Advice from a veteran of acne

[red_hare 0]

I'm a sophmore in college. I've had acne since the 7th grade. At it's worst my face was so covered with cysts that I couldn't talk or smile because it was so painful. Today my skin is not clear, I doubt it ever will be, but it's mostly under control, and most importantly, I've learned how to live with it.

There is no cure for acne. There is no magic medicine that will fix your face. But there is a lot of little things you can do to help your skin and together will make a BIG difference. So, I've put together a list of things I've found to have helped me.

1. Change your pillow case. This is targeted at guys, but seriously, every single night change it, otherwise you're just rubbing your face in dirt and oil all night.

2. Vacuum and air out your room regularly. Clean air makes a huge difference.

3. Moisturize. If your skin is dry, it flakes, those flakes clog pores, don't let it happen.

4. Less is more. Don't ever over treat your skin, you shouldn't visibly see goop on your face at night unless your using something like a sulfur face mask, topical anti-biotic and acids should be thin, otherwise you'll smother your skin.

5. Moisturize. Yes, this is important enough to put twice, especially in the winter when the air is dry.

6. Pat, don't rub. The only time you should rub your skin is gently with your bare hands when your exfoliating, and only after the exfoliater has been combined with water into a foam. Towels, treatment wipes, and tissues are all to rough on your skin. Always pat dry your skin after washing.

7. MOISTURIZE. Seriously, it's a world of difference, don't let your skin crack and crumble into potential acne hazard.

8. Limit the chemicals. If your on a regamine with multiple chemicals going onto your face choose one for the morning and one for the night, and read the bottles, if it says to avoid the sunlight use that one at night.

9. Carry back up treatment. You never know what's going to happen, don't let your skin go bad because you got too drunk and crashed on your friends couch, always carry some sort of treatment, even if it's just face wipes.

10. Sweat. It's good for your pores, flushes out all the grime, just do a quick mild cleanser after your work out.

11. Avoid mirrors. Acne is traumatizing, it's a aweful thing that you can never understand unless you have it, don't let it haunt you though. Just don't think about it, don't let it be your obsession, there's a point where you just need to let it go and accept that you can only do so much.

12. Target carefully! If you have a pimple, don't pop it, get some benzol-peroxide, or a similar drying agent, and dab it dead on the white head, anywhere else isn't going to help and just smother your skin asking for more trouble.

13. Get a good pair of needle nose tweezers. NEVER use them to pop a pimple or stab your skin in any way, but they're great for carefully cleaning out the remainder of a popped pimple or flakes of dry skin.

14. Keep an open mind about supplements. I swear by fish oil, there was even a time when I dropped sugar and processed foods entirely from my diet just for my skin. What goes in really does have an effect on what pops out.

15. Warm not hot. This is undoubtably the hardest, but every morning take a warm, the water should not be steaming.

16. Don't smoke. If you do smoke, or end up with smokers, it'll quickly stick to your face, have a medicated wipe on you to carefully wipe your face down.

17. Look people dead in the eye. People with acne have a tendency to shy away socially, you can really see it in how they hold themselves, they'll turn away so people can't see their blemishes. But you can make a person see you however you want, just have the courage. When they walk away they're not going to have even noticed your acne because they'll have been looking at the whole you, and just remember what a great person you are.

If anyone else has any general advice, feel free to add, I'd love to hear from some other contributers.

[Polska Laska 0]

I'm a sophmore in college. I've had acne since the 7th grade. At it's worst my face was so covered with cysts that I couldn't talk or smile because it was so painful. Today my skin is not clear, I doubt it ever will be, but it's mostly under control, and most importantly, I've learned how to live with it.

There is no cure for acne. There is no magic medicine that will fix your face. But there is a lot of little things you can do to help your skin and together will make a BIG difference. So, I've put together a list of things I've found to have helped me.

1. Change your pillow case. This is targeted at guys, but seriously, every single night change it, otherwise you're just rubbing your face in dirt and oil all night.

2. Vacuum and air out your room regularly. Clean air makes a huge difference.

3. Moisturize. If your skin is dry, it flakes, those flakes clog pores, don't let it happen.

4. Less is more. Don't ever over treat your skin, you shouldn't visibly see goop on your face at night unless your using something like a sulfur face mask, topical anti-biotic and acids should be thin, otherwise you'll smother your skin.

5. Moisturize. Yes, this is important enough to put twice, especially in the winter when the air is dry.

6. Pat, don't rub. The only time you should rub your skin is gently with your bare hands when your exfoliating, and only after the exfoliater has been combined with water into a foam. Towels, treatment wipes, and tissues are all to rough on your skin. Always pat dry your skin after washing.

7. MOISTURIZE. Seriously, it's a world of difference, don't let your skin crack and crumble into potential acne hazard.

8. Limit the chemicals. If your on a regamine with multiple chemicals going onto your face choose one for the morning and one for the night, and read the bottles, if it says to avoid the sunlight use that one at night.

9. Carry back up treatment. You never know what's going to happen, don't let your skin go bad because you got too drunk and crashed on your friends couch, always carry some sort of treatment, even if it's just face wipes.

10. Sweat. It's good for your pores, flushes out all the grime, just do a quick mild cleanser after your work out.

11. Avoid mirrors. Acne is traumatizing, it's a aweful thing that you can never understand unless you have it, don't let it haunt you though. Just don't think about it, don't let it be your obsession, there's a point where you just need to let it go and accept that you can only do so much.

12. Target carefully! If you have a pimple, don't pop it, get some benzol-peroxide, or a similar drying agent, and dab it dead on the white head, anywhere else isn't going to help and just smother your skin asking for more trouble.

13. Get a good pair of needle nose tweezers. NEVER use them to pop a pimple or stab your skin in any way, but they're great for carefully cleaning out the remainder of a popped pimple or flakes of dry skin.

14. Keep an open mind about supplements. I swear by fish oil, there was even a time when I dropped sugar and processed foods entirely from my diet just for my skin. What goes in really does have an effect on what pops out.

15. Warm not hot. This is undoubtably the hardest, but every morning take a warm, the water should not be steaming.

16. Don't smoke. If you do smoke, or end up with smokers, it'll quickly stick to your face, have a medicated wipe on you to carefully wipe your face down.

17. Look people dead in the eye. People with acne have a tendency to shy away socially, you can really see it in how they hold themselves, they'll turn away so people can't see their blemishes. But you can make a person see you however you want, just have the courage. When they walk away they're not going to have even noticed your acne because they'll have been looking at the whole you, and just remember what a great person you are.

If anyone else has any general advice, feel free to add, I'd love to hear from some other contributers.

Great post! I could not agree more with all of the points you emphasized.

[Could Be Worse 0]

Very good posts.

This may not work for some but i actually find staying away from fruits eg all the sugary ones that were never around back when we were cavemen xD im pretty much talking about every fruit that isnt a berry as these have been grown to be bigger and more sweeter. Stay away from all carbohydrates as these quickly turn into sugar in the body. Try to get a lot of protein in your diet.

If you have a flaky scalp use a good shampoo to get rid of the flakes. eg head and shoulders. Try to avoid direct sunlight on the face but also try to get as much fresh air on your face.

[iWantBeHappy 1]

I'm a sophmore in college. I've had acne since the 7th grade. At it's worst my face was so covered with cysts that I couldn't talk or smile because it was so painful. Today my skin is not clear, I doubt it ever will be, but it's mostly under control, and most importantly, I've learned how to live with it.

There is no cure for acne. There is no magic medicine that will fix your face. But there is a lot of little things you can do to help your skin and together will make a BIG difference. So, I've put together a list of things I've found to have helped me.

1. Change your pillow case. This is targeted at guys, but seriously, every single night change it, otherwise you're just rubbing your face in dirt and oil all night.

2. Vacuum and air out your room regularly. Clean air makes a huge difference.

3. Moisturize. If your skin is dry, it flakes, those flakes clog pores, don't let it happen.

4. Less is more. Don't ever over treat your skin, you shouldn't visibly see goop on your face at night unless your using something like a sulfur face mask, topical anti-biotic and acids should be thin, otherwise you'll smother your skin.

5. Moisturize. Yes, this is important enough to put twice, especially in the winter when the air is dry.

6. Pat, don't rub. The only time you should rub your skin is gently with your bare hands when your exfoliating, and only after the exfoliater has been combined with water into a foam. Towels, treatment wipes, and tissues are all to rough on your skin. Always pat dry your skin after washing.

7. MOISTURIZE. Seriously, it's a world of difference, don't let your skin crack and crumble into potential acne hazard.

8. Limit the chemicals. If your on a regamine with multiple chemicals going onto your face choose one for the morning and one for the night, and read the bottles, if it says to avoid the sunlight use that one at night.

9. Carry back up treatment. You never know what's going to happen, don't let your skin go bad because you got too drunk and crashed on your friends couch, always carry some sort of treatment, even if it's just face wipes.

10. Sweat. It's good for your pores, flushes out all the grime, just do a quick mild cleanser after your work out.

11. Avoid mirrors. Acne is traumatizing, it's a aweful thing that you can never understand unless you have it, don't let it haunt you though. Just don't think about it, don't let it be your obsession, there's a point where you just need to let it go and accept that you can only do so much.

12. Target carefully! If you have a pimple, don't pop it, get some benzol-peroxide, or a similar drying agent, and dab it dead on the white head, anywhere else isn't going to help and just smother your skin asking for more trouble.

13. Get a good pair of needle nose tweezers. NEVER use them to pop a pimple or stab your skin in any way, but they're great for carefully cleaning out the remainder of a popped pimple or flakes of dry skin.

14. Keep an open mind about supplements. I swear by fish oil, there was even a time when I dropped sugar and processed foods entirely from my diet just for my skin. What goes in really does have an effect on what pops out.

15. Warm not hot. This is undoubtably the hardest, but every morning take a warm, the water should not be steaming.

16. Don't smoke. If you do smoke, or end up with smokers, it'll quickly stick to your face, have a medicated wipe on you to carefully wipe your face down.

17. Look people dead in the eye. People with acne have a tendency to shy away socially, you can really see it in how they hold themselves, they'll turn away so people can't see their blemishes. But you can make a person see you however you want, just have the courage. When they walk away they're not going to have even noticed your acne because they'll have been looking at the whole you, and just remember what a great person you are.

If anyone else has any general advice, feel free to add, I'd love to hear from some other contributers.

Thanks for sharing, thats usefull information

[Mrs. Lovely 0]

Don't forget about what you put IN your body. For some, acne is an outward manifestation of what is going on INSIDE your body. For me, when I start eating sugar, processed foods, and white-flour products, it shows up on my face.

[User117511 0]

Beautiful post! Thanks for sharing, red_hare. : ) Definitely what I needed to read tonight.

[DoYouCare 0]

very helpful, isnt steaming your face good? or is it not cause i just started twice a week steaming it seems like its helping my acne problem

[oolabisi0408 0]

really thoughtful advice. thank you

[priceless 2]

Great post! I'd like to add DRINK PLENTY OF WATER. It helps keep your skin hydrated.

[dom88 2]

thank u so much very for the tips!! Very helpful indeed

[jjacne 0]

Great post. I had lived with acne for many years too, but maybe not as severe as yours.

I agree with not popping acne and using benzoyl peroxide.

Here is what I add to your list:

1. keep stress under control.

2. AVOID dairy products.

3. take one pill of vitamin supplements a day (multi-vitamin).

4. Avoid touching the pimple as much as possible b/c your hands are dirty.

[kungpao 0]

Point 17, which I'm reproducing here, is so true:

"17. Look people dead in the eye. People with acne have a tendency to shy away socially, you can really see it in how they hold themselves, they'll turn away so people can't see their blemishes. But you can make a person see you however you want, just have the courage. When they walk away they're not going to have even noticed your acne because they'll have been looking at the whole you, and just remember what a great person you are."

My friend's girl has acne, and I notice that each time she talks to me, she avoids eye contact and it's really, really obvious she's doing so and as a fellow acne sufferer, I have this almost clairvoyant knowledge that her avoidance of eye contact is due to her acne. I know because I do it too, though to a lesser degree these days as I've been suffering from acne for countless years and am more accustommed to it and am actively trying not to let it rule my life.

It pains me to see her like that and I don't know her well so I can't go up to her and say, "Hey it's okay, you don't have to avoid eye contact with people because of your acne." It hurts to see people suffering from acne.