So a quick bit of background...

A couple ofyears ago I started getting quite nasty cystic acne across most of my face, which was aggravated by me scrubbing at it and generally irritating my skin. I went on Lymecycline for around 7months which cleared my skin up really well. Lymecycline started to become ineffective (I was getting a few spots here and there) so I was prescribed Erythromycin and Duac gel (benzoyl peroxide and clindamycin) instead. This worked pretty well for me for around a year; I continued to get the odd breakout once a month, but I went through a period of around 4 months where this combo kept me totally clear. As a rule I avoid coffee and dairy because they tend to break me out, but a couple of months ago I went through a week of drinking a lot of coffee (I was at work 24/7 so needed the boost). It broke me out really badly with lots of big cysts, which took a couple of weeks to settle.

Since then my skin has just been breaking out constantly, particularly on the left hand side of my face. I'm getting spots down the side of my face and also on the corner of my cheek bone just below my eye. I'm also getting the odd tiny whitehead cropping up elsewhere. My skin has also started to get greasier for seemingly no reason. It's not severe acne or anything, but it just makes me feel so crap about myself when I look in the mirror and see spots. I'm nearly 20 now so I was hoping to be growing out of acne.

Has anyone got any suggestions about where to go from here? I've recently moved house so the water may be something to do with it, but surely it can't play that serious a role? I'm planning to go to my GP to maybe switch the erythromycin and duac gel for other options, but I'd like to go in with an idea of what has worked for other people.

So a quick bit of background...

A couple ofyears ago I started getting quite nasty cystic acne across most of my face, which was aggravated by me scrubbing at it and generally irritating my skin. I went on Lymecycline for around 7months which cleared my skin up really well. Lymecycline started to become ineffective (I was getting a few spots here and there) so I was prescribed Erythromycin and Duac gel (benzoyl peroxide and clindamycin) instead. This worked pretty well for me for around a year; I continued to get the odd breakout once a month, but I went through a period of around 4 months where this combo kept me totally clear. As a rule I avoid coffee and dairy because they tend to break me out, but a couple of months ago I went through a week of drinking a lot of coffee (I was at work 24/7 so needed the boost). It broke me out really badly with lots of big cysts, which took a couple of weeks to settle.

Since then my skin has just been breaking out constantly, particularly on the left hand side of my face. I'm getting spots down the side of my face and also on the corner of my cheek bone just below my eye. I'm also getting the odd tiny whitehead cropping up elsewhere. My skin has also started to get greasier for seemingly no reason. It's not severe acne or anything, but it just makes me feel so crap about myself when I look in the mirror and see spots. I'm nearly 20 now so I was hoping to be growing out of acne.

Has anyone got any suggestions about where to go from here? I've recently moved house so the water may be something to do with it, but surely it can't play that serious a role? I'm planning to go to my GP to maybe switch the erythromycin and duac gel for other options, but I'd like to go in with an idea of what has worked for other people.

What doesyour daily diet look like?

So a quick bit of background...

A couple ofyears ago I started getting quite nasty cystic acne across most of my face, which was aggravated by me scrubbing at it and generally irritating my skin. I went on Lymecycline for around 7months which cleared my skin up really well. Lymecycline started to become ineffective (I was getting a few spots here and there) so I was prescribed Erythromycin and Duac gel (benzoyl peroxide and clindamycin) instead. This worked pretty well for me for around a year; I continued to get the odd breakout once a month, but I went through a period of around 4 months where this combo kept me totally clear. As a rule I avoid coffee and dairy because they tend to break me out, but a couple of months ago I went through a week of drinking a lot of coffee (I was at work 24/7 so needed the boost). It broke me out really badly with lots of big cysts, which took a couple of weeks to settle.

Since then my skin has just been breaking out constantly, particularly on the left hand side of my face. I'm getting spots down the side of my face and also on the corner of my cheek bone just below my eye. I'm also getting the odd tiny whitehead cropping up elsewhere. My skin has also started to get greasier for seemingly no reason. It's not severe acne or anything, but it just makes me feel so crap about myself when I look in the mirror and see spots. I'm nearly 20 now so I was hoping to be growing out of acne.

Has anyone got any suggestions about where to go from here? I've recently moved house so the water may be something to do with it, but surely it can't play that serious a role? I'm planning to go to my GP to maybe switch the erythromycin and duac gel for other options, but I'd like to go in with an idea of what has worked for other people.

What doesyour daily diet look like?

I eat quite a lot of bread, which I realise could be an issue; it's never seemed to have an impact on my acne in the past though. I normally have 5 pieces of fruit/veg spread over the course of the day. For dinner I eat quite a lot of chicken, pork, potatoes, onions,etc. Normally I'll have something like a curry, bolognese, pork chops with a spicy sauce, pasta, casserole etc.I'd admit that I definitely eat more sugar than I should, which I gather isn't very good for acne either.

The reason I haven't really altered my diet yet is because it hasn't really had a huge impact on my acne previously. I've cut out coffee and dairy, but only because they made my acne flare up really badly. Do you think it could be the key to sorting my skin out? What sort of foods would you recommend?

So a quick bit of background...

A couple ofyears ago I started getting quite nasty cystic acne across most of my face, which was aggravated by me scrubbing at it and generally irritating my skin. I went on Lymecycline for around 7months which cleared my skin up really well. Lymecycline started to become ineffective (I was getting a few spots here and there) so I was prescribed Erythromycin and Duac gel (benzoyl peroxide and clindamycin) instead. This worked pretty well for me for around a year; I continued to get the odd breakout once a month, but I went through a period of around 4 months where this combo kept me totally clear. As a rule I avoid coffee and dairy because they tend to break me out, but a couple of months ago I went through a week of drinking a lot of coffee (I was at work 24/7 so needed the boost). It broke me out really badly with lots of big cysts, which took a couple of weeks to settle.

Since then my skin has just been breaking out constantly, particularly on the left hand side of my face. I'm getting spots down the side of my face and also on the corner of my cheek bone just below my eye. I'm also getting the odd tiny whitehead cropping up elsewhere. My skin has also started to get greasier for seemingly no reason. It's not severe acne or anything, but it just makes me feel so crap about myself when I look in the mirror and see spots. I'm nearly 20 now so I was hoping to be growing out of acne.

Has anyone got any suggestions about where to go from here? I've recently moved house so the water may be something to do with it, but surely it can't play that serious a role? I'm planning to go to my GP to maybe switch the erythromycin and duac gel for other options, but I'd like to go in with an idea of what has worked for other people.

What doesyour daily diet look like?

I eat quite a lot of bread, which I realise could be an issue; it's never seemed to have an impact on my acne in the past though. I normally have 5 pieces of fruit/veg spread over the course of the day. For dinner I eat quite a lot of chicken, pork, potatoes, onions,etc. Normally I'll have something like a curry, bolognese, pork chops with a spicy sauce, pasta, casserole etc.I'd admit that I definitely eat more sugar than I should, which I gather isn't very good for acne either.

The reason I haven't really altered my diet yet is because it hasn't really had a huge impact on my acne previously. I've cut out coffee and dairy, but only because they made my acne flare up really badly. Do you think it could be the key to sorting my skin out? What sort of foods would you recommend?

Yes,I think diet is key to most if not everyones acne.
Please take a look in this thread: http://www.acne.org/messageboard/topic/353893-acne-issues-cant-seem-to-shake/
I answered in 2 postshere why I think diet is key, and what has cleared me, and how my diet looks like.