A little background on my acne story:
I've always had little-no acne until October of 2011 when I had horrendous break outs on my cheeks. Prior, I'd only get pimples (whenever I got them) on my forehead and nose. This break out was not normal for me, so I tried ProActiv, Clinique acne solutions, and Neutrogena to no avail-- It actually made my acne worse! My little 'pimples' quickly turned into cystic acne. Acne being my #1 self-esteem dropper, I made an appt. with my family doctor to get a referral for a derma, and she prescribed me Benzaclin (Benzoyl Peroxide/Clindamycin), Doxycycline, and a birth control (I don't remember the brand.) She had told me it was normal to feel a little irritation from the BP as my skin was getting used to it, but I had no idea that I was extremely sensitive to it and consequently it ended up chemically burning my skin! My acne turned into huge bubbly, puss-filled, flaky, purple/red/black scabs. I literally hid from everybody I knew for the whole month of december. Once I finally saw a derma, he prescribed me retin-a and told me to discontinue the BP and birth control but continue the doxy. I did quite a bit of research on natural holistic remedies to use simultaneously with the Retin-a. And i'm not sure WHAT it was but after I started using tea tree oil as a toner (100% teatreeoil diluted with water) with the retin-a afterwards, my cystic acne went flat and gone within 2 weeks. It was amaaaazing.
But once the acne was gone, I was left with HORRRIBLE post inflammatory hyper-pigmentation, and being chinese/filipino, they were extremely bright red and left a mark for every blemish on my skin. It still looked like I had severe acne when it was only the marks.. (Sooo annoying). This is my current routine and it's working very well:
Morning-
- neutrogena pomegranate face wash
- tea tree oil/water on cheeks and forehead
- 100% Aloe Vera Gel mixed with Cetaphil moisturizer w/ SPF
Night-
- phisoderm anti-blemish gel facial wash
- tea tree oil/water on cheeks and forehead
- Turmeric/honey/lemonjuice mask on my cheeks for 1-2 hours then wash it off.
- 100% Aloe Vera Gel only.
*** Two days ago, I started adding Biafine to my morning aloevera/cetaphil moisturizer
and i've replaced the Turmeric/honey/lemonjuice mask&Aloe Vera Gel with just Retin-a overnight.
This is from January- Now
- phisoderm anti-blemish gel facial wash
i also have PIH and my acne just stormed out of nowhere in december 2011. I think it was mostly triggered by stress. My derma prescribed me minocin which I take twice a day. He also prescribed me Clyndoxil topical cream. I stopped using the cream because it dried out my face way too much when I combined it with ProActiv. For the last two weeks I have been washing my face with ProActiv cleanser, baking soda mask (helps reduce the redness) and I apply 100% tea tree oil on my face and it has helped A LOT!!! the acne production has diminished significantly but I still have the dark spots on my face 
I herd that hydroquinone is good to fade the red marks because it's kind of like a bleacher and it evens out the discolorations. I think I will try to you to see if it works!
HapaMommy: Good luck with the tea tree oil! I've read countless reviews and it helps even the most stubborn acne (:
Jennifer G: My derma also recommended I try hydroquinone, but i'm reluctant to use it because i'm not sure if my face would be sensitive to it as it was to BP, and it's just too expensive to 'try'. I've been wanting to try the v-beam laser and/or IPL photofacial but i was told that since i have a darker asian skin color with an olive undertone, it may me risky to try the v beam laser as it might cause more PIH Luckily my current regimen is working perfectly and I just can't wait for all it to over with!
HapaMommy: Good luck with the tea tree oil! I've read countless reviews and it helps even the most stubborn acne (:
Jennifer G: My derma also recommended I try hydroquinone, but i'm reluctant to use it because i'm not sure if my face would be sensitive to it as it was to BP, and it's just too expensive to 'try'. I've been wanting to try the v-beam laser and/or IPL photofacial but i was told that since i have a darker asian skin color with an olive undertone, it may me risky to try the v beam laser as it might cause more PIH
Luckily my current regimen is working perfectly and I just can't wait for all it to over with!
hey just wondering how ur PIH is going..
i too have major PIH issues similar to urs and since its been a few months.. has it faded?
I've recently done a few things that have dramatically improved my PIH over the last couple of months. In January I had a folliculitis outbreak on my face resulting in black spots. Yes, they looked black. I tried microdermabrasion at a spa every 4 weeks along with Differin and it helped a little. What really helped was the aesthetician using lactic acids from hydra facials (which are supposedly great for PIH). So it helped but another thing that made a difference was when I started using a Clarisonic brush with M2 cleanser and following up with M2 exfoliating serum. I also used a sample of Philosophy's Miracle Worker dark spot corrector to spot treat at night. I saw results fairly quickly with the dark spot corrector. The black spots faded and are barely visible and the M2 evened out my skin tone. I only have to spot conceal now. Good luck! And I hope you find a combination that works for your PIH.
