Hey all, I'm a 16 y/o male and have suffered from mild to moderate acne since the age of 13. While it may be mild, it has continued to persist, and I continue to have blackheads on my cheeks and nose and pimples on my chin. Previously, my doctor prescribed me tretinoin and some BP topical gel (the gel only worked initially, and tretinoin did nothing).
Here's what I use currently for my acne....
> Clean & Clear Persa-Gel 10 (10% BP) - (Only at night, I apply it to my pimples)
> AquaphorHealing Ointment - My moisturizer (When my skin gets dry and needs sped up healing)
> Neutrogena Skin Booster Natural Cleanser
> Arria Starr Dead Sea Acne Mud Mask - (I use this 2-3 times a week)
As of recent of I've seriously contemplated dropping all these things and just going on the Acne.org Regimen because I'm REALLY TIRED of having acne. So like I said, I have mild acne w/ blackheads on nose and cheeks and some pimples on my chin. Would I be a good candidate for the regimen?
Is there any other changes you guys suggest I make to my skincare regimen? I was contemplating purchasing sudocremand green tea because I heard they help with acne. While it could be worse, my skin makes me feel like absolute sh*t.
Please help.
Like you, I'm tired of feeling awful about myself and my never ending regimes. My doc prescribed me 5%BP which I started a couple of weeks ago, but having read the acne.org regime today I am going to endeavour to follow it properly. I'm 20 and from my experience, anything bought at a drugstore is going to do absolutely nothing (e.g. Clean & Clear). So maybe like me it's time to ditch your regime and try this one as results seem promising. Good luck!
6 hours ago, acnelondon said:Like you, I'm tired of feeling awful about myself and my never ending regimes. My doc prescribed me 5%BP which I started a couple of weeks ago, but having read the acne.org regime today I am going to endeavour to follow it properly. I'm 20 and from my experience, anything bought at a drugstore is going to do absolutely nothing (e.g. Clean & Clear). So maybe like me it's time to ditch your regime and try this one as results seem promising. Good luck!
2
Yeah, I feel you. The Persagel was only initially effective, but as time passed, it started doing less and less. At this point, I'm ditching all my products and going on Dan's regimen.
Most people who develop acne they use "amazing" products that promise them to cure any form of acne and they guarantee fast results.
Guess what? Bull shit ! Acne doesn't start from outside, but from inside the body. It is strongly connected with our life style and our diet. I think your doctor didn't ask you what you eat, if you practising any sport, didn't put to make some analises to realize that you are deficient zinc, vitamin A or any other.
And if you ask why most people can eat anything, can drink anything, can sleep very late and they don't develop acne is because those bad habits are affecting their body in a different way: less energy, problems with hair, blind, pains ... your body is telling you that what you are doing right now is not good so that it trigger acne, to warn you have an unhealtly life style or not healtly as it must be.
So stop treat acne from outside, but start treat acne from inside !!
4 hours ago, BmX said:Most people who develop acne they use "amazing" products that promise them to cure any form of acne and they guarantee fast results.
Guess what? Bull shit ! Acne doesn't start from outside, but from inside the body. It is strongly connected with our life style and our diet. I think your doctor didn't ask you what you eat, if you practising any sport, didn't put to make some analises to realize that you are deficient zinc, vitamin A or any other.
And if you ask why most people can eat anything, can drink anything, can sleep very late and they don't develop acne is because those bad habits are affecting their body in a different way: less energy, problems with hair, blind, pains ... your body is telling you that what you are doing right now is not good so that it trigger acne, to warn you have an unhealtly life style or not healtly as it must be.
So stop treat acne from outside, but start treat acne from inside !!
Yes, I agree with treating acne from the inside. For a lot of people, it's either diet or hormones that causes acne. For me personally diet does nothing, it was hormones that caused mine.
I was living a super healthy lifestyle: healthy diet eating tons of fruits and veggies, exercising 4 times a week, practicing yoga and meditation, barely any coffee or alcohol, drank lots of herbal tea, got plenty of sleep, drank lots of water, and basically everything else you can think of and STILL got acne. I was going crazy because I was like "I'm SO healthy, why is this happening to me??". Especially since in college I was SO unhealthy and had perfect skin. It was because my acne was caused by a sudden change in the balance of my hormones. Once I got on the right meds for it my acne started clearing up again. Even now I have been eating pretty unhealthy the past month and have been slacking on the exercise because I've been so busy, but my skin continues to improve regardless because my hormones are getting back to normal.
I hate to be this person as I know how much it sucks AND I'm constantly told this as well which irritates the hell out of me, but you are still very young and in boys this is a peak time for breakouts, be it a few teenage spots or full blown acne. I think it would be good to get on meds because the improvements are usually good (my brother is your age and has reacted really well to antibiotics) as well as for your self-esteem, but taking steps as far as accutane will be nowhere near your doctors thoughts as you are young and there are many other routes to go down which avoid the harsh side effects.
Hey Eric,
When I was a young man your age I went to a very similar situation. When I read this it really hit home. I want to tell you the exact things that started helping my acne get better. Maybe it will work for you too. I tried eating overly healthy (didn't work). So eat what you want just try to avoid too much sugar (especially chocolate) and cut back on fried foods. Eat more baked/grilled meats and vegetables. Fruit is tolerated by many but for me it causes my face to break out (no idea why). As for supplements, things that mild helped me were probiotics to stabilize digestive issues. Zinc supplements also helped for a little while.
As for skin routine. This is definitely what caused a changing point for me. I used to take 2 sometimes 3 showers a day! DON'T do this. I started showering once a day at night and I would wash my face with proactiv cleanser (I know sounds cliche). Any cleanser with benzoyl peroxide will probably work though. Just wash your face ONCE a day in the shower at night with a benzoyl peroxide cleaner. After the shower I would put Neutrogena oil free moisturizer sensitive skin. Then go to bed. I would wake up and splash my face with water multiple times until most of the oil was gone, brush my teeth then continue the day. Nothing but water in the morning. Throughout the day I would splash water on my face and pat with a towel when I felt oily.
For me my main issue was trying to be too clean which just caused sebum to be produced at an extremely high level. So basically using benzoyl peroxide once a day and only splashing with water throughout the day caused my oily skin to become way more stabilized. I know a lot of this sounds like it would make acne worsebut trust me, when I started maintaining a minimalistic routine (BP wash once a day in shower and neutrogena oil free moisturizer right after shower) things got SO much better for me. Everyone is different so who knows if it will work for you or if you will try it. I just wanted to leave a comment like I wish someone would have given to me when i was your age.
Adios!
On August 1, 2016 at 5:37 PM, acnelondon said:I hate to be this person as I know how much it sucks AND I'm constantly told this as well which irritates the hell out of me, but you are still very young and in boys this is a peak time for breakouts, be it a few teenage spots or full blown acne. I think it would be good to get on meds because the improvements are usually good (my brother is your age and has reacted really well to antibiotics) as well as for your self-esteem, but taking steps as far as accutane will be nowhere near your doctors thoughts as you are young and there are many other routes to go down which avoid the harsh side effects.
Agree, I wouldn't try accutane at 16.