Hmm, I don't think the reason for my random little break outs were from the toothpaste. They are scattered all over my chin but also on other parts of my face. They aren't huge or massively inflamed. They are just simple clogged pores. I haven't added anything new to my skin or changed my face wash. I thought it could the honey mask I did earlier, but I don't remember when I did it and when the spots came up. Oh well. It's probably from waiting too long to wash my face in the morning. I have been sleeping in more and my skin gets VERY oily by the morning.

For all I know, the reason that was from eating oats again, only last week. I guess I am allergic to them because I had stomach problems after eating it. I plan on stopping that. Maybe it was from taking acv internally? Ahhh! Idk.

I bought Cerave lotion online. I am scared to use a lotion, but I remember getting it from my dermatologist years ago.

I'll be getting the 70% lactic acid peel in two days.

All of those past cystic pimples are completely gone thanks to the cortisone cream.

I started up zinc again today. I'm just going to keep it at 100 mg.

Here is a photo from 2006-2010 of the right side of my face. Surprisingly, they are all around Dec-Feb, winter months.

One long struggle

Great progress acne jean!! too good i wud say.

I'm done with acne.. just dealing with red marks now. Which peel or treatment is the best to speed up the healing process. Right now i'm just using hydroquinone 4% and asprin mask every other day, this has improved the red marks greatly.

I'm getting married in march and need a quick fix

Great progress acne jean!! too good i wud say.

I'm done with acne.. just dealing with red marks now. Which peel or treatment is the best to speed up the healing process. Right now i'm just using hydroquinone 4% and asprin mask every other day, this has improved the red marks greatly.

I'm getting married in march and need a quick fix 🙁

Oh, congrats on getting married and getting rid of your acne :). Be careful of using the hydroquinone. It has known side effects and the reason I avoid it and try the natural ways. I don't think a peel helps the healing process. Taking vitamin C and zinc should heal skin faster. Also, try to get a lot of sleep because that will help also.

I used the 70% lactic peel last night on some parts of my face. It tingled faster than the 50% and was a clear color instead of a light blue. I used it on my forehead, some specific spots and on my left side. I woke up and looked at my skin. It looks surprisingly good. It looks clean and firm.

I still have the Cerave lotion coming. I bought nutritional yeast last night online. I was worried that adding yeast to my diet would bring up candida, but then I read, "The yeast in nutritional yeast is dead, which is why it won't aggravate a candida issue.

Nutritional yeast is grown on mineral enriched molasses and used as a food supplement. At the end of the growth period, the culture is pasteurized to kill the yeast. You never want to use a live yeast (i.e. baking yeast) as a food supplement because the live yeast continues to grow in the intestine and actually uses up the vitamin B in the body instead of replenishing the supply."

I don't have any acne other than a scatter of very small white heads on my chin. I am still blaming that on too much oil on my face and not washing enough, so it settles in my pores for longer than usual.

Duh. It wasn't from the toothpaste or even oats. I bet the breakout I had last week was from the vegan carob chips I ate. When I did my experiment and ate a box of candy, I broke out in the same area with tiny little pimples too. Ugh. Sugar is a big cause of my acne, but thankfully, I don't crave it anymore and I eat sugar rarely, except for that time two weeks ago. I wrote that I started breaking out on the 4th, so that would make sense and then as the days went on, the breakout got worse. Even though the carob chips didn't have dairy, they still had just as much sugar! The breakout from it is practically gone too.

I am starting to spot treat my red marks with the 70% lactic peel too. Hopefully, that will speed it up, rather than using it all over.

I got the Cerave lotion, but I think I'll only use that if I am experiencing really chapped skin because I would hate for my skin to clogged and greasy from it.

Thanks for the reply! I only use HQ for the red spots, dont slather it all over my face. Yes i'm taking 1000 mg C and 50mg Zinc. There is another treatment Intense Pulsed Light Treatment (IPL), thinking of getting this done. Lets see.

I wonder if I will start to break out from taking Ester-C vitamins because it contains citrus. I started it today, so we'll see. My skin doesn't have any break outs right now.

By the way, if you think celebrities don't have acne, here is a photo of Katy Perry

My skin is normally clear nowadays, but these pesky "THINGS" come up once in awhile.

Since November, I have been getting these random "pimples". It happens maybe once a month. I know every type of pimple that can come up, except for this kind!

I have gotten cystic pimples before, but never like this. Cystic pimples normally pop up red and painful to the touch. These sores come up as a simple, flesh colored bump. It does not look red or inflamed and doesn't hurt to the touch with a q-tip. I always end up putting something on it, thinking it will turn into a cystic pimple, like benzoyl peroxide. It ends up getting inflamed and as time goes on, it finally gets a very small head. When I gently popped my most recent one, it had lime green puss inside and came out clean and easy. It surprised me because regular popped pimples tend to include clear liquid and blood. This pimple really didn't except for some clear liquid after the puss came out. I saw this one forming maybe last week as the flesh colored bump and popped it today.

Has anyone heard of this before? Do you think it could be connected to my toothpaste?

I found this on another site(acne911) and thought it was very interesting. It sounds so simple, but I even forget it sometimes.

# STRESS

1. Stress is any positive or negative change on the body, less sleep from parties, exams and family holidays can mean more pimples for acne suffers.

2. Adrenal gland produces more testosterone

# HUMIDITY and CLIMATE

1. Swelling of the skin from heat or high water content pressurizes the follicle, causing inflammation

# PRESSURE and FRICTION on the skin from:

1. Clothing, athletic gear, back packs, hats, telephone, eye glasses

2. Cupping face in hands

3. Excessive hair brushing

4. Face protection masks either clinical or construction work

# PICKING

1. Putting pressure on the follicle, causing the wall to rupture, spreading the debris and bacteria into the surrounding tissue. This may even cause the surrounding follicles to become involved in acne.

2. If using fingernails, can leave white scar ridges in the dermis that are very noticeable later (in 50as or 60's).

3. Spreads bacteria from one picked area to another picked area.

# INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS and AIR BORNE OILS from

1. Fry cooking

2. Roof or road tarring

3. Spray painting

4. Air borne grease from working on cars or machinery

# IODIDE in foods and vitamins mixes into the blood stream and is excreted through the oil glands. The excretion causes irritation in the follicle, producing acne. Some foods high in iodine are

1. Salt

2. Seafood (kelp, squid, crab, sole, clams, shark, sea bass)

3. Dairy (cheese, butter, some milk and ice cream products)

4. Vegetables (asparagus, broccoli, onion, corn, brussel sprouts)

5. Meat and poultry (beef liver, turkey, chicken, stew meat, hamburger)

6. Snacks high in salt content: chips, wheat germ [Lots more than this, e.g., pretzels, nuts, popcorn, etc.]

# COSMETICS

1. Soaps

2. Sunscreens

3. Shampoos and conditioners

4. Foundations, pressed powder and blushes often cause or exasperate acne. Carefully check your products ingredients.

5. Lipstick, lip liners, chap stick or lip balms sitting on the outside of the lips can cause blackheads and pimples

6. A clinical instructor at the University of California in San Francisco, Kathy Fields, MD., says toothpaste can cause acne-like breakouts. Most notorious is tartar control, cinnamon flavoring and blue, red and or green tints that have irritating additives. Switch toothpastes to see if there is any change, and use less if the product is flowing onto the skin. Ingesting toothpaste can cause a fluoride acne flare.

7. Mangoes have oil that is also found in poison oak, ivy and sumac, causing dermatitis.

# MENSTRUAL CYCLE

# PREGNANCY

# BIRTHCONTROL PILLS

1. Depo-Provera injection (medroxyprogesterone)

# SUNLIGHT

1. 20% of acne patients become worse with heat and sunlight.

2. Heat causes swelling, reducing the size of the follicle opening, sealing in oil and bacteria.

# SEASON changes

# DRUGS

1. Hallucinogens -- some are bromides, commonly found in Day- & Ny-Quil, chlorides, iodides, halothane; and fluorides (toothpaste)

2. High doses of B12 (cyanocobalamin)

3. Oral or topical corticosteroids or steroids, oral anabolic steroids (danazol,stanolzolol)

4. Dilantin, antidepressants -- some are lithium carbonate (Lithium) and amoxapine, Danocrine (Danazol - used for women who have endometriosis and infertility)

5. Cyclosporin

6. Cocaine

7. Speed

8. Marijuana

9. Antiepileptics (carbamazepine, phenytoin, phenobarbital)

10. Antituberculous (ethionamide, isoniazid, rifampicin)

Your skin looks amazing, well done! Reading your blog has inspired me to start a healthier diet. Ive cut out dairy, salt, processed carbs and sugars and Im eating more fruit and vegetables. Thanks for posting pictures too, seeing your transformation is very motivating!

Your skin looks amazing, well done! Reading your blog has inspired me to start a healthier diet. Ive cut out dairy, salt, processed carbs and sugars and Im eating more fruit and vegetables. Thanks for posting pictures too, seeing your transformation is very motivating!

Thanks. Good luck with your diet :). Since I stopped eating sugar, I don't crave it anymore and sugar is a big culprit for my acne. I don't eat fruit either though. I have a bad selection of fruit and produce in my area anyways. Once you stop craving processed foods, you know your body is getting better.

It's been a couple days using Cerave and I can report that I haven't broken out. I believe it is helping my oily skin too.

With vitamins, all I am taking is zinc and ester-c vitamin c. I have been drinking ACV + water + honey for 4 days now. When you add a little bit of honey, it tastes like apple juice. I drink it through a straw and then swish water in my mouth afterward. I still spot treat with bp 10%. That big pimple I complained about earlier is healed up and I'm clear.

I do lactic acid peels 70% once or twice a week.

Your complexion looks super nice now What do you think made the complexion so good?

Your complexion looks super nice now 🙂 What do you think made the complexion so good?

Umm, I don't know if I can pin point one thing. The first thing that comes to mind is cutting out/down sugar consumption. Sugar is a big cause of acne for me.

I received the nutritional yeast in the mail today. I bought the Now 10 oz flakes and it is a big container. I tried a little bit of it straight and it was disgusting, ha. I guess I am going to have to find foods to pair with it. They always suggest pop corn, but that has a high GI and I'd have to kettle pop it because the microwave pop corn bags secrete chemicals into the popcorn and it is harmful to you.

I plan on being on the look out for break outs coming. For some reason, I had to eat a lot of sugary food. I felt so disgusting after it because I could feel the jitters, ibs and headache. I am not a sugar person. I feel like crap after I eat it and then even worse when I come off the sugar and it wears off. It's like a drug to my body. I don't know how someone can easily drink sodas all day. I'm guessing it is from cutting it out from my diet for so long that I get these side effects.

"

"Nutritional yeast contains vitamins B2, B5 and B6, which help reduce facial oiliness and blackhead formation. Nutritional yeast also provides zinc and chromium, which help reduce skin infections and act to balance sugar levels in the blood. Kefir-based yeast is the best source of nutritional yeast" (p.419)."

I would be starting my period today, but I am skipping it with birth control like I normally do. I am surprised that I don't have any PMS pimples. I ate a lot of sugary foods too. I did get really tiny ones, but they weren't cystic and went away fast. I got them under my mouth.

I have been doing the ACV, water and honey for awhile. Maybe that is contributing something. I only drink like 1-3 cups of it a day.

I bought another bar of Likas papaya soap and will probably go back to using it. I don't think I am getting much out of the PCA pigment bar that I was using since November. I like it, but want to go back.

Oh and I tried the nutritional yeast. It does have a nutty flavor. I put in my pot pie and it added a nice flavor. My pot pie is made with brown rice flour, vegetable broth, rice milk and vegetables. I add some salt and pepper for taste. It is a good way to get vegetables and is quick to make.

I spoke too soon. I got a pimple on near my jaw. It should go down soon, so no worries from me. I am surprised how I am not breaking out. However, my flushing and warmth of my face is not something I am happy with. It has always happened with me. I never thought I had rosacea since Google images seem so extreme. My sister says she gets a prickly and hot feeling over her face when she gets panic attacks and I know I have that problem. It is hard for me to control my body heat. I can be overheating one minute and freezing cold the next. I wonder if I have hyperthyroidism for that reason along with my anxiety and problem gaining weight throughout my life. I would eat an entire frozen pizza after school everyday, along with junk food, and never gain weight. It showed through my skin though!

Maybe the flushing is from the PCA Pigment Bar. I got my Likas Papaya Soap in the mail today. I was surprised that it came with an ingredient list. It was always somewhat a mystery to me. If I knew about the ingredients before trying it, I wouldn't have bought it.

Ingredients:

Sodium Cocoyl sethionate, Stearic Acid, Sodium Tallowate, Water, Sodium sethionate, Coconut Acid, Sodium Laureth, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Cocoate, Fragance, Sodium Chloride, Titanium Dioxide,Triosodium Edta,Papaya Enzyme

FD&C yellow 3 and FD&C red 40

That is a lot of salts, sulfates and harsh chemicals. The papaya enzyme is one of the last ingredients, so is the least thing in the soap, which is disappointing. I read that tallowate is made from fat, so that's not vegan. Oops? It's fine by me if I'm not ingesting it since I am vegan for my skin only. The PCA Pigment Bar has much cleaner ingredients, but I am still going to go back to the Likas soap. I used Likas for over a year until I stopped in November.

I am sick of getting pin size pimples. They are definitely from the CeraVe lotion. ANY moisturizer I use does that. It's like my skin doesn't want anything else on it. I might try the CeraVe PM moisturizer. It has the same ingredients, except for the niacinamide that is added.

I was looking my skin in the lights in a store and I can tell my red marks look much better. I wasn't wearing makeup and you know those lights in the store are not forgiving.

I think I might be anemic. I am too thin, tired and woozy. It is surprising to see hummus on the list of iron rich foods because I eat it everyday.

I bought a TCA peel! I read a lot of reviews online and finally convinced myself to try it. I have known about TCA peels for a longtime, but the fact that some people were breaking out badly from it scared me away. I am going to try it on my temple first since I have some ice pic scars on them. I bought 15%. I don't think I will EVER do an all over TCA peel. Doing it all over sounds crazy to me since I am prone to acne. The last thing I need is a huge flare up! I have the time to sit at home, avoid the sun and let my skin peel for a week, so I am glad for that.

I had high hopes for CeraVe and then it blows up in my face. The pimples remind me of how my skin used to be. I wonder if that was connected to my acne being so bad years ago. I never knew that things I put on my face broke me out. I was clearly naive. I need a different moisturizer for the TCA peel. If I used the CeraVe, I wouldn't know if the TCA was breaking me out or the lotion.

I paid $27 for Face Reality Skincare Cranberry Cream 2oz. It is annoying how all the reviews are from the same person on this forum. There were a couple reviews on MUA and someone on there suggested it to me. It doesn't have any dimethicones in it and that is a good thing for me. It is so rare to find, so I HOPE it doesn't break me out. I didn't get the Emulsion lotion from them because it had coloring and other things like that I thought I didn't want.

I did the TCA peel a couple minutes ago. This is how I would describe the chemical peel..

I washed my face, but didn't use any lotion or oil afterward. I took a q-tip, dipped it in the 15% TCA and gently put it over the temple for a test patch. I normally feel the lactic acid peels right away, but for this peel, I thought I got a dud after nothing was happening for 30 seconds, ha. It was a much different feeling than my lactic acid peels and those would be considered strong for being 70%! Normally with the lactic peels, it is a prickly feeling all over and not really a burning sensation. With the TCA peels, it is an intense burning. There is no prickling. It is very forward. I noticed "frosting" right away, which surprised me. Frosting is when your skin turns white and that is when you know it's time to wash it off. It was less than a minute into it that I noticed that. I don't think I would want to keep it on my skin for 3-5 minutes like the instructions said!

It's been awhile longer since I cleaned it off and it is still burning. It isn't painful, but I can feel it a little bit. I put more water on, but that made it hurt more. I am not in that much pain. It just feels like a sun burned that you slapped! I can't imagine putting this all over my face in one try.

I will use it on my other temple too.

Here is a photo:

Here is the same temple as before, but today.

This is when I squint my eyes. You can see how dry it is. There is no irritation though.

Here is the other side.

I was thinking that the TCA peel did nothing, so it's good to see the browning!

I got the Cranberry Cream in the mail today and tried it on some of my face. I am too scared to use it all over after that CeraVe blow up. I have 1-2 pimples left from that, ugh. The cream smells bad. Someone warned me it has a funky, too sweet of a scent, but I still got it. It smells like a mix of something sweet and play dough. I tried it out on my hand and wanted to wash it off awhile later because the smell never went away. It started smelling like vomit after awhile.

Last night, I did the TCA peel on the scarring over the left side of my face. I got peeling from the temples after 5 days, but it's nothing huge. I was expecting more pain.. It was only 2 inches of skin on each temple, so maybe that was why. I made sure I waited for it to frost all over the left side of my face.

No visible break outs from the Cranberry Cream.

Here are photos. I am greasy, but you can see the redness from the TCA peel at least. I am not in pain or anything.

Today, the area where I put the TCA peel is crusting more and is tight. It has the rim of brown skin like what happened with my temples too. It is a rusty color. My temples are still dry too, but nothing major.

Here is a picture of it. You can see the dryness and redness. It really just feels like you have an egg white mask on your face, ha.