I have been treating my acne with benzoyl peroxide prescription for over two months now and it is still looking like this. I go back to the doctor on Friday and maybe I can get something stronger or something different? How bad is it really? I hate going out in public I ice my face on a daily basis. I use apple cider vinegar to get the acne to dry up faster. But nothing seems to be working. Am I just making my face worse? I'm at a loss of what to do. All I know is that I start college classes again on Tuesday and I wanted to be cleared up by then. Instead I look like this. I'm just feeling really depressed.
To be honest with you, you need to give any treatment at least 3 months before evaluating. Also, if you use less or more of the directed amount or use outside things( apple cider), you are in essence sabotaging your own efforts. Your acne seems very irritated so scale back on the ACV. One thing that you can try is The Regimen. I have used BP in the proactic system and it made my skin really bad. The Regimen gave me 3 months of up and down results but heading into my fourth month, things are so much better. The acne i get now is only visible to me. I would also suggest that you look into hormonal treatments as the fact that you are female and the acne seems to be centered solely around your mouth is a usual sign that hormones are way off
You should research the different options before meeting with your derm:
Spiro
Birth Control
The thing with acne is that it can take months to years to find what works for you. I started my breakouts in juky 2011 and finally found something that seems to help my acne alot in July 2013 so thats two years of searching, various treatments, diet changes and such
Hang in there and here is a virtual hug from NY
Yes I am putting an end to ACV. I can see that it is making things worse instead of better. I am on birth control. I guess I'm just really impatient. How would you suggest I get rid of the redness? Just leave it alone and the BP do its thing or should I be trying aloe or something?
Not bad at all! Mild, I'd say. You have irritation which could well be from the BP (or picking, if you do that?). Try using green tea topically (leave on until dry, then rinse off with water) and jojoba oil as a moisturiser - or maybe a nice honey mask even. That should bring the redness down some.