I havn't been on any of the medicines you've been on, but to me with your exfoliating face wash and the peels, it sounds like your being too harsh on you skin. Good job with the water and healthy diet, I've been doing that for a little under a month, and I see some improvememnt. Some people say dairy can cause acne, so it might help if you avoid that. Mine's improved since I stopped having excessive amounts of dairy. I've also been taking vitamins, I take a teen multivitamin(I'm 13 btw) and fish oil every morning. And about your anxiety, just talk to a friend. I used be really self conscious and slightly depressed, but just talking about it to my best friend really helped. I wish you the best of luck, and just remember that everything is going to be fine, don't give up school because of your acne.

I have not been on what you are on. However, I can say from experience if you dry your skin out too much you will have an increase in problems!! I am not sure what is in your face wash, but I see you have a daily exfoliator plus salycylic acid and then a peel 2-3x a week? Since I don't know your skin like you do, I will just tell you my expereince.

I was using retinol plus a drying face wash plus a 10% glycolic cream 2x a week..and sometimes I would use salyclic wipes as well. A month or two of that and my face became a nightmare. Seriouly. I am talking deep painful cysts just springing up everyhere without ceasing. I was horrified and very upset. My face was so painful and I was literally crying from my appearance. I didn't know what to do. I was able to get those to go down but a few weeks later another round popped up. *sigh* I pinned it down to screwing up my skin barrier. I stopped using the topicals and let my face heal. Used ice to help with swelling. Washed gently and started using Olay moisturizer as suggested on here because it had healing components like niacinimide and helped hydrate. It was pricey but I bought it and it really helped. I had so much peeling skin, too. What I did after a few days was steam my face and just rubbed my fingers over my skin in circular motions and I could feel the skin rolling off (you could do this in the shower). I'd rinse, then repeat to help get the scaly stuff off. Then I would gently wash and moisturize. Now, it took me a bit, but I was seeing improvement in a week and the next few weeks, the horrible outbreak did not repeat! And it hasn't since. I am almost certain, now, that I had compromised my skin and bacteria was allowed to invade too eaily and got out of hand.

Now, you can decide if you think your situation is similar--if you may be drying out and setting up for a bad case or not. Only you can really tell. But, if you do think so, please stop and back off because it can turn very ugly very quikly. I know. Now, I use my acid cream only before I plan to steam/exfoliate which is 2x a week. No more salycylic acid daily for me either. I use my retinol in the evening and a 5% BP during the day if needed. I try to use tea tree instead, but of course during the month I need some extra help and I will even layer them as spot treatments. Plus, I can use the tea tree on top of my retinol as a spot treatment.

OH..ps If you are exfoliating a lot and using mineral powder, you might find it to be irritating. That was one thing I noticed with me. Using the retinol made my skin a tad bit more sensitive and I cannot use Bare Minerals any more because it breaks me out. Before, I had absolutely NO problem with it and I wore it all the time. Took me a while to figure out the minerals were the problem. lol I'm just guessing that they were either getting IN the pore and clogging or just better able to irritate my pores without the protective dead layers of skin on top. I've since had to switch to liquid foundation (it is not mineral based) and don't notice any reaction to it. In addition, hair products were irritating to my skin in its damaged state and caused breakouts where it would touch. I narrowed that down to algae extract which apparently my skin could not tolerate in a weakened state.

Hi guys!

Literally just signed up but thought I would tell my story and perhaps you guys can give advice. I got acne about 1 and a half years ago, i'm now 17. I had been taking minocycline since the beginning of February this year and by June my skin was getting fairly clear and I felt more confident apart from a few marks but they would fade. I was using exfoliator, moisturiser, taking vitamins, drinking water and eating healthier. Before that time (and sort of during) I had a lot of anxiety and would skip school and always feel paranoid and I really hated it, i would leave school early too! My attendance was 70% but thankfully I got AAA at AS in economics, maths and chemistry (at least I didnt mess this up) So by the beginning of September this year, I had been on minocycline for 7 months and felt like i was immune as some acne would come back and eventually it did come back but not as bad, so I felt beat up I hate it ((( I stopped taking the mino as i felt it was unhealthy for my liver and unnatural, some more acne has come back and I feel awful, im skipping school and I feel so self concious and have no self esteem (( I started using salicyclic acid from powder and mixing it with tea tree and witch hazel and some thick acne serum and using that and I can see a little improvement (little) but my face is still bad and i feel like it is getting worse Im eating really healthy and drinking so much water.Sometimes when i go to school i wear a little bit of mineral powder lol as it does cover up a bit and i like it! Can someone tell me where im going wrong in my specific regimen and also when the minocycline will stop making my acne so much worse ( noticing a few cysts/ thick spots that dont have a head and hurt so muchh)

morning: actimel, multi vitamin and cod liver (small tablet)

daily exfoliator, quinoderm face wash, then e-45 moisturiser, then sometimes mineral powder hhehe

after school: quinoderm faqce wash

evening: quindoerm face wash, e-45 moisturiser, tea tree and witch hazel night gel (boots), then sudocrem with a little sailcyclic acid.

twice a week (maybe three) i mix my slaicyclic acid powder and do a chemical peel i would say around 20%

Well thanks for reading my story, just wish I could get up, be clear, feel fresh, be confident, go to school, have an amazing day and just feel so happy in everything I do. It definately holds me back.

Thanks again, I really appreciatee it guys, I know it was long!

Alex

 

Hey i know how you feel bro. i started to break out since my senior year but it wasnt that bad i kind of like it lol. but after i graduated i started to get a bit worst. now im a college student and my acne is so bad. im a guy and when i see my face every morning i just break out in tears because its so painful to look at myself. ive missed so many class because i just feel there is no hope for me. i come from a family of 17 and im the only one that has acne. the only thing i can tell you is keep your head up and just pray and hope we'll be free from acne soon. 🙂