that big-time, since life is short.

In sum, time and healthy living heals this condition most of the way. Jury's still out on how I get 100% clear and healthy skin, or at least the best skin possible given it's somewhat damaged condition. I've limited the two most likely solutions to "just water" or "1x a day gentle cleanser + moisturizer". Using minimal spot treatment is the way (for me) to fight pimples - it works quickly, doesn't damage your face, and just makes a lot of sense if you have super sensitive skin with acne. And, though there's definitely residual damage and ongoing mild acne and poor complexion, it really doesn't affect my life that much these days. Very few people have flawless skin, and mine's nearly good enough these days.

Life's awesome, people. We'll all overcome this. Don't despair and don't take massive amounts of B5 or Accutane if you're young and don't understand the possible/likely consequences. 🙂

if you want sebum accumulation.. only use plain water when washing face.

Yes, doing this at first seems to cause a lot of sebum, but interestingly the skin then normalizes over time. So far, using water only with minimal spot treatment is about the best thing I've tried (both for acne treatment and for skin complexion).

I agree.. omg Whole Milk.. a lot of it will make me super oily. Try it out...

You mentioned having redness around the nose in your OP. And you say you still have acne issues right now.

I suggest you start on oil pulling with sunflower oil (ONLY sunflower oil). Unless you are somehow allergic to it.

The area around the nose is the most sensitive to hormones, generally if you get health issues that are related to hormone-mimicking toxins, they develop around the nose first. Don't believe me? Just observe when people have to touch the area around the nose in social settings, dead giveaway.

You are most likely loaded with toxins in your skin. Using a VERY simple oil pulling procedure for 6 months will most likely cure your acne for GOOD. Be glad you're 24, I found out at the age of 35 and cured my acne with it. After 20+ years of consistent acne, and getting Crohn's disease and thinned hair from Accutane. Do what I told you and your suffering will stop.

Those might work:

- testosterone

- dhea

- clomid

Take 5mg of biotin a day, although it might bring your acne back as well.

To all you vitamin b5 users out there be very careful and dont over do it i was taking them for roughly 2 years starting at a lower dosage before upping it to 10grams a day for one whole year (crazy i know) and yes i do really regret it because now ive been diagnosed with coeliac disease and i know 100% this is what caused it

I come from a very healthy family with no history of coeliac disease so i havent inherited it

I was suffering for 2 years with stomach problems,hair loss,dry skin,constipation,diarrea,fatigue etc without knowing what was wrong i made several trips to the doctors but they couldnt find anything wrong apart from low vit d levels so i had to go on suffering until i came across coeliac disease on the internet and started to make all the connections so i went back to the doctors told them what i thought was wrong and it turns out i have coeliac disease and im also allergic to wheat

Since removing gluten and wheat from my diet ive bin seeing some gradual changes in my hair and skin in a good healthy way

I just wish i had a mature head on my shoulders back then and wouldnt of bin so stupid in taking all them tablets because now i have to live with this forever theres no cure

I wish i knew how b5 has caused this could it have changed the way my digestive system works or has it took something out of my body that i needed to break down food i dont know but wish i did

Goodluck to all the rest of you i just hope you dont have to go through what i do and IF you do start to get any of the symptoms i mentioned then get it checked out you could have coeliac disease aswel

Prednisone has increased my sebum production a lot within only 2 weeks on 60mg/day. So far it's the only thing that's actually working for me.

Things I tried before:

- BIOTIN: not sure if there was any difference

- FENOFIBRATE: slight increase in sebum. There is only one study that claims a possible increase in sebum of 77%, but if your sebum production is almost zero, 77% increase of it is a piece of shit

- DHEA: Didn't work for me at all, even in very high doses (probably works better for women)

- Gamma-Linolenic Acid (GLA): no difference

I'm pretty sure testosterone might work as well but males need a really high dose treatment. Which probably no doctor would prescribe to you. So you needed to get it illegally which is not something I recommand.

I want my MPG.

Given that P. Acnes are found on most skin types, there are really only two assumptions that can be made about acne. It's either the excess sebum(LOL), or its the abnormal skin shedding. I've got a few friends that don't even have as much as a blackhead on their skin, yet produce much more oil than I do, and I've had acne for 8 years nonstop. However, I have seen people with acne, yet no sebum on their face. I've always seen people with perfect skin with no sebum on their face. Given that, I'd say it's most likely the skin shedding problem we need to fix, and not the sebum. If our skin didn't shed so fast, our skin would be stronger, and wouldn't be as dry. This also explains why Accutane leaves many people with overly dry skin--because it's basically taking away the bandaid that's covering the problem. I agree that sebum is completely pointless, as I stare at my prepubertal brother, with no sign of sebum whatsoever.

Let's be realistic. I have taken Accutane, and if I ever had kids I would at most never give them more than a 1/2 round.

My skin has only become slightly/marginally better with respect to sebum production. The Vitamin A affect on the Triglycerides and sebum production is long lasting if not permanent. To make matters more complex, all the topical organic lotions, as you probably know here now include OxyBenzone and all kinds of inflammatory ingredients. One by one, all the lotions globally have discontinued. The only one left I use, and I'm hoping to God they don't stop making it is Australian Sunscreen 30 SPF Baby Face, Zinc Oxide, Titanium Dioxide. The benefit is it has not water resistance or preservatives. Nearly 5 sunscreens one-by-one have been discontinued globally (i.e. Original Banana Boat, Aloe Vera Badger, KissMyFace, Nature's Gate Physical Sunscreen, and lastly Acure). All 5 of these different manufacturers have either changed their ingredients or discontinued viable and safe sunscreen. So this is the sixth, and last safe sunscreen from Australia. Less than five years ago, Banana Boat and Nature's Gate, even had a cooling affect, then Banana Boat added harmful ingredients and Nature's Gate changed their label, removed ultra-fine nanoparticle free from their label, and added Water-Resistance which changed and otherwise very decent topical sunscreen. The added 40 min. water resistance leads to Inflammation in any sunscreen that does this due to, I believe the composite.

Since the beginning of this year, I have been searching for some kind of Sebum restorer, through some Endocrinology specialist but have been not able to find anyone who understands sebaceous glands other than good dermatologists. And the good dermatologists know that Accutane shrinks the glands under a microscope and lead to quite permanent changes. They think there may some kind of remedy with respect to5-dihydrotestosterone..which makes me want to learn more about endocrinology or the glands. Does anyone know of anything ingestable that restimulates sebaceous glands? I figure since I'm 32 I should try to do this now?

-Rick Charles

i read that one of Gemfibrozil's side effect is that it causes increase sebum production up to 77%. I have not found a natural alternative to that drug yet however.