Aloha! Just wondering if you guys could help me out here!

I had pretty severe acne from about the age of 10 and was put on Roaccutane for 8 months when I was 12. Awful stuff though it was, it pretty much cleared my skin up and the contraceptive pill after that seemed to be maintaining the effects. There I was, happily considering myself an ex-spotty botty and now, 10 years later(!!!), I'm looking in the mirror and an increasing number of the little red face invaders are staring back at me again!

Besides the usual hormonal flare-ups which weren't really that bad, I'd got to the point where I could finally say I had goodish skin, but for about the last 6 months it's been in a constant state of pre-period-style flare up, with some full-on cystic warriors making an appearance, I think perhaps due to stress. I am very pale (redhead) and prone to hyperpigmentation and keloid scarring so I'm trying not to panic!

I am loathe to go down the medical route again because of the god awful time I had on R, I've always used skincare products containing at least some Salicyclic Acid just out of spotty-person's habit and tea tree oil is not helping at all, so I'm looking for something with a bit of oomph that might help me out here. Going by reviews, I've been looking at La Roche Posay Effaclar, Bioderma Sebium and Avene Triacneal, but going over the ingredients lists all I can see is the standard Salicyclic acid fayre maybe with a bit of Glycolic acid thrown in (does GA really make a difference? are the concentrations higher, I wonder?), do these acutally work better than the "bogstandard" products? Has anyone tried any of them? Or am I maybe better off with something more Benozyl Peroxide-based? Any thoughts would be much appreciated

Thanks for reading my rant and don't let the face invaders get you down! xx

I can't personally offer any experience with any of those three products, but I did tend to use cleansers containing Salicylic acid as well. I started getting a lot of the same type of acne, the cystic stuff being the worst of course. I used Obagi Clenziderm's cleanser.

If you want to try something different that's very cheap and simple but may work beautifully, I give charcoal soap my wholehearted recommendation. I actually was looking at the La Roche-Posay recently when I wanted to rethink my routine, but just gave it a try as a cheap experiment. I won't be changing cleansers ever again. Considering it's $8 for probably a 6-8 month supply, I think it's worth a shot! I use a few other products of course but my new routine has absolutely cured my cystic acne. Thank goodness!

i really like products with glycolic acid so you could try a glycolic acid toner or the lotion they have for sale on this site. that should keep the pores fairly clear but i would also recommend trying spironolactone. its a pill you take 1-2 times a day and it really helps with the hormonal side of things.