Acne is Back
Fair warning. This is going to be disgusting. I'm going into a detailed description of acne issues because I'm hoping that maybe someone out there that reads this or comes across this or whatever will see it and somehow divine providence will make it that they have the magic answer to all my skin problems. Not likely, but I will never know until I put this crap out there, right?
Ugh... I'm so frustrated with my skin. Unless I'm willing to pour hundreds of dollars into it a month, it's covered in acne. So far I seem to have managed to stay away from the huge ones on my face - the huge ones that make me cry and wish I could just stop living. I'm dead serious. I've had ones that make it hard to move my face. Face and chest are covered in tiny ones that just sort of generally look bad. My skin itches all the time, so keeping my fingers away from it is a no go. It's not dry though.... just itchy.
Also, my scalp is covered in the painful cystic ones. Stretching down to my neck and part of my upper neck, most of which is just clogged with that weird hard stuff.... I won't get into what I bring up under my nails when I scratch it... it's disgusting. The same goes for my face - tons of clogged pores and bumps. A lot of that hard stuff. It's all over my forehead, chin, t-zone, scalp line, and neck. The stuff on my neck is mostly on the back, sometimes on the front. Mostly just the pores clogged with that weird hard stuff, but then also a growing amount of those horrible cysts that make it painful to move my neck if they get bad enough.
My skin looks terrible - really read and blotchy. Like, you can tell it's unhappy. Sometimes it gets so bad that some parts of my face look swollen. Maybe it's in my head, but it's just ridiculous.
Here's the story on my treatment history:
I've tried everything outside of accutane. Drinking more water doesn't fix it. I've tried that. I've tried chugging green tea like a fiend before because someone said it helped. I even drank apple cider for a number of months because that was supposed to help clear out your system and prevent the toxins from being filtered into your skin. Sleep doesn't make a difference. I've had it over summers where sleep is far more possible. Let's not get started about stress. If you want to tell someone in college taking horrible crap jobs that think forcing you to be under paid and over-worked is acceptable that all their skin/medical problems would just go away if they stopped being stressed, then you need to wake up and realize the absolute fallacy you have just suggested. Unless I drop my extracurriculars, take no more than 12 credits, and aim at getting straight Cs, stress will be a part of my existence. I will also shortly be entering various entry-level jobs so that I can pay off loans while attempting to save up for grad-school. Stress will happen. There has to be a solution for acne that can work around that. Also, success is more important to me than my skin. I'd just like it to not hurt without having to pour every single last dime into it.
Anyway... sorry for that outburst. I'm just really frustrated with hearing the "Just drink water, sleep regularly, and don't get stressed out" argument. It's a copout.
Proactive made my acne worse, and all the other forms of treatment out there have lasted for roughly 2 months before I get another horrible flare and everything goes to hell. Then I spend 3 months searching for a new solution and start the whole process over again. Frankly, it's exhausting. Birth control sort of helps, but finding a birth control that doesn't turn me into the Wicked Witch is horribly complicated. The only one I've found to work is the shot, but that's its own story. Semi-clear skin and a 2 month long period. Other options are always available... but at one point I was taking so many pills and vitamins and supplements that I stopped being able to keep track. At a certain point I just stopped taking anything. My parents were putting upwards of $120 per month into my skin only to have the problem kind of fade off into the distance.
Here was my regimen for skin care:
Birth Control: 1 tablet daily
Cod Liver oil: 2 tablets 3 x daily
Garlic Enzymes: 1 tablet daily
Hair, Skin, & Nails supplements: 1 tablet 3 x daily
Liver supplements: 2 tablets 3 x daily
Active Enzymes: 1 tablet daily
Wash face 2 x day: sulfur soap that I let dry and then wipe off
Toner: after that - usually the kind that is so expensive it makes my wallet cry.
Vitamin A gel: takes my skin off - I can chose between painful acne or my face coming off.
Lotion: whatever I can find that doesn't hurt when I put it on.
I've tried gels, tablets, concoctions, facemasks, vinegar, pills, hormone blockers, cleanses, cleansers, neosporine, fiber, vegetarianism, not vegetarianism, sleep, green tea, home remedies, over the counter remedies, prescription remedies.... the list goes on and on. I've tried hot pads, cold pads, toothpaste, pins, needles, compresses, scrubs, exfoliators, peels.
AND IT NEVER HELPS.
In fact, the only thing I haven't tried is accutane, but that's a no go since I will be off my mom's insurance in July. Besides, the scrooges at Regent's Blue Shield would probably try to stick us with the full bill anyway.... something about Acne being "cosmetic." If this was just a vanity issue, I'd being doing the aforementioned from several paragraphs ago to avoid "stress." HAH.
The only thing that's worked so far was when it was -25º F outside with a whopping 2% humidity. My skin was AMAZING.
Unfortunately, that kind of weather only lasts about 2 months tops. Summer is probably the worst. This is supposed to be the time of the year everyone feels beautiful, right? Then how come I'm so desperate right now that I'm going to use up the rest of my baking soda as a scrub because it said on the internet that it might work.
So yeah, here's the overall problem:
I'm 21, I've tried everything, I can't depend on medical insurance, and I will be very poor, very soon. Under all of these constraints, I need to figure something out soon so that my skin can stop being irritated and acne ridden.
Also... anyone know of any shampoos that are SLS free and are supposed to help with acne? I drank vinegar, so I'm pretty sure I'll try anything.
Ugh... I'm so frustrated with my skin. Unless I'm willing to pour hundreds of dollars into it a month, it's covered in acne. So far I seem to have managed to stay away from the huge ones on my face - the huge ones that make me cry and wish I could just stop living. I'm dead serious. I've had ones that make it hard to move my face. Face and chest are covered in tiny ones that just sort of generally look bad. My skin itches all the time, so keeping my fingers away from it is a no go. It's not dry though.... just itchy.
Also, my scalp is covered in the painful cystic ones. Stretching down to my neck and part of my upper neck, most of which is just clogged with that weird hard stuff.... I won't get into what I bring up under my nails when I scratch it... it's disgusting. The same goes for my face - tons of clogged pores and bumps. A lot of that hard stuff. It's all over my forehead, chin, t-zone, scalp line, and neck. The stuff on my neck is mostly on the back, sometimes on the front. Mostly just the pores clogged with that weird hard stuff, but then also a growing amount of those horrible cysts that make it painful to move my neck if they get bad enough.
My skin looks terrible - really read and blotchy. Like, you can tell it's unhappy. Sometimes it gets so bad that some parts of my face look swollen. Maybe it's in my head, but it's just ridiculous.
Here's the story on my treatment history:
I've tried everything outside of accutane. Drinking more water doesn't fix it. I've tried that. I've tried chugging green tea like a fiend before because someone said it helped. I even drank apple cider for a number of months because that was supposed to help clear out your system and prevent the toxins from being filtered into your skin. Sleep doesn't make a difference. I've had it over summers where sleep is far more possible. Let's not get started about stress. If you want to tell someone in college taking horrible crap jobs that think forcing you to be under paid and over-worked is acceptable that all their skin/medical problems would just go away if they stopped being stressed, then you need to wake up and realize the absolute fallacy you have just suggested. Unless I drop my extracurriculars, take no more than 12 credits, and aim at getting straight Cs, stress will be a part of my existence. I will also shortly be entering various entry-level jobs so that I can pay off loans while attempting to save up for grad-school. Stress will happen. There has to be a solution for acne that can work around that. Also, success is more important to me than my skin. I'd just like it to not hurt without having to pour every single last dime into it.
Anyway... sorry for that outburst. I'm just really frustrated with hearing the "Just drink water, sleep regularly, and don't get stressed out" argument. It's a copout.
Proactive made my acne worse, and all the other forms of treatment out there have lasted for roughly 2 months before I get another horrible flare and everything goes to hell. Then I spend 3 months searching for a new solution and start the whole process over again. Frankly, it's exhausting. Birth control sort of helps, but finding a birth control that doesn't turn me into the Wicked Witch is horribly complicated. The only one I've found to work is the shot, but that's its own story. Semi-clear skin and a 2 month long period. Other options are always available... but at one point I was taking so many pills and vitamins and supplements that I stopped being able to keep track. At a certain point I just stopped taking anything. My parents were putting upwards of $120 per month into my skin only to have the problem kind of fade off into the distance.
Here was my regimen for skin care:
Birth Control: 1 tablet daily
Cod Liver oil: 2 tablets 3 x daily
Garlic Enzymes: 1 tablet daily
Hair, Skin, & Nails supplements: 1 tablet 3 x daily
Liver supplements: 2 tablets 3 x daily
Active Enzymes: 1 tablet daily
Wash face 2 x day: sulfur soap that I let dry and then wipe off
Toner: after that - usually the kind that is so expensive it makes my wallet cry.
Vitamin A gel: takes my skin off - I can chose between painful acne or my face coming off.
Lotion: whatever I can find that doesn't hurt when I put it on.
I've tried gels, tablets, concoctions, facemasks, vinegar, pills, hormone blockers, cleanses, cleansers, neosporine, fiber, vegetarianism, not vegetarianism, sleep, green tea, home remedies, over the counter remedies, prescription remedies.... the list goes on and on. I've tried hot pads, cold pads, toothpaste, pins, needles, compresses, scrubs, exfoliators, peels.
AND IT NEVER HELPS.
In fact, the only thing I haven't tried is accutane, but that's a no go since I will be off my mom's insurance in July. Besides, the scrooges at Regent's Blue Shield would probably try to stick us with the full bill anyway.... something about Acne being "cosmetic." If this was just a vanity issue, I'd being doing the aforementioned from several paragraphs ago to avoid "stress." HAH.
The only thing that's worked so far was when it was -25º F outside with a whopping 2% humidity. My skin was AMAZING.
Unfortunately, that kind of weather only lasts about 2 months tops. Summer is probably the worst. This is supposed to be the time of the year everyone feels beautiful, right? Then how come I'm so desperate right now that I'm going to use up the rest of my baking soda as a scrub because it said on the internet that it might work.
So yeah, here's the overall problem:
I'm 21, I've tried everything, I can't depend on medical insurance, and I will be very poor, very soon. Under all of these constraints, I need to figure something out soon so that my skin can stop being irritated and acne ridden.
Also... anyone know of any shampoos that are SLS free and are supposed to help with acne? I drank vinegar, so I'm pretty sure I'll try anything.