Hello everyone! I'm new here but really hoping someone has had similar experiences or has an idea of something that may help me.
I've had acne since I was 12 or 13, so at least 7 years. I've tried salicylic acid, Rodan + Fields (the Unblemish line and the Soothe line), some Korean treatment for acne + sensitive skin (which actually sometimes seemed to help), essential oils/tea tree oil (used to help more than it does now), various face masks, acne creams, antibiotics, etc. and now using Young Living's Orange Blossom face wash + moisturizer set. My skin is currently really dry, red, and itchy (I don't know why, I use a lot of moisturizer!).
Anyway, my acne now is ALL of the above and more, and I can't figure out anything that works! I have whiteheads, blackheads, cystic acne, and questionable "knots" that are maybe some other sort of cystic acne? I typically have 2 or more knots under the skin that are usually not red on top like most acne, yet seem to have pus inside and are definitely a bump on my skin, and they last a really long time. They can be huge sometimes and never come to a head. The closest they've ever come to a head was a dark spot (kind of looked like blood under the skin) and I lanced it with a sterile needle once to let it drain and it let out a TON of pus and blood. It was gross. It happened again recently, and this knot was painful, so I decided to poke it with a needle to see if I could relieve pain. It oozed pus a lot at once, but didn't seem to "empty" although it felt somewhat better afterwards. I had another that has been there for MONTHS and I have been scared to mess with it, and I poked it as well and it just bled. The weird thing is that it is soft, like it feels like it should drain and that there's fluid near the surface but I guess not? I really have no idea what these "knots" are since they are NOT red and do not have a head. I call it acne but it also kind of sounded like a sebaceous cyst according to Google. Anyone have any ideas, opinions, experience, help?
I'm open to suggestions about the rest of my acne/redness/dryness as well!!
You are completely right on your assumption. I had the exact same things for a really long time, deep under the skin that hurt when i touched it and sometimes never came to a head, when it did, a lot of pus+blood came out.
I tried so many things for many years and nothing worked. After 8 years of battle with cystic acne i resorted to accutane. And that cured my acne for good. I think you will do more harm than good if you don't go on accutane. I can clearly see on your pictures that you are dealing with cystic acne that can potentially leave unwanted scars. If you want to lessen the probability of scars and have less cysts you should go on accutane.
On 9/21/2018 at 3:28 PM, incepticon said:You are completely right on your assumption. I had the exact same things for a really long time, deep under the skin that hurt when i touched it and sometimes never came to a head, when it did, a lot of pus+blood came out.
I tried so many things for many years and nothing worked. After 8 years of battle with cystic acne i resorted to accutane. And that cured my acne for good. I think you will do more harm than good if you don't go on accutane. I can clearly see on your pictures that you are dealing with cystic acne that can potentially leave unwanted scars. If you want to lessen the probability of scars and have less cysts you should go on accutane.
Thanks for your reply! I've considered accutane when I had cystic acne before but I have other health issues that could be aggravated by it. I'm going to a derm soon to ask about options.
I'm also kind of curious- isn't accutane supposed to basically dry up the oil your skin produces so your pores don't get clogged? My skin used to be oily (junior high/high school age) but is extremely dry now, so I don't know if further drying it out would help as much as it does with some people who have normal or oily skin. I'm definitely not an expert though, so I could be completely wrong about the drying out thing.
14 hours ago, LavenderHummingbird said:Thanks for your reply! I've considered accutane when I had cystic acne before but I have other health issues that could be aggravated by it. I'm going to a derm soon to ask about options.
I'm also kind of curious- isn't accutane supposed to basically dry up the oil your skin produces so your pores don't get clogged? My skin used to be oily (junior high/high school age) but is extremely dry now, so I don't know if further drying it out would help as much as it does with some people who have normal or oily skin. I'm definitely not an expert though, so I could be completely wrong about the drying out thing.
The only function of accutane isnt drying out your skin. It works on many levels, herein decreasing your sebaceous glands which is the primary reason for cystic acne. People who develop cystic acne have overactive glands, and accutane shrinks them. Ive never had any cysts since i finished accutane. And this is the best thing that happened to me. When it has reached a certain level not taking accutane will leave you with not just acne but acne scars.