Hello all,
Some preface: skip to tl;dr if you are not fond of reading too much
This is my first time posting in this forum, though I wish I had done so earlier. I have mild acne, but A LOT of scarring, mostly based on the cheeks. I am set to start laser resurfacing once I can stop my breakouts. I started getting very mild acne when I was 13. In an attempt to counter this, I would wash my face more often. My acne continued, so after a while we went to see a dermatologist, who prescribed 10% benzoyl peroxide and tetracycline. I applied the benzoyl peroxide and took the tetracycline religiously. There was a little relief at the beginning of the treatment, but then my skin continued to break out. As such, I just kept trying to wash my face more frequently. Starting about a year ago, I started washing my face 3-4 times daily, and finishing with the 10% benzoyl peroxide cream. Mind you, this was before I actually invested serious time into researching skin care. Not one of the brightest feats of mine. My acne continued in the areas where I used benzoyl, so I switched to only washing my face twice a day, but using two face washes, one with 2% salicylic acid, and the other with 5% benzoyl peroxide. My whole face broke out and I finally clued in. The biggest cause of my acne for the last few years has not been the fact that I had insufficiently washed, it was that I had excessively washed my skin, thus creating very oily skin which lead to more breakouts. All of my family has normal type skin, and although I really don't remember what skin type I was before recently, I am inclined to believe I was not genetically dispositioned to oily skin, but made myself oily-skinned.
tl;dr I excessively washed my face and used harsh products for several years, thereby making my skin oily, whereas it used to be normal.
So what do I do now? Can I ever return to normal skin? And if so, what steps should I take? Currently I am taking fermented cod liver oil in hopes of rebalancing some hormones. Many thanks!
What helped me temendously was milk of magnesia original. My face was so oily. After about an hour after washing it, it would be so oily you could almost see your reflection. Try milk if magnesia. I literally go whole day with no oil shine and it doesn't over dry my skin and it actually calms it. YouTube the reviews of it! It was the only thing that I've actually gotten instant results from. As far as a permanent solution? Always moisterize your face after washing it. Use oil free moisterizer. That will balance out oil excretion. You wash off all the oil and immediately your body produces more to compensate for the loss. The oil isn't exactly bad either. It helps heal skin cells. But too much can be a little annoying... I understand that. Vitamin a can help too. Let me know how these work! For now though, I highly suggest trying milk of mag.
Hey!
I've suffered from mild to moderate acne for years now. Like you, I've used loads of harsh chemicals and stuff like that on my face but found that only made my oily skin even worse. However, for the last six months I've decided to go more natural. The main thing that has made a noticeable difference is mixing tea tree oil with aloe vera gel. No more than two drops of tea tree cus it's pretty strong. Just squeeze some of the aloe gel into the palm of your hand, add the tea tree, mix together and apply to a freshly cleansed face at night and in the morning. Aloe is soothing and tea tree is antibacterial. This prevents new breakouts and therefore gives the existing scars a chance to heal - as they're not being constantly bombarded with new blemishes. (and, it's CHEAP!) It's drastically reduced my oiliness. I've also been using Clinique's clinical clearing gel - it's great on scars as it contains Salicylic acid. This is the only harsh(ish) product I use, just once a day before bed.
In case of dryness I usually pat on a tiny bit of moisturizer after the Salicylic has absorbed.
I find that using really harsh products and over-washing your face when you have acne prone skin seems to make it worse - it seems to fuel the production of sebum. Try to go a bit more natural - there are loads of videos and stuff on youtube about it.
Everyone's skin is different, so I can't guarantee this will work. But, if like me, you're at the end of your tether, it's worth a shot!
Note: tea tree and aloe will make your skin tingle - it's normal.
Hope this helps. (Sorry it's so long winded)
Hello all,
Some preface: skip to tl;dr if you are not fond of reading too much
This is my first time posting in this forum, though I wish I had done so earlier. I have mild acne, but A LOT of scarring, mostly based on the cheeks. I am set to start laser resurfacing once I can stop my breakouts. I started getting very mild acne when I was 13. In an attempt to counter this, I would wash my face more often. My acne continued, so after a while we went to see a dermatologist, who prescribed 10% benzoyl peroxide and tetracycline. I applied the benzoyl peroxide and took the tetracycline religiously. There was a little relief at the beginning of the treatment, but then my skin continued to break out. As such, I just kept trying to wash my face more frequently. Starting about a year ago, I started washing my face 3-4 times daily, and finishing with the 10% benzoyl peroxide cream. Mind you, this was before I actually invested serious time into researching skin care. Not one of the brightest feats of mine. My acne continued in the areas where I used benzoyl, so I switched to only washing my face twice a day, but using two face washes, one with 2% salicylic acid, and the other with 5% benzoyl peroxide. My whole face broke out and I finally clued in. The biggest cause of my acne for the last few years has not been the fact that I had insufficiently washed, it was that I had excessively washed my skin, thus creating very oily skin which lead to more breakouts. All of my family has normal type skin, and although I really don't remember what skin type I was before recently, I am inclined to believe I was not genetically dispositioned to oily skin, but made myself oily-skinned.
tl;dr I excessively washed my face and used harsh products for several years, thereby making my skin oily, whereas it used to be normal.
So what do I do now? Can I ever return to normal skin? And if so, what steps should I take? Currently I am taking fermented cod liver oil in hopes of rebalancing some hormones. Many thanks!
Milk of Magnesia works wonders for oily skin.
Alright, back after a little, and I apologize for not posting about my experience thus far. However, I usually try to talk about a treatment after it has shown its best side. However, MoM never really did well for me. The oil in my skin was definitely less whilst I was using it. When I applied a little topically every morning, I would find only a tiny bit of excess oil developing by late evening. However, my breakouts got worse and more frequent, and my scars looked redder than usual. Up until yesterday I tried continuing with it in hopes things would clear up. Since it did not, I have stopped using MoM.
Today, I started the caveman regimen. Which basically entails using no topical products of any sort. I will post about how it works out in the coming weeks. But ultimately, I believe that topical treatments are what got me into this mess, and at this point, they can only exacerbate the problem. I'm not saying they're bad for everyone, as there are an enormous variety of causes for different people's acne which entail different solutions. But for me, I just don't think topical treatments will ever be one of them.