So to start my story,
I was completely acne clear until age 17. Went through various stages of trying out every different product including proactive, benz peroxide, various different prescription pills, vitamins, etc. This process of trial and error took around 3 years to where I gave up on all and decided to try accutane even though I knew the horrible side effects. My doctor reassured me after the third 8 month dose I was about to go on that this was the last one 100%. Of course after I was done, 4 months later I start getting what my doctor called "adult acne".
So at the age of 24 I decided to go vegan to see if it would help(at this point my acne was not near as bad as in my early 20s) My acne dimmed down a decent amount put again I still was not acne free. Now at age 25 I have cut out all refined sugar, almost all grain (excluding oatmeal), all processed meat, and have been eating lots of veggies and fruits every day. I am taking two vitamin B50s a day, 250 mg of Niacin, 2000 mg of Vitamin C, 4000 UI of Vitamin D, 120 mg of Ginko Biloba, 1000mg of L-thenine, 1000mg of omega 3s, and two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar a day. I wash my face once in the morning with a facial cleanser and moisturize after and once at night(I've tried once a day and not at alll and it makes my acne worse). I've tried to narrow down what foods may be causing it but I simply cannot figure it out, one day bread wont do anything the next I think it may have been a sandwich I had. Also I am trying to gain weight throughout working out and eating around 3200 calories a day, so not being able to figure out what foods I can eat and what I cannot is effecting my results in the gym as well.
In an average day I eat,
Meal 1:1/2 cup of oatmeal with 2 tbs chia seeds, 2tbs hemp hearts, 3 tbs peanut butter, dash of honey, and a banana
Meal 2: Vegetable soup with 1/3 cup of pumpkin seeds
Meal 3: 20 almonds with an apple
Meal 4: Either a vegan dish or chicken potatoes and usually green beans
Meal 5: Protein smoothie ( 250 mg of vanilla almond milk, 2 bananas, 2tbs almond butter, 1 scoop of vegan protein, 2 cups of baby spinach, and ice.
Meal 6: Usually vegan chili
At this point I have no idea what I should do which is why I am reaching out for any type of information that I may have missed, sorry for the long post! Picture in the attachment (ignore my disgusting facial hair I forgot to shave 
) Also this picture is taken on a good day acne wise.
Androgens are the cause of acne.
Veganism, No Refined Sugar and Exercise all help control androgens slightly, which is why they produce improvement.
I would cut down to 3 meals a day and increase the vigour of your exercise.
These might produce further improvement but they wont cure it.
As of right now I have absolutely no refined sugars and meat maybe twice a week tops. I do weight training three times a week as well.
What would eating three times a day change? I would definitely be willing to try it but I would find it hard to get enough calories in I feel.
Also so any other opinions are greatly appreciated !
No I have not, I'll have alcoholicdrinks on the weekend but I always have no sugar for mix and drink gin(lowest amount of sugar). Also don't really notice any difference when not having it, I've never really had much sugar even before. I drink 0 juice or pop andI've tried testing what food gives me the acnebut it seems as if it'sworse since I stopped eating breads, sugars, processed meats etc.
Thanks for telling me that. Its very interesting. A lot of people push down our throats the refined sugar is the cause of acne mantra. But a lot of these people seem to have very questionable judgement (i.e. a certain famous acne youtuber took tane for over a year whilst giving up sugar and then seems to attribute his acne getting better to the diet interventions rather than the drug).
Have you lost weight on no sugar?
Have you noticed any health benefits from it (other than dental benefits)?
Yeah, honestly I am sure for some people that refined sugar may cause it, I'm just not sure if that type of person is me. That YouTube comparison seems very flawed haha.
I haven't lost any weight, as I am keeping my calorie levels at the same ( Just eating 1000x more good food to get the same cals and making 3 smoothies a day). Within health benefits, I pretty much feel good at all times so for me it hasn't felt as if its changed much. I would say since I started having the three smoothies a day about 10 days ago, my skin has gotten better, but I am still having pimples pop up every day or two.
Will keep updating if the smoothie life helps at all lol. Also any other opinions are welcome and appreciated!
Little update. I started taking Vitamin E 400 UI and Fish oil 2g of EPA/dHa per day. I also went to a music festival and couldn't wash my face for 4 days and surprising it cleared it up. So I figured maybe I would try not washing my face. One of those three combinations has cleared my acne up about 75%. When I came home I washed my face ( I also hadn't had fish oil or vitamin E in about 4 days) and I woke up with 6 new pimples. I am now eating whatever I want and haven't broken out super bad from it yet. The feelings of eating even just normal food feels amazing! 
Am going to try washing my face with a cleanser eventually and see if that is what was breaking me out. Will update in weeks to come.
The winter has come and I would say at this point the only thing that has actively helped my face is the sun. I have tried everything above. I also completely switched my diet over. I am now eating / taking:
Apple Cider Vinegar - 2x 1tbs daily
Turmeric pills - 2x 1000 mg daily
Probiotic- 10 billion IU daily on an empty stomache
3L of water a day
One green tea a day
Juicing- Beet, celery, turmeric, ginger root, carrot, avocado, onion, garlic, radish. on an empty stomache
I have a smoothie everyday consisting of 1 cup oats, 1 cup blueberries, 2 cups spinach, 8 oz unsweetened almond milk, 1/4 cup egg whites, chia seeds, half scoop pea protein, mixed berries
I eat absolutely 0 fast food, I never have white noodles or rice or potatoes. I have 0 refined sugar, 0 snack foods, only drink water.
For lunch I usually have a healthy soup with maybe one slice of whole wheat bread
Most dinners I will have sweet potatoes with chicken and brown rice, or something of this variations.
I will also eat omelets, vegan chili, spaghetti with gluten free noodles, variation of either beef, pork, chicken with rice and veggies as other meals.
If anyone has anymore advice, I would love to hear it. At this point I feel as if I have tried almost everything. Also I am not willing to take any antibiotics as I've already been through them for years and they did nothing.
I was thinking one day, I have cut absolutely everything out to the point where I was only having smoothies 3 times a day and was breaking out worse then ever. I then realized the one thing I never completely cut out was fruits( although I cut out the high sugar ones like bananas). So I tried cutting them out and my acne disappeared in a week. I have one new pimple on my face and I think that it was caused from taking a b12 pill yesterday. Other then that my face has completely started to clear up 🙂
Update: Decided to try out strawberries for a few days as I heard they were very low in sugar.
I want to be able to eat fruit even if its a little bit, but just no luck at all. Started breakout around 24 hours later, and accumulated about 8-10 new sore pimples 48 hours later. Still on all my supplements but it seems the fruit pushes through. Any advice welcome!
Is it cyclical? You may have a problem with an overpopulation of microscopic demodex skin mites. The mites eat oil. Accutane will reduce the oil in your glands and starve down the population of mites. But Accutane doesn't kill them all. You skin will appear to improve while on Accutane but may get worse again after you stop taking it.
If you have acne that isn't responding to bacterial acne or fungal acne treatment, this may help.
If your dermatologist did not test you for Demodex mites, you should ask them to do so. If you have demodex skin mites the following treatment can be very beneficial.
Microscopic demodex skin mites can cause big blackheads and acne like eruptions anywhere there is an oil gland on your body. That is everywhere but the soles of your feet and palms of your hands. That also includes the eye lids, ears and scalp. The mites live 2 to 3 weeks. The pustules appear on a 2 to 3 weeks cycle, those are mite die offs. A healthy immune system normally keeps the mite population in check. The demodex can get overpopulated if your immune system is suppressed due to illness or other causes.
The oral anti-parasitic treatment kills the mites all over your body even in hard to reach glands. It clears both the skin and eyes. If you have ocular rosacea (aka blepharitis demodex) it is very important to get it treated before it damages your vision.
The combined Oral Ivermectin + Oral Metronidazole treatment worked for me. The report on this treatment was published in the International Journal of Infectious disease in May 2013. Treatment takes 2 weeks using Oral Ivermectin and Oral Metronidazole. Insurance copay was just $13.03 (Uninsured retail about $52 USD.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S120197121201315X
Using the more effective 2 drug combined treatment (from paper) based on body weight for the oral Ivermectin:
1. Two doses of oral Ivermectin one week apart. Each weekly dose is 200 micrograms Ivermectin per kilogram of body weight. My doctor rounded the dose up for me since the tablets are in 3 mg size. Worked out to 12 mg per dose for me. Take on an empty stomach with a large glass of water.
2. Oral Metronidazole, 250 mg. three times a day for two weeks. Do not drink alcohol while taking oral Metronidazole and for 72 hours after taking the last tablet. Take with food.
Oral Ivermectin is taken on days 1 and 8 in a single dose. For me this was 4 tablets totalling the 12 mg prescribed dosage. The Oral Metronidazole is taken every day, 3 times a day with food.
Oral Ivermectin and Oral Metronidazole have been around for many years and have excellent safety records. They are on the WHO list of essential medicines. That being said they are prescription drugs and should be taken under a doctors care. They should not be taken if you are allergic to them.
Some dermatologists prescribe the same 2 drugs but in different amounts and possible for 2, 4, or 6 weeks.
keep this in mind.
All acne is hormonal. In fact it's free testosterone that ramps up sebum production. Sugar causes your pancreas to release insulin. Insulin is required to store fat. Since sebum is partially fat, increases sugar and insulin can exacerbate fat excess sebum.
The acne you see today started developing at least 2 months ago. You can't associate something you did yesterday to new lesions.
dermodex can be a problem with a small number of patients. It certainly is not a first line issue.
@ElaineA I would say it is not the skin mites as I eat a very clean diet which keeps my immune system very strong, but I will ask my doctor to check this! Within regards to the medication I try and stay as natural as possible as accutane really messed my body up(been on it 4 different times for 8 months a time).
@jlcampi So I have completely changed my diet up so that my insulin levels arent spiking as much. I always thought that your skin would be effected 3-4 days after something you eat from what i've read, but I may be wrong on this.
So to update the situation overall. I stopped eating all flours, all fruits, all starchy vegetables, all refined sugar, all dairy / eggs, all nuts(besides unsweetened almond milk) and seeds. I just recently cut out legumes as I was still breaking out after doing this for 2-3 full weeks. I am still eating 3000-3500 calories a day and pretty much having the exact same food everyday which is horrible, but I am willing to do anything at this point. I have been doing this 3 weeks now and have cleared up a ton, although not completely. I will be doing this for 2 full months and then will slowly add back in things to see what I react to. The elimination diet in full effect 
