I am 19 years old and have had acne since my early teens. It's hard to classify it as severe, moderate, or mild since it changes all the time. A few weeks ago, it was almost completely cleared up, and now all of a sudden it's gotten really bad again. The only change between now and then has been that I came home from college for winter break. Ironically, in college I get little sleep and am often stressed, but my acne was better there. It doesn't make much sense, since sleep and relaxation are supposed to help with acne. Is it possible that I am producing more testosterone with the extra sleep and lack of stress, and that that's aggravating my acne?
This is the problem with my acne- that how bad it is seems to have little to do with how I am treating it. Right now, I scrub my face every night with an Oxy pad (salycylic acid and alcohol), and apply Atralin (a .05% tretinoin gel), as well as a 5% benzoyl peroxide cream. Despite this, I have a number of large, inflamed pimples on my forehead, nose, and chin. I eat pretty healthily- I eat very little junk food, and eat a varied and balanced diet that includes vegetables, nuts, and a little bit of meat. I do eat Stonyfield organic yogurt sometimes, but I have essentially stopped drinking milk.
I would like to find a treatment that reliably and consistently keeps my acne under control. It does seem to be worse when I don't treat it at all, so the treatments seem to at least be doing something. The tretinoin also seems to improve my underlying skin tone and quality, even if it doesn't always keep the acne under control. I am considering adding a glycolic acid wash to my treatment, and have also read about the Regimen. Do any of you think that these might be effective in my case? The only real consistency I have seen in my acne is that it is better in the summer when I get more sun exposure. If I can't find a reliable treatment, I will consider resorting to Accutane, but the potential side effects are keeping me away from that for now, and I would prefer to avoid it if possible.
I ordered the Regimen products from this website and they're on the way, so we'll see how that goes. One thing I noticed is that recently I've been eating a lot fewer fruits and vegetables than I normally do (since there's always a salad bar with a ton of fruits and vegetables at school). I've started eating a lot of fruits and vegetables within the past few days, and my skin is already starting to look a lot better. I think that might have something to do with it.
Are you male or female? Many women have better success long-term on hormonal treatment than Accutane.
This is my own speculation, but I strongly believe that most women with acne clear up after high school not because they "grew out of it" but because they became sexually active and went on hormonal birth control.
Did you change something in your regimen? It could be that what you're using is too harsh on your skin and irritating it. Some people say things in the water has something to do with acne. It could be the water at your house has a different pH or different minerals or anything. The weather may even be different where you were, depending on how far away it was. Even different chemicals clothes and sheets are being washed with could affect you. With the laundry list of side effects, I'd suggest you try whatever you can before resorting to accutane. Has your food intake changed at all?
