Skincare help

I hear ya on that! Has a teen I had the face covered and the majority was cystic zits. My dermato gave me all the creams available, and soaps such as Cetaphil.
No results.
I finally got on Accutane, a acne pill. My skin cleared up. Is not perfect but I dont have what I had back in the days.
Now it's just now and then, but I actually have success with Proactiv (cleaner, cream etc..) I am just bad at using it everyday. But it still works for me.

Megan- Yeah I will have to look in to that system. I dont use the foaming everyday, I dont feel like it does much. Scars are another big problem I forgot to mention, its so unattractive.


kellie- I took a similar pill but I believe it was called doxycycline (sp?) and I didnt really feel like it made a large difference, but that was about 4 years ago.


And Motivated, I use the go 360 clean exfoliating cleanser morning and night. I use neutrogena oil free moisturizer. And the foaming cleanser I use sometimes is clean and clear. I use mario badescu whitening mask to help with discoloration and a few other masks but I dont remember who makes them. But yeah thats about it.

Doxycline is an antibiotic that is often used to help with bacterial acne. Accutane is a serious drug to help with cystic/persistent acne. I'd tried doxycline as a teenager without much success but then my skin kind of evened out. Then I hit 20 and my skin went all crazy again. Accutane did the trick but it is a serious drug with serious side effects.

From what you've said, it sounds like you may be doing too much to your skin. Purpose or cetaphil are good, nonfoaming, gentle cleansers and moisturizers. Don't use any exfoliators or anything else like mask. Just use your fingers to cleans with a good gentle cleanser. Something like the persagel may be good too. Then moisturize. Even with combination skin you need to moisturize. Also be cognizant of the make up you wear. I like using witch hazel after washing my face in the evening because it helps get rid of any make up left by the gentle cleanser but doesn't dry out my skin. And water...drink lots of it.

I know how you feel. My skin is very sensitive and i not only have acne but also redness. SO ANNOYING. just follow those tips and update me on what happens!

I sell Mary Kay products, and one of the things I noticed about your skin care routine is that you're not using all of the same product line! Every line is formulated to work together to give you the best results, so when you use several lines at once, they can be working against each other, which will give you less than satisfying results. Try to stick to one product line for your cleanser, exfoliant, toner, moisturizer and foundation.

Since I'm biased towards MK products, the Velocity skin care line is great. It's formulated for skin with acne. The cleanser is a 3 in 1, so it cleanses, gently exfoliates, and freshens in the the first step and then has a lightweight moisturizer that contains salicylic acid, which is a known acne fighter. Those products run $22 for a 4-6 month supply. In addition to that, I wouldn't use any microdermabrasion products. Those products are super exfoliants and will irritate acne and make it worse. It's best to use products like those on clear skin.

Also, you can get a targeted acne product (MK's is called acne treatment gel, $7) with benzoyl peroxide in it to put directly on a breakout. Just be sure that you introduce it slowly into your skin care routine as it can be very drying.

I know there are several great product brands out there designed to treat acne. Besides MK, there's Proactiv, and I believe Neutrogena has a line specificially designed for it. I'm not familiar with others out there, but whichever line you use, just be sure that you use everything from that product line in your skin care routine. Give your skin at least 2-3 weeks when switching lines to fully acclimate to the products before determining if you like them or not (unless you experience redness or burning, in which case, discontinue the use....some breakouts are totally normal).

Good luck in finding some products that work well for you!

Hi, I never had acne as a teen and my skin is still good now, but within the last few mths I may have developed a light case of Rosacea, this would be really really bad as there is no way to get rid of it. But I have managed to get it under control, here are the things that I have tried most are natural and have a added benefit for the skin.

1. Take omega-3 fatty acids, the best one for skin would be DMAE it is hard to find so order off of bodybuilder.com hopefully you are in the US if so it wont cost that much to ship to you.
2. As a topical treatment Rose oil and Tamanu oil have been pretty good. Also see if you are covered for Homeopathy if you are they might be able to put together a good remedy.
3. Light therapy is amazing for acne. LED lights in Red and Blue the light kills the bacteria that creates the acne and the red helps your skin to regenerate. I would say if you are really dedicated to getting rid of this skin issue do some research and either go to a professional or order the lights for home use. Do not go cheap on the lights, LED will last 10,000 hours but cost a lot. If you buy cheap lights they will not be as effective.

Hope this helps a bit, there is nothing wrong with wanting to have healthy beautiful skin, diet is also a factor, journal and see if there are trigger foods that are causing worse outbreaks.

Using exfoliating products can cause way more problems than they fix. I'd say lay off them for a bit and see if it helps. Also, I'd recommend using products for sensitive skin. You might also want to try tea tree oil, jojoba oil or castor oil. They're all pretty cheap and they are all used to naturally treat acne because of their antibacterial/antifungal properties and they don't clog pores. Gentle just may be the road you need to take.

Also, when I used to have bad acne I did use 10% benzoyl peroxide cream. It dried the hell out of my skin (you def need a good moisturizer), but it helped tremendously. I still use it to spot treat.