Acne.org Products
Heres some background on my skin: I started getting acne at 12. I knew nothing about acne back then and used drug store acne products that didn't work all throughout middle school. Finally, in high school my mom took my to the dermatologist and i was put on topical treatments that didn't work. In my senior year of high school, the doctor put me on antibiotics and it was a miracle, my skin cleared COMPLETELY. I was finally so happy and I never had to wear makeup. After about a year on the antibiotics, they stopped working and all my acne came back. This is when i started to research skin care and acne really heavily and learned how bad antibiotics are for your skin.
**When I was 19 I got on birth control hoping it would help my skin but it did absolutely nothing. (didn't make it worse or better). Ive been off the pill for 6 months now and skin is still the same***
I am now in my senior year of college (21 years old) and have done EVERYTHING. I use primarily natural and good quality gentle skin care. I use great brands like origins and bare minerals makeup. I wash and moisturize my face every morning and every night. I wash my makeup brushes and pillow cases every week and never go to bed with makeup on. I have mostly cut out all dairy (only eat it on rare occasions). I eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and only drink green teat and water (i drink A LOT of water) I have tried probiotics and seen no results. Its so frustrating taking such good care of my skin and still having breakouts all the time, yet my friends, who eat whatever they want and have awful skin care, have flawless skin. (I'm sure a lot of you know the struggle)
I attached pictures of my skin right now. I only ever break out on my cheeks and sometimes my chin, rarely (if ever) on my forehead. I have pimples on my cheeks at all times. My acne is either under the skin, or whiteheads. Im starting to think my acne is hormonal, because nothing else helps. Does anyone have a similar story or know anything that helps? Ive read that dermatologist aren't helpful with hormonal acne, so who should i go see? OBGYN? Who gives hormone tests?
Also I've read a lot about PCOS and how that causes acne. I have a lot of the symptoms, EXCEPT my period is completely regular. Any advice is appreciated!
If you got this far, thanks so much in advance!!
I'm afraid I can't be of much help in regards to how to treat the acne. My spots are easily 10+ times the size of your spots and on my neck and jawline, so it's a different kind altogether. But! I have read that you can still have PCOS if you have regular periods. I'm thinking I might have this as well, but still need to look into it further. I don't know how much here is accurate (I haven't looked into it further yet), but the other day I came across this guy discussing the different types of PCOS:
Best luck darlin!
I would say that's at the point where it is time to go in and see a dermatologist. I first went to a gyn because I suspected I had hormonal acne. I went from having clear skin all my life fo breaking out like you, except lower on my cheeks. I had a hormonal blood panel done which was suggestive of PCOS. My periods were full coming but they were like 10 days late almost every month. I didn't have any excessive hair growth and I'm not overweight. I had an ultrasound which revealed one polycystic ovary only. Since I'm not a good candidate for birth control pills it was suggested I see a derm. I've been taking spironolactone and have had clear skin since about a month into taking it. Started Spiro Nov 30th.
I've been struggling with breakouts that look just like yours, it's only been the last year and a half to two years and I'm now 42, so I think mine is hormonal.
I've been researching...you can have an imbalance and still be having regular periods. PCOS, or estrogen dominance...
I've ordered a hormonal test, so I'll be doing that this cycle...in the meantime, I picked up some soy-free DIM (supplement) and after a week, I'm already seeing a difference.
2 hours ago, TheBean said:I've been struggling with breakouts that look just like yours, it's only been the last year and a half to two years and I'm now 42, so I think mine is hormonal.
I've been researching...you can have an imbalance and still be having regular periods. PCOS, or estrogen dominance...
I've ordered a hormonal test, so I'll be doing that this cycle...in the meantime, I picked up some soy-free DIM (supplement) and after a week, I'm already seeing a difference.
Hey, that's awesome the soy-free DIM has helped. I think we chatted one or two weeks ago about you potentially being estrogen dominant so perhaps that was the case if DIM made such a positive impact right away. Is it bad to take one that does contain soy? Like I have one by Nature's way I got a while ago, and never took it but just noticed now it contains soy...hmm.
Soy has estrogenic effects and can make estrogen dominance worse. It's best to avoid soy whenever possible.
I think it's strange that so many brands of DIM are soy-based. I went looking for one that was soy-free.
When I took the brand with soy, I had horrible hot flashes the next day. I switched to the brand without the soy and haven't had one since. No night sweats either. The couple pimples that began to emerge the night before, started shrinking immediately.
I could swear that it's helped my energy and mental focus too.
I feel like I'm in the wrong section 
Anyway, I definitely recommend drinking red raspberry leaf tea every night before bed, and throughout the day. You could just make a big batch every night and drink the leftover tea throughout the next day. Red raspberry leaf is known to be phenomenal at balancing hormones in many ways.
Also cutting out dairy and soy for a couple weeks would be a great idea. Just see if anything improves... Good luck.
On February 7, 2017 at 11:44 PM, svuchic said:I would say that's at the point where it is time to go in and see a dermatologist. I first went to a gyn because I suspected I had hormonal acne. I went from having clear skin all my life fo breaking out like you, except lower on my cheeks. I had a hormonal blood panel done which was suggestive of PCOS. My periods were full coming but they were like 10 days late almost every month. I didn't have any excessive hair growth and I'm not overweight. I had an ultrasound which revealed one polycystic ovary only. Since I'm not a good candidate for birth control pills it was suggested I see a derm. I've been taking spironolactone and have had clear skin since about a month into taking it. Started Spiro Nov 30th.
Hey! Did you have the blood work done at the dermatologist or the gyn?
On 2/8/2017 at 6:47 AM, TheBean said:I've been struggling with breakouts that look just like yours, it's only been the last year and a half to two years and I'm now 42, so I think mine is hormonal.
I've been researching...you can have an imbalance and still be having regular periods. PCOS, or estrogen dominance...
I've ordered a hormonal test, so I'll be doing that this cycle...in the meantime, I picked up some soy-free DIM (supplement) and after a week, I'm already seeing a difference.
Hey did you take that saliva test and get he results?? I wish I had taken one before started medication.
8 hours ago, svuchic said:On 2/8/2017 at 7:47 AM, TheBean said:I've been struggling with breakouts that look just like yours, it's only been the last year and a half to two years and I'm now 42, so I think mine is hormonal.
I've been researching...you can have an imbalance and still be having regular periods. PCOS, or estrogen dominance...
I've ordered a hormonal test, so I'll be doing that this cycle...in the meantime, I picked up some soy-free DIM (supplement) and after a week, I'm already seeing a difference.Hey did you take that saliva test and get he results?? I wish I had taken one before started medication.
I haven't done it yet. I have to wait until the 20th day of my cycle, so I have one more week to go. I will post an update when I do it...I'm really anxious to find out what it will reveal!