These are not milia. They are tiny, white, pus-filled papule-like things with little or no redness. They can be pricked easily, sometimes accidentally, but often recur in the same spots. Some people get them in clusters. I have seen other people mention them on the other threads but so far no positive results.
I got mine sometime after I switched sunscreens (Vichy to a cheap one) and they were only around my jaw, but even after I stopped using the problem sunscreen they persisted and spread to other parts of my face. They're on my forehead, my eyebrows, cheeks, chin area. They increase and decrease randomly. One day I only had a couple but woke up from a nap to find my face filled with them. It was a nightmare. And now they are just not going away.
I tried: Differin, tea tree oil, aloe vera, Nizoral, clindamycin, a variety of facial scrubs, non-fluoride&sls toothpaste. I am 24, eat a balanced vegetarian diet, next to no junk food, and don't consume a lot of dairy. The derm says I have no dandruff problems and says it's my ten-year-old acne coming back.
Can anyone suggest a remedy? I feel helpless at the moment, and it's so discouraging that I can't find any positive accounts of anyone being rid of these things. Please reply with experiences, suggestions, prospective diagnosis - at this point, I don't know if it's fungal or hormonal or bacterial or what.
Pitchface
These bumps are gram negative bacterial acne probably/possibly combined with fungal acne. Gram negative bacterial acne is caused by gram negative bacteria. Fungal acne is caused by fungus.
Clindamycin is an antibiotic and it can also cause gram negative acne (sometimes called gram negative folliculitis), which is what you most likely have. Clindamycin kills bacteria but it does not kill the bacteria that cause gram negative acne, and they proliferate and cause acne.
Apply an antibiotic ointment with polymixin in it (sold as neosporin or polysporin) to the areas with acne. Polymixin kills the bacteria that cause gram negative acne.
Also apply some clotrimazole anti fungal cream (sold a Canesten or similar) to the areas with acne, because gram negative acne an fungal acne often occur together.
Clindamycin (and other antibiotics) cause fungal acne.
Dermatologists and other doctors know NOTHING about fungal acne and they mostly know NOTHING about gram negative acne.
Acne does NOT just come back. Something causes it - in adults that sometime is usually fungus or gram negative bacteria.
Do you have a white tongue or itchy or painful red rashes?
Let me know how you go after a week or 10 days of applying the polymixin ointment plus the clotrimazole cream