Hi first time poster with some results to share. I have had chronic acne since the age of 18. Now at 38 I have finally found a solution that is working for me. I have tried many acne washes, scrubs and even acutane. The scrubs and cleansers allleft my skin feeling like dried and torched leather stretched over a drum. My skin became red and inflamed and worsened with acne. I have a hard time describing my skin but I always thought it was dry and oily at the same time, easily irritated, itchy, big pores, pale.
About 3 years ago I began using clindamyacin in a nutraderm lotion applied topically to problem areas. This was recommended by a red headed female friend with sensitive skin. This is dirt cheap and easy to make yourself. You can ask your doctor for a prescription for the tablets that contain 300 mg or .3 grams of clindamyacin powder. You want to mix a 2-3% by weight medication. I get nutraderm at save on foods for ~ 18 a bottle and it is more expensive than the clindamyacin. Break open the tablets and pour them in the lotion bottle and you have just saved yourself about $40-50 in compounding charges.
This treatment has caused the biggest single noticeable improvement in getting rid of my acne. My doctor told me that it could lose its effectivness over time but another doctor told me it probably would remain effective long term and could be bumped up to 4-5% clindamyacin by weight if needed.
The second few things I began to do that caused a big improvement was.........quit washing my hair! I quit using shampoo on my hair! I wash with water and my hair looks and feels great. I use cream rinse maybe once a week and shampoo only if it gets really nasty from work or campfire smoke.
I used to wash my hair with shampoo to get rid of the natural oil I thought was responsible for for seeping down onto my face and clogging my pores. This got me thinking and I began to shower with much colder water, only luke warm now. I had read that hot water and soap was bad for your skin but I couldn't get it out of my head that I needed to scrub the oil away with steam and chemical detergents for a long time. Now I just use any old soap and cool water, no shampoo and I can even go with less clidamyacin than ever before! My acne just isn't a huge problem anymore.
The biggest victory for me was this past summer. I went on a 3 day hiking/packing camp trip into the mountains. I usually dread the outcome of these trips because after a few days without a shower and getting dusty I break out hugely on my face and neck from smoke, dust, horse dander and general outdoor grime. Well I returned to civilization unscathed. Even after sweating big time and being and around all the usual triggers I didn't look any different coming out than going in. And I did not use any clidamyacin lotion on the trip, just before and after.
I realize that my skin condition may not be similar to everyone's but I wanted to share my experience. I have a background in biology, general chemistry microbiology and biochemistry.I am also starting on my first year of veterinary school. I have thought about these results and have formed a hypothesis about the causes. I think that by washing and scrubbing my skin with hot water and soap as well as my hair with shampoo that I was upsetting equilibrium combined with leaving my skin exposed to bacteria without any protective oils. By over cleaning and drying the surface of the epidermis and stratum corneum, I was encouraging more oil to diffuse to the surface. This could have caused the production of more of the substances that cause acne like retinin. Opportunistic anaerobic bacteria could also have landed on the dry skin in dormant form and the become covered with the new secretions of oil. This would create a perfect insulated environment for them to begin infecting my pores. Anyways I'm not a skin doctor but these are just some thoughts. I hope the methods and meds will be helpful for some of you and I wanted to share because they have been liberating after 20 years of frustrating skin problems. Good luck!