I am 43 years old, female, suffering from cystic acne since I was 13 and not cured but 80% cured. The only advice I can give you after so many years of this horror desease is not wasting your time with topicals, as I did.

The only thing that improve my skin (but not cured) was the ingredients antiDht as Diane35, zinc 50 mg, pumpkin seed oil 50 mg, and recently I have started taking SawPalmetto. I also think tha Spiro has been a great solution for some people, but I have low blood pressure and I fainted the first week with just 50 mg of Spiro. Check out Green Gables posts about Spiro, they are awesome.

I have had acne since the age of 11, I am not 23. When I was in Middle and High School the acne was very mild, I'd say one to five pimples on the face, not cystic, just mild. About a two years ago it became Severe, my Jawline was covered with cystic acne, I never touched or tried to remove any, but I have pitted scars there. I think they were just so deep, scars had to be made. Over the last year, my lower upper jaw line has been breaking out like crazy, as well as my lower cheeks. I have so many pitted scars it's disgusting, they are just so deep. Now recently over the last month or so my chin has been breaking out too like Carayzy!!!! It's all cystic too~~ Idk what to do they wont go away. I keep wondering if this is a hormonal imbalance, but my periods are ALWAYS regular so idk. I haven't been able to see a dermatologist because I have medical bills up the butt from a chronic disease I have, so my skin tends to be the least of my worries usually. Anyways, does this sound similar to anyone, any advice is appreciated. MY acne is going crazy!!! Enough is enough, I hate looking so greasy and pimply with pitted scars. It makes me so self conscious, especially at my age, I am practically 24.

I had regular periods and severe acne.

You can have hormonal problems that cause acne, even if your body still figures out how to bleed you dry every month.

If you can find a dermatologist or ob-gyn or endocrinologist who will prescribe it, spironolactone is an anti-androgen drug that cleared my severe hormonal acne.

Next best would be to use over the counter anti-androgen herbs such as saw palmetto, stinging nettle, and pumpkin seed oil.

Or you could use specific anti-acne birth controls such as Yaz or Ortho Cyclen.

If you want to try to regulate your hormones completely on your own (with help from people here of course), you can also use over the counter progesterone cream without a prescription.

You can have regular periods and still have hormonal imbalances. Some doctors won't check your estrogen levels if you have regular periods, which I think is stupid because you can have excess estrogen and still have regular periods. A dermatologist might be able to identify what type of acne you have (cystic, nodular, etc), but you should also visit an endocrinologist and ask for a full hormonal panel (saliva testing = more accurate than blood tests) to figure out what's causing your imbalance.