Hi, guys! I'm so excited to share this with all of you! Here's my story:

I had TERRIBLE, cystic acne when i was 18 to 20 (still 20 today), and at its worst my acne covered the entire area of my face.. the only area that you could see my actual skin was along my hairline and under my eyes. My acne calmed down a lot when I completed my Diploma and was under a lot less pressure, and I cleared it up when I used my dermatologist's prescribed regimen - Drx's Comedone Formula, Blemish Formula and Max C. After it was clear I was free to use any other gentle products and my skin wasn't reliant on the regimen, so I didn't repurchase any of it after I ran out.

HOWEVER, I broke out again nearing my finals in uni and I PICKED and PICKED and PICKED.. and resulted in 5 red, raw and painful areas of broken skin that were 5 times larger than the pimples themselves. I went back on the regimen which cleared up the acne, but I still had 5 extremely large scabs and 'open wounds'. So I busted out.. Avene's Cicalfate and Desitin.

Day:

Wash with DRx Cleanser

Apply a generous amount of Cicalfate on 'wounds'

Take 50mg of Zinc after breakfast

Night:

Remove makeup with Fancl Cleansing Oil

Cleanse with DRx Cleanser

Apply a generous amount of Cicalfate on 'wounds'

Blob a hugeeeee amount on 'wounds' to act as bandage

On Friday nights when I didn't have to head out on weekends, after apply Cicalfate I would put a dollop of Desitin Maximum Strength Original Paste on the areas and mix in some aloe vera gel on top of them. I would leave the mixture on till Monday morning, renewing the mixture twice daily, and wiping the rest of my face with a clean cotton pad along the way. I got this idea from:

In a week the scabbed area were just red marks and in two I just have mild hyperpigmentation I understand that some of you might argue that scabs usually heal up in about a week, but mine were so deep they hurt just even when exposed to the wind and my dermatologist gave me a disgusted look when I went in

If you just have red marks, you can also try Delna's regimen, I've read countless positive comments! I didn't give that a go because my skin was so raw. I might start when I feel the broken areas are strong enough to undergo exfoliation. If you've given any of the products a try, let me know how they work