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If this sounds anything like you, please PLEASE, stop! You may find your answer, but you also may waste seven months (or longer) of your life, obsessing over your skin and not actually living your life. I know it's so difficult and trust me, it affects me emotionally to the point where I find it hard to go into work, and have cancelled weekend plans (including this weekend :S) to just be alone without makeup on in a dark room. But this is NOT helping. Please remember your friends and family love you for you. Share your struggles with them, they will support you, and the best part is no one really CARES/notices your acne. Seriously. It's just you honing in on it. It's almost hypocritical for me to say this as I'm literally wondering if I'm going to be able to go to the shop later to get food without makeup on, but it is true and it's something I want to try and embrace. I don't want to look back on my life and think, oh remember that year (or two, or three) that I wasted indoors alone because I didn't want people to see my face?
Anyway sorry for the rant, now onto the things I have tried, so you can decide for yourself whether it's worth it. Please note I tried everything for at least three weeks or longer, unless stated, as I know regimes take a while to have results. And obviously everyone's skin is different but this is just my experience. FYI I came off birth control in October and still had perfect skin for a month or so, then started getting little spots around my lips/chin which has progressively worsened each month so that every single day I wake up with a new big red lump around my chin/jaw and have started getting a few on my cheeks. Also I don't pick them but they ALL leave behind red marks, some of which have been there for months now and don't seem to fade. This is especially so if they come to a head. Like that thing is just going to leave a mark on my face, and I'm quite pale so my face just looks red and irritated. Plus I've got little bumps all over, which I think has to do with using various drying products, but yeah they aren't going away either so the texture of my skin is also rubbish right now.
TOPICALS:
1) lemon juice to lighten marks. had no effect. dried skin and made it look weird texture wise. didn't stop new spots forming.
2) ACV toner. just turned me into whitehead city, and was drying. yes i diluted with water.
3) rosewater toner. to be honest this didn't really do much of anything good or bad. it's quite nice and more soothing than other things i've tried, but it's not going to cure acne.
4) la poche rosay duo. dear LORD. my poor skin. it looked dry, sad, i got loads more of those little bumps, and then started getting a few red lumps come up. i stopped use after two weeks. i know people say there's a "purging" phase, but it wasn't just lumps ,the entire texture of my face looked awful and sad and i just couldn't handle it
5) coconut oil. NO. just no. under the skin lumps yay.
6) simple products. super drying. didn't help prevent spots.
7) RENE products. more soothing but still didn't help my acne. I was using the clay cleanser and the tone balancing gel.
8) Lush mask of magnanimity. No better, no worse.
9) zinc oxide spot treatment. dried my skin. ruined pillowcases. red marks and acne remained.
10) duac, prescribed by doctors. ok so i think my skin just react really badly to anything drying AKA most acne treatments. after a few days, my lower face had turned almost a weird orange colour and was flaking and the spots were still coming. i stuck it out for two weeks ( i was so SO miserable and couldn't look at people in the eye) then gave up. I tried duacagain in a moment of desperation last month and the same thing happened.
11) coffee scrub. way too harsh. maybe if i had no active acne this would be good to help fade marks, but right now it's not an option.
12) neal's yard facial. made my skin feel bad.
SUPPLEMENTS:
1) zinc. took for two months. no improvement.
2) general multivitamin, same deal.
3) evening primrose. NONONO bumpy spot vibes.
4) turmeric. no better, no worse.
5) a clove of garlic morning and night. no better, no worse.
6) agnus castus. this was kind of more to help balance my hormones and actually got my period back (another problem with coming off the pill)! Iran out and haven't had a period again for four months (seriously...) butthere was no improvement with my skin, so..
DIET:
Let's just get right into this. I haven't had dairy in YEARS, I rarelyhave "sugary" treats minus like the occasional vegan cake or dark chocolate. I have noticed if I do eat something like that I might get a few extra spots, but sometimes it's like I'm already so miserable just let me eat the damn cake you know?! I've been veggie for nine years, vegan for much of that. This year tried high carb no fat (that was a mistake..dry skin, still spotty and also generally felt like I was zombie-fied the entire time). Raw doesn't help either. I've just started eating oily fish a few times a week and I do feel like it helps (and also with my mood/energy/trying to put on weight), but I'll let you know how that goes. I'm also not eating grains right now. I do try to avoid large quantities of nuts as these DEFO make me break out but sometimes I need the energy boost. I don't drink coffee, I don't smoke, I maybe have 3 alcoholic drinks a month, I drink upwards of 2 litres of water a day plus lots of herbal tea (mint, chamomile...). Basically, hi guys, I think I'm quite healthy? I am seeing a nutritionist next week which is to do with a number of things and not just my skin, but I can let you know how that goes.
LIFESTYLE:
I work in a really lovely job. My friends are great Ive just been avoiding them because I feel bad about my appearance. I do yoga like 4/5 times a week. I meditate most mornings. I AM very stressed/prone to anxiety and depression and I KNOW that doesnt help but its hard to combat and I do the best that I can, so yeah.
OTHER:
Ive been trying acupuncture with little result. Homeopathy, same thing. My mum is mad and loves crystal therapy so Im currently rubbing amethyst on my face and drinking amethyst elixir. Yeah, I know, but guys, Im DESPERATE.
Anyway, thatabout sums things up for now. In terms of things that have helped, there are just two:
1) Cod liver oil. My skin looks a little bit nicer and also my eyes are less dry, so that's always good.
2) Manuka honey. I use it as a mask every other night, sometimes with oats. It feels so NICE and my skin feels soft afterwards. I dunno if it's helped with red marks or get rid of spots but it's definitely not hurting and I can kind of tell it's doing some good to my skin.
At present, I do the honey masks, take cod liver oil, the amethyst elixir (soz), lemon water. I've been having green juices for breakfast, avoiding grains, I don't eat dairy or eggs, I don't eat meat, I'm eating lots of veggies/salads/fish/a bit of fruit (apples, dark berries, bananas..) I've just started cleansing with a dead sea cleansing bar, and then using a "scar oil" from Neal's Yard on my face (rosehip, jasmine, vitamin E). That's it. I have antibiotics from my doctor but I don't want to take them, they're morelike a last resort if, in a few months, things aren't getting better. It's clearly hormonal, but it's also CONSTANT which sucks so badly. And the redness is so harsh, but the harsher the product I use on my skin, the worsethings get for me so I'm over it. If anyone does have any advice, I'd be happy to hear it. But basically I hope this helps some of you and also I hope that you can just LOVE life and enjoy it and not spend all your time worrying about your skin like me because I am sure you are lovely and awesome and beautiful and the world can see that, regardless of acne. LOVE!
I've had acne since I was a teenager, and I'm almost 48 now. I've kept it pretty well under control for years but it does require continued diligence even now (I've tried stopping thinking I'm too old for acne and within weeks I discover I'm wrong). Here is what has worked best for me that you don't appear to have tried. I tried many other things before and after the periods where I used these products, but it was when I was using these products and doing these things that my skin looked best.
In my late teens/early 20's - Accutane. It sucked, dried out everything, but it worked. The dryness and other side effects may not be worth it for some people though. I'm sure I used a topical cream at the same time, probably Retin-A or Benzoyl peroxide or both.
In my 30's - washing face twice a day with gentle cleanser (purpose liquid soap), over-the-counter benzoyl peroxide (10%) in the morning, retin-A gel in the evening. Periodically steaming my face using hot steam and pressing a clean, wet washcloth on my skin also really helped and felt great.
In my 40's - same face washing regimen (I used Johnson's and Johnson's baby wash and loved it but they recently changed their formula and I no longer like the fragrance). Now I use Tazorac gel in the morning and Aczone gel in the evening. Those two prescription medsare wonderful and last a long time but unfortunately they are very expensive. I steam my face every now and then but not as often as I used to because the creams are working so well.
I've heard light therapy works (but again expensive) but haven't tried it. Same with acne "surgery" which I haven't tried either and am not even sure what it is...but my son's dermatologist wants him to try it. I've tried so many other things that had no effect and I'm convinced that simpler is better. I don't use moisturizer consistently but I probably should.
Good luck. Although dermatologists are basically just trial and error doctors, at least they have access to prescription medications and treatments. Acne is serious business and in my experience, ONLY prescription meds have worked with the exception of benzoyl peroxide. I've also found that using benzyol peroxide wash is overkill when also using creams. Keep the face washing regimen simple. I know how it feels to want to stay inside because your skin is so bad, I feel for you. But don't give up.
Dermatologists are not trial and error doctors, that's a bit unfair. While there are guidelines for each treatment they do vary so much from person to person. I am 47 and had my first course of istretinoin/accutane at 44. I have friends who were able to tolerate 60 mg a day for 6 months but I was only able to tolerate 30 mg a day for 3 months before being taken off it but the residual results I got were amazing, nearly 3 years of near perfect clean skin. I can't tolerate BP, it irritates my skin and has not discernible benefit but for many people it works.
Do see a dermatologist as they will be able to advise, guide and support you through some proven treatments. Yes, there are side effects to treatments like isotretinoin but they can all be managed and the end results, in my experience, tend to be pretty good. My confidence has rocketed!
Good luck with which ever route you choose 