So, this is something that's very close to my heart. I pretty much struggled with acne from the age of 11 to 28. I know. I tried every treatment, from store-bought to infomercial to department store to estheticians/facials to prescripton (except Accutane), until, 17 years later, I finally found one that worked for me. And I mean, it WORKED.
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| Before. I couldn't press my lips completely together because my face was so swollen. :-/ |
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| After. Can you feel the ENTHUSIASM!? |
In my 6th grade picture, I have my very first pimple. How nice is that!? After that, it was pretty much downhill. I broke out all over my forehead and chin, and was super greasy. I was at the dermatologist's office in my teens once, and the nurse that was "helping" me ran her finger across my forehead and said (in a thick accent), "Tsk, tsk, tsk.. so oily." I was tsked by an ethnically ambiguous medical professional. At the time though, it just felt like, "Let me crawl into a hole BECAUSE YOU ARE RIGHT I'M HIDEOUS OMG." Never a fun frame of mind to be in. So for 17 years, I broke out NONSTOP. There was only one period of about three months when I was about 19 where I didn't break out, because I was on antibiotics. For anyone that's never been on antibiotics to treat your acne, while the medicine is working, IT IS PURE BLISS. My skin looked so beautiful. No acne, not one breakout, not even any redness. Someone at work even commented that my skin looked "creamy". I was in heaven. Until it stopped working. The amazing human bod develops resistance to antibiotics, and eventually, they stop being effective. When this happened to me, the doctor just took the lazy way out and upped my dosage until they, again, were no longer working. After that, it was just as bad as before.
As I got into my mid-twenties, the acne changed. In addition to whiteheads and small-to-medium sized red bumps, I got acne rosacea on my cheeks (and developed scarring that I'm still dealing with), and cystic acne (large, painful red knots under the skin) on the sides of my face, chin, and jawline. It was miserable. I woke up everyday to a new blemish (or seven). Sometimes it hurt to move my face at all. It killed me to look in the mirror, and I obsessed about being in harsh daylight, or any overhead or fluorescent lighting (hello, public bathrooms). I just felt.. disfigured.
I tried Retin-A, antibiotics, any benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid anything, clydamycin, erythramycin, ProActiv (twice), supplements, masks, essential oils, natural and organic products.. you name it. Everything except Accutane. If you have acne, you know that this has a pretty solid success rate for knocking out acne for the rest of your life on this earth. And I would have tried it - but I had two friends (with newly beautiful skin) who told me that if they had to do it over, THEY WOULDN'T HAVE DONE IT. They told both told me that, for one thing, for six to eight weeks, your face flakes like crazy. Not like dry skin, but just patches of skin come off. Horror story: One of these friends was taking Accutane in high school. He had very severe cystic acne - just red bumps all over his face that never went away. He was also on the high school wrestling team (hehehehe - spandex). One day he was in a match, and when it was over, half of his face was on the mat. A whole layer of skin just ripped right off the side of his face. This hit me right in the heart of my vanity (it sounds like I'm talking about my vagina or something, but I swear I'm not), and I decided that I didn't want to go through that (even though I was in marching band, not wrestling. I didn't want to take any chances).
Fast forward to age 28, and I was still experiencing acne, aka The Gift That Keeps On Being A Pain In The Ass. I had newly become obsessed with watching YouTube beauty videos, and one girl that I watched had a video on her struggle with acne, and she mentioned a website called acne.org. THIS. WEBSITE. CHANGED. MY. FUCKING. LIFE. As soon as I checked it out, I knew it was something different. First of all, the guy running the website was selling stuff, but expressly said that your success with your skin did not require you to buy his products. Second, his Regimen (as it is called on the site) sounded different than anything I had ever heard before. You were supposed to be gentle with your skin; no more microdermabrasion exfoliating cream (that I loved so much but noticed zero improvement from). You used the hell out of some benzoyl peroxide, and moisturizer, and he introduced me to glycolic acid and the mighty, mighty world of chemical exfoliants. There was (and is) a ton of information, before and after pics, and lovingly detailed instructions. There's even a list of products the guy recommends from the drugstore! Now, he's not a dermatologist, but he is a man that, through trial and error, was able to help himself, and thousands and thousands of others. He was able to help me. And I will link below to the video I watched that inspired me in the first place. This is not my current skin regimen, but it was for about 3.5 years. Your skin changes, and I will share what I went through when it changed, as well as my current skin regimen, in future posts.
I am sharing this because it worked for me when I needed it. I no longer have acne; it is no longer a constant problem. I have skin that breaks out on occasion. I get one or two pimples while I'm PMSing, not ELEVEN. I'm just saying, if you think you've tried everything, maybe this can work for you.
Puss och Kram (that's Swedish for Hugs and Kisses!!),
Monica
The Website:
acne.org
The video that started it all:
My Skin Care Miracle: Acne.Org Regimen
By the way, I am not affiliated with the website in any way, nor do I receive any compensation/gifts for telling you about this. I'm just a big ol' enthusiast (see: "After" photo). Good luck :)
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