On 5/18/2016 at 6:49 PM, Joey_xx said:

Hey guys,

I have been browsing this forum for many years now, but this is my first post here.

I am now in a state of total desperation and I felt the need to turn to the Internet in order to give me some hope back.

So here goes my story:

Age 18: I basically had perfect clear skin throughout my teenage years. Too bad I didn't know what it was like to suffer from bad skin, perhaps I was not being grateful enough for having this clear skin. Then came my first real relationship with a guy, so I started to take the birthcontrol pill..

Age 20: Fast forward 3 years later I decided to stop taking the birthcontrol pill because my relationship ended. My face then started to break out in big cysts, which I was really concerned about. I have never had acne in my entire life, but then I was having the worse type of acne ever.

Age 22: Nothing had really improved. I was still getting at least 3-4 big cysts pimples per day. Everytime I would get one of these it would take forever for it to heal. Even if I wasn't picking at it I was still stucked with terrible scarring for many months, even years. I then decided to go back on BC, because it seemed to me that this was the only solution to having great skin again.

Age 23: My acne did improve a lot going back on BC. Now I was only dealing with mild acne and a shit load of clogged pores. My skin looked okay and was way better overall. But still I wasn't satisfied with it. I wanted to get it back like before, before all these shitty skin issues happened in my life. I decided to make an appointement with my doctor, who prescribed me a Tretinoin cream 0.01% (also known as Retin-A).

Age 24: After being on Retin-A for a year, my skin was getting a little bit better. But even if I was using the 0.01% cream, I felt like I could only use this product every 3 days since my skin was way too sensitive for it. However, after some time, I sarted suffering from very oily skin, large pores, and wrinkles. I then decided to stop the Retin-A cream. I guess retin-A was the cause for this, since this was pretty much the only thing I was using back then (and some Cerave lotion which never gave me any issues). My skin barrier was completely broken

I am now 25 years old and one year after stopping Retin-A, I am left with a completely different skin issue. I do not suffer from acne anymore, but to compensate for this fact I am left with very dehydrated skin. Its like my skin has no barrier anymoreits red, irritated, has way too many clogged pores and looks unhealthy and rough. Its not smooth at all. I can even see some lines/wrinkles on my forehead

Plus, it gets super oily throughout the day, and as soon as I splash water on it, it gets super dry and its even flaking, which makes no sense at all.

I dont know what to do anymore. Its been like this for more than a year. I feel like its impossible to have good skin again. It is so dehydrated no matter what I do. I even slept with vaseline on my face but yet it seems like my skin is not retaining any water, nor absorbing any moisturizers.

 

My current skincare routine goes like this:

PM:

- -Splash face with water only (since I cant use any products anymore, my face being too red and sensitive to every cleaners I use)

- - I sometimes tonify using Bioderma micellar water (but then again I doubt this is even irritating my poor skin)

- -Apply Cerave moisturizing lotion for the night

 

AM:

- Only splash with water.

- Most ofthe time I use sunscreen, but not everyday. I sometimes apply Cerave moisturizing lotion too. Depends on the weather and the oilyness level of my skin.

- Apply some Clinique SPF15 pressed powder on T-zone and red areas

EDIT: I am still taking BC and Omega-3 supplements as well.

Thank you for reading my story.

If someone could give me some advice on this one

 

Has anyone ever had this terrible skin condition which is called dehydrated skin?

 

My skin sounds exactly like yours. I rarely get the sudden whitehead overnight or any inflamed acne anymore. Most of my pimples come from clogged pores/closed comedones coming to a head. My skin is extremely flaky and oily, and I also used the same retin-a product in the past that you did. I remember that it made my face super sensitive and irritated. I have yet to rectify this condition. I think the cavman regimen would help you. I can't do it though, because I have Seb Derm as well.

have you tried cetaphil? I have very dehydrated skin but now that I'm older it is super sensitive. I used proactive for years and years and have always used benzoyl peroxide without any type of moisturizer (they allllll break me out, and ive tried countless numbers of them) and am suffering for it now (even though I'm still doing it). Cetaphil kinda moisturizes so it's like cheating and using one. oh, I also have a huge issue with clogged pores and crocodile type skin. I'm also super oily in my t zone. I rarely get inflammatory acne unless I'm picking at something or have a hormonal thing going on.

Hey i hope you have found a fix for your dehydrated skin...

i am having the same problem i am really frustrated.
i used to have really perfect skin and then i used lemon on my face 3 times a day. It killed my skin and its super dehydrated causing small bumps on my face and under my eyes looks super dry, i also look super older i am 17 look like 22...
please helps me. Did you find a cure? 
I have been dealing with this for a 2 years now i am really depressed now. I have tried almost everything, some help for a day or 2 but then i get the dehydrated skin again...

Since I had laser my skin is a mess, so dry and I got a ton of scars, fat loss, broken bloodvessels. dents. you name it I got itfrom the laser. It completely destroyed my barrier & I have dry flaking skin and this was 10 yrs ago. . I've tried everything I can think of for moisture. Everything makes me flake too so now i'll use oils instead. Coconut, emu and on really dry patches I tried Vaseline and hyaluronic acid toobut nothing helps so I too would love to hear of a good moisturizer. I used Cetaphil but that doesn't help either.I'm going to try just using cold creams now too instead of soap to take make up off Trying needling to help let the oils help

Hi,
I also suffered really badly from dehydrated skin. I couldn't understand why it was suddenly so incredibly oily, red, reactive, itchy, flaky and covered in acne (especially around the jawline). I worked in an office environment at the time and it turned out to be the air conditioning. It may not be an issue for you but just something to consider. I had literally suffered for about 5 years and when I left that job it cleared up.