My acne story started about 20 years ago. At first it was teenage acne that I treated with advertised product - ointment with 20% azelaic acid. It was semi OK - nothing too special, but it worked reasonably well and I do not remember bigger issues, apart of dehydration, and that it did not remove everything totally.

Begin age 18: I started uni and tried the birth control pills. Did nothing for acne, but some nasty side effects. Dropped. Still semi reasonable - not clear skin, but not too bad.

Age 25: traveled to foreign country with uni exchange program. Stipend was low, we bought cheapest stuff to eat. Returned - cheeks almost swollen from acne, red. After 3 months and still not improving, even my family started pushing me to go to doctor. Went to government funded hospital derm (no private health insurance country), she said "you did not wash enough" (though I DID wash more than usual), prescribed oral and topical antibiotics treatment and recommended to find a medic that does face cleanings (not simple "cosmetologist). Found one, she did some face cleanings with acids (she also commented how good my skin reacts to acids - almost no redness, no pain), and also commented that she did notice such problem (with inflamed acne on cheeks) from people who lived in foreign country and ate cheap food. Match. So, it did clear at the time. Acne fixed at the time.

About ~26-27 yr old I got a sunburn on face - nothing very nasty, however skin started flaking, and I started getting more small bumps acne. I started looking into products to fix it, but everybody recommended products for dry skin, which did not help with acne, my skin was red, flaking and with bumps. Went to private derm at around 28-29. Without very detailed looking, according description and a glance at the face she diagnosed "Rozacea" and prescribed a bunch of products. Three months using these products with no improvement, I ordered (no local shops) a bareMinerals rozacea powder. After a week using it, my skin got less red than in 3 months using prescribed products. You bet I dropped the prescribed products and never visited that derm again. Started working on my skin myself.

~30 years old. After a while found a difference between dehydrated skin and dry skin, started using aloe gel based products - first few weeks my skin drunk it in a few seconds, even a thick layer. When I was finishing applying the gel, the parts where I applied it at the beginning were already dry (and I did apply quite thick layer). Skin gets less red, and less flaking, but is not there yet. I went to even other derm on government funded clinic. She heard the previous diagnosis, said it is in no way rozacea because I have no broken capillary or capillary knots visible. Prescribed antihistamin for a week. Did not work. Prescribed oral antibiotics and topical antibiotics, also ointment for flaking. Worked like a charm, all acne gone and no more acne for a year (don't count minor period breakouts).

A year after: acne returns. Tried to go back to the last derm - she retired! Went to private derm to get same ointments. He did try to diagnose Rozacea as well, but prescribed the ointments from last derm. Did not help so well... Probably needed oral antibiotics as well. However, after such "diagnosis" did not return to this derm.

Beginning of 2017: acne is annoying, especially when 35 is in a few months. Different country. Asked reference from my GP. Multiple visits, prescribed Doxycyclin, sulfur wash, Adapalene. Nothing works. At the time I tried NERD skincare, and it helped me better than what derm prescribed. Dropped the derm, as the visits were expensive and I did not see the results.

NERD stopped working, went to Dermalogica acne series, PTR acne pads and mask (mask even broke me out), noticed reasonably good reaction to various acid products, but they caused redness and flaking. Any acne products show better results at the beginning, but later stop working. Found the spot treatment that did not stop working (it has mixed tea tree oil stuff and salicylic acid). Dentist prescribed Amoxicillin for 20 days. Hm... chin is clearing up. But all money goes to dentist and I do not want to return to previous derm as well.

2018: working on diet - cut out sugar at all. Also started on Korean skin products. Pluses: pores shrunk a bit, skin became less oily (from diet). Skin became way less dehydrated, almost no flaking or dehydration caused redness from Korean skincare (layering). Found out that most of cheaper Korean stuff DOES NOT break me out (95% of what I tried does not break me out opposed to ~50% of usual stuff). Ordered Keeva Organics Tea Tree Oil product, saw improvements on bumps. Neg: that still did not fix my acne.

2018 August: ordered Curology (4% Azelaic Acid, 1% Clindamycin, 4% Niacinamide). After 2 months skin cleared a bit, but not much. October: stopped Curology and went to other dermatologist. Got prescription for Amoxicillin (I made a note to mention her it did work for me, and list everything that did not work) and some samples of topical products. Evening product: not bad (can look up name later). Morning product: additional breakouts (small white puss filled ones). And finally - almost 2 months of antibiotics and topical treatments, will be taking for a month more. Today visited Derm and she was surprised how Amoxicillin worked for me, as she said it is not very usual antibiotics for acne.

Results in photos - and this is after my period break out last week and terrible stressed almost no sleep travel also last week (that caused additional breakouts - but only the amount you can count on one hand fingers, and all are visible here: top right corner of chin, bottom corner of chin and cheek). Photo: August 1 - December 4th. My mostly problem areas were chin area - chin was all constantly red and with almost non-disappearing breakouts. I could flatten them a bit with acids, but not make them disappear. Another bigger problem area was skin-colored bumps in the lines from nose to lip corners (basically where others have wrinkles, I had bumps). Additional acne on cheeks and all over the face, though not too intense, but still annoying. Second photo is from today, I am wearing only my usual skincare and SPF cream - no colored creams or foundations, or powder.

As you see, I have not tried any retinoid or similar treatments - none of the derms even suggested prescribing them. I hope my clear skin will hold for at least a year more. At least I found what works for me. I do have some minor darker spots as scarring from acne, however they are not too bad and I got some stuff to try from my derm today.