Hello friends,

I have been suffering from neverending zits and painful under the skin red spots since puberty (I'm 28 now) and I'm not totally sure what type of acne I have. The two pictures attached are one week apart and I have had worse spots then in those photos but they do give you an idea of my issue. My local doctor doesnt take my spots seriously and I've not seen a dermologist yet.

I tend to get spots in the same areas on my face, on the areas near my chin just below my mouth, on my actual chin, and between my nose and cheeks. I think I have combination and oily skin, especially oily around the T-Zone. You can tell from the photos where I tend to get the breakouts. The spots are painful, most of them dont produce a head, so I think it could be cysts? I have a particular bad spot on the left side of my chin that has not gone away for 3 months. I can still feel the bump. Most spots can linger from 3 days to over a week. Some of the spots are so sore I have to take Ibuprofen.

There are times when I can be totally zit free but those times are becoming increasingly rare the last few years.

What I have done so far to combat those spots:

I was prescribed Doxy antibotics from the GP about a year and a half ago, they worked brilliantly but of course stopped being effective after a year, so GP switched me to Minocycline which wasnt as effective (I think my body has become resistant) so now I've stopped taking antibotics altogether.

I am now currently washing my face twice a day with Clinque Men's facewash (for oily skin) and then use Clinque's Scruffing Lotion (for very oily skin) and use Clinque spot treatment gel on spots, but as you can see from the photos I dont think its working!

I'm a vegeterian and I take Vit C and zinc supplements every night.

I wash my pillow cases regularly and it seems to have no impact.

If you have any ideas what else I can do, please give me some tips. I do appreciate that I dont have such severe acne as some people here but it does have a big impact on my life, it'll be nice not to worry constantly about getting new spots. I am happy to give more information if you have any questions,

Cheers

Marko