So after dealing with acne for years now, I'm confident that a major contributor to my acne is the water supply from my bathroom sink at home. It may sound crazy, but whenever I've been on vacations or stayed at other people's houses for weeks at a time, my skin would often improve, even clear up before. I've noticed that the texture of the water from my bathroom sink is different, probably harder and more mineralized, seems almost metallic if that makes sense. The pipes in this place are old so that could be it.
I'm currently 1 month into using accutane so I'll see how it goes. My face has been mostly clear but I just washed my face using my home sink for the first time in weeks, so I'm interested in seeing if I break out again after this. It's always been a pain trying different things to no avail and trying to pinpoint what could be causing the acne. Anyone else have any experiences or thoughts on this?
As an update, I don't really have anything conclusive to report. My skin was finally clear and smooth for a few weeks, but certain things still seem to trigger breakouts, such as my zinc oxide suncreen and possibly dietary or hormonal factors. I still can't say whether or not the water back home is one of the causes but I'll try to update with any new observations.
I believe it is, but I think it is at the other place I've been staying as well, where my acne seems to clear up. Update: I'm on my 4th month of Accutane and my skin has been amazingly clear for the longest time, but I've been back home for the last week or so and I'm getting small pimples that I believe would grow a lot bigger if it weren't for me being on Accutane. I thought I may have finally been done with acne but I still think something at home is the cause of my acne. I started to think that maybe it has something to do with the shampoo I use at home, or the temperature of the water when I take a shower but I guess there's no easy way to know.
Is your water fluoridated?
I've heard of people who have found an almost direct correlation between added fluoride in their tap water and acne.
All tap water is fluoridated (at least here in Norway, I'm pretty sure it's the same the world over). I only drink water from bottle. It may or may not be one of the biggest causes of my severe acne. Don't wanna stop and find out though.
I can elaborate. I was on accutane, for 6 months, didn't seem to help. Then a week before my course ended, I started to drink bottle water only. No new acne formed after a couple of days (before accutane course ended).
I still think the hardness/softness of different water supplies might be a major factor with my acne problems. Is there any easy way to determine whether one water source is harder or softer than another? There seems to be a difference in texture, and in taste when I drink from the tap. The water here feels slightly more abrasive on the skin and although I'm in the same city I wonder if old plumbing could be a factor.
For the last few weeks to a month, my tap water has smelled very strongly of chlorine. I asked my landlord and he said "the city sent out a notice that they would be flushing the pipes until the end of March". I started buying bottled water because I doubt my Brita filter is enough for water this chlorinated. For the first couple of weeks I was still showering normally, and my skin got reeeeeally bad. Since I caught on to the problem I've been skipping showering on weekends and trying to skip a day once during the work week as well. It's helped reduce breakouts, but my skin is still extremely red, rough, irritated, and covered in dead skin. My hands are really messed up too.
So life sucks right now, but at least I know - my tap water is causing my skin problems.