Hello everyone,
I am 20 years old this year, I am currently a university student. It can be seen, nowadays, taking care of the appearance to have a neat, good-looking appearance will have many advantages. But I got a lot of acne on my face. I have used a lot of acne products but most of them are ineffective. That's why I want to ask people if acne goes away on its own when I grow up, or if it stays on my face forever.
Thanks everyone.
Acne has 4 main and very different causes: Bacteria, Fungus, Demodex Skin Mites, Hormonal. Specific treatments for each type are different. Most common acne treatments are for bacterial acne. If those are not working, its possible that your acne is not bacterial in origin.
A competent dermatologist can test you for the cause. Unfortunately, many old school dermatologists just do visual exams and do not test to determine the actual cause.
Fungal infections can also cause acne. There are oral and topical treatments for fungal infections that are completely different from bacterial treatment.
Demodex skin mites can also cause acne like lesions that will not respond to specific treatments for bacterial or fungal acne. 95-100% of all adults have at least a few of these skin mites. The mitesare only a problem if they get overpopulated. Overpopulationcan happen due to the immune system being down due to illness or stress. The mites live and die on a 2 to 3 week cycle which may give the acne a cyclical appearance. The cyclical behavior is sometimes confused with hormonal acne.The mites can cause some or all of the following symptoms:large blackheads, papules, pustules, red irritated eyes, styes, scalp or body acne. This type of acne may be called either demodicosis or Rosacea Sub Type 2 with papules and pustules. Topical treatment may include the expensive cream Soolantra typically prescribed for 16 weeks. There is a 2 week highly effective 2 week, 2 drug oral treatment that works against demodex skin mites. This treatment worked for me when nothing else ever did including expensive prescription antibiotics, retinoids, etc. The oral treatmentconsists of taking 2 once a week doses of Oral Ivermectin (dose based on body weight 200 micrograms Ivermectin per kilogram of body weight)plus Oral Metronidazole 250 mg three times daily with food. The treatment was published in a proper medical study in the May 2013 International Journal of Infectious Diseases. Link to the paper is here:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S120197121201315X
To properly diagnose hormonal acne, the doctor should run tests on sex hormone levels. They should also check thethyroid hormone levels.
You may also want to consider taking an anti-microbial approach to treating your skin. Anti-microbial products can be effective against bacterial, fungusand demodex skin mites. Tea tree oil is antimicrobial. Hypochlorous Acid (HOCL) is made by human white cells in response to an infection. HOCL is a weak acid but a powerful antimicrobial agent. HOCL killed 99.9% of 23 different strains of bacteria in one study. HOCL also kills fungus and viruses like Norovirus and COVID on contact. Tattoo artists and piercers recommend HOCL face sprays to help their clients heal up clean without infection. HOCL is also used in the medical industry to sanitize hospital ICUs, operating rooms and medical and dental offices. A face wash with Tea Tree Oil followed by a Hypochlorous Acid Face Spray could help.
Tea Tree Oil facial cleansers are made by Desert Essence, The Body Shop, Heyedrate, eye eco, and others all available on Amazon. BrioTech Labs makes a very affordable HOCL Face spray and is recommended by tattoo artists and piercers. Other brands like Occusoft, Heyedrate, etc all are available on Amazon.
Diet is also important. Too much sugar can make acne worse by increasing skin oil. Bacteria, fungus and demodex skin mites all eat skin oil. Eat a healthy well balanced diet and avoid fast food,sugar and heavy oily fried food as much as possible.
Acne for me got better when I got older. I used to get a blemish on my face almost every week. Now it's every other month or so. Used to break out on my back a LOT! Now, I only get it occasionally. I got Accutate years ago - I'm not sure if that helps long-term but my breakouts have been much more controlled.
On 3/27/2021 at 10:13 AM, Amanda Hall said:Acne for me got better when I got older. I used to get a blemish on my face almost every week. Now it's every other month or so. Used to break out on my back a LOT! Now, I only get it occasionally. I got Accutate years ago - I'm not sure if that helps long-term but my breakouts have been much more controlled.
Same here...
On 3/26/2021 at 7:38 PM, ElaineA said:Acne has 4 main and very different causes: Bacteria, Fungus, Demodex Skin Mites, Hormonal. Specific treatments for each type are different. Most common acne treatments are for bacterial acne. If those are not working, its possible that your acne is not bacterial in origin.
I'm male and I've had acne now for around 10 years - since I was 14 years old I think. Nowadays my acne appears always on my cheeks and jawline, when I was younger it was on my forehead as well. It is mainly deep and cystic. I've tried tea tree and the other common topicals and they never did anything for me. I took accutane 5 years ago which cleared my face for the duration of the prescription but then it came back. Now I decided to go again to dermatologist to try to solve this issue, but most likely they will prescribe me isotretinon again. The location I have acne in is usually considered to be hormonal, but what is your opinion, is it common for demodex or bacteria to cause cystic acne or is there some easy way of identifying the cause?
On 9/16/2021 at 2:03 PM, numberone said:I'm male and I've had acne now for around 10 years - since I was 14 years old I think. Nowadays my acne appears always on my cheeks and jawline, when I was younger it was on my forehead as well. It is mainly deep and cystic. I've tried tea tree and the other common topicals and they never did anything for me. I took accutane 5 years ago which cleared my face for the duration of the prescription but then it came back. Now I decided to go again to dermatologist to try to solve this issue, but most likely they will prescribe me isotretinon again. The location I have acne in is usually considered to be hormonal, but what is your opinion, is it common for demodex or bacteria to cause cystic acne or is there some easy way of identifying the cause?
Do you have gut issues? Gut issues can cause skin issues.
The doctorshould be able to test your hormone levels to verifyif that could be the problem. If you have gut issues they should test for SIBO/SIFO. The doctorcan test for a Demodex overpopulation on the skin. It is always bestto do medical tests to either verify or rule out the cause of the visible skin issues.
Gut issues can be caused by Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) and/or possibly Small Intestinal Fungal Overgrowth.SIBO/SIFO screw up your immune system which is in the gut.Problems with the immune system frequently causeskin issues.You can have either or both SIBO and SIFO at the same time.The symptoms of SIBO and SIFO are identical.The right oral antibiotic targeted against the SIBO bacteria can clear SIBO.The right oral antifungal drug can clear SIFO.
An endoscope test is the gold standard for identifying the bacteria and/or fungus causing the gut and skin issues.They collect a small sample of fluid from your small intestine and culture the fluid for bacteria and fungus.Once they have identified the bacterial and/or the fungalovergrowth they can select the best drug to treat and clear the problemAntibiotics are limited in which bacteria the treat effectively.The wrong antibiotic could reduce the bacterial infectionmaking it seem better for a while.But not clear the SIBO completely allowing it to come backYou have to get the right drug to completely clear the infection.
SIBO is highly associated with multiple skin issues like Rosacea with acne like skin issues. SIBO affects the immune system and allowsthe overpopulation of demodex skin mites that lead to skin lessions.Clearing the SIBO/SIFO can lead to a much healthier immune system and healthier skin.
The 2 week, 2drug combined treatment that I took,cleared my skin, eyes and gut after decades of being misdiagnosed with bacterial acne, allergic conjunctivitis and "gee, it must be a bug or something you ate" intestinal issues. The Oral Ivermectin wiped out the active demodex overpopulation providing immediate relief to my extremely dry, irritated eyes. The Oral Metronidazole wiped out the SIBO. Oral Metronidazole is highly effective (99%)at treating 2 types of bacteria that can cause SIBO (Bacteriodes, Eggerthella Lenta). My skin and eyes are still clear after 3.5 years and I have no intestinalissues.
