Hey everybody!
I've been on the regimen since last Monday, so about a week and a half. My skin looks awful today and for the first time I realized that my acne was actually making a huge impact on my life. I'm depressed and afraid to leave the house and am going back to school in a month. I'm freaking out! So I decided it would help to share my quest with you guys as well ya'll sharing your quest for clear skin with me also. Feel free to message me at any time I'm on acne.org all day.
I started getting moderate skin acne at 17. It didn't really bother me at the time I just chalked it up to puberty. I went to a dermatologist and he gave me 5 % benzoyl peroxide gel and salyclic acid cream for the morning. I was also given minocycline to take day and night. Did this for a while and my skin cleared up completely. Stayed on the BP pretty much all of freshman year and stayed pretty much clear. Kept using it this summer and it seemed pretty much clear. Then I started reading about how benzoyl peroxide could cause premature aging of the skin and I freaked out and decided that I probably didn't need to cream anymore. I stopped using it and the antibiotics for a while and I was fine for a while. My body has been through a lot recently, I got sober 100 days ago. The first two weeks with no treatment at all I had clear skin. I felt amazing, getting sober and acne free at the same time. Then I started breaking out worse than I ever have (This all makes since every since I read that it takes pimples two weeks to form). Anyways I've messed with my diet, am always exercising, I feel like I've tried everything. I am going to try to stick to this regimen for a while. I'm always at risk of quitting because of the fear of what BP could do to my skin, but from everything I read it is generally very safe. I believe there has to be some different cause to my acne then when I was 17, it was pretty dormant for 2 years and then bam. Anyways,
Here is my regimen,
2 pumps of cetaphil gentle skin cleanser
3/4 finger of neutrogena on the spot (I'm only applying it to my chin)
2 pumps of cetaphil moisturizing lotion
I've seen some pimples shrivel up and die on the regimen. Most have come back at least once though. But my skin looks like it has a little less acne which is a positive, but my chin is also beet red. The redness is scary to a certain extent. Here are some pics. Just tell me there is hope I can have normal skin again.
Day 10 on the regimen
Hope you keep reading my log! I'm ready to beat this thing once and for all.
Don't worry, BP does not cause premature aging. Don't believe everything people write. How long have you been on antibiotics? It may be a good idea to add probiotics to your diet (either through food or supplements). Some studies and articles:
Probiotics and antibiotics: a brief overview
Impact of the impaired intestinal microflora on the course of acne vulgaris
Lactobacillus fermentum ME-3 - an antimicrobial and antioxidative probiotic
Oral Probiotic Control Skin Inflammation by Acting on Both Effector and Regulatory T Cells
And one that also mentions topical probiotics (more references in the article):
Acne vulgaris, probiotics and the gut-brain-skin axis - back to the future?
Also, since this is a log, I'm moving it to the logs section. Good luck on your regimen!
Week 2, Day 4
Feeling ok about my skin today despite minimal improvement. Sometimes it just seems like the benzoyl peroxide just isn't doing the job. My skin is red on my chin, it looks like I have a giant goatee of red skin. Hopefully this will fade? The irritation isn't that bad at all it's just the coloring that is troublesome. I might need to switch to a gel because NOS and cetaphil lotion ball up when mixed together.
Week 2 Day 5
Skin is still red. It doesn't cause any pain or irritation but it's kind of goofy looking when I don't have the treatment on my chin. It's like my skin is actually stained red where I have used the benzoyl peroxide, but according to the "What to expect" section of the site, this is normal. Anyways not feeling too bad about it today, just trying to stay patient. I will post pictures tonight or tomorrow. If anyone has any advice I would appreciate it. And if I can help anyone in any way I can I would really like to. Thanks for reading
Week 2 Day 6
My acne is definitely coming under control. The red marks and red skin still bother me a lot. This morning I was tempted to switching to doing the regimen only at night, but something made me stick to it haha. In the skin where acne has been treated, if you look closely, there are fine lines like dry skin/wrinkles that kind of worry me, but I bet it's just dry skin. Or at least I hope. Sorry guys I'll have pictures up soon
Week 2 Day 7
Didn't feel too good about the regimen today. On the side of my chin where the acne used to be the spots get redder and redder and the acne still persists on the other side of my chin. I'm really worried about going back to school now. I think I've reached about as much Benzoyl Peroxide as I will use (3/4 of a finger) but I am only using it on my chin. I'm going to a dermatologist in a week and I'm anxious about that as well. This acne is so confusing and out of nowhere. Here's a picture. Sorry for the not so great quality.
Week 3 Day 1
Hit rock bottom with my skin last night. The first couple of times I used jojoba oil my chin was stinging a little. Last night my face hurt so bad I could not sleep. Pretty sure I'm allergic to jojoba oil because it didn't make my skin less red, it made it twice as red and twice as irritated. My skin was in such discomfort this morning that I just couldn't put BP on it. I'm starting to think that my acne is practically incurable. I still used the cetaphil gentle skin cleanser and moisturized though.