I'm revisiting acne.org to tell you what has worked for me. I posted about 6 months back saying I had seen an improvement, now I'm clear and have worked out what was the culprit for me in the hopes it helps someone else. I first developed acne at 13 years old and have battled it for 22 years. It would only clear up when I was on the pill, pregnant or breastfeeding. I thought it was definitely hormonal, but not in the typical sense. I would break out badly at ovulation, my skin would get inflamed, it was almost like every pore was irritated and about to become infected.
I cut out dairy about 6 months or more ago and saw big improvements but stillhad some acne aroundparticularly around ovulation. I introduced spearmint tea being an anti-androgen and saw a huge improvement (see past posts). But I wasstill not 100% clear.As I had cut out dairy I introduced a lot more coconut, such as milk and coconut oil. Such a bad idea. I only have to have thesmallest amount of coconut and my skin goes beserk, andit ishidden in so many foods. I cut coconut out and my skin improved. I had also introduced yoghurt back into my diet, out of fear of a lack of calcium and because I woud eat my son's leftover yogurt. And my skin was fine...! But it is dairy I thought, and dairy is the culprit...or so I thought....Istarting eating HEAPS of yoghurt and my skin was fine. Then I worked out there is very little lactose in yoghurt, it is converted into lactic acid or something. I now regard myself as lactose/sorbitol/fructose intolerant. It has been a revelation to me and my skin is not far from perfect now...such a huge change.

My symptoms of my lactose/sorbitol/fructose intolerance
-a bit gassy but I thought that was normal?? It was tolerable.
-the runs from things like fresh cream, cheesecake.
-bad runs from nectarines, plums, pineapple, mango, citrus.
-runs from artificially sweetened foods (sorbitol) things like mints and stuff

I now drink lactose free milk, eat normal yoghurt and hard cheese. I still drink my spearmint tea. My skin is completely different. So is my digestive system. I truly believe intolerances are a major factor in a lot of acne cases, I figure now if something makes me gassy or have slight runs it is going to end up coming out of my skin too....