I am at my wits end with this chest acne. I am a 27 year old female with mild chest acne; the kind with pustules (clumps of pustules between my clavicles and neck and the middle of my chest). Although the acne is rather mild, its enough to prevent me from wearing anything v-neck, low-neck, strapless. So basically I have a very limited wardrobe and it's summer.
Although I have always struggled with mild face and body acne, it has really gotten worse with age. I used to tan for about 5 consecutive years (I know, its so awful) but the UV light really clears up your skin. So now that I stopped the horrible habit my acne is back and worse than ever. I have tried almost every product/home remedy/supplement (bp, salicylic acid, sulfur, tea tree oil, panoxyl, epsom salts, zinc, vitamin d3, apple cider vinegar, retin a, keflex....) the list goes on.
I have noticed some improvement with the vitamin D3, I have been taking 4000 IU for about 2 weeks and I'm planning to increase to 6000 IU. I am just concerned since I am taking it alone, should I be taking vitamin A as well or K2? But nothing else seems to work. Should I try AHA. I have read some conflicting reviews about AHA working on chest acne. I have had some positive results with head and shoulders shampoo so I might try Nizoral which is another antifugal shampoo. My dermatologist tested my "bacteria" and the results were normal. He put me on keflex but that didn't seem to help and after being on keflex for a month I had gained noticeable weight. Antibiotics mess up your digestive system and can cause weight gain.
I am on tri-sprintec for birth control, I have eliminated dairy from my diet, and I have cut back on sugars. I workout 3-4 times a week. And I only consume water and sometimes unsweetened green tea.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Have you noticed increased anxiety since taking vitamin D3? Vitamin D3 should ALWAYS be taken with magnesium, because your body uses up a lot of magnesium to convert D3 into its usable form. Common side effects of depleted magnesium are poor sleep, constipation and anxiety. Other vitamin D3 cofactors are zinc, K, and A.
Here's what I recommend, and I'm pretty certain you'll be very happy with the results...
Upon waking:
Vitamin D3, 5000iu
Vitamin A, 10,000iu (from fish, NOT beta carotene)
Magnesium Citrate, 200mg
Before bed:
Zinc Gluconate, 30mg
Magnesium Citrate, 400mg
You can add vitamin K, I plan to because of what I've red, but something similar to the above totally cured my almost 2 decades of nasty body acne (I tried everything else under the sun). The vitamin A was the game changer. I stopped all supplements for 1 year before very systematically arriving at my current regimen. I started with vitamin D3 and got noticeable improvement but noticed magnesium deficiency, so I added magnesium and got all round improvement in me but not a lot in my skin, then I added zinc and noticed faster healing, then I added vitamin A and that's when the miracle combination clicked.
My regimen is pretty much the same as I've outlined but I take an extra 10,000iu of vitamin A at night, but from your description I don't think you need to, I had very inflamed, very serious body acne.
Also it goes without saying to make sure you shower immediately after working out and immediately every time you ever become drenched in sweat, letting sweat dry on your body creates an acne breeding ground.
I really urge you to try this, I'm 33 years old and am only now for the first time in my life able to take my top of at the beach.
Interestingly, I just found this - https://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/vitamin-d-and-other-vitamins-and-minerals/#