I just do not understand why this stuff keeps flaring up. The whole IB thing makes sense but Ive lost hope with it 3 months in. I went to the derm for very minor acne around my mouth (huge mistake now). He put me on miocycline for 2 months and ive been on doxycycline for the last month. I used his tretinoin .75% cream for 2 months along with clindamycin gel (which I still use but I dont think it does anything). I thought for sure this stuff would be gone by the time my final semester in college rolled around but I was wrong.

I convinced my doctor to put me on ketoconazole (which would help for hormonal/fungus prone acne) but he didnt call it in because the next day my enzyme liver count came back too high (go figure, probably because of the pointless antibiotics). My skin above the mouth is spotless and my body below the chin is as well.

Here are other things I take daily:

1 multi

1 b6

1 zinc

1 fiber

1 d

3 b5

1 brewed green tea drink

I also juice veggies and stray away from sugar and bread carbs (havent touch them in 2 weeks)

Whenever I would get minor pimples in the past years, they would clear up within a day or two (I would also use st ives salycic acid exfoliation scrub) *These things hang around way too long.

These past 3 months I have washed my face with cerave hydrating cleanser and applied sensitive complex 15 natural moisturizer when needed.

My face has given me 4 moments over the past 3 months where I actually thought it was getting better. My face would look like this again 4-5 days later.

Were antibiotics a bad choice?

#btw, I can feel the lumps that float these things up with my tounge if i glide it across the inside of my mouth. They feel very firm and full of something. They have not gotten any smaller over the past 3 months.

Should I go back to exfoliating scrubs? I feel like Im being way too gentle with my face. I also have not touched it with anything other than a fresh q-tip. Excuse the random hair lengths, I have not shaved with a razor in 3 months, only a beard trimmer (which I boil in water to kill the germs before each use)

Also, this 90% clear skin picture was the initial reason I went. All because of this dumb mark near my lip that I couldnt let go. Biggest mistake Ive ever made.