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Cleared my neck acne! 🙂

MemberMember
61
(@missbiscuit)

Posted : 07/23/2017 11:12 am

So for several years, my neck would break out like mad. Cysts, whiteheads, you name it. Being a bit of  gypsy, I found it peculiar that it only really happened when I was living in my home town on the coast of Canada. Coast of Australia? Nada. Coast of England? Clear as day. In the Rockies? Crystal clear! But as soon as I came back, without fail, my neck would be a busy beehive of acne. To this day, I haven't been able to find out what the root cause of that is, but I finally found a way to clear it up! :) Huzzah!

Diet:

  • I changed my diet to low GI, which has helped dramatically, and is way healthier anyways :) 
  • I had to go away on a trip so I didnt have my usual eggs every morning while I was gone. I saw that my skin cleared up a bit, so I tried going without eggs when I got back and voila :| cysts went away. So diet for me was a huge one.

Facewash:

  •  I generally only clean my face/neck with room temperature water - no soap. I rinse once in the morning and once at night and that is it! No harsh scrubbing. I don't towel my face/neck off after either.

Spot Treatment:

  • I use a sulphur treatment mask to spot treat. I haven't had nearly as much to deal with these days, but I use it on any spots that try to pop up. I used to cake it on the spot, but now I just use a little and I rub it in so that I can't see the cream on there anymore - since I started to do that, the treatment seems to work better. I only keep it on for maximum 8 minutes.  

The Holy Grail:

  • One of the biggest things I contribute to my clearing though? Neutrogena deep clean oil-free make-up remover wipes. I don't wear makeup. I did for a while because it had an spf in it, but I've since found a great suncream that doesn't make my face break out (more on that later). I decided to use these wipes because I watched a video by Cassandra Bankson (the model famously known for her severe cystic acne and her makeup tricks to cover it). She had suggested in a video to buy wipes with salicylic acid for use as soon as you're done at the gym. So I did. And since I'm lazy and only find myself at the gym once a month, I ended up using them at the end of every day instead. I use them all over my face and my neck, as well on my chest and upper back because they still have some juice left in them at that point :P I use these wipes to take the sulphur treatment off, so I'm not actually washing that stuff off my face the traditional way.

Moisture:

  • Lastly, I use an oil on my face each night. I tried several kinds, including argan and rose hip, and none seemed to be the winners for me. I had gone to a spa to get a facial a while back and they recommended this crazy expensive facial oil that they said was like "liquid gold" and did wonders to their skin. It's organic and blah blah blah. I wasn't really sold until they said that the tiny bottle lasts for forever because you only use 2-3 drops MAXIMUM for all of your face and neck. Desperate for a difference in my face, I bought it. It's called Facial Recovery Oil by Eminence. Tiny little 15ml bottle, but I've had it for a couple of months and you wouldn't know I've used it at all - that's how little you need. I don't want to say it will work for everyone - all I know is that it's not breaking me out, its not irritating my skin, and my skin isn't all flaky and gross anymore, so I'm happy with it for me.

SPF:

  • As mentioned I use suncream each morning. It's Neutrogena Clear Face Sunscreen Lotion SPF 30. Formulated specifically for acne prone skin. It is lovely.

The Hair:

  • Lastly, and I'm going to be testing this out once my skin is 100% clear so that I can confirm whether or not it has anything to do with anything, but I stopped using in-shower conditioner on my hair. I don't know if my locks are too pleased with that, but I've been worried that the conditioner exacerbated the issue on my neck. To ensure my hair doesn't get too fried, I just wash the roots with shampoo and leave the ends alone except for the water and the have seemed to be okay with that. I use an Aussie detangled spray when I get out of the shower.

Alright! That's everything I can think of :) Seems like a lot, but it's actually far less than I was doing previously and I'm pleased with how drastic the change is. The hardest part is the low GI. Takes a little time to get used to, but it's actually been great. I'm quite thin, but I've managed to finally gain weight! And as an FYI, I don't eat fruit of any kind on my diet. Even foods high in natural sugars are off the table for me. Again, once my skin is clear, I will experiment to see if I can sneak some foods back in, but I want to have a controlled environment to test in first :)

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MemberMember
0
(@zoops)

Posted : 09/12/2017 10:11 am

Hi, thanks for sharing your recommendations!
I think I am having a problem that seems very similar to yours. I occasionally still get breakouts on my face although my chest neck and upper back/shoulders are now my main problem areas. I'd say I'm mainly outside of the hormonal area at 22 but i was wondering what other foods you stayed away from? I usually have eggs every morning and heading back to college has led me back to into daily coffee drinking. Do you have any suggestions on easy alternatives to eggs mainly?

I've been spot treating with a sulphur mask overnight and caking it on like you said but have seen no real effects from that so i'll try your suggestions regarding it.

Lastly, did you ever see a dermatologist for your skin? I never thought my skin was poor enough to warrant a visit until recently when i realized i have no clue what type of skin I have or the types of breakouts mine are.
Greatly appreciate all your help, glad its working out for you!

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MemberMember
61
(@missbiscuit)

Posted : 03/18/2018 4:39 pm

So if I've never mentioned it before, I have the memory of a goldfish. So proven in the fact that I started to break out along my neck again, googled how to clear it, came across this posting and realised only after reading it that it was written by myself.

I realised that somewhere along the way I had started eating eggs again - three a day, to be exact. Needless to say, after finding my own advice online, I stopped eating eggs yet again and my neck has started to clear up so quickly! :)

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MemberMember
61
(@missbiscuit)

Posted : 10/25/2019 4:13 pm

On 9/12/2017 at 8:11 AM, Zoops said:

Hi, thanks for sharing your recommendations!
I think I am having a problem that seems very similar to yours. I occasionally still get breakouts on my face although my chest neck and upper back/shoulders are now my main problem areas. I'd say I'm mainly outside of the hormonal area at 22 but i was wondering what other foods you stayed away from? I usually have eggs every morning and heading back to college has led me back to into daily coffee drinking. Do you have any suggestions on easy alternatives to eggs mainly?

I've been spot treating with a sulphur mask overnight and caking it on like you said but have seen no real effects from that so i'll try your suggestions regarding it.

Lastly, did you ever see a dermatologist for your skin? I never thought my skin was poor enough to warrant a visit until recently when i realized i have no clue what type of skin I have or the types of breakouts mine are.
Greatly appreciate all your help, glad its working out for you!

Oh my goodness, I totally missed this somehow. Im sorry @ZoopsTwo years later, you may not even need the recommendations anymore, but maybe someone else will, so I will respond anyways.

Food sensitivities for me include dairy (big time!), eggs, peanuts, and tomatoes. My understanding is that these are foods that many can behighly sensitive to. Dairy and tomatoes both upset my digestive system as well, but eggs and peanuts tend only to show on my skin.Going to dinner with friends is difficult, because if its not one of thosethings in a dish, its another. Ive learned to not feel embarrassed about asking for adaptations of dishes.

During the worst of my acne, I was eating like garbage. I had a serious sugar and carb addiction (Im talking a box of Toffifees a week, and a lattefrom Starbucks every couple of days that Id drink over the two days (refrigerated between). But I saw doctors and dermatologists for my acne who never once asked me about my diet, and for all of my teens, it was said that there wasnt a linkage betweensugar/chocolateandacne - that it was just a myth.

I eventually started to get symptoms of what I was sure was diabetes. Sorry for TMI, but again, in case it helps anyone else out - my urine started to smell sweet. So much so, in fact, that my friend went into the washroom after I peed (and flushed) once, and mentioned it.At that point, I knewit was an issue, so I asked my doctor to check me for diabetes,but the tests came back negative. He left it at that.I didnt figure out that mysteryuntil I saw a naturopath who ordered blood work to check for insulin resistance (randomly - I hadnt even told her about my diabetes suspicions or my urine),andit turnedout I was almost at the point of no return.

!THIS IS IMPORTANT!

We often think of hormones being only the sexhormones. For the longest time I assumed that acne would only be caused by excess androgens or testosterone or whatever. Thats all my doctors ever tested me for. Butinsulin is a hormonetoo, and asit turns out, insulin issues can cause acne.

Doctors do not like to check for this, and I have no idea why. I have brought concerns of possible diabetes and acne to my doctor off and on for years. Ive seen dermatologists and even an endocrinologist, and the only one to test for diabetes was my GP, and that was only at my request. They were always reluctant to test because Im young and thin and dont fit the profile. Im not big into naturopathic doctors - Im skeptical at best, but the blood work is done through the medical system here, and I was able to check my results from them directly by myself, so I know she wasnt pulling one over on me.

in my experience, every type of doctor Ive ever been to (GP or specialist) has only ever wanted to attack my skin issues with medications of topical creams, but in my case, it wasnt necessary and Im glad that I stuck to my guns about finding the underlying issue instead of masking it.

Its been a couple of years now and Ive been more or less clear. I get small pimples now and then, but nothing major unless I eat something Im not supposed to. I went hard on the low GI foods diet and after some months, I started to reintroduce crap foods, but in moderation. It seems to be fine now. I have two cysts at the moment that are undoubtedly from living off of chocolate and peanut granola bars during my exam period because I was too busy/lazy to cook. Between the sugar content and the peanuts, these cysts were bound to happen, but Im happy they are an anomaly now.

oh, and my favourite breakfast food has been overnight oats. You can pack it with healthy fats and proteins (avocado, sunflower seed butter), chia seeds, berries (in moderation seem to be okay for me now), spices, and dairy-alternative milk. Its filling, delicious, and quick to prepare.

Ive not been treating my little spots and just let them come and go naturally these days - no more sulfur at all. I am treating my cysts with castor oil as we speak (wrote more about that in my review for castor oil on acne.org).

Hope this helps!

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