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Sudden outbreak of acne at 18 (with pictures)

MemberMember
1
(@acne18)

Posted : 02/27/2017 10:31 am

-sorry for the long post!-
*disclaimer: I'm aware others have it much worse! It's just really disheartening and concerning as it's out of nowhere and continuing to get worse & worse :( *  
All throughout high school, I was fairly lucky when it came to my skin. I have quite dry skin, but neither of my parents ever had acne, so my skin was extremely clear with the occasional cystic blemish starting when I was 16. I am now 18 and started getting quite few cystic breakouts on my cheeks while I was living in London. I attributed this to barely drinking any water and eating poorly, both a complete 180 from how i was when I still lived in Toronto. When I moved back to Toronto in January, I really noticed how crappy my skin was :/http://static.acne.org/ipb_uploads/emoticons/smileys_n_people_48.pn g" style="font-size:12.8px;font-style'Open Sans', sans-serif;widthauto" title=":/"> It was extremely discoloured as I've been struggle with dermatillomania (I compulsively pick my skin) and through research I found out it was post inflammatory erythema. At this point, I didn't really have any active blemishes, just lots of discolouration.

Here is a photo of my forehead two months ago (there is a little concealer covering discolouration, but this was it in terms of breakouts/texture: Screen Shot 2017-02-27 at 10.16.25 AM.png

Here are two photos of my forehead (once again with a little concealer covering the discolouration, more just to show texture):

Screen Shot 2017-02-27 at 10.17.14 AM.png 

Screen Shot 2017-02-27 at 10.17.42 AM.png

I decided to change my diet in hopes of it helping with the discolouration and occasional cystic blemish. I already don't eat meat as I've been vegetarian for the last 5 years, and I've always been lactose intolerant so I decided to finally try cutting out dairy (I didn't really eat much to begin with) since it would help my stomach and wouldn't make my skin any worse, began drinking lots of water again, having it as my only drink  (at least a litre and a half a day), included a lot more fruits and veggies in my diet, limited the unhealthy snacks I used to munch on (chips, chocolates, etc.), and began taking 1500mg of l-lysine supplements nearly everyday as I read on here that it helped some people with collagen production, and I thought it might help with the post inflammatory erythema. 

My skin was staying clear and evening out, and then I got a massive breakout of small, slightly raised bumps between my eyebrows and on the centre of my forehead about a week and a half to two weeks ago. Nearly all of them never formed a pimple/came to a head, it was mostly a texture thing, however some became bigger. I had never broken out like this, nor had I ever broken out in this spot. I stopped taking the lysine and continued eating well, and then it just got worse. I started getting cystic acne above my eyebrows in addition to all of those little bumps :(http://static.acne.org/ipb_uploads/emoticons/smileys_n_people_56.pn g" style="font-size:12.8px;font-style'Open Sans', sans-serif;widthauto" title=":("> I stopped eating soy products thinking they were messing with my hormones, I switched to gluten-free oatmeal, I switched from the moisturizer I had always used and had work for me to the Aveeno daily moisturizer which had a good noncomedogenic rating on here,and  it seemed to be ok for a day or two, but then I broke out even MORE. I got some inflamed spots on the left side of my mouth, a few whiteheads on the right side of my mouth (I never breakout around my mouth), pimples on my nose, 4 new cystic spots around my hairline, and the situation on my forehead and between my eyebrows worsened. I've been crushing up aspirin and making it into a paste with water because it helped once, it hasn't been doing anything. Today I stopped using the Aveeno and switched back to the moisturizer I had always used. IMG_2424.jpgIMG_2425.jpg

I don't know what to do anymore. I've been reduced to tears nearly everyday this month :/ I'm so scared to eat anything because I am so terrified of how my skin will react. I already struggle with really bad depression and my skin is just adding to it . I won't leave the house to go see my friends on the weekend because 1) I don't want to put makeup on my skin [and if I do it takes forever because of everything I have to work around now] and 2) because it's all I can think about and I am absolutely miserable. For almost a year now, I've been having horribly painful periods  (with a lot of my symptoms aligning with endometriosis), and over the past 2-3 months I've noticed my skin is wrinkling a lot easier and I've been having horrible PMS in terms of my mood (which I NEVER used to get). This has lead me to think I'm dealing with a hormone imbalance? I am going to call my doctor today to try and get a hormone test/dermatologist recommendation. If anyone has any insight or has gone through something similar, please let me know x

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MemberMember
12
(@putmeoutofmymiserynow)

Posted : 02/27/2017 1:48 pm

coming from someone with much worse skin: never apologizes for feeling bad about having acne
one zit can make someone so insecure
but please don't let it get you down because negative wouldn't only make you feel bad but can cause more breakouts

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