Hi, fellow friends! I™m desperately searching for a solution, and wanted to reach out to all of you for advice, on how to cure my hormonal acne or at least keep it at bay. At this point I would take the occasional small breakout over what™s happening now. So, let me start with a quick background. I™m 25 now, I never had acne as a teen (lucky me), and then 21-23 I would have the occasional patch only ever around my chin, mouth and jawline. Fast forward 1 1/2 years and I™ve started to get large cystic acne breakouts at 24. It looked like grapes under my skin. Multiple at a time. I somehow am fortunate they all went away. Now 4 months ago; 6 months after my cystic acne stopped, I™ve begun to break out like never before in my life. I™ve attached photos below. It™s deep small pimples, with pustules. It never quits I am always waking up to new spots. Sore and itchy and only localized around my mouth, chin, jawline, and bits around the hairline.
Now here™s when I say.. I FEEL LIKE I™VE TRIED EVERYTHING. I™ve tried Aczone (Dapsone gel), Spironolactone (that™s helped slightly for the deep cysts, but my blood pressure is already dangerously low), tea tree oil, water water water, progesterone cream, Phoenix oil, birth control (not for me, the emotions I released were unhealthy for all my relationships), I™ve gone Vegan (2 months strong as of now), I eat really healthy, medicinal mushrooms, adaptogens, not touching my face, pillow case changes, NOTHING HAS HELPED. I dread looking in the mirror and feel disgusted by my face. Makeup is a joke at this point. If this acne is reminiscent to yours and you™ve had success in clearing it, EVEN partially, please let me know what worked.
Oh, I have noticed it gets worse a week after my ovulation, then subsides after my period for one glorious week.
Thank you!!
You said:
"Oh, I have noticed it gets worse a week after my ovulation,then subsides after my period for one glorious week."
A week after ovulation is around the time that Progesterone is peaking. (Incidentally, excess progesterone gets converted into androgens--oily skin and breakouts!)
You also said you tried going vegan? Something to watch out for...Soy. A LOT of vegan foods are loaded with it and it throws your hormones WAY out of whack.
For me, I avoid dairy. I had to stop it COMPLETELY for about a month to see a drop in the acne count, but it did happen...ALL DAIRY...I had to read labels of everything I was putting in my mouth like a detective.
Then, I did the same for soy. After a few months of eliminating these foods, I was able to test sample them separately and realized that SOY was a HUGE no-no for me. Also peanuts and cashews. It took a long time of eliminating foods and cleaning out my system to find the trigger foods.
Also, I discovered that drinking fresh grapefruit juice or eating a fresh grapefruit at breakfast helped, especially during certain times of my cycle when androgens would get a little higher for me, or estrogen would get a little low (right before our periods).
I had started using OTC Differin and then made these dietary changes and adhered to them strictly for the next 6 months...the Differin helped tremendously on it's own, but I wasn't completely clear unless I was following the dietary changes. Every time I wavered from it, I would get a zit or two.
Now that I have the acneunder control (past 9 months) I can have dairy and soy in VERY SMALL amounts without breaking out. If I have a little more junk in a day, I will counter it with a glass of grapefruit juice...I won't break out.
I hope some of this is helpful to you...Good luck!