Hello, I'm 23 this year and my face has never been better. I'd like to share my 7 year journey with you Teen-->Adult

If you take some time to read this post that i'm posting, i'm sure many of you would find some help to alter your current lifestyle and can even find that it helps out a lot.

Here's my story, when i was 16 i broke out like any other teenager would (I don't have good genes). At that point of time, i was like "hah, it will stop one day", which it didn't.

In that period of time i broke out in red painful cysts along my jawline, whiteheads. Whatever kind of acne you can think of, i have had it.

So, everyday my face was deteriorating, and it started to had an impact on my confidence; i hung out with my friend's lesser and cooped up at home once school ended.

Blah blah blah, so you know the drill. I started trying to find 'cures',etc. Tea Tree Oil,Antibiotics . None of which gave good success.

So usually my diet consisted of everything High GI, Dairy etc, and i came about how High GI diets cause more sebum to be produced.

I started to kick out High GI food; Bread, Cereal, Rice, Pasta, Wheat,

And yes maybe it reduced my sebum by about 30%, i didn't feel like an oil slick like i was before, but i still have an oily face but not as bad as it was.

Hmm all good, but i still was having cysts and whiteheads occasionally, and have read that dairy/caffeine products cause them.

And yes i also kicked out milk,coffee and anything else that contained dairy/caffeine.

And up till here i've more or less had my diet rotating around Poultry,Fruits & Vegetables. I am unlikely to touch anything with carbs(except fruits).

Do take note Legumes(nuts,peanuts, cashews) all caused acne. I also do not take any fizzy drinks/sodas as i usually take more fruit smoothies, they work good for me.

Up till here, it was about 4 years into "experimenting" what would be good for me, and i came with relatively good results (about a 60% reduction in acne)

Do take note it requires a lot of commitment to converting into a low GI Diet, and skipping all the legumes,sodas,dairy,caffeine. But if you managed to, i believe you will achieve good results. And take note results don't come in one day,may take weeks of commitment of a certain diet for it to show results.

So where is the remaining 30~40% acne coming from? Took me another year or two to figure that out.

Well, heres what caused me that remaining, Masturbation.

As a male, ever since i hit my teen years i masturbated a lot, and yes guess what it does cause acne (especially big cysts) for guys (not sure about females).

I've read through articles and found out that it causes some hormonal changes relating to androgen which in relates causes stupid big cysts.

So yes, i started to test out by stopping for a week. And well well, no more cysts except those that i've had before. Good news, the following day, my urge came on and yeah, 1 big cyst on my jawline the following day.

Yeah and cysts only heal fully about 1~2 weeks in, leaving a red mark which could last another 2 weeks or more. So at least a month before you can get your original skin tone back.

And ever since then, i've always had clear skin,

I know it can be really hard to change to the lifestyle we are all used to, but if you are determined enough to make a change in your life, I can promise you that you will at least achieve an 80% cleared face, or even better totally clear.

In this section i'll briefly explain what i use for cleansing/exfoliating/medicating

So, you guys may also ask what am i using.

Cleansing

For me personally?due to the oily nature of my face, i use a personal soap bar, 'Dettol' to help freshen me up.

(Cleanser wise, use one that you are used to using. One that you usually use and find it good)

Exfoliating

Every 2 nights, i would exfoliate my face with 20% glycolic acid, leaving it on for about 10 mins before washing it off.

Be warned, if you are new to it start with maybe 10% and 5 mins before moving up to higher concentrations and leaving it on for a longer time.

(Got my Glycolic Acid of E-bay. Doesn't matter which one you use, they all serve the same purpose)

Medicating

You guessed it, i use Benzoyl peroxide 5%. apply it all over my face except my forehead, where i never get breakouts (lucky me )

IMPORTANT

1)If you use retin a cream, never apply it with BP, it will only cause brown staining on your face.

2)And if you recently have a small wound on your face, Never put BP on it, its going to sting because it interrupts the fibroblast forming.

I have a very simple regimen that i follow, you shouldn't be piling too much stuff on your face, it just risks more clogging of the pores.

I wish all of you the best in whatever you try from this post and i can guarantee a very good amount of you will find your complexion improving. I'm also open to answering your questions