Acne Problems.

I've had horrible acne since I was like 13. On my face, back, chest, shoulders, etc. Tried so many different things... some were great, some not so great, and only recently found out the real cure to my acne problem.

Bad Ones - probiotics. I took some medicine, that was basically just a probiotic pill, (given by the dermatologist) and it KILLED my face. My acne was 100x worse than normal. I waited about 5 months - and then no, off of that. It was horrible. Also, proactive. That stuff doesn't work unless you have a very normal skin type. Not too oily, not too dry. If you have a normal skin type great, go for it, but man it's horrible on like my skin.

Good face cremes - Differen gel/cream were both good. I switched to the cream but it still tried my face out like crazy. Probably because I also have excema on my face... ugh.

Good Medicines - Menocycline, Doxycycline, both antibiotics. The problem with these is they don't like to keep you on them *too* long, because then you build up an immunity. On both of these my back/shoulders/chest were clear and my face still got regular large zits, but not consistent pimples all over. I was totally ok with that.

And so the final, what worked?

Turns out my acne and hairloss (I'm 22, mind you) were both being caused my a hormone imbalance. So they started giving me a pill to regulate this hormone and my acne is AMAZING. I have the first pimple I've had in MONTHS just last week (and I blame it on stress more than anything - had two tests and applied to PhD programs last week).

So yeah, in short, different for every person but that's what ended up working for me.

I had the worst break out last year after my daughter was born and finally went to see a dermatologist. He has me washing my face twice a day with dove soap, and using a prescription retinoid at night. I love how the dove soap works! My skin has never felt/looked better, and I don't have to use any sort of moisturizer because the dove doesn't dry out my skin. I can't say enough about the importance of just seeing a dermatologist! I'd been trying to fix my face myself with large amounts of benzoyl peroxide, but that just ended up wrecking my skin even more. Good luck--acne is the worst!

just regular white dove soap?

I've recently been using LUSH Greased Lightening. It's all natural and has soothing ingredients that seem to calm down the angry red deep pimples. I am giving this one more time to see ultimate results but I like it so far.

I struggle with acne and it's awful. I never had a problem as a kid - it started in my late 20s.

Proactive didn't work for me. Neither did Retin A. I tried to treat with antibiotics, but that was miserable for a variety of reasons and I didn't like the idea of being on antibiotics for so long. My dermatologist suggested Accutane, but I didn't feel that I was so insecure or that is was so bad to take that kind of risk with medication. So, I chose the lesser of two evils and went back on Yaz.
I also found a great facialist that specializes in problem skin. I go every six weeks. It's an expensive investment for sure, but it's working. Between the Yaz and her work, my skin is pretty clear most of the time. I still have periods of breakouts when I'm stressed or eating crap, but it's not nearly as pervasive.

I'm also working with my facialist on removing the discoloration. I had a microdermabrasion three weeks ago and, after a couple breakouts, my skin is radiant right now. I hope it stays that way.

so I posted in this thread way back when and I feel like I should update on my skin situation- at the time my skin was really bad and I didn't know why, but I was wearing more makeup than ever to cover it and it kept getting worse. One night I had one of those lightbulb realizations that my makeup was really old since I don't wear it often, and was probably full of bacteria. So I chucked the old foundation and thoroughly washed all my makeup brushes, and it cleared right up. Seems like such a "duh" moment in retrospect.

Great advice. Not a "duh" moment at all. People don't necessarily relate makeup with bacteria. Thanks for the reminder to clean my brushes!

BTW - if you don't use makeup often, but don't want to have to throw it out, there are mineral makeup brands out there that are resistant to bacteria. Or at least it's a harder substance for bacteria to grow on. :-)