I turned 29 in October. Just joined here last week, went out and bought some emu oil for red marks. Lots of good info on this site, and such an active community! It's awesome. I've had acne since I was around 14, like lots of people it went away for a while through treatments like Accutane and the pill. I've been using Proactiv for years, it works for me. I went off birth control in July, nothing major happened until this past period when I got two major cystic zits and another smaller one. Smaller one on my cheek is not doing anything, just red and the type of mark that kind of fades when you touch it, but there's something underneath an older scar, maybe. And then the other one by my jaw has turned into a scar. The massive one on my lower cheek is the one that I Zeno'ed, then put Tazorac on and pretty much created a monster. It won't erupt, it's still sticking out of my face. It's surrounded by flaky, red skin.
Anyway, just wanted to mostly share my age on here.
Turning 26 on ... Sunday!
My acne was ordinary through high school and college - a few zits here and there, but nothing severe. Even after three years of high-stress work in NYC, my skin was mostly clear aside from the occasional bump.
I moved to Taiwan this past summer. After two months or so, I finally took notice of my skin when two fat clusters of zits appeared on my cheek and jaw. I didn't think much of it - until I looked at an up-close photo taken at my going-away party, which was the day before I left NYC.
My heart jumped when I saw the contrast between just five months ago and now. Now I have red and splotchy skin and bumps all over my cheeks and along the edge of my jawbone. It's really disgusting and painful to look at.
It mostly made me curious as to what brought about this onset of acne. Of course I'd like to pin it entirely to my move to Taiwan, but I really wonder what else might have caused it. Anyway, here's to hoping Dan's regimen does my skin some justice (I'm three weeks into it).