Hey all.

I love the Internet and forums but I'm not one to post in them. But I know how terrible acne is and how it shatters a person's quality of life, so I wanted to share some points that I have come to really believe are important to remember when battling acne. I'm a 30-year old female who has struggled on and off with mild, moderate, and very severe cystic acne.

Please remember:

1. What works for one person might not work for the next.

2. If something isn't working for you after a reasonable amount of time, move on. I give it about a week, or a few days if something really seems off. I do not believe in much of a "purging" reaction. I kept reading all about purging, purging, purging, so I thought that it must be a real thing, so I continued to use a product that left my skin an absolute mess after a couple months. Admittedly, this happened more than once. Stop using something if your gut tells you its not working.

3. Sometimes, "chemicals" and/or "bad ingredients" are what work. Throughout high school, I used a simple Neutrogena salicylic acid product, and my skin was crystal clear. They discontinued that product, and that's when my face started having problems. I wanted to find something more natural, so I tried tons of natural things and none worked. Salicylic acid is what works for my face, and specifically, salicylic acid suspended in alcohol. They all say alcohol is bad for the skin, but that's what keeps my face clear, so that's what I use.

4. Diet *does* play a part, but it can be unique to the individual. My back breaks out in cystic acne if I have dairy. My chin area breaks out in cystic acne if I have flax, and to a lesser extent, soy. These are the only three foods that I have personally found have any connection to my acne. That said, I adopted a mostly whole-foods, mostly plant-based diet when my face first started getting bad, around age 24. My health has thanked my in myriad ways.

5. Hormones. Hormones. Hormones. And this is largely related to the next point.

6. STRESS. I'm pretty convinced that prolonged stress, specifically stress about my acne, makes it worse and keeps it going. There's something that happens in the body when it's continually stressed, something hormonal. The mind is inconceivably powerful, and obsessing about acne can, and definitely does for me, make it worse. I won't be acne free if I'm stress-free but eating flax and not using salicylic acid, but I know it would be a lot, lot, lot less severe if I just didn't care. But I know this isn't realistic for most people. It's so hard to NOT obsess about your awful acne. But you have to try really, really, really hard to just... not care.

7. Don't look in the mirror. I know this is nearly impossible, too, but it will help you begin to not care, which will in turn decrease your stress levels and begin to right your hormones, which will help your acne. Of course, most will need to look in the mirror at least once per day, but avoid it as much as you can. After that one time to put your makeup on or whatever, just dont look at a mirror.

Those are the main things. Some other potentially helpful things:
-It helped me to take ibuprofen before I had to go out in public. It made me think about it less when it hurt less, which helped with the stress and obsession.
-Before you go to wash your face, take yourself somewhere else mentally so feeling all the bumps doesnt make you want to bawl your eyes out.
-Hot compresses helped me. I think I read more about cold compresses, but hot ones helped the infection come to the surface. My acne lesions would take a lot longer to go away if I didnt drain them of the infection.
-Getting good sleep cant hurt.
-Limiting alcohol is a good idea. It doesnt give me acne, but too much can make my skin red and blotchy.

Keep your head up, everyone. Its awful, but I promise you no one really cares about your acne. Its only awful inside your own head. I remember feeling depressed and angry about it and feeling like I must be really unhealthy somehow, but its just another stupid thing that happens to people. I feel myself about to go on and on and on so Ill stop here. Go easy on yourself and keep your head up!