Acne.org Products
For reference - I am 19, male. I started getting acne when I was about 15 (I'm a really late bloomer).
So for the past year I've been using benzoyl peroxide (acne.org regimen) to treat my acne and it's worked well for me. 3 months ago my skin was finally clear and all my dark marks had faded. At the start of February though, my skin started getting burnt, red, and itchy even though I hadn't changed anything. It just kept getting worse, so I stopped using BP. My skin lost the burn but I started breaking out badly and fast. I immediately started up the BP again as slow as possible to the same results but this time it turned into what I'm 99% sure is eczema (peeling, red, oozing skin patches) as well. But it did seem to help with the acne...
A week ago I started up a new regimen for my skin (the Peter Thomas Roth blemish buster kit - seems to revolve around Salicylic acid). The eczema left and my skin was feeling super smooth. Within a couple of days though, I started breaking out again. It has gotten progressively worse and now I'm covered in acne - even a couple of cysts, which I've never had on my face before. I'm breaking out all over my jaw in particular, and I haven't ever had acne there - just my T-zone.
I think the first step would be to go to a dermatologist...and I have an appointment booked, but it's almost an entire month away. I'm in desperate need of help..if pictures would help, let me know..thank you!
I've heard that jawline acne is hormonal or something....so it could be that. What's your diet like? If BP and SA aren't working, then it could be a couple of others things. A fungal infection would probably happen around the forehead and cheeks and be itchy, so it doesn't sound like that. I would suggest looking at internal conditions.
Alternatively, it could be just that you're overdoing it and getting a bunch of contact dermatitis. If you stop everything and wash with just water, it might go away. Sounds scary, but clearly the current stuff isn't working
Thank you for posting. I almost wonder if it's hormonal too - I've recently started growing facial hair. As far as my diet goes, it hasn't really changed...I don't drink milk, but I do eat out a lot. Other than that I eat pretty healthy at home (and I thought acne wasn't linked to diet?). I was actually thinking about water only but I'm terrified that it will make it even worse. I'll read up a little on it - thanks for the advice!
I second the other poster. It seems like the more I try to do to combat acne (topical wise), the worse and more inflammed I get. Perhaps you should try a very gentle all natural cleaner until you can get into the derm. One of the more gentle things I tried before accutane that did help a little bit was activated charcoal bar soap because it controlled oil and my face never got irritated by it. I can only speak for the soap from Joppa Minerals though, and I don't know if they are all created the same.