Hey guys!

So, this is my first post, but I've been trolling like a mad man over the past few months. Where to begin? Well, first of all, my name is Chris, and I'm 21 years old. I have adult acne.

Acne History

I live in Hawaii. It is humid here most of the time. I'm starting to believe that humidity is not great for acne prone skin. Well anyways, I have a family history of acne...horrible acne! But unfortunately, I, out of all my relatives, have the worst acne of all. Environment+genes+improper care = Acne. It all started in the 6th grade, and then as time went on, it plagued my high school years where it was at it's worst. I had pimples...probably on 80% of my face. Cysts, pustules, white heads..etc. all the nasty sh*t you could think of when having acne. I was desperate, so I went to visit the doctors and they prescribed me doxycyline, a BP wash, differen, and some other topical stuff. I was on that for a few months..major purging, more pimples..blah blah blah..But after that horrifying experience, I made a miraculous recovery and entered college with a clear face! So, a little under a year of being clear, I went off doxycycline. The regimen prescribed by my physician was too cumbersome and repetitive..soo....stupid me decided to do nothing else to prevent acne from coming. Then boom..breakouts to the extreme. Well, since I don't want to get too into it, let's just say my skin has had its major ups and downs as my body developed a resistance to these anti-biotics so it just didn't work as well. It got to a point where I was on doxy to control my breakouts, but with no hopes to get rid of it. Most of you guys may know the feeling: When you've had acne for so long that you just learn to deal with it because "it's a part of life" and then you just identify with it and start blaming your bad genes because you feel acne is inevitable and is some kind of everlasting curse.

Now

And so this past spring I decided to go on Rodan and Fields Unblemish program. This regimen was comprised of a sulfur wash, toner, and a bp cream at 2.5%. It was actually doing a good job, until I stopped taking doxycycline. HUGE HUGE HUUUUUGEE mistake. Don't get me wrong. This regimen may have worked, if I had stayed on it in addition to doxy, but it was too damn expensive to constantly be on. I mean, VERY expensive. Go ahead and look it up. Well, my face started breaking out and peeling like no tomorrow throughout the summer. When I ran out of product I was doomed. Pimples on pimples. Volcanoes. Holy shi...It was like someone detonated this acne bomb filled with bacteria directly on my face. It was almost as worst as breakouts in high school. So desperation and lack of hope I was lead to this amazing website. I read upon it and started to form my own regimen using various products and a 10% BP product. I completely ignored the warning of using a BP that's more than 2.5%. I actually ignored a lot of warnings from other people. I was ignorant and greatly confused... Understand that my acne was bad enough that I was convinced that whatever works for others, will not work for me (especially since antibiotics didn't work). However, weeks of burning my face off, peeling and more breakouts later due to irritation IN ADDITION to using products that clogged my pores finally convinced me to start using acne.org and recommended products by Dan.

I've just graduated college with a BA in psychology this past spring and studying for graduate school next fall. Probably the best achievement in my life thus far. However, having acne this age is really damaging, especially if you're single. A year ago, I've experienced a terrible breakup with a girl who've I've been with since high school, so that really affected my "ego" and "pride". I've began blaming my looks and such..it all went back to having acne. However, throughout my breakup I've learned how to be self reliant and how to "love myself" which I can say that I love myself very much..any may seem like a narcissist at times (haha jk). I know I have a lot of great qualities in terms of personality and merit, but physically there are some things I still feel very insecure about. Acne is definitely very damaging for me, and for anyone. Having such a bad breakout not only affected me physically. It affected my moods and became an internal struggle which projected itself toward my family and my friends. I just developed this unconscious anger and I'm sure it somehow added to my breakouts. ACNE IS SO DAMN IRRITATING. haha.

In addition, this may sound very shallow, and I may have convinced myself this.. but I feel that my acne also is a barrier for me to meet other girls in terms of romantic relationships. I'm in no rush to enter a relationship, nor is it hard for me to talk to other women as friends. But I feel it's difficult to start dating because of my acne..because it's just human nature to evaluate someone, at first, by their physical appearance. Plus we grow up in a society where physical attributes are highly emphasized before knowing a person. Is this just me? Whatever the answer, it's also discomforting to know that you are a subject of others pity because you have bad acne. It especially sucks when many of your friends have perfect skin, and you become the ugly duckling of the group. Plus it hurts like hell when you touch or even when you smile so you're constantly thinking about how bad it is. A lot of people my age have already grown out of acne, and I used to ask god "why me?". I'm sure many of you who believe in a higher power have asked this as well! Fortunately, and thanks to this website, I found such a big support system online and it continues to help me through this struggle. I've watched countless videos and read many success stories to keep me going. It's nice to know that there are people who are experiencing, or have experienced it got rid of it. I'm eternally grateful for this community btw! And thanks !

As of now, 9.10.2013, on my 6th week and I currently only have 1 big pimple my forehead and on the left of my Adam's apple. Although my skin has seen better days, there is a shining glimmer of hope building inside me that tells me I will be able to completely get rid of my acne. But for now, I'm enjoying the process of seeing my acne clear up, so I'll post my findings and progress pics when I have time. Each day gets better and better

Tips for those of you who are starting with moderate to severe acne..This is not for mentally weak people. You will break out, and you will feel ugly. You will get frustrated to the point of blaming someone. There are times where you will not want to leave your house and just drown in your misery. This process is extremely painful. Look at other success stories and videos. It will help! I'm still battling!

This is not a success story. However, I'm confident that this is the process of one. Because I was inspired by the posts and videos of many who suffered and I want to share my experience. I've already seen drastic changes thus far and I hope that it will inspire those ahead of me to keep on keeping on.

My regimen

Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser Bar (anti-bacterial)

Acne.org Benzoyl Peroxide

Acne.org Moisturizer (at night or whenever I don't go outside/used in conjunction with AHA)

Olay all day Moisturizer (when used outside or in conjunction with AHA)

AHA (Used after third week - I'll talk more about this later in future post)

Here are my gallery pics

Wish me luck!

- Chris