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I am not really sure where to go from here. Nothing is working for my larger pores and rough face texture. I have used BHA, AHA , some needling. I am currently on BP every second day 2.5 % , and a gentle tea tree and vitamin e cream the other da. I also use green beaver moisturizer . I only wash once a day, as my skin is extremely sensitive, and will remain red and inflammed for quite a while.
These are done in fluorescent lighting, and I showered applied my products about 2.5 hours ago.
I feel that it's difficult for me to express the extent of the marks. But sometimes it looks good... I appreciate any advice or input on this matter.
Is it possible to get skin which is smooth, and even like the skin on your neck or arms after having this ? My face feels smooth but it looks damaged.. No idea what to do.
No one likes to hear this, but your skin is fairly normal for an adult. A little bit more scarring due to still having acne. Yes, I am even accounting for the fact that pictures can't show everything, even if it is worse than the pictures show, it is still NORMAL.
As you age your facial skin NEVER looks like your arm skin because EVERYONE has more sebaceous glands in the face.
The only time your face and your arms have the same type of skin is before puberty. Even if you never have acne. What you're asking for, is can my skin look like it was when I was 10 years old? And the answer is no. All the treatments in the world won't reverse the textural changes that occur with puberty, plus a lifetime of gradual sun damage, plus cell aging which decreases your production of collagen.
Yes, retinoids will increase collagen somewhat, but even high strength ones aren't powerful enough to keep up with the speed of the natural aging cycle.
As a male, you will also have more textured skin than a female, because male levels of testosterone increases the size of the sebaceous glands and pores.
None of the treatments you are using will actually decrease the size of the pores, they will just remove the gunk from inside of them. So they will "de-stretch" once they are clear of stuff, but they don't really shrink.
The only thing that actually can decrease pore size is Accutane, because it actually shrinks your sebaceous glands. Even Accutane's effect is temporary, though, as your sebaceous glands will grow back over time.
So what can you do? Really, the best you can expect is to delay further aging a little bit by continuing to use AHA and keeping the skin moisturized. You can go on Accutane to shrink your sebaceous glands for a little while, but you may not be able to get a prescription without severe acne. If you want to spend $10,000 on fractional laser treatments, you may be able to take your skin back a year or two in damage, but it will never look nearly as smooth as your arm.
Personally I found that BP left my skin a mess. All The Regimen people on here will swear that it doesn't damage your skin, but I beg to differ. I think BP is one of the worst substances you can put on your skin. I bet if you stopped BP and used something internally for acne instead, you would find that your skin quality improves.
Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it . I have definitely wanted to get off BP, even though I haven't been using it too long or every day even. I am not really sure what to replace it with at the time. lthough . I was using zion healths natural clay , salicylic acid cream. I am into organic and natural everything else but can't think of anything which will be an effective replacement.