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Day 32: Noche and DeLovely, thanks for continuing to check in. Again, nothing major. Some minor clogged pore stuff here and there and my marks and dents. Sometimes they look like they're fading, and other times they seem the same. My workout regimen is continuing to go well too. It's interesting, that neither the acne.org regiment or my workout regimen (which is a very prescribed program too) quite have me looking the way I wish I did (ha ha), but they're both creating positive changes. Again, I have to continue to work with accepting where I am, the amount of time progress and transformation take, and just enjoying myself.
It's become quite clear to me how I can go into a spiral of negativity at times over many things in life. Of course acne is one of them. Having my acne cleared up for the most part helps me keep perspective. But the thing is when I break out or other things in my life happen I jump into a worst-case scenario. That causes me to quit things prematurely, not try things, and not notice when things are going well. Going to continue to work at staying positive. Best to all of you on this journey.
@acnedrum....I think,it is understandable from all who have suffered with acne,,to just want to get quick results and quit whatever treatment they might be having,just remember how long did it get you to have this acne condition?.
Be patient,do not over spot treat,let the skin adjust and get balanced.
Do not pick at pimples,I can say this not because I have done it ,but because I have seen it.
My son used differin gel when he was younger and come out with pretty bad acne,he never picked a pimple ,sometimes you could see the pus sticking out and my daughter and I used to tease him,saying like,aren't you going to pop that one (we are pickers,bad ,I know),so he would reply back to us ,noooo! Mom told me to not pick ,and then he would give me the look like, confused look,then, I would tell him,I know ,I'm sorry.
After the differin treatment,no scars.
He was in college at the time ,and it was heartbreaking listening to him telling me all about the days when he would have to go to class and a pimple decided to pop and bleed right before class .
But also let me tell you about the time when he was really skinny and he wanted to build some muscle,I remember and he doesn't forget the time when my daughter and I laughed at him because he started using the 2 pound weights ,he insists it was the 4 pound,lets leave it at, I might be wrong.
Or the time that he started teaching himself to play guitar ,he ended up playing on the church choir.
If this isn't inspiring I don't know what.
He was speech delayed m? ,he didn't talk until he was 4,he had speech therapy until he was 10 ,worked and paid for 2 years of his college.
I bet you can do it !
Best wishes
Hey All,
Thanks for the support. I'm multitasking while on a meeting for work so I can' t go back and figure out what day I'm on. Here's a general update though. Things have been going great! I put a pea size amount of BP on during the day, and then glob it on at night. My skin has been 99.9% clear. Marks are looking better too. Of course, the other night I got lazy and I instantly got one pimple because of it, but I'll deal with it.
Will get back on soon and provide some better updates.
Stay optimistic everyone! You're all great!
So...I got a cyst under my eye. Damn! I had a minor thing a few days ago (which was the first pimple in a month) that I just took care of. It's healing now. However, I felt a cyst under my eye. Instead of leaving it, I had to try and pop it. You couldn't even see it. Now it looks like I got punched in the face. Ugh. So mad with myself for doing that. I've come so far, and I know this is just a set back. But, it's an annoying and frustrating one. It's amazing how acne is so tied to confidence. My confidence has been soaring lately. I have to stay strong and not let this throw me back in my shell. This is one of those annoying cysts that felt like it would have popped easily with a big bang, but nothing really came out. Then out of frustration I tried harder a few times..Lesson learned. Leave the zits alone. I'll try once in the morning and only once at night to drain it. Hopefully it will come out in a day or two.
Gonna keep perspective though. This is not the end of the world. Frustrating, sure. End of the world, no. Here's to continuing to heal. I have kept up my workout regimen in addition to my skin regimen. My body and strength have really transformed. I was doing two pull ups at the the time I started this blog, and now I can do 7. Yay!
Keep breathing everyone. We'll make it through this. So great that there's a place we can come and vent. Looking back at early posts when I was bent out of shape about some cysts, I know this new one will heal because those earlier ones are completely gone. Stay up!
Time to follow my on advice: keep breathing. The cyst under my eye has a scab on top of it from me picking. It's not so bad though. I can still feel it underneath my skin, but it does feel like it might be healing. Going to keep breathing and having patience. I have a derm who would give me an injection, but I want to undo my dependence on that. So, I'm gonna be back here posting to keep myself strong and focused. I know I can get OCD about acne (and other things). Just want to enjoy myself. Here's to healing!
Do you use the Acne.Org AHA+?? I find putting a dab of this on a cyst works great as a spot treatment and really helps them go down. Every so often I'll get a cyst on my jawline or my neck.
Well, if nothing else you learned a valuable lesson. And I agree, healing is a beautiful thing! Way to rise above it!
Stay positive! And congrats on 7 pull-ups!! 
DeLovely--thanks for the love. I haven't used AHA. I have tried it in the past and found I would break out every time. I'm looking forward to spring time to help me fade marks. I know everybody says that the sun is terrible, but I find it really does fade my marks when taken in moderation. So, not laying in the sun all day at the beach, but working out outside with sunscreen on a few times a week is enough exposure to clear up lingering marks.
The cyst under my eye has two components. One is the scabby mess I made by picking, the other is the actual cyst under my skin. The scab is healing and it seems like the cyst might be shrinking. Tempted to go to the derm, but gonna give it time and see if it fades on its own. I think if I stop picking and keep up with the BP it will go away over the course of the week.
Here's to healing!!!
I know exactly what you mean, being ocd (kind of ). Same thing happens to me , my face looks clear , then get a cystic pimple and I panic and of course pick, but believe me, leaving those alone , they will heal slow but, without any hurt .
It is great that you are posting again, and very nice to hear that things have improved. I'm glad.
And maybe you can use the aha as DeLovely told you, if its too hard on your skin,maybe just start spot treating on the problem areas, the glycolic acid helps to gently open the pores.
Take care!
Still sorting through this cyst and not freaking out. The scab came off today but the cyst felt like it needed to popped still so I gave it another try. Puss didn't come out but blood did. Hopefully it's done. I have a little bit of a cyst left over on my forehead, but it's really nothing. Gotta keep breathing to get through this. It's amazing how strong the feelings are: It'll never get better, this will last for months, this will be the worst one...Considering how many times I've been through this, you'd think I would know that it's going to get better. Will keep you posted. Wish me luck!
My daughter uses neosporin to help with healing and after the skin heals, then let the peroxide dry it and shrink it again ,because the root of a cyst is too deep ,removing it can be a hit or a miss . So, when you are using a treatment is better to let the treatment work on its own, I understand how frustrating it is,because after suffering so much with the pain that cysts cause ,we tend to panic , so it's kind of normal to try to extract them.
My mom recently told me about a mexican ointment, it's called vitacilina, this ointment is kind of like Neosporin, it has neomycin sulfate and at the end of the inactive ingredients it says vitamin a, in Mexico there are two kinds , the regular that I got and another one that contains retinol ,apparently people use this with the retinol for all over acne .
So this week, I got my ussualy cystic pimple, so I left it alone , even when it got to the point of almost exploding, I didn't touch it , so I went to target and in the Mexican section I found it, and guess what ,a little rub at night and it shrunk,also a little plug came out.
Also using simple sensitive skin make-up removing towels ,sometimes helps to exfoliate , and remove dry skin , I use the side that feels softer,my daughter doesn't notice the difference of the sides.
I still think that the aha could make a difference.
Take care.
So...I'm going to start using this log again. I feel like it was helping my life when I was documenting an update every day. I've been using the regimen since December with mostly good results. However, I still get the occasional cyst or two. I've gotten a million times better at not picking at my skin, but sometimes the cysts never go away. Even after getting an injection there will still be a small lump I can feel.
Currently I have one active cyst on my hairline. I have a cyst on my forehead that was injected a month ago but there's still a little something there. I have another cyst under my eye that was injected two months ago, but there's also still a little something there. I have one more cyst by my eyebrow that just started, but it's not really noticeable and might go away.
Overall, the BP has kept whiteheads and minor breakouts consistently away. I use 2/3 of a finger of BP at night, and a jelly bean size during the day. I think that's enough BP for me, but I can get better about using it as Dan suggests. I need to make sure my skin is dry before applying, and to rub it in better. Also, I can wait longer before applying moisturizer.
When I was posting here, I was able to avoid the feelings of urgency and despair acne creates for me. So I will use this space to remind myself that everything is okay. Hopefully those simple words can help others. I'm okay with acne, an with time and the right treatment it will heal. No need to obsess. Do what I can in terms of treatment and then move on with my day. I don't want to let acne interfere with my relationships with friends and family, especially my children. I live in NY and the weather is getting better. I want to be out in the world, enjoying myself. So, I will do that.
In other news, I've continued to workout and I'm currently training for the Golden Gloves. This has kept me motivated and focused.
Alright, good luck to you all!
This is really a tremendous journey. I think the biggest question I have is figuring out how to continue to truly love myself while trying to "improve" my skin. I don't want to walk around with acne and cysts, so I'll keep my treatment up and think about it. But I currently have a scabbed up cyst, a purple cyst, and a mark I made from my own foolish picking
But, it's not really a question I can ponder. It's something I need to do. And so, today I will apply my acne treatment, get dressed, and face the world with confidence as my skin heals. It's not perfect, but I can't wait on perfect skin. So, here we go! Going to treat myself with patience and kindness. Best wishes to everyone else on this journey.
Back again. My skin is doing okay. A few marks, fading cysts, and one active cyst that isn't too angry. Just continuing to deal with the concept that my skin doesn't need to be perfect. I can apply my treatments in a reasonable dosage so that it doesn't get out of hand, but I don't have to obsess and let it control my life. That's all for today 
Pretty much the same story with my skin. A few fading cysts. they're basically gone except for little lumps. I have one active cyst above my eyebrow, but since I haven't picked at it, it isn't so bad. I have my next derm appt on 6/3. Going to ask them about how they inject cysts. I've noticed that if they inject right in the cyst it goes away completely. When they inject near the cyst, nothing happens. Very frustrating.
Overall, I have been feeling my obsessive tendencies on the rise. Really trying to get a grip on them. I work from home, so sometimes I'm so isolated it's hard to keep perspective. I can constantly check my skin and/or body in the mirror. Really working on believing that I'm good enough. Will keep you posted on my progress with acne, and overall self-esteem!
Just posting an update. The active cyst above my eye came to a head. I messed with it, so it's a little bright, but at least I think the ooze is all out. All other issues are just marks and healing cysts. Gonna try to stay focused and keep my head up. Best of luck to everyone on this journey.
Hi there, glad you are back.
I really can relate to the work from home part, not because I work from home but because I don't work,I stay home and that's true what you say about the obsessive part.
I have tried calamine lotion, not the brand name but the target brand, to dry pimples or just on irritated pimples, but I also find it hard to remove, and the only thing that removes it , is the dr Bronner's liquid lavender soap, I had a cystic pimple that didn't want to heal and after using the calamine lotion for about a week , it finally healed, I found out about this because I got an allergy rash all over and put some on my face, I put a lot and I found out that it dried the pimples I had,I applied it with my fingers just like if I was applying cream and put extra on the spots , it's very liquidity, so when I applied spot treatment, it was like just putting and leaving a suspended liquid pinky drop until it dried, I had to shake before using.
It really takes care of the redness and inflammation overnight.
Take care.
So the cyst that was healing filled back up a bit, and new cyst just above it started the other day. Other than that my skin is doing pretty well. I'm going to the derm tomorrow for some injections. I am going to try and make sure they inject each cyst directly. Sometimes they inject near the cyst, but not right into it. I'm assuming that they do this to avoid hypertrophy. However, it doesn't seem to help the cyst heal when they do this.
Trying to keep my head up. Today feels tougher than other days, but I know I'll make it through. Looking forward to consistently turning a corner with this acne stuff.