I'm 46. Since my mid twenties I have not had a problem with acne. About 6 months ago I decided to grow a beard. A really short one like hair is 1/4-inch long at most. I trim it with a beard trimmed about once every 3-4 days.

About 3 months in, I started getting acne and had a checkup by chance and doctor said it could be folliculities. I had to take antibiotics for another reason and it cleared up. It wasn't that bad to begin with though and could have possibly gone away on its own.

Since then it's gotten a little more worse and frequent. Have a few outbreaks, I give in and pinch them to get the pus out and they are gone in about 10 days. Then I may have a week or two break then get a few outbreaks.

The thing that is concerning me is at my age, I don't heal as well and now I'm getting some moderate scarring every place I get them.

I've been doing Salicylic Acid Peels 20% every two weeks. It seems to reduce scarring and clear things up.

But things seem to be getting worse. I am getting them on my chin, under my nose, and cheek. The thing I'm noticing now is that increasingly the irritation/infection is deep and hurts and it takes 2 or 3 days until the pus comes to the surface. Last time so deep under my nose, there was barely a pimple showing, but it hurt so bad my lip swelled up - this seems to be obviously a sign of infection. It is about 80% gone now after about 6 days.

Anitbiotics don't seem to be the solution as it's not good to be taking antibiotics off and on. I guess in the last 20 years, I've not had any acne problem and so I've probably been lazy with any consistent facial skin care regimen. I usually wash my face with a gentle cleaner about 70% of the time before bed. And at first signs of acne I use a 2% Salicylic Cream which seems to work okay.

There's also a trend that more of these pimples I'm getting now are bigger and more swollen (bumpier) than your average acne. It's like a pattern is forming of worsening conditions. Maybe the Salicylic Acid peels are contributing but my gut says no, that they are helping more than hurting.

I read a facial cream with antioxidants can help prevent bacteria from growing in the pores so I found some Olay cream with Vitamins C, E and B3 in it.

Another change is now that's it's winter in Seattle, not much exposure to sunlight. A little UV can help clear things up.

The other thing I'm wondering is if maybe it has to do with the plastic guard on the beard having bacteria on it from not being disinfected and so every 3-4 days when I trim, I'm rubbing bacteria on my face. But I usually trim before showering and I use a tea tree bath wash on my body and face.

I'm kind of at a loss but I need to find a solution so I stop getting more scarring or I'm going to age real fast here!

Got an appointment with a Dermatologist but thank to Obamacare, my self-employed insurance doesn't cover much so I'd like to find a solution on my own but kind of at the end of my rope.