Well, I would recommend you to introduce into your diet. For best results, replace one meal a day with it (preferably breakfast). You can search for green smoothie recipes on acne.org. For example:

- Mint leaves

- 1 large handful of spinach (or parsley, kale etc)

- freshly squeezed lemon juice

- 1/2 of banana (or apple, pear, pineapple, mango etc) - or you can use berries instead of fruit - whatever you like

Green smoothies are ultra rich in vitamins and minerals, so not only your skin will benefit, but the whole body. The great thing about smoothies is that you can always add new things to it to change the taste.

Also, eat a lot of vegetables, fruit and berries during the day.

Eliminate: refined carbohydrate, sugar, dairy, junk food, alcohol and gluten.

So, eat plenty of: fish, vegetables, fruit, berries and prebiotics such as onions and garlic.

Drink 2-3 litres of pure water (not tap water) per day. Preferably, ionized water.

Drink 1-2 cups of green tea with mint per day.

If you can tolerate nuts, eat a handful of walnuts (or almonds) - which contain OMEGA 3. But you might skip this step, as long as you are taking cod liver oil tablets.

Now, THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP: PROBIOTICS. Although, there are lots of capsules with probiotics, but I wouldn't recommend them because living organisms (good bacteria) can't survive in a capsule. Water kefir - that's what you need. Other sources of probiotics: yogurt and sauerkraut.

Exercise: jogging and yoga are the best type of exercise to flush out toxins from your body and increases levels of oxygen in the blood. Yoga is amazing because it circulates nutrient and oxygen rich blood to the skin. So, 30 mins - 1 hour a day - is just great for your body.

Vitamin D: which issss... SUN. It's summer now, and you NEED to get 20-30 mins of sun exposure EVERYDAY. Healthy diet + healthy amount of sun exposure is good for you as it raises vitamin D in the blood.

You might also try drinking as well as applying it onto your face to regulate pH level of your skin. Any brand of ACV is fine, as long as it is ORGANIC and has 5% acidity.

To drink: 1 tablespoon of ACV diluted in 1 cup of water 2-3 times a day (preferably, 20 mins before a meal). After you drink it, rinse your mouth well with water. Don't brush your teeth right away as that may grind the vinegar into the enamel.

As a toner: ACV 50/50 water - but, in a week or so, if your skin is ready, you should apply full strength of ACV. Apply ACV 2-3 times a day, don't wash it off.

Don't stress, spend more time outside in the woods (where you can find no people), sleep 8-9 hours a day.

You're writing off birth control pills due to dangerous side effects? Unless you have some pre-existing condition that would make them so, birth control pills aren't dangerous. Countless people take them for YEARS at a time. I know they are not perfect but of all the things we do to try and control acne - well it's no worse than many of them and might make a huge difference. It helped me a lot.

We are all different so you can't really take others' recommendations but I initially went on Diane 35 which worked well and then later Alesse (much lower hormone dose so if you're worried about that this might be a good place to start). Give each pill 3 months to work.

I would recommend birth control for acne over Accutane and antibiotics, for the record. They seem to screw people up way more than birth control.

If your acne is mild, you may be able to control it by eating a low carb, no sugar, dairy free diet + lots of sunshine + digestive enzymes and probiotics. But if your acne was severe like mine that approach will frustrate you. I had acne well into adulthood because, like you, I was afraid of hormonal treatment. Too bad I wasted years of my life looking like a pus pit because I was afraid of a birth control pill.