Hello,

First of all I'm 21 now, had acne since I was 13. It started severe, but calmed down after 6 months or so with antibiotics and BP. Since then, I've been on a roller coaster with my skin. Can never seem to get completely clear. I've tried basically everything I've found. Accutane. Antibiotics. All the cremes and gels and cleansers and oils and aloe veras and whatnot that you can find over the counter. Diets. Apple diet. Vegan. No dairy, no gluten. Omega 3. Zinc. Vitamin D. Basically everything.

None of these have cleared up my skin for good. I can't seem to find 'the cure' for my acne. It's incredibly stubborn, and I haven't found a cause for it. Since it cleared up when I was 13, it hasn't been severe. It goes from no active acne at all to 5 pimples to 10 pimples. Rarely above 10. The places I get acne are stupid as fuck, on my nose, chin, eyebrows etc.

The condition has destroyed my self-confidence, so I feel if I can't get clear I can't get my self-confidence back. My life is turning around acne, which is fucked up. If for nothing else, I'd need to get clear for my own peace of mind.

What's evermore horrifying is that I can really be clear for 2 weeks, and then 1 day, 1 single day, when nothing special happens skin-wise, no picking, no diet change, nothing, I get 5 fucking big ones. And that's when always a new, longer breakout phase starts, lasting for 3 weeks or something.

It sounds to myself like hormonal acne. The thing is, I'm a guy, so period or other things concerning women don't affect my hormones. I never really heard hormonal acne linked to guys, it's always girls who suspect their acne is hormonal. For me, as I said I haven't found any nutritional reason or anything else that would irritate my skin, and the breakouts come very much in clusters, so it seems like hormonal.

I'm currently on the Regimen. 3rd week has started, day 16. First week I cleared up, second week I started breaking out, and haven't stopped since. I know this is within the Regimen's schedule, but to be honest I'm extremely sceptic about finding cure from this. 8 years of looking into it, trying everything, has made me that way.

I don't know why I posted this, really. But if anyone has any advice or anything, I'd be glad to hear. I'm an adult now and it's embarrassing and frustrating to have acne.

Thanks.

Ps. One thing I've noticed to cause acne for me is irritation. The problem is that my skin is producing so much sebum that not touching it is absolutely impossible. If I don't peel off the sebum and dead skin from my face (lightly with my hands) my whole face will get infected within 4 days, because of the amount of sebum it produces. I believe this is seborrheic dermatitis, although my symptoms don't match the disease exactly. It stays in control with Hydrocortisone, but I can't use it continuously, plus it doesn't absorb on my skin but leaves an extremely shiny layer. No creme absorbs in my skin, so I can only use stuff during the night.