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I'm 20 years old an have had acne for 5 years. It began when I was a sophomore in high school, and it hasn't gone away since. I have tried some of everything- BP, Doxycylcine, Apple Cider Vinegar, Panothenic Acid, nothing. Quite honestly I'm just sick and tired of having spots pop up on my face, and occasionally when I think I am finally growing past this phase, my skin gets worse than it ever has. I have had a log on here before, and I have decided to do it again. I purchased a light therapy treatment online the other day that should arrive Wednesday, and this log will mainly be to track the progress with this light therapy. However, it will also be a way for me to track my skin more generally, regardless of how the light treatment works.
Diet: I drink very little milk, and I will continue to try to limit severely the amount of sugar or candy that I consume
Vitamins: I take a daily vitamin (standard multi-vit) and take a zinc tablet daily
Wash- I wash my face with water or a gentle cleanser- I find that any salicylic acid based cleanser generally makes my skin look irritated
Treatments: I plan to use the light therapy. I also will spot treat with BP when necessary, and I have been using a glycolic night cream (though unclear on whether that is working). I also moisturize when necessary with a promiseb prescription lotion (I use the similar hair wash for my hair that often gets dandruff).
Problems with my skin: Honestly have a little bit of everything in terms of types of spots: I get blackheads in my cheeks and nose, whiteheads on my jawline, and pustules on my cheeks. I also get small red bumps on my forehead and around my temple area. On my cheeks where I do not have large spots it is usually uneven and discolored (red).
Here we go with day 1 photos. Everything (as most of you are used to) looks a little better in these photos than it does in a mirror, etc (most of the unevenness of 'clearish' skin cannot be seen from my camera).
So I purchased the light therapy which arrived last Wednesday, so I have used it for about 5 days now. It worked immediately, and after about 2 days I was seeing major improvements. Unfortunately (and not to my knowledge) if used too much this treatment can actually irritate and 'burn' the skin, so right now my skin is pretty red and sore from it. However, after seeing what it was able to do in such a short amount of time, I am confident that if used in smaller amounts it can be effective in really reducing some of my acne. I will post some pictures later in the week, but overall, despite taking steps backwards over the past 2 days, I have still seen improvements and am quite pleased. My skin after 2 days of the light therapy was the best it has been in a very long time.
Well it has been a week of using this light therapy- I have decided to take a rest from it for tomorrow to let my skin heal. Overall I really can't tell what sorts of effects it has had. My skin is very sore and red from it, which is frustrating, but I feel that in certain areas it has definitely cleared up the complexion. Will update again shortly.
Here are the pictures continued (other account wouldn't let me sign in)
Looking at the pictures the things that stick out are the following:
-Skin is much more sore and red than had been before (that is something that has come about the last 2 days as I mentioned)
-Inside of the cheeks looks quite good and clear
-Jawline on both sides is breaking out- anyone have suggestions on how to keep this area clear?- have struggled with it for a while
-Outside of cheeks on both sides of cheeks needs to improve- particularly a lot of larger marks on one side.
Overall I would say I haven't seen any real improvements, but it has also only been a week, and just in that time there have been many ups and downs.
Hi, I think my acne is similar to yours. I've doing the regimen for about 3 weeks and a half and I don't see a lot of progress...
I have tried Accutane but it made my acne worse and it gave me gastritis, maybe I should try clindamicine. Oh, and I also tried eating only vegetables, fruits and non fat foods... It Did't work.
Here is some photos:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwpuMzFhCueEWDBnLWtaNGFzeGs/edit
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwpuMzFhCueEUE85b0dUbGFheGs/edit
after 3 weeks
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwpuMzFhCueEZzZYdDhCN2VfUmM/edit
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwpuMzFhCueEdktZOXRoWXZMZVU/edit
Anyway, it looks worse in person lol
I wish you good luck and I'm looking foward your progress.
P.d: Sorry for my bad english I'm mexican.
Sorry I'll update my pics cause Google won't let me share my images.
Regimen
Before
www.4gp.tw/b006/1355094969701.jpg
After 3 weeks
www.4gp.tw/b006/1355094524978.jpg
www.4gp.tw/b006/1355095048967.jpg
it was getting better but I have been drinking a lot lately and not sleeping very good so maybe that has something to do.
I think I'll add clindamicine but I don't know, antibiotics turn me away... And since my stomash is delicate ( thanks to accutane) maybe I'll wait a little.
Any updates ?
Not so sure what I'm doing. Ended up picking a lot of things today, which is of course never a good thing. The light therapy, which I thought was helping, ended up really not showing any improvements after the first few days, and ultimately it made things work. Having tried all these different things, I think the best thing for my skin is to just let it heal through using light cleansers, lotions, and nothing too strong or burning that will irritate my skin. Will update with pictures sometime in the next week- Still getting lots of pustules (or whatever things under the skin that are painful to the touch are called) as well as lots of whiteheads and blackheads- very frustrating.