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I'm 23. And I've still got acne. It sucks - but we all know that 
My question is about people who are lucky enough to out grow acne....I am wondering how does it go? Over time, does it just gradually get better, you might go from having 6-7 zits at a time, to 4-5, then another year you are down to 2-3, etc, etc until eventually you have none.
Or, do you wake up one day, and realise 'Wow - no new zits today' and then, for the rest of your life, you just never get a new zit?
Or....(and I'm crossing my fingers for this one) do you have periods of really good skin, followed by a really bad break out. Almost like the acne is waiting, building up it's troops then launching a desperate, all-out attack in a final show of power? lol.
In Dec/Jan - my face exploded...but by Feb, I was looking great. March was fine, April was fine, June, started going down hill, July was getting worse - end of July it's the worst it's been in forever. My back was covered in it, my face hurt....it was hell. Now, it's getting better again.
Could it be that I'm getting closer to out growing it?
I've got an appointment (again) with a dermatologist....I'm very close to going on accutane - even though my acne is only moderate (but persistant)....but now I'm having 2nd thoughts.
Hhmmm, now sure. My parents said they outgrew their acne in their mid twenties. My two older sisters are now in their mid twenties, and have flare-ups due to stress/pre-menstrual/certain foods. Their skin, however, looks much much better than it did in high school and their break-outs now are nothing compared to the ones they got in their teens. They are definetaly growing out of their acne.
I, on the other hand, am going through the very height of high-school acne hell they did. Except maybe a little worse. 
I can't wait to grow out of it!!!
i dont know about growing out of it, but mine is mild to begin with... however, since i started breaking out when I was 19 (i'm almost 27 now), i have noticed that i break out in different areas of my face now, and the breakouts are of different types. now i mostly just get blackheads (that sometimes come out easily or sometimes get infected when i can't help but mess with it) and the occassional cyst (not too often - maybe 3-5 per year) and they're mostly on my cheekbones and my forehead. hopefully, one day it'll just taper off. i know my dad had really bad acne when he was younger, and he evidently grew out of it - i should probably ask him about it, haha.
RobDude - you sound pretty much exactly like me. How long have you been getting acne?
I've pretty much had it since I was 10 (I started puberty early). I'm turning 23 in a week and it's still relatively moderate but persistant, like it's always been. However, my acne has been changing a lot over the last couple of years. I was on Proactiv for about 6 years and it worked really well for a while, then toward the end of college, I started getting these cysts like I'd never had. So I stopped using Proactiv, thinking that was the cause.. and maybe it was because they went away. I actually went through a month or so when I stopped using any kind of treatment whatsoever, just Cetaphil face wash and moisturizer. But that didn't really help too much - just gave me some little whiteheads. Then I went back to Proactiv, but in moderation - I don't really use the face wash anymore, just the face mask every other day and the BP sometimes. But it seems that no matter what I do, my acne has just been going crazy the last year or so. It's just changing - I break out on my forehead and my cheekbones, which used to never be the case. And I never break out on my chin anymore, which used to be my big problem area. I've had two huge breakouts that sort of sound like what you were going through - skin pretty good for a while, then a massive attack. One happened back in December and I'm going through a second one right now. My theory was also that I'm starting to outgrow it and the acne army is just launching a final power attack.
But I don't know. I really hope that's the case for the both of us. My dad outgrew his acne around 23, so I'm hoping that it's genetic. However, I am a woman, so that might make things a bit different.
Good luck!!! If you end up going on Accutane, let me know. I've never done it, but I've been considering it.
I started to get acne around 1 month ago am 19 hoping it goes away in a year but I know that's not going to happen but am saying this so i have a reason to live becuase 2 weeks ago I wanted to kill myself my dad says it will go away on its own and not to use any chemicals on my face