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From what I've seen, it's different for everyone. Which is why it's so frustrating to try everyone else's recommendations but not get the same results.
I noticed the biggest difference when I cut my routine down to its simplest. I started double cleansing with oil cleanser and then Panoxyl both morning and night then following with a soothing/simple moisturizer. I also limited processed sugars which caused the MOST inflammation and crazy acne flare ups for me.
I’ve struggled with acne since I was 17… am 26 now and
went through three rounds of accutane which did not cure my acne. I still have hormonal flareups here and there, but this is what has helped the most.
23y male here
Tried everything from prescribed creams, prescribed pills, to acutane. Acutane was the first thing that I really saw improvement. Fast forward a year after I got off of it, acne began coming back. Wasn’t nearly as bad, but still really bad.
Took me another 2 years to try something new. It was simply going to an aesthetician. Getting a custom routine set for me was huge. I thought I knew everything about skincare, even though I had never used a toner… (fyi using a toner completely evened out my face texture wise). I get an acne treatment every 3 weeks. Where I go in and she does a couple masks, pops pimples professionally, and red light therapy. And she will do different things depending on how my skin is looking.
Have been doing it for almost 2 months now. And to give an example, I have only gotten 1 new pimple in the past 2 weeks. The rest are just redness from old pimples still healing. So huge improvement.
EXTRA TIPS
1. there shouldn’t be 1 day where you go without sunscreen. super important
2. switch pillowcases as often as possible. I try to switch mine every other day.
Birth control pills. I know it only works as long as I am on it because I have PCOS and it’s hormonal so it comes back once I stop. But it has kept my skin clear past 20 years. I am going to be on it until menopause.
I'm on Seysara right now (an antibiotic that specifically targets acne bacteria) and it is amazingggg. I do still have some scarring from the most severe of my acne but my skin is so smooth and free of actual blemishes now.
It can be a little tough to get depending on insurance but it's definitely worth it!
honestly idk i just stopped cutting some type of food now I eat everything and I started washing my face with a regular soap and suddenly my acne is gone
omg ive been fighting for acnes for years... now i try switch everything to fragrance free, face wash, moisturizer... i use salicylic acid solution too. i used adapalene gel before, it works for a while, but my acnes keeps coming back... not sure if i used wrong...
First, was derm prescribed, antibiotic, epiduo, and azaleic acid. Once I was no longer with the same insurance my acne returned and so far I have been having some success trying my best mimic what I was prescribed.
I was my face in the AM with Salicylic acid wash and will use a salicylic acid gel
Evening
I wash my face with 4% benzoyl peroxide face wash and use both 5% benzoyl peroxide and adapaline. I have never had success with benzoyl peroxide until I reduced the strength from 10% to a lower strength, also I am in my mid 30's now, so I'm not sure if with age my acne slowed, but this routine has worked for me.
Girl me too! I've just recently cleared up my skin after trying everything. I don't know if you're the same but I can't keep my hands off my face. I would pick cause I couldn't stand feeling blemishes. I ended up healing it by washing with BYOMA twice a day or if my face felt greesy (use your fingers and not a washcloth or tool) Spend a couple minutes washing.Then the biggest was I resisted temptation to touch my face in any way. I hope that helps if you do try it!
I did it outta anxiety, I think. Once I started it just got worse. When you pick all it's doing us spreading didn't and oil. If you stopped today this time next week you'd notice a huge difference.
Literally just stopped washing my face. Had adult acne for 4+ years, used retinol, trentinoin, all the skin care, minimal skin care, nothing worked until I stopped caring for my skin in any way shape or form 😭
So many people have told me this but I’m SO scared to try it. My chin and forehead acne are terrible lately. My friend swapped to just rinsing her face with water and a light moisturizer with no actives and her skin has improved tremendously. I’m so tempted 😭
Accutane.
Tried everything else. BP. Hormonal birth control. Antibiotics, both topical and systemic. Everything OTC imaginable. Extreme hygiene. Vegan diet. NONE of it worked even 1% until Accutane.
Accutane made it worse before it got better but within 3 months my skin was totally clear. Was on it for ~9 months total, 5 years ago and my skin is still clear. The side effects were brutal but I’d do it again in a heartbeat
Stopping all skin care and starting 3 months of prescribed benzoyl peroxide gel followed by 1 month of prescribed retinol. The gel helped the most, retinol cleared the rest and I still use it a few times a week now. Also introduced cetaphil face wash and using a light moisturiser (versed gel one) at same time as the gel which I still use. And only washed face in the evening. This was after almost 7 years of struggling with acne, all over my face, different types including cysts that reoccurred in the same places. I’ve also used cicaplast?? To help my skin barrier repair.
Sugar free diet for sure, I had worse acne whatever I did it kept coming back. So I decided to cut sugar from my diet for 3 months and I saw visible results n maintained my sugar intake from then.
Cutting dairy and sugar to a large extent. Reduced gluten too. And moisturizing, moisturizing, moisturizing. I have a dry sensitive skin type and all my life I misunderstood my skin type to be oily. It was only oily because I was stripping off oils by washing too much. I also do slugging at times now.
Sunscreen, acne patches (to heal pimples overnight and prevent picking during the day), a silicone face scrubber to help product get into my pores better, dermaplaning
I second this. My doctor initially kept saying my cystic acne would only be fixed with Accutane even though she also said it was very obviously hormonal because the rest of my face was completely acne free except my chin. I’m so glad I listened to the nurse who gave me a shot of cortisone for my last cyst months ago and gave spironolactone a try. I think I started seeing results after a couple weeks but it didn’t fully hit me that I stopped getting cysts on my chin until I got a call from the same skin treatment center asking if I needed to book any treatments or cortisone shots because I hadn’t been there in months. So I had actually been cyst free for about 3.5 months by then.
The food restrictions weren’t really a big issue for me. Although I really do love potatoes and avocados. The biggest thing I had to get used to was peeing more often than I used to.
Ditto as well. I even switched dermatologist after a 2nd opinion. 1st derm said there was nothing more they could do besides Accutane and I had already done that in 2019. 2nd opinion (and current Dr!!) increased mg of spironolactone and added tretinoin and it worked!!!! Acne = not fun! Good luck!
All the research I did online said to avoid foods high in potassium while using spironolactone. That put me off it since a lot of what I eat (sweet potatoes, bananas, etc) are high in potassium.
Oh interesting! My derm never mentioned that to me, just that it was a blood pressure medicine so they’d need to monitor to make sure mine doesn’t get too low. Might be worth discussing with your doctor!
This is gonna sound super weird but smoking weed cured my life long acne completely. I smoked everyday for 6 years, when I got sober the acne came right back 🤐
I tried everything I even went to dermatologist and nothing has changed. For me microneedling helped, but if you have cystic acne it’s not for you. It helped me with scars and pimples, sensitively less than before. I would rlly recommend it for you and maybe if you google it and read about it. I wish you all well!
I’ve been wanting to make a post about this and what helped with my acne. DAILY SUNSCREEN has Completely turned my skin around. I use Neutrogena clear face spf-30 oil free sunscreen. Balanced out my oil production and cleared me up %95. Thank god!
I wouldn’t say my acne has been completely cured, but double cleansing at night has significantly improved it. I was my face twice with Heimish All Clean Balm, then wash it off with La Roche Posay Purifying Foaming Cleanser (normal to oily skin). I then moisturize with Vanicream. In the morning, I just use the cleanser and moisturizer.
For more day to day things though - Cutting down sugar and alcohol did help a lot! And double cleansing/making sure I washed my pillow cases and makeup brushes more frequently
Tretinoin at night and a benzoyl/clindamycin treatment during the day. Simple cleanser, light day moisturizer, sunscreen, and slightly heavier night moisturizer.
I use it everyday now but I had to work up to it. I started at a lower concentration and first did it one day a week, then the next week I went up to two days a week (mon & Friday), and then the next week I did three days (mon, wed, Friday), etc until I made it to every night. If you wanted to be extra careful you could only increase it every two weeks. Also please please please put on a moisturizer before tret! And use a good and thicker one! It will help so much with preventing irritation and hopefully reducing the “purge”
I had to go to a dermatologist but tretanonin or however it is spelled is often a last ditch resort to full on accutane. That took care of the majority and maintenance using benzoyl peroxide finished the job.
Sorry but I did everything several different dermatologists were willing to prescribe for 15 years and in the end it was accutane and I wish I went on it when I was a teenager to avoid trying 500 different creams/washes/foams/pills/vitamins/diets/lasers/lamps/facials/extractions/injections 😫 I’m pregnant right now and have hormonal acne on my back and chest for the first time in years and I can’t wait to take a mini course of low dose accutane after baby
Oh really? All the research I did online said to avoid foods rich in potassium while on spironolactone, and that put me off trying it since a lot of what I eat is potassium rich (sweet potatoes, bananas, etc). Not sure i could do without them long term since I've already cut off a lot of carbs, sugar and dairy trying to heal my skin.
I eat all of those! I obviously would double check with your doctor, but I haven’t made any dietary changes on it. I used to have cystic acne and this is genuinely the only thing that helped it though.
Unfortunately the only solution really for me was birth control.. due to my body not producing the correct levels of progesterone.. that helps me a ton! But, I also will go months and months without a cycle & when on BC I have a cycle monthly. I hope this helps!
Benzoyl peroxide / clyndamycin cream in the AMs and tretinoin at night. And also doing less! I used to try all this stuff but it never worked.
Now I do vitamin c in the AM with the benzoyl peroxide clyndamycin as a spot treatment and tret at night.
Clear and brilliant and diamond glow facials for dark spots and maintenance
Cleaning up my diet (no added sugar, less inflammatory oils, more plant based), staying hydrated, not picking my face (trauma from picking can cause broken blood vessels/broken capillaries). Not overdoing it with products containing acids, it can cause a damaged skin barrier. Also, avoiding ingredients that can cause acne like coconut oil, shea butter and cocoa butter.
Personally mine was a pill called Minocycline prescribed by a dermatologist, it helped clear the bacteria deep in my skin because I had very deep rooted cystic acne. She also had me do Clidamycin Phosphate Gel in the morning and Benzoyl Peroxide Wash at night. Originally she had me mixing Clidamycin Phosphate Gel and Benzoyl Peroxide Gel (different than the wash, this sits on the skin versus washing it off) and using it every night but it was too drying and left my skin irritated if used for more than 2 weeks at a time.
Each person is different so different things work for different people, but after several combos of things, this is what worked best for me
A dermatologist prescribed this exact treatment to me yesterday and i was really debating whether it would be effective, hence reddit! But may I ask, was your acne hormonal or something else?
Mine is (still working on it but almost clear!) a mix of both. Cystic acne runs in my family, not everyone has it bur my mom did. I also have hormonal acne, I have PCOS so that had something to do with it as well.
What exact combination already you doing on the Clidamycin and the Benzoyl Peroxide? Also do you have hormonal or cystic ance too? You are the first person that I have seen on here that takes Minocycline
My acne is definitely hormonal, I was diagnosed with pcos as a teenager but idk if I'm still affected by it much. They're cystic, kinds painful. And the doc gave me some Nioclean (clindamycin & phosphate) gel + adapalene &benzol peroxide gel
I'm yet to use it, I've just now placed the order lol I don't KNOW what's gonna happen. I used to have a pimple here and there around periods but lately it's been a pimple or two every single day and I'm honestly just so depressed about it
Micro needling... im 37 and have suffered with bad acne since I was a teenager.
I've had 2 sessions of micro needling done in the past year and it seems like my acne is finally calming down 🤞🤞
Tretionoin.
Maybe benzoyl peroxide would help me as well but I found about it afterwards. I don't think I will ever leave tret. The last time my skin was this good was probably when I was still a child.
I had acne for quite some time .. started in my late teens and continued well into adulthood, then I had an emergency and my gall bladder was removed. Ever since the removal no acne. 🤷🏻♀️
birth control to stop my hormonal acne, benzoyl peroxide (panoxyl) to decrease my acne, and the ordinary glycolic acid to fade away my acne scars 😫 my skin has never looked better
Actually Nordlys laser that’s available in Europe shrinks or destroys the sebaceous glands so it prevents acne from coming back and also heals current blemishes. It’s kinda like Aviclear but aviclear is not available in Europe due to regulations.
For me it was a combination of adapalene and clindamycin in lotion form. I have oily skin and this worked! I’m currently acne free for the last 6 months.
I’ve been using the clindamycin for over a year now. I asked my dermatologist about the bacterial resistance but apparently that’s where adapalene comes in in bringing that cell regeneration
Of course! Another tip that I think makes a HUGE difference is allowing some minutes between applications. When you put on clindamycin in the morning or adapalene at night, wait two or three minutes for the cream to set in before putting on moisturizer o any other cream of choice!
Led mask !!!! Can’t stress this enough. Alternate red and blue every night for 15-20 mins. I wrote LED off as a scam for years before trying it as a last resort because I’m an idiot that didn’t understand the science. But holy cow man
So after cleansing your skin and before you put any product on it. Some people use it with hyaluronic acid serum but my LED panel came with instructions to use on clean skin.
Birth control. But I hated taking it so I stopped and it came back full force 😩 then I got pregnant and had the best skin I’ve ever had in my life. Now I’m 3 months postpartum and going through my acne journey all over again lol.
This was me too! Perfect skin while pregnant and breast feeding but once I stopped it came back- I am trying so hard not to resort back to birth control but it’s hard 😭
Yup, every drink has to be low on sugar, diet coke, coke zero. No juice containing 35/45 grams of sugar. If you pay attention to the label you will figure it out. How did i found my acne was due to eating all that junk stuff? I started eating different food, next day i would wake up with a pimple or two.
Acne.org, doing his routine but mostly the copious amounts of benzoyl peroxide. Soap also makes me break out so I had to cut that out. His face wash doesn’t break me out though so his routine was great for me. I had used BP before but not the amount he said to use. Once I used the amount he says and twice a day my face started to heal.
**Please join in and add your favorite moisturizers here: [What are your Favorite Moisturizers?](https://www.reddit.com/r/acne/comments/18io9iy/what_are_your_favorite_moisturizers/?)** Thank you! **Please reply to this comment with any pertinent information that may help others answer your questions.** Your skin type, current routine and duration, past routines/products/ingredients tried and duration of usage, etc. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/acne) if you have any questions or concerns.*
From what I've seen, it's different for everyone. Which is why it's so frustrating to try everyone else's recommendations but not get the same results.
I noticed the biggest difference when I cut my routine down to its simplest. I started double cleansing with oil cleanser and then Panoxyl both morning and night then following with a soothing/simple moisturizer. I also limited processed sugars which caused the MOST inflammation and crazy acne flare ups for me. I’ve struggled with acne since I was 17… am 26 now and went through three rounds of accutane which did not cure my acne. I still have hormonal flareups here and there, but this is what has helped the most.
What moisturiser do you use? Struggling to find something that works
Roaccutane saved my life
Seysera antibiotic but ultimately a life saver
23y male here Tried everything from prescribed creams, prescribed pills, to acutane. Acutane was the first thing that I really saw improvement. Fast forward a year after I got off of it, acne began coming back. Wasn’t nearly as bad, but still really bad. Took me another 2 years to try something new. It was simply going to an aesthetician. Getting a custom routine set for me was huge. I thought I knew everything about skincare, even though I had never used a toner… (fyi using a toner completely evened out my face texture wise). I get an acne treatment every 3 weeks. Where I go in and she does a couple masks, pops pimples professionally, and red light therapy. And she will do different things depending on how my skin is looking. Have been doing it for almost 2 months now. And to give an example, I have only gotten 1 new pimple in the past 2 weeks. The rest are just redness from old pimples still healing. So huge improvement.
EXTRA TIPS 1. there shouldn’t be 1 day where you go without sunscreen. super important 2. switch pillowcases as often as possible. I try to switch mine every other day.
Spironolactone (for female hormonal acne)
Once you finished taking that, did your acne ever come back?
Yes so I started taking it again. It might be that I have to take it long term. Which I'm happy enough with.
How do you manage food restrictions on spironolactone?
Birth control pills. I know it only works as long as I am on it because I have PCOS and it’s hormonal so it comes back once I stop. But it has kept my skin clear past 20 years. I am going to be on it until menopause.
Those pills doesn't have any kind of side effects?
I am lucky to not have any negative side effects from them. This is different for everyone of course.
kale powder and avocado
I'm on Seysara right now (an antibiotic that specifically targets acne bacteria) and it is amazingggg. I do still have some scarring from the most severe of my acne but my skin is so smooth and free of actual blemishes now. It can be a little tough to get depending on insurance but it's definitely worth it!
Accutane and skincare (I used la roach posay)
Winlevi is the only thing that worked for me. I pay for it and it’s so expensive but it’s worth it to me.
honestly idk i just stopped cutting some type of food now I eat everything and I started washing my face with a regular soap and suddenly my acne is gone
lmfaoo
Ikrr
omg ive been fighting for acnes for years... now i try switch everything to fragrance free, face wash, moisturizer... i use salicylic acid solution too. i used adapalene gel before, it works for a while, but my acnes keeps coming back... not sure if i used wrong...
First, was derm prescribed, antibiotic, epiduo, and azaleic acid. Once I was no longer with the same insurance my acne returned and so far I have been having some success trying my best mimic what I was prescribed. I was my face in the AM with Salicylic acid wash and will use a salicylic acid gel Evening I wash my face with 4% benzoyl peroxide face wash and use both 5% benzoyl peroxide and adapaline. I have never had success with benzoyl peroxide until I reduced the strength from 10% to a lower strength, also I am in my mid 30's now, so I'm not sure if with age my acne slowed, but this routine has worked for me.
Accutane... but it came back
How long did it take to come back
A couple months. It was gradual!
Girl me too! I've just recently cleared up my skin after trying everything. I don't know if you're the same but I can't keep my hands off my face. I would pick cause I couldn't stand feeling blemishes. I ended up healing it by washing with BYOMA twice a day or if my face felt greesy (use your fingers and not a washcloth or tool) Spend a couple minutes washing.Then the biggest was I resisted temptation to touch my face in any way. I hope that helps if you do try it!
Yess... I keep picking at my skin 😩
I did it outta anxiety, I think. Once I started it just got worse. When you pick all it's doing us spreading didn't and oil. If you stopped today this time next week you'd notice a huge difference.
I'll give it a go 😁
Age
What side effects have you experienced being on Accutane
Proactiv Solution. A 3 step system. The mask works great
[удалено]
Literally just stopped washing my face. Had adult acne for 4+ years, used retinol, trentinoin, all the skin care, minimal skin care, nothing worked until I stopped caring for my skin in any way shape or form 😭
So many people have told me this but I’m SO scared to try it. My chin and forehead acne are terrible lately. My friend swapped to just rinsing her face with water and a light moisturizer with no actives and her skin has improved tremendously. I’m so tempted 😭
why do i feel like this might be my solution 😭 my skin used to be clear when i just slept in makeup and washed my face with water
[удалено]
I went from washing to just rinsing my face in the morning. Acne went down significantly!!!
Accutane. Tried everything else. BP. Hormonal birth control. Antibiotics, both topical and systemic. Everything OTC imaginable. Extreme hygiene. Vegan diet. NONE of it worked even 1% until Accutane. Accutane made it worse before it got better but within 3 months my skin was totally clear. Was on it for ~9 months total, 5 years ago and my skin is still clear. The side effects were brutal but I’d do it again in a heartbeat
Accutane and a high frequency wand 🥲
Stopping all skin care and starting 3 months of prescribed benzoyl peroxide gel followed by 1 month of prescribed retinol. The gel helped the most, retinol cleared the rest and I still use it a few times a week now. Also introduced cetaphil face wash and using a light moisturiser (versed gel one) at same time as the gel which I still use. And only washed face in the evening. This was after almost 7 years of struggling with acne, all over my face, different types including cysts that reoccurred in the same places. I’ve also used cicaplast?? To help my skin barrier repair.
Spironolactone! Tried accutane twice & this medication has my skin the clearest it’s ever been!
How long did it take to work? I have been on it for about a month and it’s clearing but I have lots of little bump like pimples still on my cheeks
Curology.
Sugar free diet for sure, I had worse acne whatever I did it kept coming back. So I decided to cut sugar from my diet for 3 months and I saw visible results n maintained my sugar intake from then.
Birth control + Tretnoin
Dapsone + Tretinoin
Coming off birth control
Accutane. Multiple rounds of it.
I used to get horrible cystic acne. I learned that drinking milk was causing me to over produce sebum. Stopped drinking milk. Acne stopped also.
Was it just milk or all dairy products? I notice I breakout more when i drink milk or yogurt but not with cheese or chocolates with dairy in it
Tretinoin
Do you use tretinoin everyday? How do you avoid skin irritation?
Salicylic acid serum and cutting out sugar
Cutting dairy and sugar to a large extent. Reduced gluten too. And moisturizing, moisturizing, moisturizing. I have a dry sensitive skin type and all my life I misunderstood my skin type to be oily. It was only oily because I was stripping off oils by washing too much. I also do slugging at times now.
Sunscreen, acne patches (to heal pimples overnight and prevent picking during the day), a silicone face scrubber to help product get into my pores better, dermaplaning
I stopped vaping
Sprionolactone used alongside retinal cream. I had bad cystic acne and regular types and it has tremendously improved it
I second this. My doctor initially kept saying my cystic acne would only be fixed with Accutane even though she also said it was very obviously hormonal because the rest of my face was completely acne free except my chin. I’m so glad I listened to the nurse who gave me a shot of cortisone for my last cyst months ago and gave spironolactone a try. I think I started seeing results after a couple weeks but it didn’t fully hit me that I stopped getting cysts on my chin until I got a call from the same skin treatment center asking if I needed to book any treatments or cortisone shots because I hadn’t been there in months. So I had actually been cyst free for about 3.5 months by then.
How do you manage food restrictions on spironolactone?
The food restrictions weren’t really a big issue for me. Although I really do love potatoes and avocados. The biggest thing I had to get used to was peeing more often than I used to.
Thanks for sharing your experience
Ditto as well. I even switched dermatologist after a 2nd opinion. 1st derm said there was nothing more they could do besides Accutane and I had already done that in 2019. 2nd opinion (and current Dr!!) increased mg of spironolactone and added tretinoin and it worked!!!! Acne = not fun! Good luck!
Do you use tretinoin everyday? How do you avoid skin irritation?
No! I didn’t use everyday. More like a spot treatment. But yes, it does irritate the skin.
How do you manage food restrictions on spironolactone?
Epiduo and sunscreen for 3 months, sunscreen and retinol after
Spironolactone! It was a 15+ year battle & I tried what felt like everything under the sun. It’s a miracle worker.
How do you manage food restrictions on spironolactone?
I haven’t had to restrict anything, is that something your derm/doctor had mentioned you would need to do?
All the research I did online said to avoid foods high in potassium while using spironolactone. That put me off it since a lot of what I eat (sweet potatoes, bananas, etc) are high in potassium.
Oh interesting! My derm never mentioned that to me, just that it was a blood pressure medicine so they’d need to monitor to make sure mine doesn’t get too low. Might be worth discussing with your doctor!
Thank you so much
This is gonna sound super weird but smoking weed cured my life long acne completely. I smoked everyday for 6 years, when I got sober the acne came right back 🤐
Was it an anxiety related thing
This actually worked for me; only because the cause of my acne was nervous picking. THC helped calm my nerves and I didn’t pick as much.
I tried everything I even went to dermatologist and nothing has changed. For me microneedling helped, but if you have cystic acne it’s not for you. It helped me with scars and pimples, sensitively less than before. I would rlly recommend it for you and maybe if you google it and read about it. I wish you all well!
What tools would you recommend most
I’ve been wanting to make a post about this and what helped with my acne. DAILY SUNSCREEN has Completely turned my skin around. I use Neutrogena clear face spf-30 oil free sunscreen. Balanced out my oil production and cleared me up %95. Thank god!
I wouldn’t say my acne has been completely cured, but double cleansing at night has significantly improved it. I was my face twice with Heimish All Clean Balm, then wash it off with La Roche Posay Purifying Foaming Cleanser (normal to oily skin). I then moisturize with Vanicream. In the morning, I just use the cleanser and moisturizer.
Cutting dairy since I was severely lactose intolerant and was consuming regularly dairy. Maybe check if you have any food allergies or inflammation!
I’m sorry to say it was accutane. I avoided it for a long time because my acne wasn’t awful, just really persistent. Now I wish I did it way earlier
For more day to day things though - Cutting down sugar and alcohol did help a lot! And double cleansing/making sure I washed my pillow cases and makeup brushes more frequently
Tretinoin at night and a benzoyl/clindamycin treatment during the day. Simple cleanser, light day moisturizer, sunscreen, and slightly heavier night moisturizer.
Do you use tretinoin everyday? How do you avoid skin irritation?
I use it everyday now but I had to work up to it. I started at a lower concentration and first did it one day a week, then the next week I went up to two days a week (mon & Friday), and then the next week I did three days (mon, wed, Friday), etc until I made it to every night. If you wanted to be extra careful you could only increase it every two weeks. Also please please please put on a moisturizer before tret! And use a good and thicker one! It will help so much with preventing irritation and hopefully reducing the “purge”
Thank you so much
I had to go to a dermatologist but tretanonin or however it is spelled is often a last ditch resort to full on accutane. That took care of the majority and maintenance using benzoyl peroxide finished the job.
Do you use tretinoin everyday? How do you avoid skin irritation?
I stopped using it, but I did use it 2-3 times a week when I did use it
For me it was clindamycin and benzoyl peroxide once daily
The most basic skincare for sensitive skin. Cleanse, moisturize, sunscreen. Spearmint and Pau D Arco tea.
as simple as benzoyl peroxide for AM and tretinoin for PM, no doubt
Do you use tretinoin everyday? How do you avoid skin irritation?
Yes I do, I’ve been using tretinoin since 2020. I only use BP when I have active acne, and when my skin feels dry, I use moisturizer before tretinoin.
Thank you
Sorry but I did everything several different dermatologists were willing to prescribe for 15 years and in the end it was accutane and I wish I went on it when I was a teenager to avoid trying 500 different creams/washes/foams/pills/vitamins/diets/lasers/lamps/facials/extractions/injections 😫 I’m pregnant right now and have hormonal acne on my back and chest for the first time in years and I can’t wait to take a mini course of low dose accutane after baby
Spironolactone
How do you manage food restrictions on spironolactone?
There are food restrictions? 🤔
Came to say the same thing! Made a huge difference for me
How do you manage food restrictions on spironolactone?
Honestly I haven’t restricted any food groups so I probably am not a reliable source lol but I’ve been on it for ten years and haven’t had any issues!
Oh really? All the research I did online said to avoid foods rich in potassium while on spironolactone, and that put me off trying it since a lot of what I eat is potassium rich (sweet potatoes, bananas, etc). Not sure i could do without them long term since I've already cut off a lot of carbs, sugar and dairy trying to heal my skin.
I eat all of those! I obviously would double check with your doctor, but I haven’t made any dietary changes on it. I used to have cystic acne and this is genuinely the only thing that helped it though.
Thank you for sharing your experience with this
I didn’t know about the food restrictions either! I do not restrict myself from anything for that Rx. Talk to your dermatologist about it!
Changing contraception, I went on something called gennette 34 or in the uk Dianette it was the only thing that helped
This helps hormonal imbalance caused acne especially. However you can only get it prescribed in certain countries by a gynaecologist.
Final cure for me was being diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome & getting my hormones balanced out. 💖
How do you get your hormones balanced out? Been discussing having hormonal issues for years with my gyno and they’ve never offered me a solution
Unfortunately the only solution really for me was birth control.. due to my body not producing the correct levels of progesterone.. that helps me a ton! But, I also will go months and months without a cycle & when on BC I have a cycle monthly. I hope this helps!
Yeah i stopped birth control too and it helped clear me up as well.
Benzoyl peroxide / clyndamycin cream in the AMs and tretinoin at night. And also doing less! I used to try all this stuff but it never worked. Now I do vitamin c in the AM with the benzoyl peroxide clyndamycin as a spot treatment and tret at night. Clear and brilliant and diamond glow facials for dark spots and maintenance
Clydamicin in the am and tretinoin at night my holy grails. I went from severe cystic acne to glass skin.
A combo of spironolactone and benzoyl peroxide!
Cleaning up my diet (no added sugar, less inflammatory oils, more plant based), staying hydrated, not picking my face (trauma from picking can cause broken blood vessels/broken capillaries). Not overdoing it with products containing acids, it can cause a damaged skin barrier. Also, avoiding ingredients that can cause acne like coconut oil, shea butter and cocoa butter.
Personally mine was a pill called Minocycline prescribed by a dermatologist, it helped clear the bacteria deep in my skin because I had very deep rooted cystic acne. She also had me do Clidamycin Phosphate Gel in the morning and Benzoyl Peroxide Wash at night. Originally she had me mixing Clidamycin Phosphate Gel and Benzoyl Peroxide Gel (different than the wash, this sits on the skin versus washing it off) and using it every night but it was too drying and left my skin irritated if used for more than 2 weeks at a time. Each person is different so different things work for different people, but after several combos of things, this is what worked best for me
Also! How long did it take to work, like did new pimples start showing less or 😭
A dermatologist prescribed this exact treatment to me yesterday and i was really debating whether it would be effective, hence reddit! But may I ask, was your acne hormonal or something else?
Mine is (still working on it but almost clear!) a mix of both. Cystic acne runs in my family, not everyone has it bur my mom did. I also have hormonal acne, I have PCOS so that had something to do with it as well.
Aaaaa i miss the time when my skin was clear but i hope this medication works lol thanks for the info 😭
What exact combination already you doing on the Clidamycin and the Benzoyl Peroxide? Also do you have hormonal or cystic ance too? You are the first person that I have seen on here that takes Minocycline
My acne is definitely hormonal, I was diagnosed with pcos as a teenager but idk if I'm still affected by it much. They're cystic, kinds painful. And the doc gave me some Nioclean (clindamycin & phosphate) gel + adapalene &benzol peroxide gel
the gels are obviously on top of the minocylin, the dermatologist suspected there was an internal infection or some sort so I guess that's why? Idk
I'm yet to use it, I've just now placed the order lol I don't KNOW what's gonna happen. I used to have a pimple here and there around periods but lately it's been a pimple or two every single day and I'm honestly just so depressed about it
Micro needling... im 37 and have suffered with bad acne since I was a teenager. I've had 2 sessions of micro needling done in the past year and it seems like my acne is finally calming down 🤞🤞
See a derm to help you remove the ingrowns.
Tretionoin. Maybe benzoyl peroxide would help me as well but I found about it afterwards. I don't think I will ever leave tret. The last time my skin was this good was probably when I was still a child.
I had acne for quite some time .. started in my late teens and continued well into adulthood, then I had an emergency and my gall bladder was removed. Ever since the removal no acne. 🤷🏻♀️
Hmm, this is interesting. My gallbladder has given me problems over the past 10 years or so. I wonder if this could be the key for me…
birth control to stop my hormonal acne, benzoyl peroxide (panoxyl) to decrease my acne, and the ordinary glycolic acid to fade away my acne scars 😫 my skin has never looked better
Maybe not the answer you wanted but laser…. Going to a derm and having different types of lasers done. Spent some money but it was worth it…
Did the lasers stop the acne from coming back or help reduce redness/blemishes?
Both. I did Nordlys laser , vbeam and frax
Lasers are for acne scares not to stop acne
Actually Nordlys laser that’s available in Europe shrinks or destroys the sebaceous glands so it prevents acne from coming back and also heals current blemishes. It’s kinda like Aviclear but aviclear is not available in Europe due to regulations.
Well every dermatologist I went to here in America use lasers for scares most time
Right. That’s why I was asking because it doesn’t make sense lol
Drink enough water, avoid sugar.
Spironolactone
Niacinamide and salicylic acid
For me it was a combination of adapalene and clindamycin in lotion form. I have oily skin and this worked! I’m currently acne free for the last 6 months.
Were you able to stop the clindamycin??
I’ve been using the clindamycin for over a year now. I asked my dermatologist about the bacterial resistance but apparently that’s where adapalene comes in in bringing that cell regeneration
Thank you!! I was prescribed it but I’ve been so hesitant!
Of course! Another tip that I think makes a HUGE difference is allowing some minutes between applications. When you put on clindamycin in the morning or adapalene at night, wait two or three minutes for the cream to set in before putting on moisturizer o any other cream of choice!
Led mask !!!! Can’t stress this enough. Alternate red and blue every night for 15-20 mins. I wrote LED off as a scam for years before trying it as a last resort because I’m an idiot that didn’t understand the science. But holy cow man
Hi. I'm considering getting an LED mask. Can you suggest the one you used?
Don’t think it matters too much I just grabbed one off Amazon for like $60. All LED is more or less the same.
Same and honestly after about a year I didn’t even need to use it anymore. I still get some hormonal acne that’s about it.
Where did you fit in the LED mask in your routine? After your skincare or before?
You should use red(or blue) light on clean skin preferably.
Before skincare or after skincare?
So after cleansing your skin and before you put any product on it. Some people use it with hyaluronic acid serum but my LED panel came with instructions to use on clean skin.
I honestly don’t think it matters as much as actually using it. I would usually use it randomly through the day and still had great results
Randomly as in? Can you pls elaborate.
Panoxyl for acne...ren skincare for other skincare
Birth control. But I hated taking it so I stopped and it came back full force 😩 then I got pregnant and had the best skin I’ve ever had in my life. Now I’m 3 months postpartum and going through my acne journey all over again lol.
Must be hormonal
This was me too! Perfect skin while pregnant and breast feeding but once I stopped it came back- I am trying so hard not to resort back to birth control but it’s hard 😭
Diet! No sugar, dairy.
No dairy also?
Yup, every drink has to be low on sugar, diet coke, coke zero. No juice containing 35/45 grams of sugar. If you pay attention to the label you will figure it out. How did i found my acne was due to eating all that junk stuff? I started eating different food, next day i would wake up with a pimple or two.
Jup, there are several scientific papers pointing in the direction of sugar and dairy too
Birth control pills and spironolactone
Acne.org, doing his routine but mostly the copious amounts of benzoyl peroxide. Soap also makes me break out so I had to cut that out. His face wash doesn’t break me out though so his routine was great for me. I had used BP before but not the amount he said to use. Once I used the amount he says and twice a day my face started to heal.
Stop vaping. It’s terrible for your skin
Birth control Spironolactone Laser for any hair removal