Hey guys, this is my first acne.org post so I™m hoping for some responses.
Anyways, I™m 19 years old and am about to turn 20 in a about a month and half. I have been dealing with moderate to severe acne for the past two and half years. My acne was really bad when I was about 17 and half. I had a lot of cystic and nodular acne then but over the years it gradually got better. Last fall, my skin had been the best it had been in years. But since the new year, my skin has taken a left turn and gone downhill. My severe acne came by and plagues both of my cheeks.
I™ve tried almost everything. Face masks, face washes, diet changes, and nothing seems to work. I™ve even been to my dermatologist a few times, and he had prescribed me antibiotics and some topicals (adapelene, doxycycline, and some antibiotic lotion). I use moisturizer and sunscreen as well. He gave me this medication almost 3 and half months ago and I am yet to see any major improvement.
Since I got to college, it™s hard to meet my dermatologist back home a lot. My skin is so bad right now, I start to cry when I look at myself in the mirror. I try to avoid going out as much as possible and my social skills have been impacted as well. I™m not sure if I should keep going through with my doctor™s medications because I keep getting nasty breakouts and there seem to be more breakouts than pimples being healed.
Sorry for for the long post, but any advice or tips on this would be deeply appreciated. I™ll try to include a pic as well. Thanks guys.
Is there a way to discontinue the pills and topical for a while to see what happens? Last year when my skin all of a sudden started going crazy, I did everything I knew to fix it at first but that bonker would not bulge. And then I did the craziest thing I knew to do. I literally stopped everything and started from scratch: I started only cleansing and moisturizing with basic, non active products that I knew would not break me out . The thing that surprised me the most about stopping everything was that nothing bad happened. My acne did not worsen; in fact, I did notice my skin stopped being dry and irritated, which meant that nothing I was doing previously was working. The next thing I then incorporated to my journey was 2400 mcg vitamin A and 15 mg zinc picolate four times a week. I also added 200 iu vitamin e 2x aweek and 250 mg vitamin c 2x a day. These supplements helped calm and, to a large part, reduce my zits. I also cut back on sugar and overly processed foods for good measures; however, I still eat 1-2 serving of dairy a day because I found that it does not really negatively impact my skin. With all these changes, I am down from moderate acne to light (very light) acne. The only thing I plan on doing next is to cautiously add skincare products that will help with the little white heads I have (thankfully, I have not had a cyst or nodule in a while. I plan on incorporating a retinoid topical (very slowly because I do not want purging) and a sodium ascorbyl phosphate vitamin c mist (not L-ascorbic acid; it is too irritating to acneic skin). A recent study found topical sodium ascorbyl phosphate more effective than BP and antibiotic gel (with practical no side effect).
My advice to you is to start on the supplements I take; perhaps, even do the vitamin a and zinc combo everyday for a while and then cut back eventually. I also advice you to stop doing too many antibiotics (pill and topical). Many studies suggest antibiotics are very ineffective at controlling acne, and worse still, they increase your risk of developing antibiotic resistance. Also, since you are a college student like me (I am nearly to my junior year), learn to manage school-work related stress, and also make sure to get plenty of sleep. The reason for this advice is that stress can cause hormonal imbalance and inflammation in the body which can directly result in acne flare-ups. Also, if you drink alcohol, try to cut back.
Finally, I suggest reading these article on the role of the vitamins and mineral I mentioned:
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/vitamins/vitamin-A
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/minerals/zinc
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/vitamins/vitamin-C
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/health-disease/skin-health/vitamin-A
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/health-disease/skin-health/vitamin-C
Thanks for the advice, Im gonna try cutting down on the antibiotics. My skin is really oily and since its summer, my skin gets oily really fast.
I didnt think about taking vitamins and zinc. Ill try it out and post again to report the progress. Thanks again for your response, I really appreciate it!
11 hours ago, Pk98 said:Thanks for the advice, Im gonna try cutting down on the antibiotics. My skin is really oily and since its summer, my skin gets oily really fast.
I didnt think about taking vitamins and zinc. Ill try it out and post again to report the progress. Thanks again for your response, I really appreciate it!
I am happy my tips were helpful. The supplements also helped me with my oilness. I am usually Crisco face by this time of the year, but surprisingly, my skin is kind of normal now. I also think me switching my cleanser helped too. I recently started using the cetaphil new foaming cleanser once a day at night. In the morning when I wake up, I just rinse my face with lukewarm water until I feel refreshed, and then after that, I pat my face dry with a clean towel until all the water (along with excess morning sebum) is gone. Washing my face only once a day have helped my skin be less sensitive.
Do not forget to keep me posted. And if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask.
Kind regards.