Hello all, I thought that I would share my personal way I have gotten rid of my cystic acne.

To start, I am an 18 year old male and I have had acne for the past 4-5 years. The only place that I would get acne would be right around my mouth, mostly right below the corners of my mouth. I never really treated it until about 5 months ago. After doing some research I classified it as mostly cystic. I would always have 1-5 active pimples and even when I only had 1 or so I would have the left over redness and scarring of my older ones.

About 5 months ago I started to actually try to treat it. I have tried a bunch of products and have found what has really worked for me. The only products I use are:

Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Wash Redness Soothing http://www.acne.org/neutrogena-oil-free-acne-wash-redness-soothing-facial-cleanser-reviews-679/

I chose this because it is basically the same as every other gentle cleanser but has some soothing ingredients. You can probably replace this with almost any other similar cleanser. Before that I was using an off brand of Neutrogenas normal oil free cleanser and it worked fine. This stuff is a tad more expensive, but I like it.

Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Stress Control Power Scrub http://www.acne.org/neutrogena-oil-free-acne-stress-control-power-clear-scrub-reviews-569/

I chose this because its important to exfoliate every once in a while. This contains 2% SA but also includes glycolic acid which is an AHA that cleans the surface of your skin. This works really well, but dont use it every day or every time you cleanse because that glycolic acid can be quite drying and you dont want to torture your skin. This stuff also has some soothing ingredients and I never find myself drying out too much from it.

AcneFree Maximum Strength Terminator 10 http://www.acne.org/acnefree-maximum-strength-terminator-10-reviews-1455/

Before using this, i was using Neutrogenas 2.5% BP as recommended by the Regimen, but I found that it really dried me out and the product itself flaked up a bunch even though it was 2.5%. I decided I would take a chance on this stuff. The bottle made some typical marketing promises saying that it had some soothing ingredients and was "micro benzol peroxide" but I picked it up anyway. This stuff really did work though, I dont use a ton and just use it after my skin dries out after cleansing. It doesnt dry me out at all either.

Neutrogena Oil-Free Moisture http://www.acne.org/neutrogena-oil-free-moisture-combination-skin-reviews-71/

I chose this mainly because it was so highly regarded in the reviews section of this site. This does work really well and will probably work on anyone's skin because its combination skin.

I cleanse twice a day, but I only use the power scrub every other evening because its a tad harsh. After I cleanse (usually in the shower), I wait for my skin to dry and then apply a thin layer of the BP on my problem area, wait for that to sink in and dry, and then use the moisturizer. I moisturize even if my skin isnt dry, just for good measure. I have also gotten out of the habit of touching my face (especially where I would get pimples) and that probably also helps.

Since starting the use of those products 4 weeks ago, I have only gotten 1 small pimple. The only reason I even got that one is because I was on vacation and unable to properly go thorough my routine. Before this I would get a new big cystic pimple every 2 days or so and they would last a good 3-5 days and leave a mark even when they were gone. The pimple went away after only a day too. I dont expect this to work for everyone but it has worked remarkably well for me. If you do encounter a pimple, just load it up with a blob of BP at night and that helps get rid of it much faster. Hope this helps!