Mofo-ing acne!

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Keocmb

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May 3, 2003
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San Francisco, CA
Alright. I've had it. I'm 20 years old and I'll go on waves of my skin being perfectly clear and then finals come and BOOMcha :shifty: I'm a fucking pizza.

I've heard Proactive is an excellent acne treatment. But I've never known anyone who has used it so I'm just going by infomercials and word of mouth.

Right now I have some stuff from my dermatologist but clearly it's NOT working. What do you beautiful ladies use?
 
I used to be on this stuff called Roacutain. You have to get it from a dermatologist and if you're a chick you have to go on the pill (pregnacy issues), but it don't get acne anymore! and I guess that's what you want.
You should think really carefully about your family history too, my dad had acne, so I was bound to get it. It could be genetic which means it's not just an unfortunate oily skin thing.
On the other hand during the times when you don't get it try to find a cleanser that agrees with you, it should lessen the blow.

Cheers
 
Well, in my case it took me eight years to figure out my skin was too dry. Since most acne medications dry your skin out, it was actually making mine worse... the best thing I've found to use is moisturizer with a little bit of acne medication, and use a lot of it, and not use anything that dries out your skin (like face powder).

...granted, this obviously isn't the case for most people, but that's my skin problems knowledge.

If your skin gets bad in waves with your periods, you could try going on birth control, if you're not already. It should help.
 
Aveeno-I use the mask and the cleanser when I get breakouts, and I'm not 20 unfortunately..

It doesn't dry your skin out, and it smells nice too. You can get it at any drug store, but Target has good prices on it too.
 
grrrr... acne is a bitch.

i use biore cleanser, the one for blemish prone skin. it seems to help somewhat. the only thing that has worked like a charm for me was the pill. i rarely if ever got zits when i was on the pill, even during pms and exam freak out time. (oh to have a job with some medical coverage...)

whatever you do, do NOT go on acutane. it may clear up your skin, but it will do untold damage to the rest of your body. acutane is evil.
 
I use Clearasil, too! I always get tons of pimples during December--it's holiday stress. Grrr.......not much you can do about that besides wait. I'll never win a patience prize.
 
I'm also 20 and in the past two months, I've had the worst bouts of acne I've ever had. And I'm on the pill which was supposed to help!!! :scream: If I use products with too much salicylic acid, my face turns beet red and gets flakey. Right now I use neutrogena deep clean cream cleanser after school/work and before bed, and this other one in the shower in the morning. Winter is always the worse. It get SO cold and dry than my skin is usually peeling and overly oily at the same time. I feel better when it's more humid and warm enough to have my face in the sun every once in a while.
 
I will say that I use this stuff called Retin-a micro. It's a topical cream you put onto the actual breakout that works WONDERFULLY. Not so helpful when you've got 50 of them. :rolleyes:
 
Hi..I have serious hormonal problems and proactive is a truly wonderful product. The cleanser is a bit harsh on a sensitive skin but the toner and the lotion is amazing. No burning or stinging and you don't go through that "its has to look worse before it looks better" phase. The great thing about the product is that you're taking care of your entire face. Some of the other topical creams treat one spot at a time which can be extremely harsh when you have to dabble it all over your face. Proactive is soothing and it works!! Try it.
 
I'm 30 and I still break out bad a week or two before my period. If I don't use
Proactiv. It really does work and if you need a spot treament all you need to do is use their Refining Mask just dot it where you need it right before you go to sleep. In the morning the pimple will be gone or almost totally gone without the wait and no ugly dry pacthes. The cleanser can be harsh for sensitive skin so I stopped ordering that and just went to my local drugstore to buy a bar of Salicylic Acid soap for like 5 bucks. For me it works better just use sparingly on any part of you that might break out. Can cause some drying if you use it more than twice a day. The Repairing lotion is great a little goes a long way.
 
Be sure to use an oil-free moisturizer. My daughter's was getting worse from all the products that were so drying. The dermatologist suggested Nutrogena's oil free moisturizer. It helped a great deal.
 
Keocmb said:


I've been going through that phase for five years. :crack:

I'm definitely going to try Proactive. Thanks a lot, ladies!



Be careful! I used Proactive before and it didn't make much of a difference. :sad: I guess I did expect more considering how much I paid for it. It works wonders for some but not everyone. I'm 22 by the way. I envy all those who hardly get have acne.
 
dandy said:

whatever you do, do NOT go on acutane. it may clear up your skin, but it will do untold damage to the rest of your body. acutane is evil.

That's so true!!
My boyfriend was on accutane when he was a teen. It made his situation worse. He wants to save money one day so he can get surgery to "fix" what accutane did to him. Accutane should be taken off the shelves. Sometimes the results/side effects can cause far more damage (physically and emotionally) than the pimples themselves.
 
There was an article in the New York Times recently about Accutane. It was one of five drugs found by the FDA to be toxic and is being pulled. :huh:
 
I'm pretty fortunate to have good skin, but I do tend to get a few break outs when "Aunt Flo" comes for a visit. I find that dabbing tea tree oil on my zits helps clear them up without drying out my skin. Tea tree oil can be found at any health food store or vitamin store. Good luck!
 
It makes some people severely depressed....to the point of not being able to function or making you feel suicidal.
 
Kristie said:
so, what exactly does this acutane do to you?


In my boyfriend's case he suffered from very bad acne starting from his pre-teen years. Acne was all over his face and back. So parents went to seek help from a doctor who prescribed Accutane. At first it did clear up some of the pimples. After some while scars started to appear where the pimples disappeared. Now he has scars (that look like craters) on the lower half of his face and on most of his back. You could image how this would effect his self esteem. Kids in school picked on him and it was extremely hard for him to make friends. He never had much of a dating life (before we met). He cannot wear certain shirts that show his back or are too close fitting. Accutane dried his skin out wear it flakes. He has to use special shampoo. He can't even let his hair grow out because it will flake and cause irritation. My boyfriend suffered depression from this. :sad: He hates his appearance even now. He's only 26 years old by the way. One day he hopes to get surgery to take the scarring away.


It makes me mad how Accutane was prescribed to so many people. :mad: Accutane probably hurt more people than it did help.
 
I don't really ever break out but I don't think my skin is 100% either. The only time it ever looked really good was when I went tanning...which is bad and I've quit. I wonder if Proactiv would make much a difference for me?
 
I've dealt with acne when I was 13. Then it went away and I was fortunate where I only had a few minor pimples from time to time.
Last year my skin started getting really oily, where my bangs would just be soaked with oil at the end of the day. Then I started to break out big time. I tried everything. Clearasil pads, Medicated Apricot Scrub, Noxema, Clearasil face wash. My skin was still very oily at the end of the day, plus with pimples.
Perfect skin is a cause of perfect care. I miss one night of washing- and whala- a pimple the next morning as the result.
I wash every morning with Apricot Scrub finishing off with Phisoderm (normal to dry skin beware, it is very drying). At night I use Noxema. Then I apply Clean & Clear Maximum Strength Persa-Gel 10 morning and night.
I also do an at-home facial peel once a week. Vita-K Chemical Peel and there's a new product for $23 by Neutrogena a Facial Peel. It helps reduce the signs of aging and scarring by acne.
I used Proactive, and although it's good for cleanser but not good enough by itself for me. $40 just for cleanser isn't worth it for me, sorry.
*I start to break out once I start lacking in Clean & Clear Persagel, so that must be doing the trick.
Also, your body gets used to the products you use, shampoos, conditioners, deodorant, toothpaste, soap, facial wash, acne medications, etc, to the point where they don't do its' job as well as it once did. I suggest you try something new every once in awhile.
 
xtal said:
Perfect skin is a cause of perfect care. I miss one night of washing- and whala- a pimple the next morning as the result.

Yep. That's happened to me, too.

Originally posted by xtal
Also, your body gets used to the products you use, shampoos, conditioners, deodorant, toothpaste, soap, facial wash, acne medications, etc, to the point where they don't do its' job as well as it once did. I suggest you try something new every once in awhile.

Good point-that's good advice.

Angela
 
Kristie said:
so, what exactly does this acutane do to you?

my roommate was on accutane for about five months. she took herself off it because she could tell that bad things were happening to her body. like Siren's boyfriend, it seemed to dry out her entire body. her lips were permanently and painfully chapped while she was on it, and her hair... she used to have long, wavy, silky chestnut locks, and now it's dry, brittle and permanently frizzy, no matter how much she conditions and treats it.

it messed up her stomach--she became extremely sensitve to food, felt queasy a lot of the time. around the same time, she became lactose intolerant, which may or may not have been related to the accutane (i did too at the same time, and i wasn't on the stuff).

the scariest thing: her doctor had warned her about the side effects, one of which was possible joint and cartilege damage. towards the end of it, she felt like her body was falling apart--her bones literally ached, especially in the joints. i told her to get the hell off the stuff. i'd rather have her with a few blemishes than having her body falling apart just so her skin would look better.

accutane :down:

:hug: for Siren and her honey.
 
Last edited:
xtal said:
Also, your body gets used to the products you use, shampoos, conditioners, deodorant, toothpaste, soap, facial wash, acne medications, etc, to the point where they don't do its' job as well as it once did.

:rant:
 
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