Have you considered Accutane.?

I'm a 52 female and still dealing with cystic acne,I had 4 of them surgically removed , probably from trying to get them out, they are really impossible .

I think , we might have really congested pores.

My son had treatment with differin 3% gel and solodyn for about 3 years , I know, the dermatologist over did it with the antibiotic,

There is always purging of pimples when using retinoids, though.

My daughter used ziana, she got cleared within a year ,I think ziana works faster than differin, but again , purging for about 3 months and then perfect skin.the reason that she stopped using ziana it's because she said that ziana was making her skin too red , but I think that it had to do with her using make-up and not removing it properly, also, she probably tried to remove the pimple , when it wasn't ready, and while using retinoids the skin it's fragile and bacteria can reinfect the skin and then it makes it a vicious cycle of never ending acne.

Ziana gel.can't be used for people who have some kind of stomach problems, though.

I think acne can be controlled .we just need to find the right products that can work on our skin.

My problems with acne have been with me on and off , through the years.

Right now for me it's more of a hormonal problem .

I hope you can find some answers here.

I was off for awhile,I guess because I was kind of acne free for awhile, but I came back to read posts, and share my experiences.

Hi Noche, thanks for writing. I don't have accutane worthy acne. It's a weird thing. The acne I get is mainly cystic, but it's not tons of cysts. Which in some ways makes it worse. I could be be with clear skin, and then have a pimple the size of a marble the next day

Epiduo was great, but there was an initial breakout. I haven't started it up again, because I'm afraid of the initial breakout. Also, the problem with BP is the dryness, but the retinoid made my skin sensitive in some other ways. I'm going to stick with this for now and see how it goes.

So this is officially Day 2. Again, I've been using BP for a while, but this is the second day of using it consistently. A fingertip amount at night, and a pea size amount in the morning.

The cyst at the crest of my forehead is going away but leaving quite the mark. Under my eye, it still looks like I got punched. This is the cyst I think the Derm missed with his injection. The cyst next to my nose went away. In terms of truly active acne, it's just the cyst at the top of my forehead and the one under my eye. I have some inflamed pores, but I'm not really worried about them. After getting these two cysts to clear up, my goal is to stay clear so that I can start to heal all of the marks that have been left from my cysts the last couple of months.

On the emotional side of things, I'm still struggling, but will do my best to remain strong. "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better." Gotta remember there's lots of love, and even if I feel bad, MOST people aren't judging me because of my acne. And, I can't let acne hold me back from doing great things. My plan is to hit the gym tonight after the kids go to bed. I'm sticking to it. This isn't easy, so support is welcome!

Day 3: The cysts on the crest of my forehead is gone. Of course it's left a lovely red mark that I'm sure will take a couple of months to fade. The cyst under my eye is shrinking a little but still there. The skin on top of it is dry and burn looking from me trying to spot treat it. I will continue to be patient and let it heal. No picking and fussing. Life will go on.

Other than that, I don't have any active acne. A few inflamed pores or closed comedones, but nothing major. However, I have lots of marks and some dents left. I had gotten all my marks to clear after being on Epiduo (dents are permanent though) for about 1.5 years. I'm sure that my marks will clear again, but it takes a lot of time, and it's important that I prevent future breakouts. Gonna keep going with a fingertip of BP at night, and a pea-size amount to spot treat at night. I live in NYC, so the winter is not helping with dry skin, but I'm being relatively gentle with my amount of treatment compared with what Dan recommends.

Will keep you posted. Sorry for no pics, that would just be really hard for me. Tips, advice, and support are welcome. By the way, I'm using Purpose cleanser and moisturizer with Dan's BP.

Have you tried any benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid cleanser ?

My daughter and I used purpose when we were on retinoids , but both the cleanser and moisturizer seemed to clog our pores.

I also experienced sensitivity with the retinoids and with the prescribed benzoyl peroxide treatment .

I also used proactiv for awhile , but every now and then my skin would be unbalanced, but it's probably because I would wear make-up and would not removed properly .

Proactiv worked before 2009 , after that they messed up their formula.

Back to the dermatologist to try different stuff, so I went and found some over the counter stuff that work and cleared me, my daughter and my sister .My daughter still uses these products , that includes Dan's peroxide.

As for me I have been writing about something very unusual , on the rosacea forums under the seborrheic dermatitis thread the last pages 46 and 47 .

I got really desperate, and right now, it seems that is the only thing that seems to be working ,I was googling about rosacea and came to a post where people claimed that they were using vicks vaporub, on their cystic acne,I mean I had nothing to loose , so I gave it a try .I mean people were even talking about how Rosie O'Donnell was blogging about it.

So I said, well I'm willing to be a guinea pig, and from then on , until here, my face is the clearest that has been in a long time , my only set back it's that I switched cleansers and during the day I tried to wake up a cystic pimple that had been on my face forever , the last one, so I did irritated a little with sulfur acnomel , during the day , then at night I did applied the Vicks and guess what , huge pimple woke up , so big that it just exfoliate half, then I got scared that it was going to go dormant again that I squeezed everything out , my bad , stupid me, my face is sensitive , but the only thing that I did was just not used Vicks vaporub on it and only jojoba , in 2 days is shrinking,I just can't believe it , this kind of pimple would have sent me to the dermatologist , running and it would had been on my face forever the key is patience , the Vicks brings the pimple out, only if its disturbed otherwise it just dissolves them , little by little .

I hope I didn't scared you,I was just desperate,I still think that I caught some kind of fungal infection,because I had a lot of white scars and those are slowly exfoliating until they clear from the middle.

My dermatologist suggested Accutane or sending me to Stamford to be seen by a specialist, hummm , that would be too overwhelming for me ,I would have to drive 2 hours to get there and 2 hours back.

So only I would do it as my last resort , right now is Vicks vaporub and the rest that goes with it, as out seems to be working for me.

I really hope that you can balance your skin, and don't worry about other people, they don't pay your bills.

Noche--if your dermatologist is suggesting Accutane it might be worth trying. I don't think dermatologists recommend it unless it's really needed. I know there are a lot of side effects, but maybe it's worth considering.

Day 4: So, I'm down to 1 fading cyst under my eye. The skin is all dried and peeling there from me picking at it earlier in the week. I'm hoping the cyst will go away and not linger.

Other than that, I have lots of red/brown marks and dents. Some of the dents are old and definitely aren't going anywhere. However, I'm hoping that some of the new ones will fade a bit more.

Dryness is doing okay for now. I will continue to update day by day. This process is helping me avoid picking and looking at my skin too much.

@acnedrum....I'm glad to hear that you are being positive, it helps to read other stories .

And yes I know about the mess that acne leaves on our skins ,I don't like taking pics either, but I had to post some of what I have been dealing with lately, on the seborrheic dermatitis thread,I took close-ups.

Right now, my cyst is almost flat, almost healed,I will post one when its healed,I had to take valtrex since it was so close to my lip,I didn't want cold sores to top it off.

Thank you for your advice,I have been giving it some thought, maybe go on the lowest dose of Accutane, I'm getting really fed up with this condition, the cysts hurt really bad.

Thank you again, and keep using what helps you.

Today is Day 7!

The cyst on my forehead is completely gone. Just a mark that will take time to fade. Also, the cyst under my eye is about 90% gone. The skin still looks a little darker/irritated there, but it's healing. I have one small new pimple, and another headless pimple on my temple. They both seem like they will go away quickly though. My only reason for documenting minor stuff like these pimples is that everything seems to leave a mark if it last for more than a few days. I really want to get things so I'm getting almost no acne. I want my current marks to heal.

True and somewhat embarrassing confession. One of the reasons I want my forehead to clear up of marks and dents is that I'm losing my hair. There's going to be a point where shaving my head is going to be the way to go. Considering my forehead is where I get my acne for the most part, it's scary to think about having a shaved head with no way to hide or distract from acne. Yikes!

Day 8: Not tons of change. The initial cysts I wrote about are gone, but of course there marks aren't. I still have dents and purple marks from previous breakouts that hit hard over the last two months. I have two minor whiteheads on my forehead and some sort of closed pimple on my right temple. Other than that, it's all good. I want to keep this up and keep my skin clear so that it can heal.

In addition to doing the regimen, I've also gotten myself on a great workout plan. Hoping to transform everything at once. I'll keep you posted!

Day 9: Things are going okay. Nothing major. Popped the whitehead on my forehead last night. Hopefully the mark will go away. I have a pimple on my temple that looks like it's starting to come to a head. I have a new one on my forehead that I can feel under the skin. Hopefully it won't show up. Other than that, I'm hoping to keep things clear so that my marks will clear up, and I won't get new marks. I'm going to try and get better at the timing Dan suggests, in terms of waiting for my face to dry more after I wash. I'm also three days into a new workout plan. Trying to get healthy and get clear at the same time. I'm already in good shape by the standards of most 33 year old American men, but it's finally time to kick it up a notch.

Keep you posted!

Wow, looks like you're well on your way! It does take awhile to adapt to doing the Regimen every day and to pick up speed with it while at the same time being super meticulous. I got clear 6 years ago thanks to the Regimen and now my son is doing it. The drying part in between steps is very important. Pores need to be 100% clear of water so that the BP can fully absorb with nothing standing between acne bacteria and the treatment. The BP needs time to fully absorb so it can keep doing its work of killing acne bacteria hours after it has dried. The hand-washing step is tempting to skip but I find helps.

BTW, nothing wrong with keeping healthy, staying in shape. A healthy body heals faster than an unhealthy one, so this can only help your acne.

Wishing you great success!

How are you doing acnedrum.?

I'm so sorry I'm so distracted sometimes,I didn't get that you are doing the regimen until now.

I really hope that you will be able to follow all the steps, like Dan does,if I had patience and was younger probably I would go for it.

I really hope that it helps you and that you are doing well.

Day 19: Wow! Really got caught up in the Christmas crunch and didn't have time to post. I have two boys and was busy Christmas shopping and preparing to host. My skin was fine for the holiday which was great! Of course, I got a new cyst starting yesterday. My skin is clear except for a few clogged pores, the new cysts, and old marks. I'm hoping that the BP will make the cyst go away quickly. When I get them, there's usually a short time period in which if they might go away. However, if they don't go away in a few days that usually means they won't go away without an injection. Here's to hoping!!! Funny thing is that even though I'm a guy, I break out whenever my wife gets her period. Her period started yesterday and so did my cyst. It happens every month. It's pretty crazy. I should do a research study or something on it

Continuing my workout regimen as well. It's going well. Something I'm learning from the workout regimen that is applicable to my acne regimen is that I'm not patient. I think with all things there are quick results at first. Start BP and then there's some instant clearing, but then a long plateau to make it through. Same thing with working out. Initially there are some visible results, but then it takes a long time to continue to define and build muscle. But I'm not very patient at it. I'm constantly checking my skin and body for improvements. It's really annoying and a waste of time. I try not to beat myself up for being insecure about these things because I know we lie in a vain society.

Here's to keeping at it. Slow and steady. I'll update progress on the new cyst. I'm still doing a fingertip of treatment at night (I have big hands), and a pea-size amount during the day. The drying is moderate and bearable.

Thanks DeLovely and Noche for checking in. DeLovely, when you used the regimen six years ago, what kind of acne did you have? How well did you get marks to heal? Did the dryness ever really go away? I'm going to get better at waiting for my skin to dry before applying the BP. Thanks for the tips.

Day 20: The new cyst on my forehead seems stable. Not growing, not shrinking. Hopefully it will go away so I don't have to pay for an injection. I had a cyst on my temple that popped up yesterday but went away over night. I have another pimple that I successfully popped this morning. Again, I think the breakout is cyclical. I seem to breakout at the end of the month. Weird because I'm a guy.

I will stay strong and continue to stick to the regimen even through a minor setback like this. I'm looking forward to getting my skin clear and preventing new acne from coming up. I know the marks will mostly fade over time. Just want to avoid new ones.

Continuing my workout regimen too. It's been going great. Tomorrow I'm heading to acupuncture for a cold I have. Hopefully the treatment will help with my skin too.

Going to keep breathing and trying to stay positive. I almost had an acne breakdown last night. I started to pick my skin but caught myself and stopped before I could do any real damage.

Can anyone point me to some real long term success logs? Not just the short reviews, but ones that detail a person going through this experience and achieving success.

All the best to everyone on here!

@acnedrum....when there is even a little bit of ocd on us , it's really hard for things to sail smooth.

Have you ask advice for the regimen ,I think that there is a help page here.

You can ask if its ok to pop the cysts or just let then heal on their own,popping pimples spreads bacteria and may cause to form more pimples, some people are lucky, others like us not.

Maybe you need a moisturizer , are you using the moisturizer from the regimen?

About breakingout when your wife is going through that time of the month , maybe because we ,women , go through with this with cranky hormones, my husband says that I'm more sensitive,LOL.

You probably need to relax a little,I know, it is hard , but it's the only thing that we can do.

I know it is hard , but patience is the key to success.

Best wishes.

Noche, thanks for staying on this thread and offering your support. OCD related to acne or other areas of life is a big time killer. I wouldn't call it OCD, as much I would call it a lack of self esteem. As in, "I'm not good enough or can't be confident without clear skin." That's not true, but it's hard to not feeling that way. You're right though, patience is key. I can still want to improve my acne, but checking it every 20 minutes isn't going to make things better, and it might cause me to give up early or start picking.

Day 21: I have another cyst that started last night next to my nose. It seems to be holding steady like the one on my forehead. They don't hurt unless I touch them (which I only do when washing my face). I also just popped an old cyst that flared up but had a whitehead. Overall, I have a cyst on my forehead and one on my nose. I have a healing scab next to my nose from the pimple I just popped, and another healing scab from a pimple on my forehead that I popped yesterday. My skin feels a little dry and oily. I'm trying to do a larger dose of BP at night and a small dose during the day to limit dryness and redness. It seems to be working okay. Besides the active acne I've talked about, I do have old purple marks that are healing. Also, my pores look clean. I'm hoping that once I get my actives to go down, I'll be on my way to maintaining clear skin. I might make an appointment with my derm to get these two cysts injected and hurry along the healing process. I'll see how they look in the morning.

As far as my workout plan goes, I'm giving myself the day off to recover.

In general, I'm going to continue to breath. Continue to tell myself that I'm okay, and not let my obsession with acne overrun my life. My kids are off from school for vacation, and I want to be able to have fun with them! I also want to have an uplifted sense of self and spirit going into 2015. Best to all on here!!!

Hey Acnedrum!

I applaud your terrific attitude, it's very inspiring! Been away from the site about 5 days so am just checking in...hope you had a nice Christmas and are enjoying time with your family!

I saw your questions above. I am not really sure what kind of acne I had as I did not work with a derm but I am pretty sure it was hormonal adult acne. My theory is that whatever was causing my hormones to go wacko finally straightened itself out. Otherwise I would still need the treatment to stay clear. Basically just dumb luck that my skin has stayed in remission.

I have combination oily/dry skin and after I stopped the Regimen, my skin returned to its former mostly oily state in no time flat. Currently remedying my problem oily skin with hemp seed oils supps with some success, as well as occasionally cleansing my skin with jojoba oil. Other than that my current skin plan is warm water and Dan's moisturizer. Cleansers dry my skin out too much and signal my skin to create more oil so I avoid them. My skin is definitely less oily thanks to the hemp seed oil and the jojoba oil.

I still have some lingering red marks from old acne. Although I had dodged the scar bullet, that last year of cystic acne in my mid-30s left some scars that have now faded to red marks. Experimenting with AHA+ to help with the red marks although I've been too timid to do more than spot treat individual marks haha. My son's skin is responding really well to AHA+ and his red marks are already fading. He's only used a few times on his skin.

Check out NicMic's regimen log...hers is perhaps the most amazing Regimen success story I've ever encountered!

@acnedrum , go check that blog that DeLovely , is telling you about.

DeLovely makes so much sense when she says, "once I got my acne into remission ,I treat my skin with simple care not going overboard with anything".

I mean she didn't say it exactly with those words , but that's exactly what my son did after getting his acne under control with some differin gel and solodyn antibiotics, benzoyl peroxide was too irritating for him, as for me, I don't know, but my face either loves peroxide or it's just too used to it.

Applying an aha on top of the benzoyl peroxide treatment will make the peroxide go in the pores and at the same time will keep the pores clear so they can breathe.

When I saw Dan's regimen I thought , why doesn't he have salicylic acid , and I understand now, salicylic acid can be beneficial but at the same time more exfoliating than glycolic acid.

Enjoy your days with your kids,before you know ,they will be in college .

One of mine already did ,independent now, the other one wanted more education,hopefully graduates next year and gets independent too(crossing fingers).

buy some sulfate free shampoo , that if you are not using one already.

And keep reading posts .

Probably your dermatologist would want to prescribe antibiotics to prevent spreading infection,I have mixed feelings about them.

I think they work when you use them but in the long run they can make damage , killed all and good flora and induce Candida.

Limit sugar and greasy foods,I know it's hard.

As always, best wishes.

Day 25:

DeLovely and Noche, thanks for your replies. So far things are continuing to go well. I'm clearing up from the minor breakout that set me back. The cyst on my forehead never really came to full form and went away. I have a cyst next to my nose that is fading. I had another cyst that had faded but then filled back up and I popped. It refilled a few times, but is not drained and healing. Pretty much gone. So really, the only active I have is one fading cyst next to my nose. The other issue is just acne marks and superficial scars that I hope can fill in.

I'm using a decent amount of BP at night. Just the tip of my index finger, but I have pretty big hands (XL gloves I got for Christmas didn't even fit!). Just a pea size and spot treat during the day. My skin is dry and tight, but not flaking. It's also been super cold in NYC this week, so I'm sure that's contributing to it. My goal is to eventually be able to treat at night only. However, I'll wait until I'm clear for a month or so before I start trying that.

I've never had luck with AHA, so not sure if I'll add it. I had Dan's AHA awhile ago, and every time I tried it, I would break out a little.

Happy New Year to all and thanks for your support.

My resolution is about having patience and respecting the process of things. I think it will help me clear my skin, stick to my workout program, and improve other areas of my life.

Great New Years resolutions when it comes to the Regimen! Patience is key...it's very tempting to go too fast and wind up doing more harm than good. Good you're easing your skin into the treatment. Eventually you're want to be up to the full 2 pumps. My son is on the 11th or 12th week and using 3 pumps to cover his whole face. His skin is responding beautifully to the treatment. No lobster face like I had hahaha...I have very sensitive skin...his is a bit more resilient. He does get some flakes around his mouth and nose so we've been mixing in 5-6 drops of jojoba oil with the moisturizer for during the day. The extra oil also helps give his skin a little protection from the cold wind outside. We went snow tubing as a family yesterday in Woodbury, CT (our New Years Day tradition!) and he was a little flaky after our day. Also made sure he applied a sunscreen! The BP does cause sun sensitivity even in winter so having a good non-comedogenic sunscreen on hand is a good idea.

@acnedrum...Happy New year to you too.

I'm so glad that you are keeping a good attitude, that really helps in everything and all aspects of our lives that we want to accomplish.

My son always reminds me ,saying this to me ,moderation is key mom,and I always reply back ,yes I know patience is key.

I have always noticed that when using benzoyl peroxide ,any kind ,even the acne.org benzoyl peroxide treatment,which so far (after trying most prescription and over the counter topical benzoyl peroxide) has been the most effective and mild of all .

I talk from my experience, and also from seeing my daughter spot treat, it's better to not spot treat,I know how frustrating it is to see a breakout ,specially the kind of breakouts that you don't know if they are going to come out to the surface or not , those are the kinds that I have had problems lately, so I decided to not spot treat anymore, and if it gets to the point when the spot gets really itchy and red ,I put some persa gel on a qtip and gently clean ,rubbing gently the spot, then grab another qtip with a little bit more of the persa gel and rubbing gently again ,like I'm cleaning the skin,I feel like I'm not putting anything extra on my face , just doing some cleansing, the redness and itchiness go away. I haven't tried this with the bp from the acne.org to tell you the truth.

My daughter uses the benzoyl peroxide treatment from the acne.org along with some other over the counters treatments, and jojoba oil to moisturize.

In my experience ,I can't stand jojoba oil on my face, maybe around my eye area, since moisturizers on my eyes or eye area clog my pores.I'm like, really? Pimples on my eyebrows, eyes, next to my eyes,I might have really congested skin.

It could be due that I can't go on the sun, I get really itchy and get hives, I'm still trying to figure that out , and so is my dermatologist.

Meanwhile ,I just went to Wal-Mart and got a d3 400iu the recommended daily dose for d3,I can't really take vitamins or any other herbal remedies because it interferes with my thyroid medication(I have hypothyroidism)

So, as you can see , it's very important to take a look at what vitamins and herbal can do to our bodies.

For example lavender oil,cant be used by people who have kidney or bladder problems ,or brain disorders.

I was using lavender oil to make my husband relax at night and we noticed that he was waking up at night to pee, when he never does.

My sister gets headaches with lavender, when she was a baby, she fell from the highchair onto the cement and broke her skull, later on she fell from a horse, and almost died from carbon monoxide poisoning when my dad decided to put all my brothers and sisters in the back of a recently painted pick up truck without any window.

Oh , I'm really sorry ,I always get sidetrack, my point is that external things ,supplements,foods that we put in our bodies might have an effect on them.

Jojoba oil is one of the safest, the pure Jojoba oil, not the sulfuric one.it might work for some but not for others, sometimes one or two drops is enough.

Best wishes.

Hey acnedrum ....I forgot to mention that I don't spot treat anymore, the example I gave you, it's from when I didn't know better.

Spot treating on top of a treatment causes much irritation.

Sorry about that.

Day 27: No major updates, which is a good thing. The cyst next to my nose is almost gone. Everything else is clear minus a few clogged pores and old acne marks. This is the part where it's important to keep perspective. Sure, if someone wants to stare at my skin and examine it they can find many flaws. However, it looks normal. No cysts, no scabs, no picked at marks. Just old fading marks/scars. However, the pull is always towards perfection, and that's when I mess things up. Instead, I'm just going to enjoy my skin and progress.

In other news, I'm sad that my kids go back to school tomorrow and things will pick up at my job again. It's been a lovely two weeks enjoying the holidays with family.

I like what you said above about keeping perspective. It's smart to keep your wits about you and not let the clearing process go to your head where you're setting the bar higher and higher. It's tempting to want to take things to the next level before you're ready when you should just be focusing on getting clear. It's also easy to become dissatisfied with imperfect skin when you see what others on here are doing or trying. A friend of mine on here ruined his skin by taking Accutane for a minor skin problem based on a recommendation he received. Today he still regrets it. Sometimes it's just better to learn to be happy with your skin and your progress rather yearning for what you're imagining others are enjoying...so many people make problems worse by getting on the products roller-coaster which is hard to jump off once you are on.

Glad to hear you're seeing results! Keep it up!!

@acnedrum...just checking if you had any updates.

I hope everything is going good for you and the family.

Remember to breathe and don't over stress .

Best wishes.