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Bad Acne, 22 Year Old Male. Will It Stop?

MemberMember
4
(@moisturer)

Posted : 08/22/2014 1:09 pm

Hi, my acne started when i was 19 years old. I've had it for 3 years now and i wouldn't say that it's been getting any better. Since my hormone level is still high, does that mean that i will get rid of it by waiting it off? In that case, how long should i wait? What is the chance of me still having acne when im 25?

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MemberMember
82
(@mrsrobinson)

Posted : 08/22/2014 1:38 pm

who knows, those aren't things you can control- acne stinks, but you can't reason yourself to getting clear.

what are you doing to treat it? is it cystic, all over? tell us more and we can help you with some strategies to clear it

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MemberMember
4
(@moisturer)

Posted : 08/22/2014 1:51 pm

who knows, those aren't things you can control- acne stinks, but you can't reason yourself to getting clear.

what are you doing to treat it? is it cystic, all over? tell us more and we can help you with some strategies to clear it

I had a tetracycline treatment when i was 20, worked fine, but then the acne obviously came back..

I cut out protein powder, any dairy, and coffee for about a year. This caused the cyst to show up less frequently, but it does now and then. I have

countless red spots/ small pimples.

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MemberMember
4
(@moisturer)

Posted : 08/22/2014 7:15 pm

 

These answers aren't really what im looking for. I am aware that i might have to take accutane for it, but i'm wondering if there's a chance to be 22,

have moderate+ acne and still able to "wait it off". Mine is most likely caused by hormones. When does the hormone level normaly decrease?

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MemberMember
197
(@lilly75)

Posted : 08/22/2014 8:01 pm

Well I guess there's a chance that it could 'go away on it's own' by the time you're 25, but I think there's a bigger chance it will stick around. It's really hard to guess these things and I don't know a lot about hormones or what's going to happen with your hormones in that time. Maybe speak to your derm or GP about that?

Either way, do you want to go from now to 25, not doing anything about your acne? Or rather, are you ok with doing nothing until 25 to see what happens? I'd still try out some treatments and speak to derm about it maybe. You don't have to take accutane if you don't want to. Other topicals and diet changes might work really well for you. I just figure that dealing with acne now and try to stop it sooner rather than later would help minimise / deal with the emotional impact of acne, and also - the less breakouts, the less the chance of scarring

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MemberMember
4
(@elfantasma)

Posted : 08/23/2014 3:38 am

Male, 26 years old. Still acne-prone. Mild to moderate. Actually I don't know. I have been using all kinds of topicals since I was 17 years old.

I still think my acne will subside in a couple of years. My mother had acne until her late 20'.

Right now i'm trying Epiduo. It has worked before. You'll need a prescription for that.

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MemberMember
4
(@moisturer)

Posted : 08/23/2014 12:17 pm

I've been really close to go to a derm for accutane, but then i keep researching and i find all these permanent issues caused by it. The chance of getting a specific side effect is slim, but when you think of how many there are, the chance of getting at least one doesn't seem to be that low. Say there's 50 different bad permanent side effects. Each of them is 1% to get. 50x1% = 50% to get at least one side effect.

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MemberMember
82
(@mrsrobinson)

Posted : 08/26/2014 9:13 am

I was in the bad side effect category of accutane so I had to stop....I had very bad cystic acne, during my worst point, 8-10 injections a week to get the cysts to go away. Not good memories.

For me I cleaned up my diet, no processed foods, no junk- no dairy and no wheat and for me, maybe not for you as we are all different, that took care of most of the cysts.

I also had a lot of IPL and PDL (some of each) sessions to fade the marks and those areas remain clear- I've come to understand now that those lasers and lights can kill sebaceous glands if done over time- and I did them quite a bit. The areas that I didn't have treated with IPL/PDL I still have problems with.

So I would say clean up your diet first, no fried or processed foods- get a good topical routine to hit it morning and night on a few different fronts and give it a good try for 30-60 days. I kept a journal on what I ate and charted breakouts...that helped me to pinpoint dairy and gluten.

Good luck to you, you can be clear without the magic (side effect laden) pill of accutane, but it takes a lot of work- but you can do it.

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MemberMember
1
(@acnegone5)

Posted : 08/26/2014 10:32 am

For most people acne will gradully get less and less as you age, and the majority it will go completley. For some it might never go totally. If it's bad then I'd jump on and get accutane, that should limit any future break outs you get or and should totally clear it. I had it for 4-5 months and I wouldn't be scared to not have it again.

Acne tends to make it's vitims teenagers and young adults, you fall in this category, as does any one under 30 or 35. As you approach 25 to 30 you should be getting much less acne, but this isn't a guarentee and if its bad, why wait? Get the accutane - the effects arent that bad for most - Im 27 I still get outbreaks, but they are small and my skin is generally smooth and nice, still these few spots I reguarly get really annoy me so I know how you feel with having bad acne.

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MemberMember
26
(@quetzlcoatl)

Posted : 08/26/2014 11:28 am

Incidence of acne decreases with age. There is no particular cutoff after which if you have acne you'll keep it, and if you don't, you won't. It could disappear at 23, or 25, or 45.

 

The idea is that you shouldn't be holding your breath.

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MemberMember
4
(@moisturer)

Posted : 08/26/2014 2:52 pm

I was in the bad side effect category of accutane so I had to stop....I had very bad cystic acne, during my worst point, 8-10 injections a week to get the cysts to go away. Not good memories.

For me I cleaned up my diet, no processed foods, no junk- no dairy and no wheat and for me, maybe not for you as we are all different, that took care of most of the cysts.

I also had a lot of IPL and PDL (some of each) sessions to fade the marks and those areas remain clear- I've come to understand now that those lasers and lights can kill sebaceous glands if done over time- and I did them quite a bit. The areas that I didn't have treated with IPL/PDL I still have problems with.

So I would say clean up your diet first, no fried or processed foods- get a good topical routine to hit it morning and night on a few different fronts and give it a good try for 30-60 days. I kept a journal on what I ate and charted breakouts...that helped me to pinpoint dairy and gluten.

Good luck to you, you can be clear without the magic (side effect laden) pill of accutane, but it takes a lot of work- but you can do it.

I have been working on my diet. Haven't had a dairy product in 1 year and pretty much the same with coffee, aswell as a big reduction on anything that contains sugar. I also started drinking red/green tea and i take fish oil supplement. What's weird about my acne is that instead of getting a new one everyday, i get them in shorter periods. I may not get a single acne for 1 week, then the next upcoming days i get a lot of them. I've tried to connect this to things i've been doing "wrong", but it's really hard to say.

You mentioned " IPL and PDL". As far as i know IPL is for red marks in general, and PDL for scars. Do you think that an IPL treatment can "cure" a part of the skin, or is it very temporary and will only reduce the redness in that area? I thought laser treatments were suposed to only work if you got rid of your active acne and then treat the red spots/scars?

For most people acne will gradully get less and less as you age, and the majority it will go completley. For some it might never go totally. If it's bad then I'd jump on and get accutane, that should limit any future break outs you get or and should totally clear it. I had it for 4-5 months and I wouldn't be scared to not have it again.

Acne tends to make it's vitims teenagers and young adults, you fall in this category, as does any one under 30 or 35. As you approach 25 to 30 you should be getting much less acne, but this isn't a guarentee and if its bad, why wait? Get the accutane - the effects arent that bad for most - Im 27 I still get outbreaks, but they are small and my skin is generally smooth and nice, still these few spots I reguarly get really annoy me so I know how you feel with having bad acne.

It's not easy to take accutane after so many bad incidents people have experienced. I've read so many posts of people complaining about their side effect's that i'm simply not willing to roll a dice and hope that i don't get the bad, permanent side.

The most common permanent effect seems to be "ruined sex life" and "major joint pain", aswell as bad headache and stomach pain.

Here's an article: http://wp.rxisk.org/accutane-30-years-of-trading-our-sex-lives-for-clear-skin/

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MemberMember
82
(@mrsrobinson)

Posted : 08/30/2014 6:04 am

you asked me about IPL and PDL treatments- they are expensive but they can work in combination with photo dynamic therapy- an acid is applied to your skin, called ALA in the states, and you incubate for an hour or so, then the light source is applied to activate the ALA. It acts by targetting the sebaceaous glands- and in some people it can improve acne.

Search this forum for blue light treatments, or acne PDT (photo dynamic treatments)- it is an alternative to Accutane for those who can't tolerate it. But get your checkbook ready as the treatments are expensive ~$400 and you need ~4...and insurance won't cover it in the states, sadly. There are some studies showing repetitive IPL/PDL without the ALA acid can also be expensive.

Just keep searching and reading up on everything you can! Then figure out what you want to 'trial' your self. AGain, good luck to you!

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