Hello, I've just recently in the last 3 months or so actually figured out my acne was hormonal after a long time of really researching it. I began to have really bad hormonal acne (on the forehead) a little over a year ago, and they weren't huge cysts, but they would become pretty painful and there would be a lot of it. After a while of that, it started getting down to my cheeks, and so on. I had managed to actually get rid of my forehead acne for a few months after using Neutrogena's 3 step acne system, but it didn't work as great on my cheeks. I then started using a target brand of proactiv called up and up, and that worked a little better on my cheeks, but didn't get rid of all my acne(mainly the cysts, but the little ones were going away). So, after a while of research, I had read everywhere the same thing that other people were having with their cheeks, that I was having and that it was hormonal because of that.
I've recently been taking supplements(starting in late December/early January), and the first one I started taking is called Clearzine which you can get on amazon. It's ingredients are: Vitamin B5(10000% daily value per capsule),Biotin(83% DV), Chromium(29% DV), Selenium(18% DV), Zinc(92% DV), Co-Q10(25mg) Witch hazel(25 mg), and collagen(20 mg). And that actually started helping with my cystic acne and making it smaller and less painful/red it seems.
Now, in the last two weeks I have been taking:
Evening Primrose Oil(3 times daily)
Borage Seed Oil(3 times daily)
Florastor probiotics(2 times daily),
and even more recent in the past two days, Cinnamon capsules with chromium.
I also have recently been taking a multivitamin which includes vitamin A and E in it.
I wash my face with a soap bar called Grandma's Acne Bar(for oily skin), with Lye.
So, I've read around that your hormones WILL take a while to fix itself, and I really hope mine do. But, I wanted to know if that will happen with what I'm currently doing, and how long it takes most people.
I will be seeing a holistic doctor in May(Seems soooo long away 
)
The large, cystic acne on my face has recently died down, but now I'm getting more little acne which isn't painful, but isn't very fun either. And most recently, I've been getting it along my jaw, and chin! And little red dots near my nose on my upper cheeks. And now even suckier, my forehead acne is coming again. They are small, but still. I don't believe I have a ton of acne on my cheeks, but there's just a lot of inflammation. The EPO, borage, and clearzine have made it go down though I notice(if I'm not crazy).
BUT, if somebody could help me out and give me advice on what I'm doing, what else I could use(that won't irritate/make my face worse), and what I should not take.
I try my best to avoid dairy products, but cheese is really hard to avoid in my family. I haven't drank milk in moooonths now(I drink almond or soy milk), and I can't really avoid meat that much unfortunately. and I do my best to really avoid any sugar snacks, drinks, desserts, and processed white sugar.
Also, I'm almost 18, so I really really hope that I won't get adult hormonal acne(which is 10x worse I hear), before my acne now fixes.
It does get a little worse around that time of month too. I do not have a family history of bad acne, and my parents make very healthy food most of the time.
I don't want to use harmful products on my face either.
If anyone could help me, that would be great! Anything is appreciated.
First off, I'm sorry you're struggling... cystic acne is extremely painful. Are you male or female? You are only 17 so there is a chance that your hormones will level out on their own if you don't mess with them too much.
You are taking a lot of supplements all at once and in a short period of time. Because of this, you will have no way of knowing what specifically is effective. You will also not know if one of the supplements is aggravating it/making it worse. I feel like a broken record on these forums, but I will say it again: please consider only starting one thing at a time and then giving that one supplement/med enough time to work before adding another or switching to something else.
Not to argue with you, but I doubt you are seeing any real effects in only two weeks with the other supplements. It's possible that if you are female you are in a different part of your cycle when your hormones are more balanced than two weeks prior. It's also possible that you are finally seeing the effects of the Clearzine since it has been the appropriate amount of time. I tell everyone on here to give hormonal supplements at least 3-4 months minimum to show results. It's only been about that long with Clearzine, so maybe you are seeing results now.
About your other supplements I would lay off a lot of them. I suggest this because though several of those work for some people, they also have made others break out. Evening Primrose oil and probiotics, more specifically. I also want to mention that there is a chance that the formula in Clearzine could be making it worse and better at the same time... some people break out from biotin, for example.
That being said, If there was one supplement that I would suggest trying it would be vitamin D. Vitamin D is essential and helps with hormones, though most people don't get enough even with sun exposure. Taking it isn't as extreme as some hormonal treatments and has cleared some people alone.
I hope that helps. Like I said, you're still young so it's important to not freak out and take too many supplements, etc. because you could be doing more harm than good. Good luck! (:
I cant really suggest much if you are a male, but if you are a female i myself follow a natural therapy for hormonal balance. So, i take vitex and saw palmetto daily in a ratio1:1. I started vitex a few days ago, but i am on sp for almast 3 months. It really takes a while to see results, but i stick to it. The vitex balances progesteron and the sp testosterone. Both together i assume they bring the hormones into balance. I hope to see the difference on my face, as my cycle is stable(!?) and i cannot figure much about the imbalance. Not to mention that the sp has given me some boobs!!!. I dont use any other supplement at the moment.
I am a female, by the way, yes. Okay, so I understand what you say there, hearts. With the clearzine, it had made my cystic acne go down and become less painful. After I did A LOT of research, I checked out borage seed oil and evening primrose. I really make sure to do much checking up on a product before I try it so that it won't do anything worse to me. I started taking the borage seed oil capsules before the EPO, and the borage seed oil(I just ran out of it)has been helping. When I started taking EPO and borage seed oil my cystic acne actually became just smaller regular acne! They helped a lot, believe it or not. I have been doing research on omega 6(which is in borage seed oil and EPO), and stuff like omega 3. I started the cinammon pills because they help with blood sugar, so I wanted that to help too.
Okay, so since last saturday on March 1st, I have been taking vitamin D3 oil. I don't think I've noticed any effects yet, but I do want to give it much time.
hearts, do you think I should ween myself off the Evening Primrose Oil? I mean, it does contain omega 6 and I've read too much omega 6 can cause acne. People need 3:2 omega 3 to omega 6 balance. If I take myself off EPO, I'll just be having the multivitamins, cinnamon pills, clearzine, Vitamin D3, zinc, and magnesium that I'm taking.
Since you said about laying off the other supplements, should I start weening off the clearzine, cinnamon, magnesium, and the multivitamins? I am going to be an adult and like you said, my hormones should level out on their own. I don't want to ruin anything and make things worse in adulthood.
Also, I have noticed within the two weeks of my grandma's soap bar that it has been really making my acne wither away. It mentions on the bar that it will make things seem worse at first, and it has because my forehead has broken out(which it hasn't in a long while since I got rid of the forehead acne), and the rest of my face has. But, now it all has been going down a lot. I have read many reviews of the bar that for most people it really made it all go away within 4 weeks. I am on week 2.5.
By the way, I did not start taking those supplements all at the exact same time.