The Acne Thread

[Alexandra8715]

I've never had it but it sounds a bit dubious to me. Is it permament or short term? Might not be worth the money if it's only a short term thing.

 

[jeudi]

^ it's a short term thing in the sense that after 3-4 weeks of regular treatment, you need to "maintain" it by getting one treatment every month or so. It's about 500 (US) bucks for the first series of several treatments, and then abt 125 for maintenance sessions. Right now, I spend about 200 a month on maintaining my skin (facials each month, plus microdermabrasion). It's a regimine that's helped me keep my skin in check. (I used to go to a dermatologist regularly, but stopped. After every oral and topical treatment, my acne -- even though deemed "moderate -- kept re-occurring. The last resort was Accutane, but I didn't think it was a good idea to take bc I refuse to take birth control pills. (My mom has breast cancer, and I've read in places that it may not be a good idea for people with family history of breast cancer to take estrogen. I'm not a scientist or Dr., so I'm not sure how true this is... but I'm taking the route of "better safe than sorry."

 

[WhydoIlovehim]

^Let us know if it works..sounds very interesting! Best of luck to you! (and your mama )

 

[Alexandra8715]

Let us know how it the treatment works out for you Jeudi. It's definitely worth trying since you seem to have tried everything. Hope it all works out well.

 

[Micaela]

I would like to suggest drinking lots more water. I used to have pretty bad acne, and drinking at least 2 litres a day has helped my skin dramatically. I mean, it's definitely not perfect yet, but it is such a big improvement. I guess it really does flush out all the toxins.
It's worth a try

 

[keroppi]

^ True, it helps a lot in my case as well. But speaking from experience, don't drink too much while traveling

 

[Becky_da_da_da]

Drinking lots of water will only help for mild acne. Moderate and severe acne needs stronger treatment.

 

[Whitelinen]

Drinking lots of water will only help for mild acne. Moderate and severe acne needs stronger treatment.

No diet changes have taken my acne away.

 

[Becky_da_da_da]

You most likely had mild acne then.


Just to clarify, mild, moderate or severe acne depends on the actual acne/spot, not how much you have of it. You can be covered in mild acne, and although it may seem severe because its all over your face/chest/back/arms, it may be a mild form of 'acne vulgaris' (blackheads, whiteheads, pustules and papules). Diet changes, lots of water and supplements to help balance hormones do indeed help greatly.

Severe acne vulgaris (nodules and cysts) need a bit of extra help, such as anti-biotics or topical treatments (such as Benzoyl Peroxide). Though again, diet and lots of water can help a lot as well. If its stubborn (as was the case with me, after no improvement after about 4 years on anti-biotics), then Roaccutane/Accutane can be prescribed (obviously depending on your derm).

However, for extremely severe acne (acne conglobata, acne fulminans and pyoderma faciale), diet changes will do nothing. For these Roaccutane/Accutane is usually prescribed and a few courses may be needed.

 

[Whitelinen]

You most likely had mild acne then.


Just to clarify, mild, moderate or severe acne depends on the actual acne/spot, not how much you have of it. You can be covered in mild acne, and although it may seem severe because its all over your face/chest/back/arms, it may be a mild form of 'acne vulgaris' (blackheads, whiteheads, pustules and papules). Diet changes, lots of water and supplements to help balance hormones do indeed help greatly.

Severe acne vulgaris (nodules and cysts) need a bit of extra help, such as anti-biotics or topical treatments (such as Benzoyl Peroxide). Though again, diet and lots of water can help a lot as well. If its stubborn (as was the case with me, after no improvement after about 4 years on anti-biotics), then Roaccutane/Accutane can be prescribed (obviously depending on your derm).

However, for extremely severe acne (acne conglobata, acne fulminans and pyoderma faciale), diet changes will do nothing. For these Roaccutane/Accutane is usually prescribed and a few courses may be needed.

Uh... do you mean me? But I said diet changes have never helped me.

It did, however help a little to start drinking more water, as it cleared up my forehead. But other than that, there's nothing to be done with diet changes, I think.

I stopped taking contraceptive pills about a month ago. I fear my acne is coming back... not that it ever cleared up 100%. I guess I am off to dermatologist once again. I envy people with clear skin. You are blessed! You don't know how much effort I have had to take and money to spend for my skin --- only to still have acne.

How bad is smoking for skin? I kind of stopped as a New Year's resolution, but every time I am with friends or at a party I find it hard to say no to smoking. Is smoking every once in awhile very bad?

And lastly. Is there anyone here, who suffered moderate or severe acne and has now a perfect skin? I am starting to doubt will I ever see my skin clear up and be smooth and beautiful.

 

[Becky_da_da_da]

Ooops, must have misread your post, sorry, lol.

But the second part of the post was just in general to everyone on this thread

I had moderate to severe acne. I went on a course of Roaccutane and it still came back. I'm on birth control pills and take evening primrose oil to help balance my hormones, but my skin isn't perfect. I doubt it ever will be. I have scars on my cheeks and red discolouration. So I am in exactly the same boat as you

Smoking is bad for skin in general (such as causing it to go grey and premature wrinkles and such). However, it has no effect on acne. In fact, smoking has an inflamatory effect, and can actually calm acne down.

However, obviously smoking is bad, so try and cut down. I smoke every now and then when I'm going out instead of every day now.

 

[Whitelinen]

Doesn't matter

I am sorry to hear your acne hasn't gone away. This is such a b*tch of a disease. I am determined to get it off some day. I will go to the dermatologist and demand everything that can be done to be done.

 

[Alexandra8715]

I went off birth control and went back on after my periods started annoying me and my skin has cleared up. I finished Roaccutane at Christmas last year and my skin was fine up until about a month ago when I last had my period. It got really bad and I thought it would stay like that so I got upset. But going back on the pill (Yasmin is the one I take, apparantly it has the least side effects) has helped control my skin. I'm pretty sure it's the pill that's done it as I haven't changed diet/cleanser etc.

 

[russh_kris_z]

Best acne soap - Gamophoben mdeicated soap. Its so good. Use it for about 2 weeks or one week and you'll notice a BIG difference.

Best medication topical - Benzac AC made by galderma

 

[dechanel]

ive been using a home-made toner with organic apple cider vinegar and rose water (to tone down the smell) plus a benzoyl peroxide lotion and those have helped tone down my acne alot!
as for Scars, i've been using MAC microfine refinisher and i feel like its been slowly helping my scars fade. fading scars is such a slow process!! but i dont think theres anything out there that can do it as quickly as i'd want.

 

[spierce]

I've tried a crapload of products and spent so much of my allowance on it and nothing works. Honestly, I tried everything from cheap drugstore stuff to top-of-the-range stuff and all it's done is wrecked my bank account so I'm a bit bitter.
My skin really bothers me and makes me feel insecure so I'm thinking of going to a dermatologist but I don't want to feel like a total fool if they tell me to go home because it's not that bad... What do you think? My forehead looks kind of like the following pic, just a tad less bumpy but slightly more red

celebutopia

 

[Alexandra8715]

This isnt really going to help but those spots are so tiny you have nothing to worry about! You should see my forehead at the moment! Really not good. That picture almost looks like the kind of skin caused by wearing heavy foundation that blocks your pores. Maybe you could try not wearing make up for a week (assuming that you do wear makeup).
Is that keira knightly?

 

[russh_kris_z]

Yes thats keria knightley.. she has bad skin but isnt that called white heads????? Cant you extract them at a facialist??

 

[Deleted member 49693]

GO TO A DERMATOLOGIST! IT'S THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR SKIN! Sorry about the caps, but the dermatologist knows the best. Don't ever take advice from a beauty therapist!

 

[Alexandra8715]

If you have loads of whiteheads on your forehead then yeah go to a dermatologist. But it doesnt look like whiteheads in that picture to me. Just looks like little tiny bumps. Whiteheads are usually a bit bigger and redder due to the inflammation.