Hello guys,
This is the first time I've created a forum. I have come across random forums here as well in my acne journey. I've been battling with acne since I was 13. At that time, my acne would go away really fast with topical BP. So by 9th grade I didn't really have "acne". My acne became noticeable around 15, and I went to my dermatologist and he put me on Doxycycline and clindamyacin gel and tretinoin .025% cream. These did keep my acne away until the end of junior year. I was happy those years, I had friends, partied, got girls, my life was good...but then the acne came back and I got nodular/cystic acne. I didn't understand why. Ever since then, I started taking 0.1% tretinoin cream which worked well and kept the acne at bay for until my first year of college. I started getting a shit ton of acne when my last semester of college ended. I looked into diet, and cut out all dairy(except plain organic Greek yogurt, and organic kefir), grains(except brown rice which I consume VERY minimally), and cut out all fruits with high GI and sugar content. I cut out alcohol, cigarettes, and corn, soy, gluten, wheat, processed foods and junk foods and fast foods. My diet includes:
Fresh wild salmon (3oz everyday)
Red cabbage
Kale
Broccoli
Carrots
Green peas
Spinach
Cauliflower
And random low GI and non starchy vegetables
My fruits I eat are just apples, guavas, berries(strawberries and raspberries, blueberries)
I don't really eat fruits tho, mostly only vegetables
Brown rice(like 3-4 tablespoons only)
Organic ground flax seeds(5 tablespoons a day, I know it's a lot)
Almonds(10 pieces a day only)
Organic grass fed chicken (less than 2oz usually)
Garlic(one clove after EACH meal)
Greek yogurt with ground flax seeds, cinnamon and turmeric(recently cut out the honey)
I only use coconut oil and olive oil when cooked. I try to eat most of my veggies and fruits RAW.
I make sure I get at least a tablespoon of turmeric and cinnamon. Drink 10 glasses of water a day. 4 cups of green tea a day. 3,000mg of organic fish oil everyday(each pill only has 170DHA/220 EPA however so I make sure I have it 3X a day)
I run 4 miles every other day and make sure to wear sunscreen SPF 30
Wash my face twice daily with neutrogena moisturizing facewash, and I also use aloe Vera gel(straight from the plant) in morning, and leave it overnight after washing my face after dinner.
This has improved my acne a lot..but it's not perfect. I'm a Bangladeshi 19 year old male. My family doesn't have acne, besides the occasional pimple, which really gets me down cuz Bengali ppl usually have clear skin...but I dont
Haha, you are just like I was a year or two ago. Just get the accutane man its a life saver. I cant stress enough how overhyped the side effects of accutane are, especially when compared to having acne thats taking over your life. Also if you take hot showers you should avoid getting it on your face, it aggrevates the shit out of acne/scars.
Hey,
I'm really sorry you are having such a tough time and I'm sorry that I don't have any answers but just know that you aren't alone and at some point every one of us would of felt as low about our skin. I personally am currently on accutane as I had literally exhausted all my options but that wasn't before I had a really lengthy in depth conversation with my dermatologist and went through all my anxieties etc. I would say (but I don't know) that smoking won't be helping your skin and quitting may be a good starting place (FYI raw pineapple is great for getting everything moving if you are .... Bunged up haha). Also (and I don't mean to sound rude at all here and I'm sorry if it comes across like this) I had a friend who smoked weed everyday and he ended up really depressed and lacked motivation. It may be worth considering but again I'm sorry if that seemed judgemental, I didn't mean it that way 
Whatever you do I wish you all the very best
Haha, you are just like I was a year or two ago. Just get the accutane man its a life saver. I cant stress enough how overhyped the side effects of accutane are, especially when compared to having acne thats taking over your life. Also if you take hot showers you should avoid getting it on your face, it aggrevates the shit out of acne/scars.
Yeah thanks man, I'm definitely gonna ask my dermatologist to prescribe me accutane(I rejected his offer the first time cuz I'm a dumbass lol), but first I wanna get some tests done, maybe a chiropractor, food allergy test or intolerance test, fungal or parasitic test, blood test, etc. just to make sure i don't have any underlying causes.
I guess accutane is truly the only option. Even if diet works....why struggle all your life depriving yourself of foods? Fuck all that, gotta get myself an accutane prescription
Hey,
I'm really sorry you are having such a tough time and I'm sorry that I don't have any answers but just know that you aren't alone and at some point every one of us would of felt as low about our skin. I personally am currently on accutane as I had literally exhausted all my options but that wasn't before I had a really lengthy in depth conversation with my dermatologist and went through all my anxieties etc. I would say (but I don't know) that smoking won't be helping your skin and quitting may be a good starting place (FYI raw pineapple is great for getting everything moving if you are .... Bunged up haha). Also (and I don't mean to sound rude at all here and I'm sorry if it comes across like this) I had a friend who smoked weed everyday and he ended up really depressed and lacked motivation. It may be worth considering but again I'm sorry if that seemed judgemental, I didn't mean it that way
Whatever you do I wish you all the very best
Thank you and I'm sorry you're going through a tough time as well, I hope everything gets better for you. I can relate, as acne has seriously worsened my anxiety and depression and self consciousness to an unbelievable extent. All I want is clear skin. I don't want money, cars, friends, I just want clear skin so I can live normally like everyone else.
And yeah smoking probably isn't good for my skin, and so far I've gone 3 weeks without a cigarette. Although I do vape on my ecig, which I'm also slowly trying to quit. I'll definitely try the raw pineapple haha. And as for weed, I feel like it affects everyone differently. It seems to make me less depressed, and I actually feel "happiness" (which I never usually feel), BUT yeah it really destroys my motivation for anything else. I'm sorry your friend ended up depressed because of it tho, I hope he is able to quit and live happy again. And don't apologize lol, that wasn't judgemental at all. I'm slowly trying to kick the habit of smoking weed as well, and so far so good. But on those really stressful days, it seems as though I really need it:/