Hello everyone, I have been reading posts on this forum for about a year now. Trying to figure out what is the cause of my acne. I've tried everything from antibiotics, to multiple soaps and shampoos, to lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise. However none of that drastically helped, may have decreased my breakouts a bit but did not stop them. I started getting breakouts on my back when I was about 18, I am now 22. I have never had major acne on my face, maybe a small pimple here and there but thats about it. However, I would get cystic acne on my back that was pretty bad. About a year or two after I started breaking out on my back I started getting acne on my chest. Not as much as my back but still some pretty big pimples. About a year and half ago I started getting acne on my scalp, as much as my back acne bothered me, once I started getting acne on my scalp It drove me insane. I knew I had to put an end to this. I did absolutely everything, maintained great hygiene, exercised, ate well, drank water, didn't use any hair products, stopped my occasional drinking and my occasional weed smoking, took antibiotics, took multi-viatmins,got a shower head water filter, used detergent for sensitive skin, got sufficient sleep every night...you name it I tried it. However, there was always one thing I thought could have been causing my acne on that was masturbation, excessive masturbation I should add. But I was so addicted to masturbation and internet pornography, where I was in denial for a long time and kept trying to tell myself that wasn't the cause of it. When my acne was at its worst, was when I was masturbating the most. Started when I was about 13-14, but then started doing it excessively at about 16. I masturbated about twice a day give or take consistently for a couple years. And not to mention I would do it for hours a day, I would hold it in for hours until I would finally ejaculate.

I recently moved to a new city to finish my undergrad, and it has drastically motivated me to put this acne we are all dealing with to an end. Being in my comfort zone for all these years just made me accept the acne and deal with it. Now that i'm in a new environment, I want to feel comfortable and confident in meeting new people and doing new things. And it's not going to happen unless I put this plague to an end. I've quit masturbation about 3 times now for about two weeks at a time then I gave in. It's tough, not going to lie. However when I did stop I started seeing improvments, but I didn't stop long enough to see the goals I'm GOING to reach.I am currently about to get to 3 weeks on Thursday, and I am seeing results. I don't have any new break outs on my back or on my chest, and the redness from old acne is also decreasing. My scalp is also doing better but not 100%. Not to mention I am still doing all the other things as well (exercising, drinking alot of water,eating good, etc). Also, I noticed showering TOO much makes acne worse, you have to find the right balance in order to treat your acne. Excessive washing causes dryness which leads to excessive oil production. It's best for me to shower once every 3 or 4 days. If you are suffering from acne and if you masturbate a lot, trust me it's worth a shot to stop. This is not the case for everybody, everybody's body is different. And you cannot stop for a few days or even a week or two. I've come to realize you have to stop for at least a month to see some solid results. So give it a shot along with the other obvious things and you wont regret it.