Hey Everyone,
I am not writing to ask a question but to share my EXCELLENT creations of treatments I have come up with over the years. I have struggled with acne since I was about 18, and am now 21. I would say I have moderate acne. I get both cystic pimples on my chin and cheeks, and general acne all over my face. Ok I am going to jump right into my findings.
1. To minimize your cystic acne in hours here is what to do: You will need preperation H ointment, and a mild acne cream (mine is presription called Aczone) but if you have something similar use that too. I cleanse my face with the Cetaphil gental cleansing bar, then apply just the Preperation H ointment on my cyst for about 3 hours. It is a bit runny so be sure to check once in awhile to make sure its still on the affected area(s). This will give the cyst time to reduce in redness,swelling and irritaiton. Then after about 3 hours in a bowl mix Preperation H cream and your prescription together, equal parts. It makes a great paste to apply to the area. Simply wipe the old Preperation H cream of with a tissue-do not wash face. This will now target both getting rid of the acne AND reducing the cyst redness, swelling and irritation. Leave this paste on for as long as you want. I ususally do it when I have lots of spare time, so I can keep it on for hours and reapply during that time if needed.
2. Mild face mask: I use Calamine Lotion as a face mask every second day. This helps keep my skin looking soft, smooth AND prevents existing pimples from getting bigger!!!!! All of the store masks are way to harsh for my skin and cannot be used on broken (acne) skin. So using the Calamine Lotion is a very good substitute for those who want to minimize pores but not irritate your acne. Calamine Lotion can be a bit drying, so on the areas of really dry skin I mix Vitamin E oil with the Calamine Lotion. But make sure to apply only to dry areas not the whole face. It will look kind of odd, since they seperate quickly, so apply immediatly after mixing and restir before every application. I usually add 1/3parts Vitamin oil to 2/3parts Calamine Lotion. I leave this on from anywhere from 30 minutes to 5 hours or more. That't the brauty of Calamine Lotion masks, you can leave them on as long as you want!! I do it before bed so I don't wash my face too often.
3. Moiturizers: It is very improtant to moisturize during the day AND at night! I have very oily skin so this concept took me a long time to get on board with, but trust me when I say over time it will be terrific! I use Jamieson Vitamin A Night Cream and Jamieson Vitamin E day cream. The day cream is kind of thick so I apply all over my face and then dab off the extra around my nose,chin, and forehead. For both the evening and morning after I apply my moisturizer I apply a layer of my prescription acne medications. For the night I use tactupump and during the day aczone. You can spot treat with both of these creams, but be careful with the tactupump because it can leave red marks of where you applied the spot treatment the next morning. And the redness stays for a few days. I ususally try to avoid spot treatments and just apply an even THICK layer in the evening and thin layer during the day.
4. Don't EVER pick: I am very very bad about leaving my acne alone. I will literally get anxiety attacks from wanting to pick at my acne. But slowly over time I have adjusted to the idea that that heal faster when left alone. I have expereinced this first hand. When i pick at pimples, they look worse and take longer the heal, when I leave them alone they are gone withing a 3 days now!!! I broke my rule and popped this whitehead last night, and ended up turning it into a cyst. So please please please take my advice and DON"T PICK! It is very easy to convince yourself that it will be better if you pick at it and drain th pus out but trust me its definately not!
5. Be patient: The hardest thing to do is wait for the pimple to go away! Everytime I feel self-conscious about my acne I always tell myself that it is temporary and will everntually go away! Seems stupid, but repeat it a couple times in your head and you will start to feel better!
6. No makeup: For all the girls out there that use makeup to cover up acne, please don't. I used to wear heavy make-up in high school, both liquid and powder foundation together. I went to the doctor and she recommended I slowly stop using makeup on acne. So one day I stopped wearing make up everywhere but my nose. I am not going to lie, your face will look bad at first, but over time your skin will even out and look beautiful. Now I NEVER wear foundation, EVER!!!! In the short term you will feel better about covering up with makeup, but in the long run it will prolong acne, and even make it worse. My skin has WAY less breakouts, and looks more youthful and bright.
I am not a professional dermatologist or anything, just a girl who experiemented with products and found what works. So please feel free to ask me anything about what I posted! 