Hi there,

I am 26 years old. All my life I had fairly clear skin. No acne but pimples every once in a while. I also was a bad picker so a pimple would turn into worse! My skin would also get bad when I got stressed - possibly because to relieve stress I would pick at my face. However, I just stopped taking birth control pills. I was taking them for 10 years and decided to switch to a copper IUD.

Everything was okay at first. Although it was a very stressful time for other reasons so my skin wasn't great. Then I went on a big trip. I moved to Australia for 6 months and am currently doing 3 months in Southeast Asia. In Australia my skin started getting really bad. Little bumps everywhere. After doing some reading I believe they were whiteheads. They would never form a head. Never be that big. But I could pop them and get puss out of them. However if I did that it usually led to bigger pimples from my face being irritated.
I am unsure if it is the hormonal changes but it did start about 7 months after going off of birth control. And now it has been a year and it's still bad.Maybe it's from sweating more than I'm used to in hot climates? I have switched up all my skin care products and hair care one by one to see if anything helps. It doesn't seem to be the case. My skin also really breaks out during my periods which it never used to. But when it does that they are more cyst like.

At at this time it is really only the right side of my face that is really bad. Although the left still has a lot of red marks from the past (seems to take forever to heal!). I have tried to not pick and left my skin alone for weeks to no avail. Then get frustrated with the bumps and try to pop them. It's so terrible! I don't even want to be seen. I have stopped wearing makeup in hopes that it would help clear it up and I feel hideous.
Any ideas would help! I will see a dermatologist when I get home but that is months away.

Thanks in advance.