Here goes nothing.
I have had acne since I was 10 years old. Followed by an emergency appendectomy and two large ovarian cysts being removed (yes at 10!!!!!!) I have had moderate but very persistent acne for 9 years. I have decided to compose a list of things I have tried over these past 9 years to defeat my demons, starting with my first attempts up to recent:
Proactive
A few other gimmicky three step kits
Benzoyl Peroxide
Salicylic acid
Epiduo
Clindamycin
Monocycline
Tazorac
Diffrin
Clearzine acne pills (these kind of help)
Derma drinkable (fail)
Vitamin A pills
Probiotics (still on them)
Gut cleanse
Glycolic peel
Zinc pills
Sulfur face wash
Tea tree oil
Aloe Vera
Milk thistle
Accutane- 6 months, 10,30,40,70,80 mgs increased slowly
Folliculitis shampoo
Extractions (kind of helps but bad marks)
Spiroaccutane
Birth control (for 5 years)
Doxycycline
For my diet I have decreased dairy intake to only cheese.
Lots of veggies
Background info about myself. I was a very sick child with tons of infections. As an adult I have been diagnosed with IBS-d. I have actively been trying to treat my gut flora almost as persistently as my acne. Two family members have died from colon cancer. As a child I had a period and hormonal issues starting at 9 years old. I am 5™9 and around 145 pounds but the only place my fat resides is in my stomach. It pools in my stomach areas very disproportionately. I am able to lose 15 pounds and only see a difference in my legs and arms. My weight fluctuates over the years between 115-150 pounds.
My acne is almost all located on my forehead and cheeks. I have at least 50 small bumps throughout. Most of them are not red. When squeezed they most of the time do pop, and tend to send pus flying out with an insane amount of pressure. Also the pus is worse smelling with a bad odor on my cheeks. Every single pimple will pop and I believe they are classified as closed comedones. Only when one gets irritated do I end up with a full blown pimple. My skin is very very oily and will cause my eyelash extensions to fall out from the insane amount of oil breaking down the glue.
I am on the verge of giving up completely and just giving into my bad skin. I don™t wear makeup anymore because it doesn™t even help.
22 hours ago, Love0211 said:Background info about myself. I was a very sick child with tons of infections
23 hours ago, Love0211 said:My skin is very very oily
22 hours ago, Love0211 said:I have at least 50 small bumps throughout. Most of them are not red.
hi. im not an expert but haveyou ever readabout other skin problems which are not standard acne, likeforlictlutics, yeast andfungal acne etc?
some of these problems can look like standard acne but are not, they normally take hold when a person is sick and their immune system is low + sometimes when not treated correctly they can last many, many years.
other than diet, the another possible problem could be that you are using the wrong products on your face(?). do you have sensitive skin?how often do you wash your face and what products do you use?
- it took me a long time but i eventually got out of the mindset that washing my face multiple times a day or using certain products was going to cure my skin - quite the opposite, by using a very sensitive soap (for me, johnson'sbaby soap) and washing 1day max, my skin responded a lot better. - no break outs, no oily skin and no redness.
..over washing or using the wrong product for your skin type can cause an over production of sebum resulting inspots/blocked pores (+ lots of soaps have nasty ingredient likeSLS)
here is one example of yeast acne:
http://longhairedatheart.blogspot.com/2013/11/yeast-had-caused-my-bad-skin.html
Give up the dairy entirely. I did the same thing you did and only ate homemade cheese pizza, but it didn't work. I grew one nasty acne cyst on the cheek and I was done. I gave up dairy entirely in November of 2018 and haven't touched it since. I have an occasional blemish now and then, but very rarely and nothing like the acne cysts. I use other skin products that help & I have had hardly any oily skin anymore. This worked for me and thought maybe it can work for you too. Don't give up! Stay positive!
^^ Completely stop dairy, especially cheese. It's very hard for me to do this, but I rarely get any zits anymore. I just got two recently because I decided to have one chicken bake from Costco, LMAO.Try to avoid popping, because you'll end up having scars later. I also drink green tea with lemon every morning and veggies every day. At least one apple, orange, and half avocado every day as well. Make sure you're getting enough sleep and reduce stress levels.
IDK about giving up dairy. I tried that way back when with no luck. I had severe cystic acne around my jawline for about 2 years which became so painful I couldnt get a good night's sleep. I was a wreck and tried pretty much everything (aside from BCP) that you listed above. The worst was the prescription drugs. I know a lot of people have great results with them but the difference in my skin was minimal and the side effects were too many to bear. Here is what I have learned: lifestyle is super important and free. Drink all the water you can, limit your sun exposure, sleep and eat a balanced diet. Don't stress. That was hard for me because I work in finance and there is a lot of stress in that industry. Sleep was tough for the same reason.
Surprisingly, my skin only improved after using a combination of strong salicylic acid, sulfur AND benzoyl peroxide. I must have some seriously strong skin. The reason I said it was surprising is because when I used those ingredients individually, they had almost no effect. I contacted a company called Ninja Skincare after hearing about them through a blog post and they set me up on a couple of their products and I gradually increased their strengths as my skin improved. I liked that because they held my hand and picked the products out for me instead of me trying to guess what would work and what wouldn't.Now I can honestly say I haven't had a cyst in months and my skin looks amazing, aside from some scars that they tell me will take some time to heal.
Please don't give up hope. You can get good skin and you seem like you have so much of the rest of your life in control- it is so admirable!
DIM, spearmint leaf capsules, no dairy, and no bread. Try gluten free as much as possible and one of the most important things is NO Sugar unless its fruit. Noalcahol (id always break out after a night of drinking) and no caffeine( it spikes your insulin levels drastically) I had cystic acne for years. This is what worked for me and i broke out same exact areas.