I understand what you are going through, I am 28 and in a period of 5 months, I have gone from no acne to full on embarrassing, cant leave your house, looks like I have leprosy rash. I thought mine was because of the Mirena IUD I received over the summer of 2012, but after removing it a month ago getting back on the pill, my acne is still persisting, strongly. I dabbled with the dermatological method for almost four months: doxycycline 150 mg, Retin-a, Benzaclin, Acanya, Aczone, tetracycline.. a lot of brand name things. My skin just got worse and worse. It looks like yours, I attached a photo. Along the jaw line and cheeks. As soon as one pimple goes away, ten more have been popping up filled with white puss. It is so hard to to squeeze them, and when I do, I use q-tips. I have been using an obscene amount of q-tips lately.

Now I'm trying the holistic method. So far, what I can recommend that has been significantly helping, but hasn't produced miracles yet:

- I stopped washing my face so much. Use very gentle soap or make your own oil cleanse with Jojoba and a 20 or so drops of Tea Tree Oil. One of my friends is swearing by Cosmedix Purity Clean. I will try that line next if my natural method does not work. It is also all natural. After a warm rinse, I splash with cold water a couple times. Lightly dry face.

- Apple Cider Vinegar 50/ 50 water as toner. This stuff has been amazing. I swear the pimples start to immediately heal. I have mine in a spray bottle and spritz it on. While that is drying, I moisturize with a couple drops of the Jojoba/ tea tree oil mixture.

- Make up: I use Face Stockholm. It is all natural and I believe that it is rare. Of course before, I never wore make up.

- Reduce Toxicity: Cut out simple sugars if you have not already and begin eating as much organic food as you can. When you have dinner at night, make sure you don't eat until 12 hours later in the morning. Maybe go longer if you can without eating breakfast. I have recently started a probiotic in the morning. It will help reset your digestive track.

-Also, maybe try the B-5 Pantothenic acid experiment. It has a higher success rate than accutane and it is a water soluable vitamin. I begin with five grams a day and have increased it to 20gram a day today. The pills are huge, but it is making a difference. It shrinks your pores dramatically, even day one I saw a difference. I heard it takes a full month for it to be clear so I am going to keep it up. At this point, I will try anything except antibiotics and accutane. I want to be natural because that is how I was before this 'incident' began. So.. what do you think?

Hey ladies, i am 29 so we all seem to be close in age. I have had acne since my teens and still struggling with it so even thought it is NOT adult onset, it still affects me greatly as i was clear for 2 years after my 2nd course of accutane. To the OP, you seemed to have tried many things over a short course of time and i recommend to stick to 2 or less acne products and give them at least 3 -4 months before assessing if they work or not. I did the holistic thing for months and my acne flared something wicked so i hope you have better luck than i did.

I can relate to the feelings of embarrasment and such but keep your head up. We have nothing to be ashamed of

LeoA, I think 20 grams of B5 is really crazy, you should read the thread in this forum when they inform other people not to megadose B5 because you will have hair lost and damage your kidneys, and they were just taking only 5 grams, that is really too much.

Leo A..

Have been following the holistic root..but progress is very slow.

I recently went for my 2nd glycolic peel..and well.. my acne is more or less gone..but my skin got burnt..crap..!!

now waiting for it to heel..

but acne can never leave me alone..can it?

have developed 3-4 new cysts on my jawline..both sides... life sucks..

We plan to go the family way in a few mnoths, so my doc is averse to putting me on birth control pills or Spiro...

attaching pic after peel.. here i am using makeup, still layers of my skin are showing...

Hi! Yours looks more surface type bumps? These are not cysts are they? I have found that I get surface pimples from product reaction such as wearing too heavy a moisturizer and sweating. Or some sunscreens cause them. I have found that benzoyl peroxide works best on those surface types for me. Also, some people use apple cider vinegar diluted with water as a toner. If I keep the top layer exfoliated I rarely see any surface pimples except for product reactions. However, if I exfoliate too much or dry out my skin too much, I get cysts. It's a fine line. Sulfur might also work on those types because it dries them out and exfoliates.

I have done glycolic peels (30% buffered at home) and it does remove the top pimples.. However, it takes more than 1 or 2. I purged during my glycolic peels..I think the worst was around the 4th or so. My skin was nicest at the 3rd one. I believe the recommended session is doing a peel 1 time a week for 6 weeks then taking a few weeks break. That way you have 6 peels. I am not sure what the time span is if you're getting professional peels. But you can also buy low % glycolic acid at a medium pH online and use that daily as maintenance instead of doing a harsher peel every week. You shouldn;t have too much issue with burning your skin either since the % is lower.

I am not sure glycolic works as well on cysts. I mainly get cysts. I have not found a way to keep them from forming yet but I suspect retinoids are going to be a help. I am using SA right now because I have found almost every bump I get has a seed/plug in it. My goal is therefore to eliminate the plugs. When cysts come up, I ice them and use tea tree oil mixed with a water based moisturizer. I also apply a sulphur mask to them for spot treatment.

I just turned 28, too. In the span of the last three weeks, I went from blemish-free and acne-free my whole life to full onset acne. Every day, I get a couple more bumps and they are painful! Friends and coworkers have commented about it; it is making me very self-conscious, which is hard because I'm in the medical diagnostics consulting field and deal with customers on a daily basis.

I have an appointment with my primary in a couple weeks (a couple weeks too long in my opinion), but does anyone have any recommendations for some home remedy or over-the-counter ease at the moment?

If you have a history of PCOS, you should be on a low androgenic birth control plus spironolactone.

i feel you all , i am 23 and i had a perfect skin a year ago. it was in november when it started breaking out until now , it didnt even give me a break , they just keep coming one after another like a loyal SOB .. (( now , i have marks on both cheeks. i am a guy and i never believe that i actually bought make up to conceal it .. is just sad .. low self esteem.

Taking B5 alone isn't recommended. B vitamins should always be taken with the full B-Complex; they work as cofactors. B5 is great to take though; 1-2 grams.

If you have acne, you better be taking 50 mg zinc picolinate! This alone cures many people's acne.

Also be taking 80 billion probiotics; multiple strains.

Those are just a few tips; much more you can do though

I'm running around the forums tonight telling people what has worked for me. I had cystic acne for 4 years, been on every med you can imagine (minus accutane- that's where I drew the line for myself for medical reasons). What finally worked for me, and I discovered this totally by accident, was that artificial sweeteners and coloring were at minimum a trigger for my acne (not sure why) and at worse the root cause. I can't say for sure what is at play here, all I know is I've been clear for 3.5 months. I'm a water and OJ/Lemonade guy now. Also, I have heard people having success with short runs of zinc picolinate. Definitely worth consideration.

Hi. I'm 32 as of Friday!!! and, like you all, never had a spot until recently. I have tried doxy, bc, spiro retin a and laser. Nothing. Worst around my cycles. I have decided to go on accutane bc it's destroying my life. I'm married w 2 kids ad I feel depressed everyday. I rarely go out bc I'm so embarrassed and I'm ready for this to be over. It's even a year of trial and error and that's enough!!! I will begin my cycle this week ad can't wait. I feel ur pain people!!!

I hate to say this but you can have a sudden onset of cystic acne at any time--you guys think you're so old and now you are suddenly getting terrible acne. Well, I have been going through the worst cystic acne of my entire life--painful and completely covering my chin with very large deep sore cysts--not 1 or two--about 7-8 right now and as one goes away another one forms--they literally come up in a few hours and they hurt like hell--I am trying proactiv sulfur mask right now as well as tretinoin gel and facial scrubs--when I was younger about 10 years ago--I took antibiotics for my acne--every day for 5 yrs(back then I would break out with 1-2 large cysts a month-right around my period (the good old days when 1-2 giant cysts seemed like a lot) now I'm allergic to most antibiotics due to that way of taking it--(don't do it) and this crazy intense cystic acne that popped up out of nowhere won't go away--I am going to another dr this week regarding this--I think my immune system is out of whack-I do have some autoimmune issues that are also flaring up--but everyone--I'm 47--and I am very conscious of my appearance--finally I stopped having kids - my kids are all late teens to early 20's and I have left my husband after 25 yrs of pure Hell and now this? Thank God for makeup--it helps--but I want this gone--these hurt like Hell, are unsightly and I'm going through enough right now--and yes I know people will say its stress due to the divorce--but my life has been full of stress since I got married at 19 and basically raised my 5 kids solo--and I'm not pre-menopausal--i was checked for that--I just don't understand. It's driving me crazy. Good luck to all with this forever problem.....If anyone has any advice please let me know--Thanks!

Juler. my advice....is to go on accutane. It honestly is the only thing that works for some people. And if you r like me, and tired of taking pill after pill and cream...then just do it. Find a good dr that rx accutane a lot somthey know what they r dealing with. It's the only real "cure" out there for cystic acne. Have u talked a dr about it yet.

Stop F***ing around. Scrubs/peels/chemicals arent going to do you ANY favours. If it does seem like its clearning acne, it is doing so by making your skin so uninhaitable / damaged that not even acne will grow on it, not good. You have 2 options. 1) Nothing. just wash your face with a gentle cleanser, eat a full healthy diet without worrying too much about what you eat, a few chips/cookies wont kill you (unless you have digestive problems, then it all about diet) keep your pillow cases clean, and double rinse them after you wash them. No fabric softener. Drink plently of water without overdoing it. Stop thinking about your acne, and go about your day. This will keep your skin/health in good condition while your body readjusts whatever is going wrong. Option 2) Accuntane. The idea is if your acne is severe it will scar therefore this is the only viable option, with a fairly high success rate. There are no other options if you know whats good for you. BY NO MEANS, or under ANY CIRUMSTANCES will you agree to take ANY antibiotics. These are meant to save lives, and when you need t hem they may not work. But more importantly, in the last couple years alot of research has come out about the long term effects of antibiotics. If you'd like to permanently damage your digestion, which will causes all sorts of havoc, acne included, then by al means, go ahead, but i strongly advise against it. anyone using clindamycin needs to seriously consider stopping this. I have read NUMEROUS posts on topix about users having side effects of clindamycin. Several damaged there skin long term (rash, dry flakey, wrinkly, large pores) a few went on to develop IBS and one guy actually contracted C DIFF from TOPICAL clindamycin. It has a high penetration rate, and is immediately absorbed by your body. Clindamycin comes with a black label warning, the highest warning you can put on a drug, and was banned in China in 2005 because of numerous side effects/fatalities. Antibiotics are NOT to be fucked with, AVOID AT ALL COSTS (only take if you are literally DYING) It is pitiful that these are even still available, they should be taken off the market, or used only in do or die circumstances. You do NOT have a chemical / antibiotic defieciency so why are we using them? The sun is reasonable amounts is GOOD for you. Get outside more, the fresher air, and mixture of bacteria everywhere is benefitial for you. Heavy chronic stress will mess with al lyour horomones, particularily cortisol, which if kept in an elevated state, will cause all sorts of weird shit, acne and rapid aging included. So. yeah. take accunatne or just focus on being healthy and happy, or do all 3. Ignore all other options, they offer you nothing but future problems. ESPECIALLY THAT SCRUB!! *garbage* (if your skin was meant to be cheese grated we'd all have sand paper for hands)

By the way, the best thing is the water, once you find how much you need to drink everyday (which is hard cause everyday wont be the same) pretty much just listen to your body, it'll tell you when you are thirsty, dont ignore and drink 90% water. A coffee here or there or a glass of pop whatever, again, wont kill you, it's a treat. Tap water is awful, do not drink this crap, even if you have a brita. Get a good water purification system (reverse osmosis, charcol filter / prefilter / UV light) Or find a water depot that does this (I get 19L for $2.50) not that expensive once you get the cooler and a couple jugs) If thats not an option thee bottle water, but get as low of a flouride / chlorine percent as you can (.3 PPM IS AWFUL) and if you want,buy some distilled water and add it to your bottled water. This is super clean water, and any argument that it leeches whatever will be voided as soon as you add it to the other water.

Be well, and plan for the distant future, not just tommorow.

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