Acne.org Products
Congrats on all the great progress you have made - your skin looks great!Keep all the updates coming 🙂 I hope you can find what takes care of this once and for all. I will definitely be following your log! Good luck!
Thanks :). Hopefully your cystic acne is subsiding also.
When did you originally go on birth control?? (Sorry if you mentioned that somewhere and I missed it)...
and what kinds did you all try? Did you go from Ortho Tri Cyclen to Ortho Tri Cyclen Lo (which you are still on now, correct?)
And you wouldn't recommend putting neem oil all over - just as a spot treatment? And what kind of zinc cream were you talking about - I believe you quit using it, but what brand was it? And why did you quit?
Again, I'm sorry if I asked something you covered... I read everything, but it hard to remember it all!
When did you originally go on birth control?? (Sorry if you mentioned that somewhere and I missed it)...and what kinds did you all try? Did you go from Ortho Tri Cyclen to Ortho Tri Cyclen Lo (which you are still on now, correct?)
And you wouldn't recommend putting neem oil all over - just as a spot treatment? And what kind of zinc cream were you talking about - I believe you quit using it, but what brand was it? And why did you quit?
Again, I'm sorry if I asked something you covered... I read everything, but it hard to remember it all!
It's fine to ask me questions :). I started birth control in December 2006. The worst photos I have of my acne are from that month too. I think it was a little before I started the birth control. I went on it for my skin. I was given Orthotricyclen. In like 2008 or 2009, they had a shortage of my regular birth control, so they put me on Orthotricyclen Lo and I never thought much of it, so they kept on giving it to me even to this day. I would go on Orthotricyclen regular stuff instead of the Lo if you got to choose.
Yes, neem oil just for cystic pimples and not all over. Thing is, it won't get rid of the bacteria in my opinion. It will just get rid of the inflammation. You might still need to spot treat it with bp 10% after it has shrunk. The brand name is Neem Aura. I bought mine at Vitamin Shoppe, but I feel like you can buy it at any vitamin/health store. Oh and I stopped using it because I wasn't getting huge cystic pimples anymore. It's useless for me to use it on regular pimples. I don't use it all over my face because it clogged me up!
Thanks so much for the response!
Have you ever heard of "Margarite Zinc Cream for Acne"??? This stuff looks really cool... I am looking for something to use all over my face at night (instead of BP)... I have been using a nicainamide gel but I'm not too sure if I want to continue it.
Before that I was using argan oil - it tends to give me little under the skin bumps though and it was appearing to clog my pores --- and it never sinks in the best... so it's hard to sleep... I am always obsessive about keeping blankets away from my face! I move like a robot in bed to make sure a blanket doesn't accidentally hit my face... it just feels so gross and like it leaves little fuzzies on my skin and clogs my pores --- I'm pretty sure you mentioned the same issue somewhere in this blog?? Not sure though...
I thought about using neem oil - but I think you are right... it would probably be better as a spot treatment rather than an all over treatment
Thanks so much for the response!Have you ever heard of "Margarite Zinc Cream for Acne"??? This stuff looks really cool... I am looking for something to use all over my face at night (instead of BP)... I have been using a nicainamide gel but I'm not too sure if I want to continue it.
Before that I was using argan oil - it tends to give me little under the skin bumps though and it was appearing to clog my pores --- and it never sinks in the best... so it's hard to sleep... I am always obsessive about keeping blankets away from my face! I move like a robot in bed to make sure a blanket doesn't accidentally hit my face... it just feels so gross and like it leaves little fuzzies on my skin and clogs my pores --- I'm pretty sure you mentioned the same issue somewhere in this blog?? Not sure though...
I thought about using neem oil - but I think you are right... it would probably be better as a spot treatment rather than an all over treatment
Yes, I have that zinc cream. I sometimes use it if I have a lot of bumps on my forehead. It'll dry it right up, but my skin is sensitive, so I can't use it more than one night. For regular pimples, I don't think it's that great. I wouldn't put that all over your face because it has a lot of acne prone ingredients. You can always try it though. I remember it being cheap.
Are you using the Metazine gel? I have that. I stopped when I saw I was getting tiny little bumps. I only saw them at a specific angle in the light, but I didn't want to wait for something bigger to happen.
I wouldn't use argan oil on your face. I hear it's better for your hair. My skin doesn't like oils, so I stopped trying to make one work.
Ha, I do that too in bed. My skin is so reactive that if my blanket touches my face, I'll get a pimple. I don't even sleep with my face touching a pillow. I either sleep on my back or sleep on my arm/hand to rest on my head, not on my face. It's not uncomfortable for me.
It's better as a spot treatment. Just saturate a piece of gauze or tissue and stick it on the cystic pimple for a couple nights. It will takes a couple of days to see the shrinkage.
Do you have the ingredients for that zinc cream??? All I could find online is that it's zinc and sulfur in a tinted, greaseless base...
I'm using something similar to metazine... I ordered it from some pharmacy online. The jury is still out on it --- not sure if it's helping or hurting yet. I'm hoping the bumps I've been battling lately are a result of some nasty overeating.
Thanks 
Do you have the ingredients for that zinc cream??? All I could find online is that it's zinc and sulfur in a tinted, greaseless base...I'm using something similar to metazine... I ordered it from some pharmacy online. The jury is still out on it --- not sure if it's helping or hurting yet. I'm hoping the bumps I've been battling lately are a result of some nasty overeating.
Thanks 🙂
Active Ingredients: Zinc Oxide, sulphur PPt in a greaseless, tinted base. Inactive Ingredients: Water, Zinc Oxide, Cetearyl Alcohol, Polysorbate 60, PEG-150 Stearate, Steareth-20, Colloidal Sulfur, Cetyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Titanium Dioxide, Lanolin, Laneth-16, Ceteth-16, Oleth-16, Steareth-16, Bentonite, Imidazolidinyl Urea, Mehtylparaben, Propylparaben, Iron Oxides.
Ha, so yeah, not a simple ingredient list. What did you eat that you think are causing the breakouts?
Active Ingredients: Zinc Oxide, sulphur PPt in a greaseless, tinted base. Inactive Ingredients: Water, Zinc Oxide, Cetearyl Alcohol, Polysorbate 60, PEG-150 Stearate, Steareth-20, Colloidal Sulfur, Cetyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Titanium Dioxide, Lanolin, Laneth-16, Ceteth-16, Oleth-16, Steareth-16, Bentonite, Imidazolidinyl Urea, Mehtylparaben, Propylparaben, Iron Oxides.Ha, so yeah, not a simple ingredient list. What did you eat that you think are causing the breakouts?
Thanks for the ingredient list! I'm disappointed (but not surprised) to see parabens listed - I like to stay away from those, but oh well I guess...
I'm not sure if it's 'what' I'm eating that's bothering me - I think it might be more of how much... such huge amounts of food for my body can't be good. Maybe it is what I'm eating though... I eat plenty of things that people recommend avoiding (ex: I eat cheese and yogurt, bread, wheat, etc. etc. etc.)...
The reason I find it hard to believe that diet effects my skin is that I had the BEST skin of my life when I was eating horrible stuff (things I wouldn't even go near now!)... microwave popcorn (full of trans fat), sugary cereals, plenty of dairy, lots of sugar, pina coladas, cheezy pretzels, tato skins, etc. etc....I ate that way for quite a while... I could get away with it since I was really active and always stayed in shape......I don't understand why my body would suddenly decide it wanted to hate that stuff?? Maybe it has though?? I am just confused and scared of so many different foods now -- still eating them though :doh:
Active Ingredients: Zinc Oxide, sulphur PPt in a greaseless, tinted base. Inactive Ingredients: Water, Zinc Oxide, Cetearyl Alcohol, Polysorbate 60, PEG-150 Stearate, Steareth-20, Colloidal Sulfur, Cetyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Titanium Dioxide, Lanolin, Laneth-16, Ceteth-16, Oleth-16, Steareth-16, Bentonite, Imidazolidinyl Urea, Mehtylparaben, Propylparaben, Iron Oxides.Ha, so yeah, not a simple ingredient list. What did you eat that you think are causing the breakouts?
Thanks for the ingredient list! I'm disappointed (but not surprised) to see parabens listed - I like to stay away from those, but oh well I guess...
I'm not sure if it's 'what' I'm eating that's bothering me - I think it might be more of how much... such huge amounts of food for my body can't be good. Maybe it is what I'm eating though... I eat plenty of things that people recommend avoiding (ex: I eat cheese and yogurt, bread, wheat, etc. etc. etc.)...
The reason I find it hard to believe that diet effects my skin is that I had the BEST skin of my life when I was eating horrible stuff (things I wouldn't even go near now!)... microwave popcorn (full of trans fat), sugary cereals, plenty of dairy, lots of sugar, pina coladas, cheezy pretzels, tato skins, etc. etc....I ate that way for quite a while... I could get away with it since I was really active and always stayed in shape......I don't understand why my body would suddenly decide it wanted to hate that stuff?? Maybe it has though?? I am just confused and scared of so many different foods now -- still eating them though :doh:
A couple questions. How old are you and when did you start seeing your skin turning for the worst? Did you start out with cystic acne or just regular breakouts? Can you give me a small summary of what your diet is right now? Just telling me one or two days of food should be enough.
A couple questions. How old are you and when did you start seeing your skin turning for the worst? Did you start out with cystic acne or just regular breakouts? Can you give me a small summary of what your diet is right now? Just telling me one or two days of food should be enough.
Here's a link to my log (probably confusing... but I tried my best... the 1st entry covers my acne history)...
http://www.acne.org/messageboard/Leaving-B...eh-t266933.html
my diet has been pretty sporadic lately... and a lot of overeating of course... yesterday I ate oatmeal for bfast (quick oats) with a squirt of agave nectar and some cinnamon... I ate 1 bag of baby carrots, 1 sq. dark chocolate, and a frozen dinner (brown rice with some veggies... I usually don't eat forzen dinners but it was the only thing I had at work)... supper is when things went down the drain - 3 huge double decker tacos (homemade) - so that would total 3 tortilla shells, 3 hard shells, cheese, lettuce, refried beans... tons of chocolate chips, 2 chocolate rice cakes... it was bad... I was so packed full
Lately I've been eating a lot of buttered bread, cinnamon sugar toast, tomato soup, grilled cheeses, broccoli (yay!), carrots, oatmeal, choc. chips, rice cakes... and greek yogurt here and there. I also ate a 1 lb. loaf of cheese bread with butter the other night. yikes!
Thanks for listening to all that... you probably weren't expecting such a whopper answer to your question!
A couple questions. How old are you and when did you start seeing your skin turning for the worst? Did you start out with cystic acne or just regular breakouts? Can you give me a small summary of what your diet is right now? Just telling me one or two days of food should be enough.Here's a link to my log (probably confusing... but I tried my best... the 1st entry covers my acne history)...
http://www.acne.org/messageboard/Leaving-B...eh-t266933.html
my diet has been pretty sporadic lately... and a lot of overeating of course... yesterday I ate oatmeal for bfast (quick oats) with a squirt of agave nectar and some cinnamon... I ate 1 bag of baby carrots, 1 sq. dark chocolate, and a frozen dinner (brown rice with some veggies... I usually don't eat forzen dinners but it was the only thing I had at work)... supper is when things went down the drain - 3 huge double decker tacos (homemade) - so that would total 3 tortilla shells, 3 hard shells, cheese, lettuce, refried beans... tons of chocolate chips, 2 chocolate rice cakes... it was bad... I was so packed full
Lately I've been eating a lot of buttered bread, cinnamon sugar toast, tomato soup, grilled cheeses, broccoli (yay!), carrots, oatmeal, choc. chips, rice cakes... and greek yogurt here and there. I also ate a 1 lb. loaf of cheese bread with butter the other night. yikes!
Thanks for listening to all that... you probably weren't expecting such a whopper answer to your question!
Super long:::
Well, it's true that overeating is a bad thing. I think I read it does something to your hormones.
The tacos aren't so bad. They would have been worse if they were from Taco Bell. You can still eat them if you exchange the refried beans with simple canned beans and maybe take out the cheese too. Be sure to use romaine lettuce and not iceberg. Iceberg has no nutritional value.
Dairy is a big big big big big, can you tell big, factor for hormonal acne. It will also affect your PMS. Eating dairy makes it worse, more mood swings and painful cramps. My sister is an example of how dairy can mess that up. She eats dairy and pukes from the PMS pain. It's that bad. Once she stopped eating it for a month, her cramps went down. Cheese is addictive, no joke. The hormones it sends to the brain show it to be addictive, just like sugar, chocolate and meat. There is a documentary on Google videos that talks about it: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3...00593069532942#
You can always make something that is seen to be unhealthy into "healthy". You just have to do simple exchanges like maybe you could use whole wheat tortillas instead of yellow corn/white flour shells? Just try and eat more whole foods.
I have a feeling it went down hill after having just one chocolate chip. The sugar on your tongue will drive your brain crazy. It's impossible to portion control with it, so I just avoid all sugary foods. I'm not talking sugar from carbs like brown rice, vegetables, etc. No granola bars for me even. I don't know about you, but sugar is a big culprit for my acne. It is an addiction, so it takes awhile to stop eating it. It gets so much easier as time goes on. Even one taste of a piece of candy is too sweet for me and forget about soda, that's undrinkable haha.
Also, I'd toss the rice cakes. I don't know if that's a part of your normal diet, but rice cakes have a high GI, will raise your blood sugar too much and are not filling, which will make you want more of it. I used to eat them thinking they were healthy, but stopped.
The buttered bread can be subbed too. Maybe a piece of whole wheat bread like Ezekiel with almond butter on it with some cinnamond? That should be filling. I'm guessing you ate it on white bread, which white flour should be taken out of the diet ASAP! It will raise blood sugar, making you want more of it. White flour also creates inflammation in the body, which no one wants.
Cinnamon is actually healthy for you, just take out the sugar and it'll be fine. Oatmeal is a great food. It is fiber packed and you can fill it with healthy things like cinnamon and fruit, even some flax seeds. If you must have grilled cheese, try it with vegan cheese. Although, vegan cheese is still very processed. I don't even bother. I used to eat the vegan cheese, but it got expensive. Maybe you can try hummus on your sandwiches? I love hummus and it's healthy.
If you really want something for your sweet tooth, try some jelly with almond butter. I'm talking 100% jelly from fruits with no added sugar or just eat real fruit. I avoid fruit though. I'm not a sweet person anymore, so it's pointless to eat it for me. Plus, it was still raising my blood sugar.
On top of it all, you should be drinking a lot of water. It can really make a difference in your skin, in my opinion. If I don't drink water, I'll be eating random stuff to try and make my brain stop sending signals that I'm hungry. That helps if you're trying to lose weight too, which I'm not, but oh well.
I saw on your log that you take fish oils. Are you still taking them? For me personally, I have to avoid it. They gave me HUGE cystic pimples like 3 days later. It was crazy.
No more Mychelle apple peel for me. The person selling it canceled, which was a good thing in the end. I was dumb for even thinking my skin would benefit from something harsh again.
I used some of the money I saved from not getting the Mychelle product to buy a Clarisonic Mia. Yes, I used to have a Clarisonic Pro, but stopped using it and sold it instead. I don't like using microfiber cloths to exfoliate or harsh crystals, so I just caved and bought it online for cheaper than the retail price .
I am starting to use the Neutrogena sensitive skin lotion on more of my face. I don't think I'm getting a bad reaction yet on my forehead and cheeks where I have been using, so that's good. A con is that if you use even a little too much, it will look very greasy.
I'm still just using water on my face.
I wonder when the Finacea will come. It's been a week since I ordered. Then again, it's shipping from Australia, so I need to be patient.
Tomorrow it will be 3 WEEKS on MSM. I can't say if I see any difference in my skin. Not like my red marks went down or the redness in my face either. It might have given me a break out too in the beginning, but those have since healed. I think I will get better results with the Finacea instead, but we'll see. I hope I get the gel this week at least...
Hey! Thank you so much for the response and all the advice!
I am done with rice cakes! You made such a good point! And I am trying to stay away from sugar (other than some honey or agave nectar in my oatmeal)... You are right - it's MUCH easier to stay away from it completely... otherwise I'll have a bit of something and then just want more and more... My eating has improved a lot in the past couple days and I'm really excited about it! Thanks so much for all the good tips. Take care!
Hey! Thank you so much for the response and all the advice!I am done with rice cakes! You made such a good point! And I am trying to stay away from sugar (other than some honey or agave nectar in my oatmeal)... You are right - it's MUCH easier to stay away from it completely... otherwise I'll have a bit of something and then just want more and more... My eating has improved a lot in the past couple days and I'm really excited about it! Thanks so much for all the good tips. Take care!
No problem. Not to be a downer, but agave nectar should be avoided also. It is getting a bad rap now that studies and information has come out about it. It has fructose amounts compared to HFCS.
http://www.living-foods.com/articles/agave.html .
http://www.drmercola.com/2010/03/7-reasons...void-agave.html . You can use maple syrup or honey if you must, but after awhile, you don't crave or want to taste sugary foods. That's how it was for me anyways. I even got to the point where I ate brown rice plain, when I used to drown it in butter. It's good to hear you're eating better :).
Where can you buy TCA peels online?
I buy mine from http://www.theoriginalskinstore.com/ . You can also buy them through Amazon.
No problem. Not to be a downer, but agave nectar should be avoided also. It is getting a bad rap now that studies and information has come out about it. It has fructose amounts compared to HFCS.http://www.living-foods.com/articles/agave.html .
http://www.drmercola.com/2010/03/7-reasons...void-agave.html . You can use maple syrup or honey if you must, but after awhile, you don't crave or want to taste sugary foods. That's how it was for me anyways. I even got to the point where I ate brown rice plain, when I used to drown it in butter. It's good to hear you're eating better :).
Yea, I just heard from my mom a week or so ago that agave nectar might not be as healthy as it seems... that's why I've been slowly switching over to honey. I have some agave to use up... but after that I'll stick to honey. Thanks! I really hope I can eventually stop craving sugar like you have!!
How are things going with your finacea???
No problem. Not to be a downer, but agave nectar should be avoided also. It is getting a bad rap now that studies and information has come out about it. It has fructose amounts compared to HFCS.http://www.living-foods.com/articles/agave.html .
http://www.drmercola.com/2010/03/7-reasons...void-agave.html . You can use maple syrup or honey if you must, but after awhile, you don't crave or want to taste sugary foods. That's how it was for me anyways. I even got to the point where I ate brown rice plain, when I used to drown it in butter. It's good to hear you're eating better :).
Yea, I just heard from my mom a week or so ago that agave nectar might not be as healthy as it seems... that's why I've been slowly switching over to honey. I have some agave to use up... but after that I'll stick to honey. Thanks! I really hope I can eventually stop craving sugar like you have!!
How are things going with your finacea???
The best thing to help the sugar cravings is to just keep the stuff out of my house because I'll down the entire box of food in one day lol.
It has only been a couple days, so I don't think I see anything yet. It got a tiny bit itchy yesterday, but nothing horrible. I notice that my face doesn't tingle for practically the whole day from the facial flushing. Do you ever get that?
Sooo.. it has been 1 week of using Finacea. I have been using it twice a day (morning and night). It feels like I have been using it for much longer. Anyways, I am glad it hasn't broken me out, but I don't think I see any difference in the redness of my face. I thought I did in the beginning, but it was probably the placebo effect. I shouldn't upset that my redness didn't go away after only 1 week haha. I plan on keeping this around for 3 months.
I wonder if the reason I'm not getting PMS break outs is because I cut down on fat and took zinc again.
Again, I got oil plugs out of my acne hyperpigmentation/scars. Gah. I think I pulled like 3 of the plugs out. I also had one of those weird pimples, like where it doesn't have any pain or inflammation in it. It's just a flesh colored bump. I squeeze it thinking nothing would happen, but yellow puss randomly came out cleanly out of the pore. Really strange. That's the only pimple I had on my face.
Another week of Finacea. Can't say I see a difference yet. However, when I used my Clarisonic to exfoliate my skin, I felt the burn and tingles after I applied the Finacea. Ouch. I haven't really broken out either. I started using the Neutrogena Sensitive Skin lotion all over too. I think I am getting a zit on my chin, but it doesn't have any inflammation or pain when I touch it, so we'll see if that explodes.
my red marks of 2-3 yrs r fading slowly but surely, any tips on the uneveness (pitting) where the red marks are, i have the exact same thing you have where theyre only visible with light at certain angles and what not. Oh yea for those oily plugs in the skin i found that an eye dropper works best, squeeze air out and use the suction but dont overdo it if skin turns reddish the plug isnt that loose yet and some water to help with sealing suction works well with it.