ACNE

I am 29, and I've had horrible skin - blotchy, breakouts, dry patches, etc. - since I hit puberty. It would drive me nuts, because I could somehow have horribly oily skin AND dry, flaky patches at the same time, with pimples right in the middle of the dry patches. Horrible.

I tried everything - proactiv, prescription, all-natural cleansers, neutrogena, clearasil, a whole range of moisturizers, etc., etc.

In February, my doctor told me he thought I might have a gluten sensitivity, based on some totally unrelated symptoms that I was having (touchy stomach, bad headaches, hair loss, fatigue, among other things). My celiac tests came back negative, but I decided to try a gluten free diet for just a month to see if it made any difference.

Well, it did, but the very first thing I noticed, within just a few days, was that my skin cleared up! Literally for the first time since middle school, I feel comfortable leaving my house without a ton of makeup on to cover up the blemishes and blotches. I just came through my first period ever without a major breakout, and instead of a heavy foundation, I'm wearing a light, tinted moisturizer.

Definitely take a look at your diet and see if there's anything there that might be causing an issue for you. For some people it's dairy, for some it's gluten... there might even be other things. It's not necessarily about eating a lot of junk food (I never really did), it's about eating something that doesn't react well with your body, which can be different for different people. Eating whole grains sounds really healthy, and is often recommended, but for me, it was inadvertently causing me all kinds of problems that could have easily been solved by cutting them out.

look into diy face masks and exfoliating. there are some really good ones on instructables dot com.

this is one I like
rub your affected area with a slice of grape fruit (tons of other fruit can be used instead) or skip this step
mix in the palm of your hand a teaspoon or more of honey and cinnamon
then rub that on your face, back, where ever.

the other one I really like is honey and uncoated aspirin. make sure it's un coated.
make a paste with 1 pill and honey in your palm

with either of these rub it around gently, avoiding the eyes
and wash off as you would anything else.

I also find that using the honey helps to moisturize, i have a hard time finding a moisturizer that
doesn't make me feel greasy or irritated.

either the aspirin or cinnamon help to exfoliate. they are dirt cheap.
it takes me more than a year to use my aspirin, since i only use it for this.
you can also use the aspirin mixed with whatever you like as a spot treatment
just be careful about leaving it on too long, it can be very drying.

the aspirin has salicylic acid in it, commonly found in some of the more expensive acne products.
it also helps with the inflammation.

I also found that putting also vera gel helps with the redness sometimes.

you can also find out more about glycolic treatments
there are some that you can make with fruit.
if you exfoliate and do the right treatment you
can prevent any cysts, if that is an issue.
remember your skin cells are on a 30 day or so cycle
so make sure you're exfoliating at least a few times in that month.
most say once a week, but your mileage may vary.

I am 26 and still break out. I, too, tried every topical remedy (seriously, if it existed, i probably tried it) - even tried an anti-biotic medication that I was severely allergic to, so i couldn't take that, either.

My skin is much better now, however and i only break out once a month. Some of the things I did that ended up helping was not using harsh cleansers - avoid cleansers that claim to exfoliate, especially. I know a lot of products market for exfoliating, but it can agitate your skin quite a lot and make acne much worse. When you wash your face with a gentle soap, don't scrub or rub it into your skin much. The skin on your face is very sensitive. I also moisturize twice a day since sometimes breakouts can occur because your skin creates excess oil due to being too dry.

I do drink a lot more water now, as well. You said you drink enough, so that might not be the problem, but definitely stick to drinking lots of water anyway.

And lastly, I did go on the BC pill. It has regulated my hormones and now, when I do break out, it isn't as bad and it much more manageable.

Everyone is different. I'm not saying what works for me will work for you, but if you haven't tried these things, it couldn't hurt. c:

Try taking spirulina and chlorella, they do wonders for the skin.