DeLovely... , Yes,definitely we all forget how acne works ,once is in remission, I have .
Sometimes I think I should write a journal documenting every step of how I got rid of a cyst pimple or for a fact a regular pimple, because I tend to forget, panic and squeeze and there is no need for that, when just making sure that whatever treatment I'm using is applied continuously , I know it will work.
I used Dan's benzoyl peroxide treatment with over the counter for awhile and I know it works on cystic acne, because my acne has always been cystic.
Right now it's mostly hormonal, the worst .
Take care and keep it up .
Update: Cheeks are continuing to heal after that brief bout of cystic acne. Continuing to be faithful about the morning applications (we had cut these out for awhile because I was hopeful one application a day would keep him clear.) Has had a few more breakouts that came and went. Now just dealing with one fairly large pimple on one cheek but it's on its way out. Ramped up AHA+ to every night. Still doing the 50/50 mix plus about 10-12 drops of jojoba oil. Increased jojoba oil as increased AHA+ treatments were drying out his skin. His skin is getting flakier, but that's a good thing, going to help with his PIH! 
Update: Using BP morning and night but sometimes have not had time to moisturize!! Either he's off to school or he's fallen asleep before we can moisturize! Oh well! Surprisingly, very little dryness and flakes. Cystic acne on cheeks comes and goes. Dealing with a fairly large one now on one cheek. Forehead still clear as ever. Getting what looks like maybe a nodule on his nose....area looks red but no bump that I can see or feel. Acne overall is staying under control so we're thrilled!
Well done on your progress, my brother is 18 and has moderate acne like me- I stress like mad over it and he just takes it as it is- think it may be a teenage boy thing!
I started the regime a couple of weeks ago after reading forums about it and I think its amazing how it works.
Only thing is that I am very much an obsessive picker and I find it ridiculously hard not to touch, pick or squeeze, I've come a long way from spending up to an hour picking my face in the mirror (no exaggeration!) but I still find myself falling into bad habits every now and again and messing up the regime. Just need to persevere I guess.
Keep up the good work, I look forwards to your next update!
Well done on your progress, my brother is 18 and has moderate acne like me- I stress like mad over it and he just takes it as it is- think it may be a teenage boy thing!
I started the regime a couple of weeks ago after reading forums about it and I think its amazing how it works.
Only thing is that I am very much an obsessive picker and I find it ridiculously hard not to touch, pick or squeeze, I've come a long way from spending up to an hour picking my face in the mirror (no exaggeration!) but I still find myself falling into bad habits every now and again and messing up the regime. Just need to persevere I guess.
Keep up the good work, I look forwards to your next update!
Thanks for stopping by! One hour pshaw! I used to spend hours in front of the mirror growing up...next thing I knew it was 3 am! Even though I'm clear I still touch my face several times a day mainly at work or whenever I have idle time, always on the hunt for zits or blackheads even though I don't get them very much anymore.
My son's acne is still staying under control. Not perfect but very manageable. He looks more or less like his peers. Some rough skin-colored comedonal acne forming between his eyebrows after weeks of clear skin on his forehead so that's a little disappointing. But still, overall I think his skin looks great! Cheeks are clear except for some PIH.
We've switched up his routine again. We aren't really doing the Regimen per se but a modified version. Because his main concern at this point is PIH, we've ramped up to using AHA+ every day. So in the a.m. he uses one pump of AHA+ and one pump of Dan's moisturizer mixed together. No BP in the a.m. The AHA+ is actually good for mild acne so we are trying this for the a.m. treatment. He only uses BP at night now, and so far between this and AHA+ it's been keeping things in control, though not 100% clear. We actually haven't been moisturizing at night. He has such supple skin, it never dries out anymore! But if it shows signs of dryness we'll go back to moisturizing after BP. But for now, I think moisturizing in the a.m. is plenty to keep his skin in balance. Can always mix in a few drops of jojoba for extra softness! But all the moisturizer was leaving his skin and hair feeling greasy, so we're trying it this way for now and so far (knock on wood!!), good results!
The other concern is full-blown bacne. His shoulders and upper back are covered! Some inflamed acne but a lot of comedonal acne. You can feel the hardened sebum when you run your fingers over the skin, it's forming hard little rough bumps. Some are easily extracted. Anyway, so we've been lightly scrubbing his back with Dan's cleanser and a wash cloth to help smooth the skin and exfoliate away the hardened sebum, followed by a good generous slothering of BP. Going to build in the AHA+ next. I may even try mixing the two and applying!
The last concern is a bit of folliculitis. The hair follicles at the nape of his neck are getting plugged and you can feel the rough bumps in the hair at the nape of his neck, around his ears and along his hairline. What I should try, and this worked for me, is T-Gel shampoo. Worked so well I even sometimes washed my face with it. Would probably also be a good cleanser for the body acne. Mental note to self: Pick up T-Gel!
My son started doing the Regimen again 3 weeks ago after a 3-month hiatus following a hospitalization. His skin slowly got worse, but really blew up in the past month or so. Went to a derm on Friday (first time) to get some recommendations and hopefully some Regimen add-ons that might help get things back in control faster. We left with scripts for minocycline oral antibiotic (100 mgs), clindamycin antibiotic ointment, tretinoin cream, and Panoxyl 4% BP cleanser. Went to the drugstore and got all but the Panoxyl. Medicated cleansers are a waste of time IMO since the active ingredients aren't on the skin long enough to really be effective and get washed down the drain. And they can cause unnecessary dryness compared to a gentler cleanser.
So here is our modified Acne.Org Regimen:
A.M.
-take minocycline on an empty stomach an hour before breakfast
-wash face with Dan's cleanser for 10 seconds; let dry
-apply 2 full pumps of Dan's 2.5% BP on face; let dry
-apply 2 full pumps Dan's moisturizer, plus 5-6 drops of jojoba oil
-apply generous amount of clindamycin ointment on back (BP is way better but at least this doesn't bleach clothes so not a bad one for daytime)
P.M.
-wash face and back with Dan's cleanser in the shower; let dry.
-apply tretinoin cream in a very thin layer on face; let dry
-apply 2 full pumps of Dan's moisturizer, plus 5-6 drops of jojoba oil
-apply generous amount of Dan's 2.5% BP on back; let dry
-apply generous amount of AHA+ on back over BP
Do all of this as gently as possible!
Already things are starting to dry out and look better! He really needed the retinoid for all the open comedones, as BP is less effective for this type of acne. Hoping this breaks down all the blackheads and whiteheads and restores his skin back to its smooth appearance. Oral antibiotics aren't great but do kill acne bacteria from the inside out, so can be a good option when things are completely out of control, especially body acne. Unfortunately it kills good bacteria as well, so acidophilus caps and increasing yogurt intake may not be a bad idea to promote good gut flora. He's taking a 3-month course, which should really help. So we'll see how things go! Fingers crossed!!
A little photo update of week one on modified Regimen, to include minocycline and retinoid. Given the severity, it was time for more aggressive treatment. Will post periodic updates of our progress!
Skin is very congested...combination of open and closed comedones. Cyst-like acne on forehead. Lots of red marks too. He's only 14! This is more typical for an older kid, but mine was pretty similar at this age.
7 hours ago, DeLovely said:A little photo update of week one on modified Regimen, to include minocycline and retinoid. Given the severity, it was time for more aggressive treatment. Will post periodic updates of our progress!
Skin is very congested...combination of open and closed comedones. Cyst-like acne on forehead. Lots of red marks too. He's only 14! This is more typical for an older kid, but mine was pretty similar at this age.
Wow he's skin has definitely changed. Good luck with the treatment. 🙁
I know that Ziana gel, it's expensive, but if you have insurance , there is a coupon on their website , it says : you pay only 20, we ended up paying 35 for my daughter because we have a higher deductible,the coupon is good for 1 prescription and 2 refills ,so just get a new prescription after that and another coupon.
As you know Ziana already has the clindamycin gel + the retin a,so that is a good alternative when discontinuing the minocycline.
Just treat the skin as needed ,some days it might need moisturizer,other days just treatment ,sometimes both.
I think what happened is that he probably developed some seborrea dermititis after the hospital stay.
I usually use lotrimin jock itch in the yellow package to control flare-ups ,it has clotrimazole ,it even helps with cold sores around the mouth area ,or blind pimples that drain like blisters and just form a yellow scab ,to me that is like an eczema-seborrea reaction.
Take care!
My son is about one month into minocycline, 100 mgs once per day. He takes this on an empty stomach first thing in the morning and does not eat for one hour after for maximum absorbency. He's also taking a good probiotic supplement which includes 8 different live and active cultures. He takes this with dinner. If taking a probiotic along with an antibiotic, allow several hours before and after an antibiotic dose to take the probiotic, or else the antibiotic will kill the cultures before they even reach the gut. Do not take together!! Hoping this minimizes any GI issues. Also probiotic should be taken with food, when the stomach is the least acidic. Stomach acids can destroy probiotics. Also, look for enteric-coated tablets or capsules, this protects the probiotics on their way to the gut.
So the only change we made is stopping the tretinoin cream. We stopped tretinoin a few weeks ago. This made his skin so raw and red!! And his cystic acne became worse than ever!!! He never had this reaction even when he was first introduced to BP!! Realized we made one of the biggest mistakes on the Regimen, and that is to incorporate other non-Acne.Org products and steps before all active acne lesions have fully healed! His inflamed acne also got even worse!!! Purging coupled with operating on only half the amount of BP we should be using. I think this product will be very useful in the coming weeks for breaking down blackheads and whiteheads but will wait until his skin is clear of inflamed acne before trying again. (it was also very hard to spread!)
After stopping tretinoin and adding the evening BP back in, his skin improved rapidly! Most of the inflamed acne is in the drying stages. Still a moderate amount of pimples, but not as many of the deep cystic kind. LOTS of PIH, so hard to see the progress, except that his skin is much flatter than before, and not so red. Started AHA+ a few nights ago. His skin responded really well to it last time, hoping it will again!
I'll post pics in a few weeks to show our progress!! Hoping for some dramatic clearing!
So his skin seems to have reached a turning point of sorts. We've been aggressively treating his skin with the Regimen products for several weeks. He still gets some cystic outbreaks but not like before. Things are drying out and looking much better! So I decided to take a leap and try incorporating the tretinoin cream. Only instead of applying after cleanser, we decided to try applying over the top of last night's Regimen products in the morning! His skin is much smoother with fewer lesions so we only needed a pea-sized amount to apply a light film to his whole face. Right away his skin looked smoother! Six hours later we washed off the tretinoin (around noon) and did the Regimen as usual. We'll do the Regimen again tonight as usual. I think this approach might work better for him. His skin will get some gentle exposure to the tretinoin, for 5-6 hours, and 2-3 times a week, and without missing any BP doses!!!! BP is the heart of our treatment plan for treating acne, killing p.acnes, and preventing future breakouts. These treatments MUST HAPPEN and cannot change. We ran into problems when we started replacing BP with tretinoin. Tretinoin is great for smoothing skin, breaking down open comedones, and even healing minor scarring, but will not kill p.acnes nor prevent future breakouts. I think now, coupled with the antibiotics, we have a 3-prong attack that should hopefully yield some good results in the coming weeks!!!
So here's a little photo update: The first image was my son's skin a couple weeks into tretinoin treatment and antibiotics...things had really gone south! This was around mid-January. We stopped the tretinoin but are still doing the minocycline, 100 mgs once a day, plus the Regimen.
The next image really shows the indented scar on this cheek from an old cyst (more like 2-3 clumped together) that stayed under the skin for several weeks before finally rupturing on its own one day, leaving this large, jagged indentation. I thought for sure this was going to be permanent!!!
Here's the same cheek after several weeks of aggressive Regimen treatment, plus minocycline 100 mgs. Looking better!!! His skin is shiny and a little pink from the treatment BTW. Red marks starting to fade, and nasty scar is going away too!! Looks like the area may just have been temporarily atrophied. Thank God! 
As a mom who went through the same thing, it is painful watching my son struggle with his skin. Just glad I can be here to help and support him. Thankfully, he's blessed with a lot of confidence, a cheerful personality, and is a happy kid overall, so I know he'll be OK. He's beautiful to me no matter what! And will be a handsome man someday!
Hi delovely
just saw your post a few days ago about tretinoin making his acne worse,
just wanted to say that the initial breakout is a normal occurrence with retinoids. Tretinoin causes rapid exfoliation of the skin, therefore bringing all future blemishes to the surface at a faster rate. It took me 4 weeks of purging to finally see some results, and I'm so happy I stuck with it. I'm getting much less active pimples, and it's getting less and less as the days go on.
not to mention my skin is feeling softer and smoother every week, and marks are fading like 2x faster.
Just though id give some advice just incase you ever decide to put your son back on tretinoin.
btw it's antonthegreat, just changed my name but I hope you remember me! Good luck
1 hour ago, Tretinoin said:Hi delovely
just saw your post a few days ago about tretinoin making his acne worse,
just wanted to say that the initial breakout is a normal occurrence with retinoids. Tretinoin causes rapid exfoliation of the skin, therefore bringing all future blemishes to the surface at a faster rate. It took me 4 weeks of purging to finally see some results, and I'm so happy I stuck with it. I'm getting much less active pimples, and it's getting less and less as the days go on.
not to mention my skin is feeling softer and smoother every week, and marks are fading like 2x faster.
Just though id give some advice just incase you ever decide to put your son back on tretinoin.
btw it's antonthegreat, just changed my name but I hope you remember me! Good luck
Hi T! Yeah, I noticed the name change awhile back! Thanks for stopping by!
I thought one BP treatment would be enough, along with tretinoin at night but it just wasn't working. I think skipping BP treatments contributed to the massive breakout he suffered. And yeah I do admit I was freaking out a bit...his skin looked so awful! 
...it was red and raw, bad cystic acne that turned purple under the skin and would bleed sometimes and refused to heal (my teen acne looked mild compared to this!)...I felt completely responsible as his mother who thought she knew best! At that point any benefits were no longer worth it...we had to get his skin back in balance and under control. So I decided to stop tretinoin and wait until his skin cleared up some before we tried tretinoin again.
We just started incorporating tretinoin again over the weekend, now that things are more in control. We apply a thin film over the top of last night's products and leave on 5-6 hours before rinsing off. Then we do the Regimen as usual. We're going to keep doing this on the weekends and whenever he's off from school. This way his skin can get some of the benefits of tretinoin without skipping BP treatments.
It's a good treatment and I do love how soft and smooth it's making his skin, it's breaking down blackheads and whiteheads, it dries out his pustules, and it even seems to be helping with minor scarring. But tretinoin won't kill p.acnes nor prevent future breakouts. So for my son, we can only use tretinoin as a secondary treatment. We need to aggressively kill the bacteria to keep it at bay, or else they quickly take over. We're attacking p.acnes internally too with minocycline.
So another little update: And I do hope I'm not premature posting this!!! 
But my son's skin is almost clear of all active acne!!!!!!!! 
I think we picked a good time to reintroduced tretinoin, as his skin cleared very rapidly over the long President's Day weekend after we started using it. We just applied a very thin layer (about a pea-size amount) over the top of last night's Regimen products, let sit for 5-6 hours, and then went on to do the Regimen as usual (no missed BP doses!!). His clear areas (middle of forehead, nose, and front of cheeks) are VERY clear and smooth and pores are nice and tight!!!! No open comedones or rough, flesh-colored bumps!!!!! Overall his face just feels softer and smoother, and I think the Regimen products are absorbing better too with less skin congestion. We're also doing AHA+ at night (full pump with full pump of moisturizer) for PIH. We'll keep using the tretinoin on weekends and whenever he's home for the purpose of smoothing his skin.
What's left now is mainly old drying acne (no longer inflamed), LOTS of PIH on forehead and side of cheeks, and some minor scarring. Still a long ways from clear, but his skin is flat and much smoother!!!!!
Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!!! A happy, grateful mom!!!!
On 2/20/2016 at 10:28 PM, olenaloves said:I know that when I had teenage acne, a major contributor was the food I ate - poptarts, cookies, cake, cereal, milk, cheese, burgers, fries, juice.. So a ton of sugar, dairy, processed meat, and gluten.
How is your son's diet? Does he drink juice?
Hi Olena! Thank you for replying! Unfortunately, I don't think diet is the culprit. He eats pretty healthy...and eats a low-gluten, low dairy diet. No, he does not drink juices very often. I think the culprit is the new medication he's taking (acne is one of the side effects but unfortunately he needs it to function), coupled with normal teen hormones and bad skin genes. Things are getting better though...he's responding really well to the minocycline and the Regimen is finally producing results too! 🙂
So a quick update: his skin is looking better than ever!!!!!!!
All his cystic acne is gone!!! He does get occasional breakouts but they aren't cystic or deep and they heal fast. Still a lot of PIH and red marks on his cheeks but even these are starting to fade!!! His forehead has no active acne and the PIH here is almost gone too!!!!!
His skin is so soft and smooth and really absorbing the topicals well! Still doing the Regimen faithfully, plus tretinoin cream at night an hour after applying BP and moisturizer. Learned that UV rays deactivate the active ingredients in tretinoin so we stopped applying during the day...oops!!! So we decided to put AHA+ on the backburner for the time being and give the tretinoin a chance to work from now until he sees his derm in mid-April. We can tackle PIH later on, altho TBH, the tretinoin seems to be helping this too!
Bacne also doing great thanks to clindamycin (a.m.) and the Body Regimen at night.
One more month to go on minocycline!!!! To prepare for him coming off the antibiotics, he also started taking Solgar Triple Strength Omega 3 twice a day. Each capsule contains 504 mgs of EPA omega 3....1000 mgs or more of EPA omega 3 is therapeutic for calming acne inflammation. He's definitely going to need some kind of internal approach to treat from the inside-out.
5 hours ago, RandomChick said:How long did the skin peeling last?
His skin peeled pretty heavily the first 8-10 weeks of the Regimen as his skin adjusted to the products and the skin-cell turnover was at its highest, especially when we were incorporating AHA+ into his regimen, but has really calmed down. Now it hardly peels at all, just a few odd flakes around his chin.
So another little update: no cysts or pimples in a few weeks!!! 
Still doing the Acne.Org Regimen twice daily, plus clindamycin for his bacne, and tretinoin at night about an hour after applying the BP and moisturizer. His skin is so soft and smooth and hardly gets flaky anymore!! The topicals are absorbing beautifully, better than ever!!!! All the rough whiteheads and blackheads you used to see and feel on his skin...almost all gone!!! The tretinoin has purged nearly all of this (just a few lingering blackheads left around his nose), and did so without enlarging the pores or leaving any ice pick scars! The tretinoin is also keeping his pores open and from sticking together, which keeps bacteria from getting trapped in the pores. Great stuff! So we're ready to go to work on the PIH and yeah, there's a lot of it! We just started alternating between tretinoin and AHA+ at night, using tretinoin one night, AHA+ the next. We mix one pump of AHA+ with one pump of moisturizer. Already the PIH on his cheeks looks better, and this was just after a few applications!! Took a few pics last night, I'll try and get them up soon!! His skin is noticeably improved since the last time I posted pics!!!
And among other great news!! My son only has one more week to go of his 3-month course of minocycline (100 mgs)!!!!! He did it!!! He stuck it out, took it every morning at 5:30 am on an empty stomach, waited over an hour to eat, dealt with the sour stomach feeling, etc. I think this also contributed to his success. He's been taking a good probiotic the whole time, and will continue with the probiotics for the rest of April to restore his good gut flora.
In preparation for him coming off antibiotics, he's been taking 2000 mgs of high-potency Omega 3 fish oil each day (1 capsule twice a day) for about a month, and we'll continue with this. Solgar Triple Strength Omega 3 is the brand. A daily dose gives him 1000 mgs of EPA Omega 3 fatty acids, which is great for calming inflammation. There's also 10 mgs of high-potency bioavailable zinc in his prescription vitamins, which he takes for other reasons (he has an enzyme deficiency, another story for another time!) but has the added benefit of supporting skin health with its anti-inflammatory properties. 30-40 mgs of zinc is optimal, but more may throw things off neurologically for him, given his condition, so we cannot increase, per his doctor. But the fish oil and the zinc together should provide good anti-inflammatory support, comparable to what the antibiotics were doing for him...at least I hope!! I'll run all this by the derm when we see her next week. Soooooo nervous about p.acnes repopulating after he's off the minocycline!!!!! Hoping the results last awhile, and if we have to repeat again in a year to 18 months, not so bad. Really hoping to avoid Accutane!!!!
But for now, things are going FANTASTIC for him so am going to remain hopeful!!!!!
Photos as promised!
Here are pics of my son's skin at the end of January, post initial breakout from tretinoin...his skin had gotten really bad! (See the first 3 photos below) Severe cystic acne and lots of clogged pores, blackheads, whiteheads, etc. You can really see how congested his skin was!!
Here's his skin today (next 2 photos below) after four months of aggressive treatment with the Acne.Org Regimen, 3 months of minocycline (100 mgs once daily), one month of tretinoin cream (.05%), plus 10 mgs of zinc and 2000 mgs of omega 3 fish oil. We're going to stick with the tretinoin, the zinc, and the fish oil...working wonders for his skin!! His skin is so soft and smooth and absorbing the products well!! And we'll keep doing the Acne.Org Regimen of course...heart and soul of his treatment plan!!! Only 5 minocycline capsules left to take!!! Woohoo!!!!
Just started AHA+ for PIH and yeah, there's alot of it!! But compared to 3 months ago, I think he looks great!!!!! Words cannot even describe how proud I am of him!!!!!! 
*sniff*
