It's the end of my second week on the regimen. Almost all of my active spots are gone (amazing), but my hyperpigmentations remain (not too worried). However, I am currently experiencing very severe irritation for no reason. My face has been pretty dry during the past two weeks, a bit flaky, but never this irritated. I switched from the regimen's moisturizer to Cetaphil last night because the regimen's did not do much work for me. My face started to burn, turn red, and get hot after I lathered it with Cetaphil last night. Alright maybe I spent too much time outdoor during the day and my face was really dry so that it responded that way. I was not too worried. This morning I repeated my routine, and after I moisturized my face, it turned red/hot/burning again. I wanted to wait for it to calm down before I put on sunscreen, but I was out of time. Now my face is still red and burning and hot. I can feel the heat radiating off of my face... and the redness looks horrible under tinted sunscreen.
I am really happy that my acne is getting better, but the irritation really bothers me. My face hurts so much that it's hard to ignore... Anything I can do to alleviate the pain? Is this perfectly normal?
I've been trying to calm down and stay positive by watching videos of success stories. It helped, but I really just want to physically feel better. Now I look sunburnt, which is ridiculous because I live in upstate NY and it's cloudy season haha. I will have to lead a two-hour seminar this afternoon, I am really nervous about showing my "sunburnt" face to my fellow students and professors... Sigh.
24 minutes ago, Control Panel said:It's normal, and I know exactly how this is. But sometimes you just have to say to yourself, "Who cares, as long as that acne is gone!" The irritation will subside, but you may be one of the unfortunate few whose dryness and flakiness don't go away. In that case get some Eucerin Replenishing Face Cream. It moisturizes so much better than anything that's out there, but it contains urea and sodium lactate, which have exfoliating properties (though their main function is to hydrate the skin). This moisturizer has about the same pH as distilled water, so it's gentle, but it still very lightly exfoliates ("pickles") the skin. I'd wait until my redness went away before using it.
Thank you! I do appreciate the fact that my face does not feel bumpy anymore when I wash it and it's the best feeling ever. I don't mind looking a bit sunburnt. I just hate the pain. I definitely will keep on doing the regimen. My flakiness isn't that bad. Cetaphil does a good job at hiding it. Will keep posting my concerns/progress!