Hi everyone so I apologise in advance for the long post.
A brief background - I am 23 that suffered from bad acne between the ages of about 13-15 but during this time I only ever got it badly on my skin and mildly on my forehead but my cheeks weer always completely clear.
Then as soon as the weather turned colder when I was about 17 my skin got awful- almost overnight! I didn't have cystic acne but my pores were suddenly huge, my skin felt tight and dry, I had all of these red bumps sort of under the skin that would never come to a head, my face would sometimes feel like it was burning when it was very cold and my skin almost looked scaly. I'm still not sure whether the marks on my skin are actually large pores or icepick scars, but since i never ad acne on my cheeks I'm not sure why or how I would have scarred. My skin is basically irritated and just looks angry.
Anyway this ONLY happens in the cold months and every year I absolutely dread autumn/winter. Summer my skin is almost completely clear. I usually don't even bother with makeup and just wear some primer. My pores are still larger than I would ideally like them but they are 100000x less noticeable. The weather is just turning colder here in England..so as is my confidence! I honestly find in the winter months I can barely even look people in the eye and I hate it.. I hate that doing something as ordinary as walking down to the shops or even speak with other members of the class in lectures is so hard for me. I see people starring a lot and I understand why! My skin is just so weird..like it's not dry, it's not oily, I get all these raised red bumps but not actual cystic acne.
I read that this could be caused by a vitamin D deficiency so I bought Vitamin d3 today as well as Vitamin A and an oil-free moisturiser as I thought perhaps the large pores were due to my skin being dry? But I have no idea what to do about the redness/bumpiness that almost looks like wind burn.
I have attached some photos. These unfortunately do not even show the true extend of how bad it is. Any advice at all would be so appreciated. I loved winter growing up and I still would now if it wasn't for my damn face!! And what exactly are the dark red spots toward the bottom of my face that just sit under the surface?
Thanks for the responses everyone. NomNom it's definitely something to do with the sun for me. My skin instantly clears up as soon as it's hot and sunny!! I don't even mean a matter of days..I mean like an hour after I land in a hot country on vacation my skin looks better.
I already use salicylic acid 2% and am not seeing any results from it so will also try aha.
ok, so heres the thing.
when the skin is dry, it will still produce oil but it will find it harder to get to the surface of the pore. hence the clogged pores. Moreover a skin can be oily, but still be dehydrated.
Now, if you go squeezing/popping them, they will likely scar and or permanently enlarge the pore ( i know this because its something I have done for a long time...) I have a noticeable one right on the front of my cheek and I pray it will - over time heal..
So what you need to do, especially in the winter months, is use a good moisturiser, one that doesnt block pores or sit too thickly on the skin.
Cetaphil lotion is great, as is the gentle cleanser. Try giving those a go and see how you get on. try very hard to not squeeze anything out.
I feel like i know exactly what type of skin you have when you say "like it's not dry, it's not oily, I get all these raised red bumps but not actual cystic acne."
I noticed I used to get those red marks more often when i supplemented with omega 3 fish oils...
so what you need is more linoliec acid. get hold of some hemp seed oil (organic) as it contains omega 3 6 and 9. this will help convert your sebum to be more slippy and not as prone to clogging up.
let me know how you get on.
