Hey everyone. Im looking on some tips to get rid of acne. Mine isnt too severe but its enough to knock down my already low self esteem. I just went to the doctor and he put me on these antibiotic pills and a face wash that i apply before bed everynight and let it dry. Even after a few days it seems to be working good, but im not supposed to use any other types of facewash with it, which is hard because i have PE second block and i usualy sweat quite a bit. I have some on my back and chest too but i obviously cant use facewash there so what could i wash it with other than soap to help keep my skin clean and prevent any more acne growth?
Do you drink cows milk? Ive heard that stopping the consumption of dairy products can really improve acne in some people. I never suffered from anything severe but I noticed that since Ive changed to a healthier diet (I dont eat red meat, pork, or cows milk) I dont even get the occasional pimple anymore. My suggestion would be cut out cows milk and eat as many veggies and fruit as possible. Other than that I think simply the stage your at in life is a huge factor.
Doors: One of the kids in my care, (years ago) developed a bad acne condition. He was treated with 1000 mg of tetracycline, daily. Within about 6 months it had cleared up the problem. So dont give up, it doesn't happen over night. Africa: Pimples and acne are not the same thing. Pimples are common in adolesence, where acne is a bacterial infection which can leave permanent scars. Diet or not, if you are 20 years old, I think your pimple days are past history.. ......................Dennis...................
Try washing with Doc Bronners tea tree oil. It shouldn't affect the prescription stuff at all, as its residue free and made from all organic ingredients, no chemy's at all. Tea tree oil will help dry out your skin.
This might seem obvious, but try and touch your face as little as possible! If you must make sure you have thoroughly washed your hands.
Yeah thats what im on. Not 1000mg though my condition isnt that severe. I also cannot eat many dairy products while taking these pills so that should go along with whoever suggested not eating dairy. Thanks everyone who replied, i actualy do touch my face alot i will have to stop doing that
Doors : I guess Ive been out of the medical field longer than I thought. It isn't the dairy products are your problem. The cycline family of antibiotics have a tendency to bind on calcium and pass through the body without doing what their supposed too. That is why the medication bottle says "don't take with milk". You've gotten other info from other posters on this thread, what the hell, go for it . but continue what your doctor prescribed.
i used to have acne all over, not too extremely bad like some have it, but, like the OP said, it didn't do much for my self esteem. When I stopped eating meat and dairy products, 90% of my acne went away and I'm left with the occasional few pimples here and there. My back used to be covered with red and now I'm clear for the most part. maybe one or two pimples but I can deal with that using some scrub or something. My skin doesn't get as oily/greasy as it did when I ate these products. I've heard of quite a few other people who have done this too. I doubt you'll turn vegan to avoid acne, but that's just my .02
I have to disagree that pimples stop by age 20. I know *plenty* of college kids who still get lots of pimples. As for the original question, I feel for you bro. I was in the same boat at your age - I had acne, not horrendously nasty acne but it was noticeable and I hated it. The bad news is I still get zits. The good news is my acne peaked at 16.5 or so and has gradually subsided since. I started getting the occasional zit when I was in 8th grade, and then at my peak, my temples, chin, and forehead always had a few zits. I would also get them occasionally on my upper lip. God damn, those are the worst. I didn't get much on my cheeks thankfully, although there is still a little redness on my right cheek from where I had a few bad ones. It seems like the cheeks are the prime spot for scarring. Anyway, enough about my history, here are my tips... I used Retin-A for a while, and it really didn't work. It just seemed too abrasive to be doing any good, and I had to put it on in the mornings too, which meant I was going to school with an inflamed, irritated face. Not cool. The best soap I've ever used is called Cetaphil. I still wash with it at least twice a day. It rocks. It might dry you out a bit at first, but you'll get used to it soon, and you can always balance it out with the Cetaphil lotion (which I also still use). I would wash with Cetaphil after you exercise and then put on some lotion. The reason why washing your face helps, other than getting rid of the bacteria, is that it actually dries our your skin enough to make the dead skin cells, which often block pores and cause acne, flake off. So, you want your skin to feel a little dry after washing. Then, you balance it out with the lotion to keep your face nice and happy I am not going to say diet isn't a factor, but I really don't buy it. I've read up on it, and I've seen any evidence to suggest it's a factor. Why would it be? Why would eating meat or cheese or whatever cause your oil glands to produce more oil or something? I think it's a purely hormonal thing, but who knows. If you want to give that a try, it can't hurt, and you'll probably be healthier anyway As for prescription stuff, the only thing that seemed to help me was this stuff called Differin. You only put it on at night, it doesn't dry you out too much, and when I started using it, my acne began to clear up. I actually was using differin from age 16 to about three months ago. I tried to quit it a couple of years ago, but I got a few horrible zits two days after I stopped, and I am certain it wasn't a coincidence, because they were probably the biggest zits I'd had in a year or two. I think that's a testament to Differin's effectiveness. But yeah, I'm off it now and I'm not having any problems. Another possible solution - Acutane. I would recommend this as a last resort as it really fucks with your body, but if you have even the most horrendous acne and you want it GONE, then use Acutane. Acutane will simply skullfuck your acne away. I have seen people with nasty, nasty acne develop the most beautiful, clear, radiant skin in less than a year using Acutane. So, there's always that option. If you play sports, it *WILL* fuck you over, so keep that in mind. I've also seen that happen. Last but not least, my number one, most important tip that I could ever give... and I really think people underestimate how important this is... DO NOT LET ANYTHING TOUCH YOUR FACE FOR ANY REASON *EVER*, ESPECIALLY NOT YOUR HANDS. One time I realized that i had more zits on my right cheek than my left. Didn't make sense. Then I realized that I pressed my sweaty, nasty, germy phone against my right cheek for a couple of horus a day. I made a point not to touch the phone to my face, and I had much less trouble with my right cheek. Also, I started making sure that my pillow cases were clean, not oily and germy, and even then I avoided letting my face incubate next to a pillow all night. I really think it makes a difference. And of course, there is touching your face... DO NOT DO IT. Even now I catch mysel doing it, after years of training myself not. The more acne you have, the more conscious of your face you are, and the more you touch it... and not to get too new-agey in a discussion about a medical problem, but I truly believe the more you focus on acne, the more you'll get. It's funny but I swear to God, as soon as I started accepting the occasional zit, as soon as I realized it wasn't a big deal, my acne started going away. The more I obsessed over my acne, the more acne I developed. I think part of this has to do with touching my face, and part of it might just be some sort of metaphysical thing - if you spend all day fearing acne or fearing anything else, it will probably end up happening. So, try that too, if you can. Easier said than done, I know. So, in summary - there are some good prescription options such as Differin and Acutane. Wash your face so that it dries out a little, but then remoisturize. And finally, do not think about your face, do not touch your face. Oh, and I almost forgot, DO NOT POP YOUR ZITS EVER EVER EVER (unless of course it is just the nastiest white head ever, and you can easily pop it with a needle). If you MUST pop one, always pop them as gently as possible with a clean hypodermic needle. If you squeeze and prod, not only will you make the zit 10x worse and prolong it thereby increasing the chances of scarring, but you will probably get another zit or two right next to it from where you were smearing your nasty greasy fingers all over your face. I find that if I don't pop a zit, it will go away in a day or two - if I pop it, I can count on it being there for a damn week, healing and reforming repeatedly. Wow, I wasn't planning on writing such an encyclopedia article, haha. Good luck, and the most important thing to do is not to worry about it - it happens to so many people, and anyone mature will either have experienced it or had a close friend who did, and would never judge you for it. It happens, it'll pass
Stayloose - Thanks alot for the great post, theres a ton of information in there i will definitly take your advice on!
I haven't seen anybody mention this, but acutane. It has been a somewhat controversial drug for the past couple of years, but it worked wonders for me. I tried EVERYTHING before that first...tetracycline, other cyclines, face washes from the doctor...everything. Nothing worked, but then I took acutane and six month or so later, my skin looked great.
No problem man, good luck to you, worst case just know that it will pass eventually The mid teens are awkward times in so many ways, and unfortunately acne is one of them, but it gets better, hehe
DOORS: I once had acne when i was around 16 and doctor gave me differin. Worked like a charm. I kinda started to get it again when i was around 20 and for some reason someone told me to lotion my face. Don't cake it, jus enough for moisture. Also, if you shave, make sure you aren't allergic to that razor
I had acne for many years until I gave up eating fruit which I used to eat in large quantities. I believe it was because of the excess sugar that went into my system and stressing my liver, making it more difficult to assimilate fats. Now my face is almost completely clear. Cutting way back on sugars of all kinds may do the trick for you. Also cut way back on fats, fried food, oils, meat, dairy products and don't do other things that stress the liver such as pot, drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. Also living in a polluted city will expose you to a lot of liver stressing chemicals. A clean diet with lots of vegies and whole grains and NO junk food will also help. I am very wary of using chemicals and antibiotics to control acne as these alway have some kind of side effect, you are not getting to the root of the problem and the long term dangers of almost all prescription and over the counter drugs are not really understood.
