I have had mild acne since high school, nothing I was really concerned about. Now, at age 21, I have horrible cystic acne on both cheeks on my face and my chin. I don't know why my acne decided to flare up this past December, but ever since then, I have had horrible cystic acne on my cheeks and chin and nothing will get rid of it. I eat a very clean (fruits, veggies, meat; no sugar, milk, wheat, nuts, or gluten), drink eight cups of water daily, excercise daily, and sleep eight to nine hours a night. I have tried numerous creams from my deromotolgist but they have either not worked or they irritated my skin. I don't know if it's just hormonal, or maybe it has to do with my menstrual cycle being totally out of sync since last summer. I have hyperpigmentation since every zit I get, it leaves behind a red dot on my face (which is covered with them). The acne I have sometimes comes in clusters, and are very big and red. When coming up on my face, the acne is sometimes itchy. Sometimes they are just a huge red bump on my face and somtimes they are whiteheads. I am at a loss on what to do and have been very self-concious of my face since December. I started taking Evening Primrose Oil capsules almost a month ago and notice a slight difference in my face, not much.
If you have any suggestions on what I should do, I would be very grateful for your help. I am at my last straw on what to do since nothing is helping or working.
The location of your acne and the fact you brought up having a dodgy cycle I am thinking hormonal acne is your issue.
Are you on any birth control? If you are which kind and you should see if it is acne safe medication. The member green gab,Ed here has a list of good and bad birth controls on her post signature. Check that out.
If you aren't on any birth control look at green gables sig and get on something acne safe and that can actually prevent acne and can straighten out your hormonal levels and bye bye acne, if you are the type that doesn't want anything to do with birth control you can ask your doctor for spironolactone or for short spiro. That will put a stop to hormonal acne without a lot of side effects. Or you can do birth control and spiro for added effect. Yaz and Diane both have spironolactone in them which is why they help with hormonal acne. There is a natural route you can go to that is called saw palmetto. You can take a look at that too, it's not as effective as spiro or birth control but it can get the job done too. Might take more time. I've never used it but lot of people on the board have. Green gables is a good person to look at her posts she makes hormones make sense and help you better understand them and she explains the drugs and treatments you can use for hormonal acne. You will read a lot of what I am telling you already but more in depth.
For those red marks I have them too. A lot of them. I am using Dans AHA to clear mine up and it's doing the trick to fa them pretty quickly. I've used Hydroquinone which is supposed to be the gold standard for fading Hyperpigmentaion and retin a and didn't have much success and if heard so much about AHA and how great it works so I figured I'd give it a go and I'm really happy with the product. Something to look into!
I hope you find this post helpful
This link is about good and bad Birth Control Choices
This link is about Spironolactone
This link is a hormone post for both women and men
This link is all about Saw Palmetto
Itchy? Hmm, sounds like you could be allergic to an ingredient in SOMETHING you're using. How mild is everything you're using? When in doubt I purchase products designed for sensitive skin.
And off topic a little, have you ever used witch hazel as a toner? I see Like Moonlight does, and I do day and night and I LOVE it. But it has to be alcohol-free.
Hi there,
the people above have definitely given you some good advice. I've been struggling with moderate to severe acne this year and I can relate to any negative feelings you may have. It can almost be paralyzing....but there is hope. I think it is definitely an internal issue with your acne, along with other things that can either worsen or help it.
It sounds like you are already eating lots of healthy, whole foods. Your diet needs to be extremely healthy in order for your acne to heal... Do you eat low glycemic index foods? For example, my diet consists of nuts, kale, carrots, romaine, kiwi, chia seeds, strawberries, apples, almond milk (NO dairy), rarely any meat, lots of hummus with my carrots, whole grains, quinoa, black rice and etc. All my produce is organic. Everyday I also take supplements, such as Royal Jelly pills and herbal ginseng (sold in a pouch in liquid form, from asian herbal medicine store). I have also drastically cut out sugar. You see, food can cause our body to produce more insulin, which produces sebum(acne).
I also have hormonal imbalances, so I try to drink spearmint tea, green tea or just teas in general. BTW avoid caffeine if you can. I think that my acne is because of internal issues, such as missed periods, hormonal imbalances, and overall health.
I also use a powerful skin care line from Elizabeth Arden called Prevage. Although it is for anti-aging, it contains tons of anti oxidants. My daily regimen is to use Neutrogena Natural Acne Cream cleanser with salicylic acid and then use prevage serum. For prevage, some people are very sensitive to it, so I would ask for a sample. If it's day time, I use a non-comodegenic sunscreen or a foundation that has SPF after applying the serum. DO NOT use any exfoliators or scrubs if you have active acne on your skin. It needs to heal! Also use foundation that is good for acne prone skin, that is non comedogenic and oil-free.
By cleansing my body with natural foods and using a powerful skin care product, my acne has improved in just two weeks. Don't give up! make sure you don't stress out too much....try journaling to get your feelings out but also do things you enjoy as well. take it easy!
The location of your acne and the fact you brought up having a dodgy cycle I am thinking hormonal acne is your issue.
Are you on any birth control? If you are which kind and you should see if it is acne safe medication. The member green gab,Ed here has a list of good and bad birth controls on her post signature. Check that out.
If you aren't on any birth control look at green gables sig and get on something acne safe and that can actually prevent acne and can straighten out your hormonal levels and bye bye acne, if you are the type that doesn't want anything to do with birth control you can ask your doctor for spironolactone or for short spiro. That will put a stop to hormonal acne without a lot of side effects. Or you can do birth control and spiro for added effect. Yaz and Diane both have spironolactone in them which is why they help with hormonal acne. There is a natural route you can go to that is called saw palmetto. You can take a look at that too, it's not as effective as spiro or birth control but it can get the job done too. Might take more time. I've never used it but lot of people on the board have. Green gables is a good person to look at her posts she makes hormones make sense and help you better understand them and she explains the drugs and treatments you can use for hormonal acne. You will read a lot of what I am telling you already but more in depth.
For those red marks I have them too. A lot of them. I am using Dans AHA to clear mine up and it's doing the trick to fa them pretty quickly. I've used Hydroquinone which is supposed to be the gold standard for fading Hyperpigmentaion and retin a and didn't have much success and if heard so much about AHA and how great it works so I figured I'd give it a go and I'm really happy with the product. Something to look into!
I hope you find this post helpful
This link is about good and bad Birth Control Choices
This link is about Spironolactone
http://www.acne.org/messageboard/topic/330216-how-to-take-spironolactone/#entry3360043
This link is a hormone post for both women and men
This link is all about Saw Palmetto
http://www.acne.org/messageboard/topic/321389-all-about-saw-palmetto/#entry3292681
Thank you for responding to my topic; you gave me a lot of wonderful information! I was on the birth control 'Altavera' but stopped using it a little over a month because it was affecting my mood horribly and it was making me depressed. Hmm..I have never come across Saw Palmetto before. I went to GNC earlier today and bought that and Stinging Nettle since I read that is another good herb to take for acne. I will also look into the Dan's AHA to clear up my spots, I definitely want them gone!
I was using Aveeno bar on my face everyday, but my acne was still itchy before when I was using nothing on my face. I have heard of witch hazel toner and have been debating on whether to get it, maybe I should!
Itchy? Hmm, sounds like you could be allergic to an ingredient in SOMETHING you're using. How mild is everything you're using? When in doubt I purchase products designed for sensitive skin.
And off topic a little, have you ever used witch hazel as a toner? I see Like Moonlight does, and I do day and night and I LOVE it. But it has to be alcohol-free.
Yes! Get pure witch hazel that is alcohol-free! I get mine from Amazon. It doesn't smell amazing but it wears off and does so much good I can't say enough great things about it!
And being allergic to oats and wheat Aveeno has always raised hell on my skin. Glad I found out why. 
But it's supposed to be super calming.
Hello there,
Let me share with you my personal experience with severe acne. My is one of the worst I've ever experienced and it is hereditary (my dad had severe acne in his youth). I had a barrage of zits, whiteheads, red bumps, inflamed ones covering my face everyday. No matter what I did, it always seems to come back with a vengeance the next day. Believe me I tried everything ranging from Accutane to a vegetarian diet. I am pretty healthy since I don't smoke or drink and I usually stay away from diary products and junk food. I exercise regularly and I do drink plenty of fluids. No doubt it helped but not much. I've tried all sorts of face washes, face packs, creams, gels, medications you name it. I tried countless home remedies, nothing worked. You could say I was getting nowhere. Acne especially the sort I had was the source of all my depression and unhappiness. It was like a curse. Until I tried Listerine mouthwash from a recommendation of another friend who was a long time acne sufferer. I use two types. The classic one i.e. the yellow one and the coloured/flavoured one. I mix one or two tablespoons of the coloured one in a mug of cold water. That is my face wash (3 to 4 times a days as required). Then before bed, I use a cotton ball to dab the classic/yellow coloured Listerine liquid on my face. It does not burn, sting or dry-up my face. Within five days everything started to rapidly clear up to the extent that it surprised everyone who know me. I donlt know if this is a miracle solution or not but it worked immensely for me. I thought of the time and money I've spent on all the products over the years and I never knew the cure lay in a very common mouthwash. I'm not sure if its a universal solution for everyone's acne but if it worked for the kind of severe acne that I had, there is a huge possibility it will do the same for yours. On a side note though, I still keep up with my healthy lifestyle and it also contributes to clearing my acne I believe. All the best.
Brother, I feel your challenge. I too struggled. What kind of foods do you eat? Please be detailed.
What we put into our temple is very overlooked, its one of the key things to straighten out to experience extreme results.
I've been on a journey the past 3 years finding what can control our breakouts and found a natural approach that brings about very profound results.
Massive love,
Eric
I will have to call my dermatologist and see if he's prescribes that.
Forgot about diet,how much you sleep,how much water do you drink and s**t like that.
At your type of acne this are all irrelevant.I had it much worse than you, as someone here said topicals are useless, they don't go that deep.Twice daily use a cleanser and a moisturizer,forgot about the topical treatment.As a girl you have multiple options of getting your acne treated internally,but the one you can be sure it will work it's accutane.
Hi Sarah,
I responded to your post a while ago and just wanted to follow up. As you were posting about your sever acne, I was also going through it as well and trying to heal it.
After about 2 months, my acne has DRASTICALLY improved..... it is not gone BUT the bumps and severe redness (similiar to your photo) have disappeared a LOT. I worked really hard to get to this point (lots of tears, journaling, stress and etc.). I worked hard at my diet and also exercised. After about a month of this, my bumps started going in and I was able to use more topical treatments. I added on two face washes-1) st.ives facial scrub and 2)mario badescu glycolic acid cleanser. I did this because my acne was starting to heal and I was able to scrub my dead skin away so new skin cells would form and the red marks would fade faster.
I lost almost 10 lbs from healthy eating and my face is so much better.... I think perseverance is key. Didn't need to visit a dermatologist or ob/gyn for hormonal issues. My cycle also came back bc my hormones were more balanced. I hope this helps you....don't give up!
I get this on my neck and temples, very embarassing being 26 and having people look at you in the gym sniggering as they think I am on steroids.
Anyway, I would go to a dermatologist and go on a course of accutane. Your acne is quite severe and accutane will clear it up. Weither it will cure it for good is another question, it sorted mine for a good 6 or 7 years but its back.
good luck chick, I know how you feel btw so your not alone.
Hey Sarah, I know how you're feeling but don't give up!! My acne was horrible and I've been able to control it in the last month, I'm almost clear and I've had it for 3 years so it's not easy, but not impossible.
I suggest you try a SIMPLE and CONSISTENT regimen. That's what has helped me immensely. We may all have different skins but I really believe keeping steady with a gentle regimen can be very helpful. Have you taken antibiotics as well? They helped me a while back, but my acne came back. Your acne is very inflamed, which is why I'm suggesting it. I'd recommend you take a course and simultaneously combine it with a gentle regimen. But you must be very consistent and work hard to keep your skin in control so that you don't waste the help the antibiotics will give you temporarily. You can take a look at my regimen in my signature below, as you can see I'm really into oils and they have almost cleared my skin (I've been using them for 3-4 weeks). It's the only thing that has controlled my skin for so long. If you're willing to try it I recommend you take a look at grape seed oil, it's been miraculous for me and might help you too. I really like it because it doesn't dry out your skin but still dries out the pimples and has helped so much with my red marks!
Truly wish you the best of luck, God bless
P.S forgot to say, something that REALLY helped me a few months ago was Mario Badescu buffering lotion, THIS is very powerful and I'm almost certain it can help you, you might want to try it if you want faster results. It is amazing for cysts but didn't clear me 100% so I stopped using it. You might want to use it for spot treating the biggest cysts only.
Hi my name is.joe and.my acne started back in december! Im22 and never had a.bad breakout, anyway I went to derm and they made it worse by giving me percribed crap, I never went back and paid them 200$ to destroy my face even further I tried a bunch of crap and it doesnt help, last week I went to family dollar and boughr.this see through soap for a buck and its workimg so good in this past week ! Id give it a.try yo ! Ps the acne creams, washing ur face too much , and stress will make it worse I swear !! Good luck I know how u feel!