Hello!

I'm so sorry to hear you're going through this, but you are not alone, and you have a whole community that is happy to help you! (:

Have you ever considered trying the regimen? If you look around on the forum you will see plenty of people with adult hormonal acne that have had plenty of success with the treatment. I think it would be worth a shot for you! (:

Good luck! and if you have any questions about anything feel free to message me! (:

Progo35: have you tried spironolactone? It is useful for acne, oily skin, and some hormonal conditions in women.

*moderator edit, no linking allowed. Check board rules *

Good luck

Progo35, congrats on losing 100lbs.! That is a HUGE accomplishment. I hope you're very proud of that. As for the acne... weight fluctuations can affect hormones and possibly cause breakouts. Did you say you stopped birth control recently? There's a post in the "Hormonal Acne" section all about going on birth control and the affect it has on your skin. Basically, it seems almost every woman who stops it ends up with pretty bad acne (myself included). It sounds like you've had a lot of changes in your system and your system maybe hasn't "caught up" or adjusted. I definitely recommend seeing a dermatologist and telling him/her everything you mentioned here.

I definitely understand about the diet -- you can eat an incredibly healthy and "clean" diet, yet still have horrible acne, and someone else can eat crap and their skin is ridiculously clear. I hate that! It's not fair, right!? Don't give up.

As for washing your face, I'm not sure leaving cleanser on your face is the best treatment option. Typically, many dermatologists say to wash your face only twice a day with a gentle cleanser (unless you workout, then wash it afterwards), and no harsh scrubbing. This is because it can irritate the skin and cause the skin to produce even more oil. Personally, I don't think Cetaphil or CereVe is enough for me, but stuff like Clean & Clear is too harsh. I like Cetaphil's foaming face wash for acne prone skin. It's gentle, yet I feel like my skin is still clean.

I've heard about the crushed up aspirin. There's also the baking soda treatment (2 tsp basking soda: 1 tsp water. Mix into a paste and leave it on affected area for at least an hour or overnight. I found this here on the acne boards. It doesn't kill the bacteria completely , but it does decrease swelling). If you have cysts or nodules, your best bet is to get into the derm ASAP to have an injection. I've had more than one derm tell me this.

Hope this helps! You're definitely not alone here.

Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone. It is so weird/frustrating. My acne has basicaly cleared up-you can't see it unless you look very closely and can see the beginnings of new ones under a light, if you know what I mean. But on Monday night I got so angry about it that I swallowed 20 aspirin. I don't know if I was just so angry that I didn't care of if I subconciously wanted to die or something, but I wound up in the emergency room 9 hours later with ringing in my ears, nausea and a high level of aspirin in my blood/urine. I've been discharged and the doctor expects me to be fine, but now every time I feel a cramp or a pain I think, "are my kidneys shutting down; did I damage them, etc, etc.(I'd been taking aspirin and other anti inflammatories for acne for awhile, but not quite that much...) Anyway, I'm really upset at myself for doing that. I did go back on my birth control and have an appoitment with my psychiatrist/doctor next week. Hard for me to understand why I did that, as I recently experienced a recovery from severe depression, and I would have thought that if I were going to swalow 20 aspirin, it would have been back then. But I think that one of the thoughts going through my mind at the time was that I didn't think anything would happen and if it cleared up my face, I was wiling to take that risk. I don't know if anyone else has ever been that desperate or how you coped with it afterwards...

You're human and you're not alone. I think a lot of us have been so frustrated about our skin because it affects every single thing we do and then we get so sad and defeated that we might make a choice that isn't wise or productive. But we've all reached our boiling point so don't be too hard on yourself. We can't heal and recover if we keep berating ourselves for what we do in our dark hours. Just learn from it and move forward.

I second all the other suggestions from the other posters-especially the one about leaving your cleanser on. I totally get where you're coming from because I used to do that. In my head, I thought that I would get a deeper clean, but I know now, it might not be the best thing. Be gentle and use a gentle cleanser. The baking soda paste is great too! I learned from here to use apple cider vinegar right after to balance out the alkalinity of the baking soda. Doesn't smell so great, but you can rinse it off a bit with some water and the smell goes away. When I used the baking soda mask, I only did it once a week. Anymore, and I would break out because it is pretty strong.

Good for you on the weight loss- you're on the right path, and while the adjustments are no fun, you'll get there. Give your body some time to recover.

After joining this site, my favorite products are aztec healing clay (once every week and a half), witch hazel (the normal one) I use that as a mask and also I soak a cotton round and use that as a compress against new forming cysts. I leave it on for about 5 minutes. Ice- I ice my red cysts, always sure to protect my skin with a paper towel or even just ice in a plastic bag, and that helps me out a lot. I haven't found a magic cure for cysts, but those things help me shorten the duration of it at least.

Biggest thing- breathe and smile when you're feeling like that. Get on here and read everyone's posts. It brings me comfort and i hope it does for you too.

i dont want to be another one of those "diet causes acne thing" but i personal see a connection between what i consume and my complexion. This is mainly because i personally have a wide array of food sensitivities that causes rosacea and acne bumps. anyways i went to an allergist because i noticed if i ate citrus fruits i would get a face reaction that consisted of what i just stated. Well it turns out- after they finished the test- i was allergic to eggs, milk, soy, oats, oranges, lemons, peaches, almonds ( and thats just the beginning) Also a bunch of tree pollen and grasses or whatever and coffee thats why i cant use natural products... yeah i cant win... well i decided to help clear some of my problem i went back to the basics with what i consume. I only drink water, and tea (2). food i have banana with peanut butter for breakfast and one or two pieces of pineapple for a boost. lunch its usually a PBand or if im home i will take a bagel add sauce and natural cheese and toast it to make a homemade pizza without all that added salt and preservatives. and dinner i have a meat or fish with a side and a side of veggies. I dont add any spicy things or anything. this is just me rambling anyways im not saying this is your case- but yeah idk hah

It's *##$#%#%* back. It cleared up for 2 whole days; whoopie. Oh, and get this gem from a family member: "It's what's inside you, it's part of you, grow up." THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I mean, because you totally understand. ('Cause she doesn't. I love her, but she's barely had a pimple in her life.) It's not fair.

Please don't do things to harm yourself. Harming yourself just makes everything worse in the long run. You're also did something that was detrimental to not only your psychological health and body chemistry (which are the most important things), but bad for your acne. Doing something like overdosing on a medication causes you body to go into survival mode. When in survival mode, all your body is focused on it keeping you vital organs going, the blood bumping, and brain functioning. Your skin is the least of it's worries. Even after being discharged and the Dr. giving you the OK, your body is recovering from that trauma.It needs to return to equilibrium before turning it's attention to the "lesser" problems, like acne. For us to get what we want on the outside, we need to be healthy on the inside.Think about it, if our bodies were healthy in the first place, we wouldn't have acne. Healing begins within.

That means taking vitamins, eating properly, exercising, getting sun, keeping stress down, and most importantly SMILING! As dark as life seems right now, and trust me when i say I know how dark life can be, there is a light waiting to shine on you. Acne is a painful problem to live with. It has caused me (and many others) intense suffering and psychological damage. I try to remember the old saying "This too shall pass..." No one ever said life (or getting rid of acne for that matter) was easy. It sucks, but the sooner we all except that, the sooner we gain peace within ourselves.

Please message me if you need some extra support, or just need someone to vent to. I understand the frustration, I truly do. I'm experiencing a lot of those negative emotions as I type. Feel better Xo

I want to let you know you are not alone in this battle. I'm 41 and in a similar acne situation to you.

I first developed acne in my late 20's and ruined my gut and immune system by taking anti biotics for 3 yrs. (The acne did go away)This year, after 11 yrs clear, the acne is back.I've felt suicidal, angry and everything inbetween, but I've received so much support and useful advice on this site that I'm 80 percent clear at the moment and seeing a derm end of August. Please check out both the Adult Acne and Hormonal Acne threads.

Its a hard battle for us all but you'll find plenty of support here.

Thank you, all. Your support truly means a lot to me. :3 )

Thank you, all. Your support truly means a lot to me. :3 )

BTW I lloooveeee your profile pic Toothless always makes me smile! haha