I suppose I should update as it has been awhile. Things were going exceptionally well with my skin after I began applying loads of BP to my chin. I thought for sure that the breakouts would end. Things were just red.

Well, after a night of drinking I woke up to very oily skin which amounted into a breakout the next day. My skin resembled a peatree dish. The bacteria were incredibly white on two white heads. One of which had FOUR heads on it. In total I had about 10 whiteheads on my chin!

I thought this may have been an initial breakout from using a great amount of BP. So I thought of cutting back (as I was barely using any when my skin was originally clear off DKR). Then it occurred to me that I should increase it some more because when I was DKR before I applied loads more in the early stages.

So I did just that: applied even more BP. My breakout cleared significantly within days. BP made my skin like a desert. It's so dry. Feels kind of good. The oil production is way, way down compared to when I was off DKR. And oil=acne!!!

It just was shitty to have to go through this in my second month. But I remember it took me a good 3 months to see results originally. Itas just shitty that this has occurred once again even being on DKR before.

Iam somewhat disappointed with myself that I got off the regime and completely spent my Summer indoors trying to repair the damage. Ugh. Oily, sensitive and problem prone skin or aoebad skina is the worst.

The reason I haven't been posting pictures is because my skin has exploded around my nose. Well, a little exaggeration, but I had these bumps since like week 2 of the regime that finally decided to come to a head and one of which is right on the side of my nose so it bleeds in public really easily. Which it just did. Fun.

On top of that, my skin is very hyper-pigmented where the zits are. Meaning the zits look worse than they are because they are red, sometimes purple.

I don't want to post pictures because I don't have the confidence, especially since things were progressing so well.

On the bright side, my chin is very clear. It gets a pimple every now and then that clears up quickly.

I forgot that, even when your skin gets clear, your skin still needs to adjust to BP in that it won't get red anymore. It's almost like after awhile it doesn't get irritated by the treatment anymore. The regime is an extremely long process.

Fighting acne is like fighting a disease. You go through the highs and the lows. The lows I've been having are extremely low. I can't tell you how upsetting it is to have things go so well and then have it break out. I've just been really, really trying to not pay too much attention to my skin besides when I am applying the regime.

I sort of just realize there is nothing I can do to my skin. I am not going to pick at it and I am treating it with the best product I know. So there is really not much else I can do besides let it run its course.

I am just... disappointed I did this to myself. I was CLEAR before all of this happened. And then I went off of it with confidence. Then things got OILY and irritated and broken out and out of control. I am just upset that I always seem to self-sabotage myself. Ugh.

its so weird.. im not having any success at all the second time around, and the first time it cleared my cystic acne! it's ridiculous.. im doing everything the same way i did it the first time. its like those 3 regimen-free weeks sabotaged my face and it just can't get back on track no matter how hard i try! i definitely feel ya on the "i did this to myself thing".. i cant help but think what if i had never stopped the regimen the first time? uuuggghhh!

What up everybody?

So I'm seriously in a library right now typing this as I don't have the internet at home. And I feel like shameful of my disease so I got to be quick.

The last 2 weeks I only got one pimple. One. My skin is still a little red but given this results, umm, hell yeah I am happy. I've been on this exact same regime before and it worked. The secret really is the BP, folks.

BP isn't perfect, we all know that, but after going through a lot of mental endurance - and yes I did have break downs during the 3 months - it's worth it.

The good thing is, it keeps getting better and better. I never really felt about anything like that the way I do now. So I am really happy with my skin cause I don't think about every minute of every day. Checking in a mirror to see if one popped. I had a legitimate problem for a while there, and it was on display to the world.

What have I learned from acne? To see people for who they really are. Not just on the outside, but the inside. Last night I went to a club and most of the guys there had mild acne, some worse than what I had. I quickly got over noticing as I was there too. Look people in the eye. Get to know them.

Hi everyone, excuse my preachiness but I can't stress how magical BP is on my face.

I've been super lazy and started doing it every other day and no new breakouts. I find that when my skin is breaking out from hormonal changes it makes sense to continue to do the regimen twice a day. But, my acne has been calming down over the years as I exit out of the puberty stage. So once every now and then is sufficient.

I think because my skin is behaving so well because of the BP lotion I put on it, I TREAT IT A LOT BETTER. Its so ironic that when your skin is bad you treat it worse by popping it, scraping it, irritating it trying to "change" the condition of your skin. But when it's good you LET IT BE more. And I think that is so key. Is to find that healthy balance between caring for yourself while not caring too much.

I think at points I cared too much. And it was SO HARD. I've been down that road of not wanting to leave my house because of a bad break out that just kept getting worse and feeling so hopeless. Looking in the mirror every hour, getting up close and seeing if it changed at all. Those were dark days and I don't want to think of them. It's sad.

Now that I have been through the regimen my skin is back to normal. I don't look at myself up close in the mirror and scrutinize my skin because I don't need to anymore. There isn't anything there. There's nothing inflamed and painful waiting to burst out of my skin anymore.

When I put on my regimen I think of my skin being beautiful and flawless. I do it so gently that if I start feeling bumps it's because I am pressing too hard so I go even MORE gentler.

I am also careful of touching my skin. During the regimen my skin was itchy so I would scratch it. Which is SO damaging to your acid mantle.

I am also careful not to yawn and make a crazy face as this can irritate the skin around my nose. As I wrote that I yawned.

I think it's just about being really gentle and loving your skin. YES, it is possible to have naturally beautiful skin if you have bad skin. You just have to LOVE IT and care for it. Easier said than done.

I am never, ever getting off of this regime. My skin is so amazing right now and its leaps and bounds away from where I started. Just thinking about how irritated my skin was and broken out and oily and painful feels like such a distant memory I never want to re-live.

I think sometimes I forget about the emotional and physical pain acne gave me and I just hop off treating my skin. Then it just gets worse and I end up in a really deep hole that I dug for myself and its a long journey back to the top.

I can't stress enough how great the results have been. I have totally and completely stopped letting the condition of my skin obsess over in my mind. Its because my skin doesn't hurt anymore. All it does is itch every now and then.

Yes, the peeling skin does occur to me. This led to me cutting a wee back on the BP so its less likely to occur. I usually just use less BP than I normally would in my 3rd month and then just spot treat any actives.

My skin isn't perfect. I've been trying really hard to accept the fact that I have an ugly disease that is acne. It's been hard. But I can't treat it unless I accepted it. And yeah, having on pimple is nothing to freak out about. I still have "bad skin" days, but the good ones totally outweigh it all!

Joe

So I started this log in the first place as when I was going through my rough time I was on here 24/7 reading other people's experiences.

My skin is absolutely amazing. It's not perfect. I still get a zit here and there but I am confident that the regime will just zap them away in a bit.

I've been getting complements and actually have started not to think about skin minus sometimes dealing with flakes, which I will take any day over an irritated, angry pimple.

It's hard to explain but I think my skin just seriously calmed down and stopped being so pissed off at me and oily. It's so nice now to wake up and not worry about it.

Reading my previous entries really depresses me and brings me back to the hell I went through which I'd rather forget. I've been working on remaining positive about my skin and maybe there is a mind body connection which we underestimate.

I was online the other night and I saw that EPSOM SALTS help with body acne. As I suffer from back acne which is stubborn to treat and I refuse to use BP as this is $$$ I decided to give it a shot. I remember my Mom telling me about it when I was a kid so I decided what's there to lose?

I just did a soak in the tub with the salts and I feel so relaxed. My back where I break out also feels a bit tight and dry and it looks as though it help to surface some of the acne. I will continue with the soaks maybe 2 or 3 times a week and applying Salicylic Acid in my moisturizer on my back. The moisturizer on its own really helped a lot.

I am almost 100% positive the breakout on my back and the zit I got on my face was from last weekend where I got so wasted that I passed out on my friends pull-out couch probably in an awkward position that irritated my sensitive skin.

I wish I didn't have such bad skin that is so sensitive but it's a blessing because it helps me to smarten up a bit.

Glad to hear things are going well. I honestly do think that the more we take care of our skin and stop being so harsh it, it calms down and stops being so angry in return. I certainly feel that as I've started to treat it better, it's responded in kind. Likewise, I have come to realise that it can be a blessing in a way because acne is the bodies way of telling us that something isn't quite right internally, so it's essentially encouraging is to be smarter about certain things and take better care of ourselves. Of course, my view point wasn't quite this well balanced back when things were bad, but then I don't suppose any of really think clearly when we can't see past the problem or when it seems too big to overcome. But it's cool once the efforts finally start to pay off isn't it.

Hey Paul, I always enjoy reading your posts on here and thanks for the reply.

I completely agree with you. When I am in that state of anxiety over a pimple it's like I somehow make it worse by being more abrasive physically to it and emotionally. I read this interesting study about people who could think they had a burn/rash on their skin and it appeared. So I am working about being more positive about my skin. There is a connection there as I find when I am grumpy I also have a breakout. Maybe the causal relationship is acne=grumpy or maybe it is grumpy=acne. Who knows.

My skin is great. I had one zit in the past 2 weeks. It's still there and it's kind of big. Again, I am almost 100% positive this is due to getting stupidly drunk on the weekend. That needs to stop. It's Friday and I'm not drinking.

In other news, I have been bathing in Epsom Salts, or magnesium sulfate, to treat my body acne. It kind of sucks because everything is being drawn out of my skin. I HATE whiteheads. They are the bane of my existence. But I know once that infection comes out naturally (i.e. I am trying so hard not to extract them myself) it will be better.

Healing is patience. When I am anxious about my skin I get so impatient. Remaining calm and gentle is so key.

Other than that I've been really focusing on a healthy lifestyle to really kick this in the butt. My other bane of my existence is alcoholism. It's everywhere and it's so normalized in society to get wasted (Ke$ha and so many other pop songs). That's a whole other bag though.

Sounds like you're on the right track though, and that good things are happening with the Epsom Salts. Probably doesn't feel so great if it's making things a little worse for now, but I suppose that's a sign; that's it's working and that it may well clear the problem. Like you say, just got to be patient and ride that out until the treatment starts to regulate that particular area of your body, just like you would with your face.

What you said about that study is really interesting and I'd certainly say that there's truth to it. I mean, if ever I'm broken out, my thoughts are that it's going to get worse. Most times, that's what would happen. If my skin was clear, I'd constantly be worrying that it could break out and that it was only a matter of time before things turned bad. Again, that would usually happen. I eventually had a bit of a brainwave about that and started to wonder if my skin was essentially doing what I was telling it to. Spending the whole time worrying about my skin and sending messages there and telling my body what to do. It's because a natural thing for me to think that way so it's taking time, but I'm finding that the more I start to ignore it and just forget about it, the better it gets. It's almost like it's getting fed up of not getting attention and so it's going away. Sounds kind of far out, but I really am starting to think there's a connection between how we feel, the resulting thoughts in or mind, and how those thoughts manifest themselves physically on the outside.

As far as the drinking goes, I've always found a sense of empowerment in doing things on my terms. So if I want a drink, I'll have a drink. If I actively intended on getting totally wasted, I could do that. If I was out but didn't want to drink, I could also do that. No matter which scenario I pick, it's my choice and I'm in control of that. I haven't had a drink since my birthday at the end of August. That's mainly because of the Doxycycline and the supplements I'm taking, I just wanted to avoid anything which might prevent them from working as well as possible. Again, there's control in that - taking these things and not drinking, with a goal in mind and the aim of clearing my skin. That's my choice and my efforts are showing results, which is perhaps more empowering than doing things my way to begin with because I know it was the right choice. There's nothing wrong with have a drink and having fun, and you certainly wouldn't want to be at the opposite end of the scale where you'd be stressing about doing anything at all in case it had an impact on your skin. I suppose it all comes down to moderation and finding a happy medium.

Hey Paul,

You are completely right about the alcoholism as maybe I am being slightly dramatic. Last night I had a million people over and I contained myself by only have 6 drinks over a span of like 5 hours with food and water in between. It was actually really relaxing and I had an amazing night that really inspired me to set up my Christmas tree and deck the halls with bells of holly so to speak.

Anyway, the Epsom Salts on my back are really purging everything out. I have a ton of whiteheads now that are gross. I found myself squeezing one of them at night, accidentally in my sleep. Yuck. Now I have to wash my towel.

Today I ran out of products. As I have a big ol zit in the middle of my cheek which is abnormal for me as I don't tend to break out there I wanted to make quick work of getting my supplies at Shoppers Drug Mart. I go to the one in St. Jamestown. Immediately when I picked up my products this sales woman comes over to me and tries to work her magic.

And I remember her too. When my skin cleared up dramatically I purchased my products from her. She was like "Oh it's working for you, but your skin is red." UGH. Typing this even makes me angry. This was in my 3rd month where things get really amazing but still very, very red. And I was like "That will subside in about a month as my skin gets used to it." And she goes, "A MONTH? I have products that work right away..."

In my head I was like "Bitch, I have acne. You are probably going to sell me some Neutrogena for men shit with soap in it and a moisturizer with Botanicals and perfume for like $50 so you can feel good that you worked your sales magic on me."

Anyway, today she came up from behind with a big smile and was like, "Can I help you?" I just looked at her and shook my head "NO" and ran away. I know she's trying to help but people don't realize that I just want to get my Benzoyl Peroxide and my moisturizer in peace and not be ripped off.

Like, THE BEST thing you can use as eye and lip moisturizer is Petroleum Jelly (AKA Vaseline) for like 2 bucks. One time I went to the drugstore and asked for help as my lips were OUT OF CONTROL chapped. The lady gave me some "lip repair" stuff that was 30 bucks and it broke me out like mad all around my mouth. My mom told me to just use vaseline and it worked wonders.

I swear, people just don't understand what it's like to have really sensitive skin that breaks out so easily but needs to be taken care of. I get made fun of for taking baths by my boyfriend. People just don't get it.

I type a lot. I try to keep things short.

All the advice online is pretty bad. And most of the products on the market are even worse. I just wish more and more people "got" skin care. Please, big companies, stop with perfumes and soaps in face washes. Duh.

There's also that other school of thought where you can just take a drug like Roaccutane and *poof* you're clear! Well my Momma didn't raise no fool and when something is too good to be true it usually is. I saw someone post about how it messed them up physically to the point of not being able to do sports. I was like "HELL NO" and it's a chemotherapy drug, too. My best friends mother put her son on it the second his face broke out horribly. He's clear now but who knows what the future holds.

Right now I feel spotty. The past month I haven't been taking care of myself nutritionally or following the regime and I got a zit that I've been talking about in my earlier posts. Well, it's been around for 2 weeks now and it's finally starting to clear up. I was in the elevator with my boyfriend when he said "Your skin is peeling over your zit." I got flustered and ripped it off causing it to take even longer to heal.

On top of that, my skin is purging like crazy on my back and two black heads are turning really red on my face. In fact, every little zit on me is BRIGHT red. It's been like this since taking the magnesium baths so I'm assuming it's all the nutrients in my blood taking care of the issue.

I have already started noticing SO MUCH improvement on my back it's ridiculous. I never had this dramatic results since I started treating it with Salicylic Acid. Now the combination of the Magnesium baths and the SA is brilliant.

I inherited this disease from my parents. It's balls that I can't just go out and do what I want and not have to care. I NEED to care for myself.

So it's back to the ol' regime of twice a day, working out and drinking a ton of water. I know I can get through this purging and things will look great. It's just a matter of time.

I've also started to try to cut out some more toxins again such as not frying a DAM thing, everything it baked now. Deep frying is EVIL. I'm also cutting way, way back on milk. I used to drink at least 3 cups a day. Now I'm trying to get down to just one.

I mean, something is causing toxins in my body and I eat so much more insanely healthy than any of my friends. So maybe it is the milk causing problems.

Don't get me wrong. I am sticking to Dan's Regime. It has been the only thing to give me dramatic improvements on my face.

I really, really despise taking pictures of my skin. But I am doing this for all of you to see my progress. This is what it looks like now (see below). It looks a hell of a lot worse in these pictures because of the really bad lighting picking up redness, my skin is detoxifying (Epsom Salt baths) and it's right after I had a shower which we all know causes things to look redder.

As you can see, my face isn't so bad thanks to BP. It's just red around a few blackheads as it's "purging" from the magnesium baths I've been throwing in for my back acne.

My back acne looks really, really bad in this photo. It's because of all the redness that is happening from the Epsom Salt baths that are purging it. But actually, and the strange thing is, it's A LOT smoother than when I started. There are only a few actives that are tiny and the rest are scabbing over and healing. The healing/dying ones are a deep, deep red. I have NEVER seen that sort of color on back my back before. So this is all new to me.

I genuinely feel as though I was Magnesium deficient. Zinc helps my skin A LOT. Apparently Zinc cannot function super well without magnesium. Magnesium is also the second most abundant mineral in your skin and helps with a lot of its functions. Magnesium is BEST absorbed through your skin (which is a neat way of thinking of your skin as actually something that absorbs things).

I just feel like I inherited skin that regulates toxins in my body through acne and I don't nourish it properly to do its job.

I've somewhat taken a homeopathic approach to my back acne. Don't get me wrong, Salicylic Acid has helped SO MUCH. If you think those pictures of my back are bad, you should've seen it 2 years ago. It was creeping all throughout the middle, so many actives and encroaching on the front part of my shoulders.

It's just frustrating because I eat so well and workout. So why are there toxins in my body?

Once I went to Cuba and got diarrhea and my body coped with it by being constipated for an entire week. Yes, for an entire week I did not go number two. Scary.

That was when I had the worst breakout of my life. I'll never, ever forget it. It was whiteheads covering every single inch of my face and it was so red.

I also never got such bad cystic acne until I quit smoking. I smoked for about 3 years through University. I quit about a year and a half ago. During my cessation phase I broke out in extremely deep and painful zits. I remember within the first week of quitting I got this HUGE one that lasted a month and was so painful cause I can feel the infection trying to push its way from deep down inside to the surface. When it finally came up it had like two white heads. One had a really hard pellet in it and the other one was literally THROWING UP so much infection. It had like about half an ounce of just white pus in it.

I've also been on proactive when I started getting acne. It worked for about 2 months than just stopped completely. I switched to gentle cleansers and led a vegetarian lifestyle. My skin was amazing in high school. Things got really bad in University.

So maybe it is something I am eating, as the above evidence does suggest that what's going on in my body toxin wise has a big impact on my skin. So I'm starting to do some more research on this area.

I found some really convincing evidence that Milk is a HUGE factor in breakouts. When I think about it makes sense; we are the only species to consume milk after our infant stage; it is pumped full of hormones; etc.

And I also somewhat came to the conclusion that when I went vegetarian for awhile I stopped drinking it often. This was in High School when I had beautiful skin.

Recently I've been drinking milk like crazy.

I think that's something in my diet I can definitely change. Other than that I am really healthy. I don't fry my food, everything is baked. I rarely eat red meat. I have a lot of salads and dark greens. I generally eat meals that have higher protein in them and lower carb. You won't ever catch me eating white bread. I supplement with Zinc. I workout at least three times a week (I have a 6 pack).

It just feels like this one aspect of my life is such a pain in the ass and other people just take it for granted. Like my boyfriend who doesn't do a dam thing to his skin and it's AMAZING. I've gotten over being jealous of other people though and started accepting my own responsibility for my skin.

Cliffs:

-Epsom salt purging my skin, making it red

-Discovered I am Magnesium deficient

-Dan's regime doing its job and I am back on to following it like it's the Bible and I'm a devout, fundamentalist Catholic

-Cut out milk completely

Soooo it could be just me but things are already looking loads better in a period of a day. I just got out of a salt water bath and even - very gently - exfoliated my back with some of the salts. I stopped when I felt a "cut" like feeling that sort of hurt and I just let it soak. It looks like some of my pimples are drying up quite a bit. Is this stuff serious? Why have I never heard of this before?

I also discovered GREEN SMOOTHIES. There's a 150 page thread on it here. I made a juice using just frozen strawberries, blueberries a handful of romaine, drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Then I just added water to get the consistency right. I fed some to my boyfriend and my workout buddy and we completely were floored with how amazingly good it tasted. An entire salad gulped back and made within 10 minutes. Truly and unbelievably revolutionary. And the possibilities are endless with adding things like avocado to really make it a true meal.

Best part is: it's ALL RAW.

I'm sort of a raw food fanatic to a certain degree. I used to be 210 pounds last Summer. I now weigh 170-173 depending on the time of day. I always had a knack for fitness but when my Dad passed away I truly didn't understand how much stress I was going through until I got out of the situation. I ended up gaining at least 40 pounds and I was shocked because I never really weighed that much.

This new body wasn't mine, either. I felt like I didn't own being that big. In a way I committed my own little mini-suicide by depriving myself of being able to sprint, be flexible and lift big weights.

Well, it's been an entire year and since I've quit smoking, cut way back on drinking, and hit the gym. I even had a full-time gig and was doing this daily for a few months ($$$).

I've been truly fine-tuning my lifestyle and really taking care of myself. You don't know how badly I want to just conquer this disease I've been haunted with throughout the last 5 years. I can't believe I am actually trying to conquer my back acne.

I swear some things I've been stuck in a cave and should've been doing this for a while now, regarding the smoothies.

Dan's regime is doing its magic. I love Benzoyl Peroxide. It just changes the texture and look of my skin so quickly and dries and disinfects the skin so well. I also swear it might help a bit with circulation because my skin gets red after applying it but always looks so much better. Maybe the redness is from the blood properly nourishing my skin. Either way, I'm stoked about the results of following the regime exactly.

Also, I didn't drink milk today. I really only ever drank with my cereal and a glass at night to help me sleep better. I am going to just experiment without drinking milk for 6 weeks and see if there is any improvement. Really shouldn't be hard, I do all of my own groceries and I'm feeling the whole leafy green thing right now anyway.

Cliffs:

-body acne drying up so quickly but still left with red marks

-following the regime perfectly

-facial skin zits red and healing

-discovered juicing

-living without milk in my diet isn't difficult

Things are loads better regarding my back acne. It's seriously painless. It's still very, very red however. I read somewhere online that this is actually a really important step in the healing process because all the blood is going to that zit. It's just, taking forever. The hardest part of this whole process is time. I want things to happen now. And, I mean, they are happening really quickly but I just want to wake up tomorrow with clear, beautiful skin from head to toe.

I don't think it'll make me happy. I'm just concerned for my health and I'll be the first to admit it, it's in my nature to be a really vain person. The condition of my skin really affects my mood. I haven't been able to go swimming the last few weeks because of this horrible break out on my back which was a direct result of not properly taking care of myself. Somehow partying and rolling out of bed and eating out seemed to take priority. I'm so dumb.

Excuse the really queer moment I am about to have, but I thought I should share it with the Org. Oprah has a new show out where she basically talks in front of a green screen about herself (surprise) and harkens back to old episodes. Kind of ridiculous but nonetheless she made a really excellent point.

Oprah has been a huge dieter and she lost all that weight at one point. But she said that wasn't who she is, that was her "ego." It's so Freudian but it's really insightful into my own life.

I am the opposite of Oprah. I am born fit. I think to a certain degree we all are. I have always been insanely energetic, dancing, singing, running, lifting weights, swimming, you name it. That's just my nature. It wasn't until recently that I strayed away from that center and let my ego take over.

When your ego takes over it's because of fear. I was going through a ton of pressure being in University and dealing with a terminally ill father in another city. It was difficult. My father and I never really had a close relationship growing up. But I became really close to him when he developed colon cancer for the second time on top of his pre-existing leukemia.

I wouldn't admit to anyone that I was scared and lonely and a little boy at heart. I wanted to keep being the tough guy who didn't ask for help even though I was hurting really deep inside. I am sort of dealing with these emotions only now and it's been TWO YEARS. But I feel like for once I am starting to think clearly.

I strayed deeply away from my center. I became a bar back for awhile and eventually became a bartender in fine dining in under year. A part of my success in that job was operating under anger. I made a ridiculous amount of money.

However, during that time I was an alcoholic unknowingly. When I poured beer the head needed to be discarded especially at high volume you couldn't just wait for it to settle. So it would just sit there indefinitely for a long period of time and if it wasn't used it would go down the sink. I voluntarily offered myself as the sink.

I was always drunk at work. In fine dining the only thing that changed was that if the server didn't like their 20 dollar martini it didn't even make it to the floor. I actually started becoming really skinny from staying away from beer. I also, without a doubt, drank a lot less.

But this wasn't who I was, ultimately. This behavior led to a huge domestic dispute between my boyfriend and that became physical. The cops were called and I was separated from him by being take away in a cop car. I slept outside that night on the patio of the bar I worked at. I just remember my hand being swelled up twice its size from punching the mirror. Luckily those were the only injuries that happened. My boyfriend remained unscathed except maybe emotionally.

To think all I have worked for could have been taken away by that one, stupid moment. I am still paying the price for that moment. I still feel guilty but I am working on showing my boyfriend how much he means to me, cause I feel like sometimes I don't.

Anyway, that domestic dispute was the lowest for me and a turning point. I started to take responsibility for my actions and had to change jobs where the alcohol was better regulated. I still make great money working in beer. But that's beside the point.

I don't really know what I am trying to get at here but to always be aware of when your ego is taking over. When your not true to who you are you really start to make mistakes.

Take care everybody!

Cliffs:

-body acne still very red but healing slowlllllyyyyyyy

-Oprah gave me enlightenment

-stay true to who you are and take care

I haven't forgotten about you guys!

I haven't been on here because my acne has cleared up.

1) Give up milk.

I put this NUMBER ONE because I want people to KNOW that MILK CAUSES ACNE. Cut it out. Do this strictly for 3 months. There have been studies to show there is a direct link for milk and boys and acne. http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/18194824

I found that doing this my skin cleared up, even on my back!

2) Get on BP

After washing your face (I just use water to do this), wait 5 mins, put on BP, wait 5 mins, and moisturize. This is Dan's regime. It helps. 'Nough said.

3) Realize you're not "dirty"

Don't scrub or scald your face. You are gorgeous. Don't try to change your skin. Don't buy into the hype that you need some harsh cleanser to make your skin feel better. Don't pick at your skin to get things out. I actually find acne commercials LAUGHABLE how they try to make you feel self-concious that you are DIRTY. Like Proactiv commercials are horrible and play into people's insecurities.

4) Don't pick

Let it come out of your skin. Your skin evolved to have acne for reason and it knows what it's doing. LEAVE IT ALONE. This website was awesome http://www.stoppickingonme.com/

5) Generally be healthy

The best face wash? Sweating. Urea from your sweat will do wonders. Just a rinse after is all you need. Don't damage your skin. There's such a thing as being too clean. You have a "horny layer" to protect it. Don't rip this off and let bacteria in. Laugh more. Eat better. Stop smoking.

6) Green smoothies

Seriously, look into this. A handful of kale, a handful of berries, a scoop of cinnamon, maybe half an avocado and maybe a cup of fiber cereal then just add some water, blend it up, you have yourself a really healthy treat for your skin and body. It tastes amazing and alternate your greens (instead of kale have spinach or romaine), but kale is really important since it is a great source of calcium and seeing as how YOU GAVE UP MILK you need this!

7) It's not perfect

Admit it. You have acne. Accept it. It sucks. Boo hoo. First world problems. Get over it. There's only so much you can do. You will get a zit here and there. Suck it up. Look people in the eye. Don't let it control your life. Easier said then done, trust me. We've all been there where we couldn't leave the house for months. But please try to better yourself and challenge yourself.

8) Sleep with a towel on your pillow

I'm lazy. I don't wash my sheets every other day. I'm more likely to wash a single towel though. Not only will this prevent the BP from staining your sheets, it keeps the bacteria away.

9) Mind over matter

You think you're going to break out? You are going to. You think that zit is really bad and is going to become inflamed? It will. You think you're going to clear up and have nice skin? You are.

Start being positive about your skin and stop focusing on the negative! I used to go inches away from the mirror and zone in on every pimple on my face. Then I started to practice standing away from the mirror at all times. It gave me a ton of anxiety, still does, but my opinion of my skin has completely changed.

I am positive that these changes will help someone out tremendously. I have no doubt my skin cleared due to hormonal changes (I am 25) but I still get breakouts.

Below is a pic taken with my shady webcam, but the cam usually picks up ALL redness. As you can see, there isn't any concentrated redness anywhere. I haven't had any issues with my skin in months. And if I did, it was usually so insignificant and due to cheating (i.e. having milk).

Wow, this was so helpful! Thanks!!

I agree with you, i think ur derm is a foolish , he probably just wanna make money from you, thats what derm do.

Like when i had my first acne, there were only 3 acnes on my face that time and i went to this derm and he gave me anti-biotic at first, when i told him its not really working, he asked me if i wanna try accutane..at that time i dont even know what accutane was, because i never had pimple before so i have limited knowledge about it, but my mom knew, she asked him about the side effects and when he told me, i was lilke..Wat the heck, i only have 3 acnes on my face why would i take that.

What's up everyone? Thanks for the responses, love them. For the record, I BROKE OUT. Ugh. I pretty much came on here to complain.

I allude this to a few factors. One, I've been cheating on my diet. I had dairy, sugar and way too much salt on multiple occasions. I thought it was great I wasn't breaking out but I spoke too soon.

I also got sick, stomach problems and a cold. So my immune system was down.

Last but certainly not least, the Summer has reached its zenith of humidity. Going back in my blog I realize that this is when I was breaking out like crazy too. My skin responds really badly to the humidity and the smog.

To be honest folks, I've been doing the regime ONCE a day for a while now cause I got lazy. My skin was amazing and I was on cloud 9 for months, not even thinking twice. Now I'm left with a mess. A tingling, buzzing, zitty mess. It's the kind of zits that just tingle tingle TINGLE. It's hard not to think of them when they are so physically annoying.

So, I came up with a plan while in the bath: do the regime twice. I found doing the regime twice in the Summer last year cleared me up. So maybe I just need to adjust my routine when it starts becoming really humid? I also increased my BP by half given the breakout.

I am also going to decrease the amount of moisturizer I put on by half. I noticed that while I was breaking out my face was an oil slick. So clearly I'm not lacking moisture.

It just sucks cause it's more work for me. And it also sucks cause I realize I am living with a shitty disease that is exacerbated by factors that I always forget about. Hence why I blog about it so I can know better when the time comes next time.

Tingle, tingle FUCKING TINGLE. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Amazing Post! Thank you

Yes, so doing the regime twice in the Summer helped a bunch. It dried out my skin and things got under control. I live in Canada so it's annoying having to adjust the regime constantly. In the Fall/Winter I run the risk of drying out my skin too much doing this. While in the Summer it needs to be cleansed and treated more often. I think it just depends on your skin.

This whole process has been trial and error. I realize it will never be perfect. Acne will always be there. For the past 3 months I have been clear. I am of course back on here because I have one sprouting. I can, again, chalk this up to pigging out on ice cream and cake (my weaknesses). My skin is not perfect, it never will be. I am only human. I am going to break out. Cutting out dairy has been so difficult. Probably harder than quitting smoking.

So yes, I got one that is under my skin and appears red on the surface. It's big. It's actually a reoccurring cyst. This has just been a warning that I need to watch what I am eating. So no pigging out on dairy. I'm pretty good throughout the week. It's just the weekend.

I quit drinking entirely. I live in a city area where there are a lot of bars so I caved into pressure. It's been 152 days since I drank, and I don't miss it. I found that there wasn't much a relationship between drinking and acne. Although, when I was hungover I used to just pig out on dairy cause it made me feel better.

Anyhoo, life is good. Got a new job. My confidence has improved since being acne free. Thanks Benzoyl Peroxide! My friend whom I haven't seen in a while came back in town and she just got off Accutane. Apparently her face was so bad she had to move back home to take care of herself. I had the utmost sympathy for her. I've been there. Taking care of acne is like taking care of a disease. It sucks.

I guess you have to find what works for you. I am a big believer in destiny so if somehow you find my blog it probably means you could learn from it. I hope someone does and start loving themselves and accepting themselves. As well as getting on Dan's Regime as well as exploring that you may have allergies to dairy or sugar.

Just decided to check in. Since that breakout in the Summer I haven't had one since. The BP helps. Cutting back on milk helps. I really can't stress this enough. Acne is no longer a problem. Of course there are days where I'm scared of going back to square one. But as long as I keep up the regime and the diet I will be fine. I haven't had a big, monstrous zit in OVER A YEAR. Even when I was "breaking out" in the Summer it was never as bad as it was before. I am seriously happy with my body physically.

I really wish the best for you guys on here. These boards have been such a big support throughout this process. I came out of the breakouts with no scars physically thanks to the boards. I can't stress BP and cutting milk out enough. Acne is no longer a problem.

Hey everybody,

So Winter is upon us, and if you're anything like me you are BREAKING OUT. I will say though this is a very mild breakout, but a breakout nonetheless.

I've come on here to complain, yet again. Woe is me. I want to say it just sucks having skin that is so unique. The popular consensus out there is to moisturize more in the Winter. Well, for me, it's use less.

My skin is already so oily and the Winter dries it out. It totally sucks having an insanely humid Winter (which equals oily skin) and then have a very dry Winter. It's almost like this transition happens overnight too.

The products I use are drying. So if I use a lot of products my skin will be extra dry and will start to split a part. It will begin to break out since my acid mantle is vulnerable and bacteria is getting in. As it is now.

So note to self: in September begin to cut back on products to make for a smoother transition. I am now down to half a finger but I want to go less.

I find that the best part of BP is that its a drying agent. So it doesn't make sense to dry it out more.

To top it all off I just a got a new full-time job that is pretty stressful. I've also been eating badly because of the holidays.

I am now on a strict diet again of no milk or sugar and trying to manage stress. Oh, and get more sunlight seeing as how its Winter and there is none after 5pm. Yay Canada.

I just wanted to say that I broke out. Really badly.

I can attribute this to a few things. The weather jumped from really warm and humid to cold and dry. I found my skin breaking out in my laugh lines (I had about 4 pimples develop there). This made me realize that I was smiling too much (go figure) and that my skin was cracking from movement. I was quickly reminded to cut back on acne medications. And I did.

Then I broke out on my chin. That I hate. I find the acne down there really stubborn and it spreads like wildfire. I really, really was reminded to take a look at my diet.

Honestly, I got lazy. I started a new job and I pretty much just made all my meals ahead of time that was usually chili made with red meat. I have an intense feeling that red, processed meat (or lean ground beef in this case) is equivalent to milk in terms of hormones and toxins. So take note.

Also I stopped with the green smoothies, but more on that in a bit.

I really only started to breakout when the holidays came around. It was pretty much after I caved and had a chocolate muffin. The NEXT day I got a breakout. In particular the ones around my laugh lines I was talking about earlier.

My immune system got really weak over the holidays. I think people think it's fun to eat crappy food such as low quality chocolate. After cutting back on my acne meds my skin cleared up but then I was reintroduced to crappy foods by my family.

My sister made these DELICIOUS cookies that are made with milk chocolate hershey kisses. I must have had about 20 of them. I told myself that the breakouts would be worth it. Really, it was just my mind trying to rationalize it.

I ended up with a whitehead on my jaw that was by far the most ridiculously big zit I ever had. For some reason it was just all whitehead and no inflammation/redness. Other than that I was pretty clear and though I'd be OK.

I ended up with a sinus cold that lasted a few days and was really just a TON of mucus. Can we say ALLERGIES?

Then this week came. Me and my boyfriend got in a huge argument and I was so stressed out. I have a tendency to scratch my skin in my sleep. I did.

I woke up with a red mark on my cheek. I really thought nothing of it since I was more concerned about my chin that kept producing whiteheads at this point probably from all the crap I've been eating.

OKAY, and here's where it gets bad: that scratch became infected. It grew into a really red, angry zit that is the size of a penny on my upper cheek. The ENTIRE THING is coated in a film of pus. So weird. It just kept spreading and infecting the pores around it.

FIVE DAYS later it finally hardened and fell off in my sleep (last night). I woke up with just a bunch of redness and swelling. Then I took a shower and the steam I guess opened the pores a bit. As I was getting out it began to tingle again and I looked in the mirror and saw it forming some more pus right before my eyes.

Disgusting. I really can't even bring myself to take a picture of the condition of my skin. I know it's not that bad but I'm really upset with myself that I let it get to this point due to my laziness.

Things that led to this breakout:

-stress (fighting with my boyfriend, holidays, family, traveling, work)

-diet (low quality chocolate, sugar, white bread, red meat, dairy, NO GREEN SMOOTHIES)

-acne.org (the regime in the winter cracks my skin too much)

-hot showers

-lack of sunlight

-low immune system

So yes, I can't tell whether it's a blessing in disguise that my skin is a direct reflection of what is going on in my body. But either way it sucks and I'm depressed about it. I just want my skin to be clear like it was for months.

I really wish I could come back on here and tell everyone how amazing my skin is STILL, but the fact is, I'm human and make mistakes. I'm also dealing with a disease that will always be there and is just being prevented.

Things I am doing to make it better:

-adjust my regime to 'winter mode' (i.e. once a day, cut down on BP (don't worry, I've done this before with incredible results))

-get more sunlight (go for walks at lunch)

-not so hot or long showers

-reintroduce Kale and green smoothies (I swear my skin already feels less oily and pores tighter)

-work out problems with my boyfriend so less stress (we haven't fought in a few days because we worked it out)

Thanks guys!

Wonderful¦Let us all know how this works for you