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- 45 year-old male
- Cystic facial acne since early teens. Lifetime eczema including face.
- Several courses of heavy Accutane in late teens/early 20s and one course of low-dose Accutane (in my 30s).
- Fingers crossed, I rarely get cystic acne any more but its been replaced by the following (facepalm)
- For past year, Im getting 4 - 5 small whiteheads per day on my inner/front-facing cheeks.
- The unfortunate part is that these small whiteheads generate almost as much radiating redness as a full-on cyst (!!!), take a week or more to heal and sometimes scar.
- There is no lump/cyst - they are very small whiteheads and on the skin surface only - cant even feel them with fingers (vs feeling a lump with cystic acne).
- When the whitehead is removed (via uber gentle face washing lukewarm water) there is NO additional pus - they actually ooze a yellowish liquid that dries as a yellowish crust.
- My dermatologist has tried various antibiotic prescriptions for me with no change and we are stumped. For almost a year Ive systematically assessed and tried things related to diet, exercise, pillows, face washing frequency and method, water temp, shower head water filter, various cleansers, benzoyl peroxide leave-on creams of various strengths, non-steroid cream for eczema (pimecrolimus), salicylic acids leave-on serums of various strengths, etc. etc.
- The onset of these whiteheads is accompanied (approx 75% of the time) with full-face heat/flush and itch. Not always - sometimes wake up with them.
- None of the preceding have helped - alone or in combo.
- Any thoughts re:
1. What is this? Acne? Weeping eczema? Other?
2. How to treat?
3. How to prevent?
Thank you - great forum.
Not a doc and can't diagnose, but here are my meanderings.
Have you tried carnivore diet? It's insane and hardcore but I've heard anecdotal stories of people getting remission from various maladies when doing carnivore. <--Long shot though.
Also, have you tried any auto-immune drugs? There's evidence showing they clear severe acne. I wonder if you have something auto-immune going on. Check out this article: https://www.acne.org/are-drugs-for-auto-immune-diseases-effective-against-acne