I got my first blackheads when I was 9 years old. Now I'm 16 and acne had become a part of my personality. I know that my acne is mild (you can look at the attached photos) and it always has been like that however it's nasty and I have it for 7 years already and I can't stand it anymore. Last year I also got acne on my shoulders and I had whiteheads down there for a decent amount of time (5 years, I think). Something has to be finally done.
I wouldn't say that I devoted my life to acne treatment. I've tried only a few treatments but they proved their ineffectiveness. Currently all I do to my face skin is washing it once a day with warm water when I'm taking shower.
But now I really want to fight my acne like never before. I'm looking for effective treatment to fight not only my face acne but also my body acne. Acne.org Regimen seems to be pretty good but the problem is I live in Ukraine and shipping costs $30 on Amazon and $34 on Acne.org (why do shipping costs differ though?) for Acne.org Regimen Big Kit. Considering that price of Regimen itself is $76.70 I'm paying 30% for nothing. And $110 isn't nothing for me. $165 is average monthly salary here in Ukraine (yeah, it's quite poor). And the real problem is the regimen isn't permanent one-time treatment. I'm going to spend 330-440 dollars per year and that doesn't look good to me. That's why I'm looking for other treatments. I though about Accutane because it's really powerful treatment, can have permanent affect and could probably help me with my greasy hair but I think that I wouldn't get it because it's usually prescribed for more severe acne.
So what are your suggestions? What treatment should I get?
This may sound really typical to you, but have you tried manual or chemical exfoliation? Like a salicylic acid or something? The majority of your acne looks like black heads, clogged pores and white heads, which often give way to the larger spots. Honestly, i've never really cared much for the acne.org kit, the ingredient which is meant to work the magic in the kit is benzoyl peroxide, which can be found in other creams if you look around. I'm not 100% familiar with the kit, but if you've tired bp without success, find a different active ingredient for your skin.
Actually I believe I've never tried BP. Should I give a try to some over-the-counter BP gel?
The thing I really don't understand is why the top amazon comments about the regimen are all positive but thetop amazon comments about Acne.org Treatment are all negative. How the hell is this even possible?
The acne.org treatment idea is a good treatment for most, problem is that every skin reacts differently to a certain moisturizer or cleanser. There isn't a treatment that works for everyone therefore I think that the acne.org regimen, with the acne.org products, won't work for everyone. For instance, the reviews for acne.org moisturizer are mostly negative
After reading a lot of topics here on acne.org I came to conclusion that the only treatment that will most likely work is Accutane. I've found a lot of posts from people that took Accutane because they had comedonal acne like me and are happy with their results. It seems that a lot of other treatments either simply work for a limited amount of time or don't work at all for all people. I also believe that exfoliators won't really work because even if they can get rid of comedones, they'll return soon because exfoliators deal with results, not reasons. Acne.org Regimen also seems pretty much powerless when dealing with non-inflamed comedonal acne.
I don't mean to be rude but your derm may not consider your acne severe enough to prescribe accutane, but good luck if you feel that is what you want to try. In the mean time if you haven't tried bp I recommend you do, if you go to a dermatologist and they happen to ask you if you have tried it and you answer no, there is a 90% chance they will send you out the door with a tube of it and tell you to come back in three months.
Also, ive been looking into a few things for my own acne and found something that's called pityosporum folliculitis, where the acne like lesions are usually caused by a yeast/fungi and anti-fungals are used to combat it. It looks like something you may have so give it a google maybe.
I know that Accitane is usually prescribed for that scary cystic acne. But I just googled "accutane comedonal acne" and there are pics of people with acne similar to mine. I'm also 100% sure that my acne is caused by excessive oil production and that's exactly what Accutane deals with. The real problem is, in my country it's uncommon to have a medical insurance so I'm gonna pay for Accutane myself and you know it isn't cheap (though much cheaper than in USA).
Get accutane (Isotretinoin) imo! It may be expensive, but the success rate for accutane (Isotretinoin) is higher than any other treatment.
Everything else is BS and it angers me greatly!! Creams and everything else are just beating around the bush, it doesn't fix anything!! Cut out all the BS and get accutane lol!
It changed my life and here's a picture attached of my before and after shot, that's what brings me to this forum preaching it as much as possible
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My cousin tried accutane with bad results. I say go for it and if it works thats great! If it doesn't, try to keep to a basic skin routine with natural ingredients. Make sure to exfoliate, so all the bacteria and clogged pores won't happen as often. If it keeps going on, try cutting dairy and eating more healthier. Hope this helped!!! GOOD LUCK!!!! 