I decided to upload straight from my phone. Here's my first picture. I took it with the rear camera cause it has more intricate settings than the front.

Okay, that makes my skin look about as good as it can get on camera. Here's a couple more that are more accurate. I shaved, as I should have before, for one.

So, as you can see, the redness and overall appearance is very conspicuous. The forehead isn't as bad though, cheeks are where it's worst. But let me acknowledge this: It will break out almost anywhere, and I'm talking about all over, not just on my face.

That's that, for now. I can't recall ever seeing "improvement at last," just minor successes and then it worsens again. Lets see how this goes.

Hi there! I totally understand your frustration. Here is what I did to clear my skin http://www.acne.org/messageboard/blogs/entry/32202-how-to-heal/ the internal supplements being the most important!

Well, here's whats happened in the last few days. I've been changing my routine a lot for a rather long time, but something I used recently had a horrible effect. Made my blemishes even redder and extra sore to the touch, not that touching is recommended by any means, but you get the drift. Fortunately It seems to have calmed back down now. I've got my eye on two potential culprits. One is the dark spot corrector I was using for PIH, it had various negative reviews from users who's skin only became more flawed by it. Another is this moisturizer I bought further back. It seemed to have been working okay, but wasn't living up to the exalted reputation it had on Amazon. Very high overall rating with many 5 star reviews coming from real people, not bots, and clearly were honest reviews in the fact that many were extensive paragraphs. But then I lost this tiny plastic piece that was intended to be kept in the nozzle, at the time I thought little of it because I had a feeling it might have just been for packaging purposes, but now the stuff is starting to develop this strong alcoholic smell. I stopped using it, but decided, a few days ago, that maybe the smell was nothing to worry about. It never irritated my skin at all, including this time, but something worsened my skin and I think I'm just gonna play it safe and cut both of those products out of the routine.

In other news, I ordered another package that included a USB to micro-USB data transfer cable, so now I don't have to use my phone's outrageously slow web browser to upload pictures. It actually has these occasions where it gets its shit together and operates at a much more normal pace, still not exactly fast, but it doesn't take 5 minutes just to load this site, 5 more minutes to log in, so on and so forth. But that only happens once in awhile.

By the way, the reason the background looks so dark in those pictures is because this cave of a house is inadequately lit for my phone's camera. It's not actually as dark as it looks.

Might as well include this, I guess. It's a bit worse than the first.

Did you check out my blog post?

18 hours ago, Naturalcure1 said:

Did you check out my blog post?

Yes, yes I did.

Thought I'd return, 'cus why not?

I recently bought two new products: Neutrogena Oil-free Moisture for Sensitive Skin, and Sea Breeze Actives Original Formula Astringent. I've only used them twice so far, so all I can tell you is that they seem fine as far as being non-irritant goes, and the astringent has a strong alcohol smell I don't particularly like.

Other than that, I think I've decided that the glycolic acid + salicylic acid combination product I was using before, which is basically an exfoliant, isn't actually as bad as I thought, I was just using it too frequently. I'll start using it again, but try to find a more suitable frequency, whether it's once every other day, once every 3 days, 3 days in a row followed by 5 days without.... I'll narrow it down.

An astringent, for those of you who aren't familiar with the term (I wasn't, until very recently), is a chemical compound that causes tissues to contract, in this case, skin tissue. It's said to be useful as an antibacterial cleanser for acne treatment. I hope it proves useful.... (I've said that many times, for years....)

I don't know if I look any better or worse right now than I did in the last picture, all I can say is I need a damn haircut. 

Hey this is what you should do. Buy a bottle of Cetaphil gentle Cleanser and use it without water as instructed on the back. That's it!!!!!!!!! You will get clear skin within four weeks. No more topicas!!!!! Never let water touch your face and use this. Had your problem and no more acne. Message me and I'll help you. And no I'm not trying to sell anything. I have suffered with painful acne for years Until a lady told me that cream cleansers rid acne. Cleansers that are ph balanced and are similar to our acid mantle. I'm telling you love do this. I will explain further in detail how to cleanse with it. Just reply back.

Ps: you are probably wondering...ew no water!!???? I thought so too right. Well that's right no water. Water throws our ph off which acne then thrives. We need our acid mantle to be a 4.5 up to 6. This cleanse keeps our face acidic and wards off acne. Acne can't survive in acidic skin. I am telling you use this without water and when you shower avoid it from hitting your face. Do not use topicals or creams love. I really want to help you. So here is the method:

on one cheek, apply a medium amount of Cetaphil gentle Cleanser and rub up and down for thirty seconds with one hand. Use other hand to swipe off excess and rub that excessoff on a paper towel or whatever. Then do your other cheek the same way and then forehead. In this methodyou should not use a wash cloth never your face, just handsssssssss. bc that's abrasive and harsh. It strips your skin of natural moisture and it's protective oils. Did you know oil doesn't cause acne???? Your sebum or oil actually wards off acne. What causes acne is dead skin cells!!!!!! The Cetaphil hydrates the dead skin, restores ph, and rids dead skin. Exfoliation is important but people use wash cloths and all sorts of stuff to strip theskin. They exfoliated...but they also stripped their barrier which is vulnerable to acne and redness. They stripped the oils. You neeeeeeeeeed oil. Your oil. Not oil like chemicals or almond oil. Your sebum. You need it. Use this Cleanser daily, once a night.say bye bye to acne. Stop using BP or retin a or harsh chemicals that strip skin and oil. They work yes they do but they strip the oil. They exfoliate and rid acne but they strip your skin of oil which leaves it dry and red.Then you need to apply moisturizer bc your skin is off balance!!! It's a viscous cycle. You need to stay hydrated so your skin can naturally exfoliate itself. This Cleanser is recommended by most dermatologists but then they also prescribe topicals. Skip the topicals. The Cleanser will do thetrick without drying you out. Any questions ask me. I want to help. Ps: I suffered acne for years but I finally found the cure.

Hey Symph0nik,
Good on you for joining the boards and sharing your story.
Sounds like you've been persevering with OTC products for some time and you've got advice from the naturalists already which is worth a try if you're up for that.
I think you'd see a lot of benefit from a course of tetracycline antibiotics. What you have is similar to my son and he cleared up significantly on doxycycline. It might not rid you of the issue permanently but it's definitely worth a try if you can get to a doctor and get a prescription.
Best of luck.
Jazzguy