Acne

[pl1]

I've had acne off an on for years. It was very severe cystic type, although not as bad now I still get it years later and it can be fairly aggressive. I've done the whole dermatologist bit and I am no longer able to take Roaccutane which was the only product that worked. What are the latest treatments (I know it can't be cured, for me anyway) as I don't want to go back to the Dermo, it takes ages to get the appt. and then they just want to give you more pills (antibiotics in my case). Laser treatments? Dermabrasion? Do they work.

I'll join an acne forum if I have to but I was wondering if any other HPC'er had adult zits and knew the latest treatments and had jumped through all the hoops to save me joining yet another Internet Forum.

[MRMX9]

I've had acne off an on for years. It was very severe cystic type, although not as bad now I still get it years later and it can be fairly aggressive. I've done the whole dermatologist bit and I am no longer able to take Roaccutane which was the only product that worked. What are the latest treatments (I know it can't be cured, for me anyway) as I don't want to go back to the Dermo, it takes ages to get the appt. and then they just want to give you more pills (antibiotics in my case). Laser treatments? Dermabrasion? Do they work.

I'll join an acne forum if I have to but I was wondering if any other HPC'er had adult zits and knew the latest treatments and had jumped through all the hoops to save me joining yet another Internet Forum.

Try this message board for advice - there is even a section on adult acne cures.

http://www.acne.org/messageboard/forums.html

Everyone's acne is different - I eventually discovered by acne was yeast/candida related - cut out sugars and bread and it got better.

The best topic treatment I find is dermalogica overnight clearing gel - its pricey but it lasts for months and clears spots quickly.

http://www.pure-beauty.co.uk/products/27/42/dermalogica_overnight_clearing_gel_(50ml)/

Good luck anyway!

[JPDorsetHP]

Have you ruled out any dietary effect on your acne?

I suffered really bad acne in my teens - I was on minocycline for years. I also had a peanut butter "addiction" - I ate tons of the stuff. Of course at the time it is just put down as severe teenage acne - diet wasn't even given a second thought.

I stopped eating peanut butter so much after I left home at 18 and started having to fend for myself, but never really stopped eating it entirely; and nor did my acne every clear up entirely - although it did clear up to some extent in my early 20s.

Then one day, out of the blue I noticed a correlation between eating peanut butter and the severity of my acne. I cut it out completely, and my acne almost completely cleared up.

I still enjoy a jar every now and again to this day - and sure enough - after just one jar over the course of a couple of weeks or so the odd zit or two obligingly re-appear - right on que!

[feed]

Had acne for 30 years or so and haven't found anything that will kill it completely.

But I find that quality zinc supplementation will control it, although I do still get fairly bad outbreaks on my back and shoulders from time to time.

[Executive Sadman]

Friend of mine had laser treatment. Did feck all for him.

Dont put aftershave on it. I had bits and bobs of acne as a teen, and, thanks to the medical advice of mum, i did and had a nasty rash for about a month. Guess in retrospect she was probably just having a laugh at my expense.

[pl1]

Have you ruled out any dietary effect on your acne?

I suffered really bad acne in my teens - I was on minocycline for years. I also had a peanut butter "addiction" - I ate tons of the stuff. Of course at the time it is just put down as severe teenage acne - diet wasn't even given a second thought.

I stopped eating peanut butter so much after I left home at 18 and started having to fend for myself, but never really stopped eating it entirely; and nor did my acne every clear up entirely - although it did clear up to some extent in my early 20s.

Then one day, out of the blue I noticed a correlation between eating peanut butter and the severity of my acne. I cut it out completely, and my acne almost completely cleared up.

I still enjoy a jar every now and again to this day - and sure enough - after just one jar over the course of a couple of weeks or so the odd zit or two obligingly re-appear - right on que!

That's interesting. However, I'm pretty sure I've cut out diet in the past and it had zero effect for me. I'm fairly certain it's hormonal related (excess testosterone). This has a few good side effects but the bad one is severe acne. One of the reasons I suspect this is because I took up weight training a few months ago and this increases your testosterone a lot and the bad breakouts were correlated. This happened before a few years ago when I did weight training too and the acne came back with a bit of a vengeance. Also a few years ago when I took tribulus the acne flared up with this.

Mine is almost certainly hormonaly influenced type.

One other thing the dermo said (if it helps others) when acne continues into adult acne and in people who have a lot of facial hair or shave frequent like I do (again testosterone related) the follicles can get clogged and she gave me antiseptic washing soap for this. I also notice when I don't shave of a weekend the acne tends to be worse Monday morning.

Off-The-Shelf products tend to be useless but I was marginally surprised (that's good for an off-the-shelf acne product in my book) by the results I had from Clearasil Ultra overnight.

[Gone baby gone]

I used to get acne on my back and face in my late teens and early 20s, found that it was much better after a sunny holiday so tried a sunbed and found that mild sunbed exposure improved it quite a bit.

[Kurt Barlow]

Retin A is pretty good. Diminshes wrinkles too!

Warning - Retin A effectively performs a chemical peel so you shouldn't go out in the sun the next day

[The Masked Tulip]

Wheat

Gluten

Wheat

Gluten

You need to good the type of acne which is a type of dermatitus sore that people who have an intolerance to wheat/gluten can get.

Oddly enough, the week before last I went back on wheat when I spied 6 crusty rolls in Sainsburys that looked cooked to perfection... had not eaten wheat/gluten in several months... but the temptation of a crusty cheese roll was too much and, a couple of hours later, all 6 rolls had been devoured.

Within 24 hours of eating them I had come out in a type of dermatitus acne with small very sore acne festering type spots on my face and body which are typical of... well, google acne and coeliac and you will see for yourself.

[RichB]

Oddly enough, the week before last I went back on wheat when I spied 6 crusty rolls in Sainsburys that looked cooked to perfection... had not eaten wheat/gluten in several months... but the temptation of a crusty cheese roll was too much and, a couple of hours later, all 6 rolls had been devoured.

Within 24 hours of eating them I had come out in a type of dermatitus acne with small very sore acne festering type spots on my face and body which are typical of... well, google acne and coeliac and you will see for yourself.

Interesting.

Did a course of roaccutane which did wonders.

Get a large bucket of hibiscrub and use that as showergel - get some dermol lotion for afters (like a moisturiser but anti bacterial). Think thats all available without prescription.

Zineryt lotion I find extremely effective.

Most important thing - keep your fingers away from it. Stop poking and squeezing and playing with it, no idle scratching to see if it will burst soon. If you do, go and scrub up with hibiscrub after - specially get a nail brush and keep them clean.

Finally, if you do want to use aftershave or smelly stuff I found that the ones with the most alcohol in them were best. If it dries and feels sticky don't use it. If it smells of booze it'll do

[Boom Boom]

I've had acne off an on for years. It was very severe cystic type, although not as bad now I still get it years later and it can be fairly aggressive. I've done the whole dermatologist bit and I am no longer able to take Roaccutane which was the only product that worked. What are the latest treatments (I know it can't be cured, for me anyway) as I don't want to go back to the Dermo, it takes ages to get the appt. and then they just want to give you more pills (antibiotics in my case). Laser treatments? Dermabrasion? Do they work.

I'll join an acne forum if I have to but I was wondering if any other HPC'er had adult zits and knew the latest treatments and had jumped through all the hoops to save me joining yet another Internet Forum.

Google search 'dermaroller'

[fellow]

I had really bad acne for years. I eventually went to see a specialist and was prescribed 'Roaccutane', and now I have been completely clear for 6 years. However it has some nasty side effects.

[Guest_ringledman_*]

I had really bad acne in my youth.

There is no real solution except perhaps roaccutane which I never tried. Other antibiotics work but you soon get immune to them.

I used to get paranoid about having a few acne scars but once you hit your 30s you realise no one cares, especially women.

[Tin Foil Hat]

Dalacin-T topical solution. Contains clindamycin. I've never seen it fail and used it for years and told my then girlfriend (now wife) about it and she used the same with the same good effect.

I shit you not. Go get it.

[RDVZ]

Dalacin-T topical solution. Contains clindamycin. I've never seen it fail and used it for years and told my then girlfriend (now wife) about it and she used the same with the same good effect.

I shit you not. Go get it.

I'm afraid I shall have to be a first then. I used it many years ago and it was completely useless. IIRC it had like a rollerball applicator thingy on it.

I've had acne for 23 years (yikes) and it's now mild enough that I get by with medicated washes. Specifically, 10% sulphur soap and Panoxyl wash (benzoyl peroxide 10%). The key is to leave them on for a minute or 2 to sink in.

Only yesterday I finished reading The Clear Skin Diet by Logan and Treloar. I'd highly recommend it. Very interesting and if you think your acne is hormonal in cause then this book discusses how diet, vitamins, sleep etc affects our hormones. Crucially, it backs it up with referencing a lot of scientific studies.

www.acne.org is the forum to join in you do ever want general discussion about all acne related stuff.

[Tin Foil Hat]

I'm afraid I shall have to be a first then. I used it many years ago and it was completely useless. IIRC it had like a rollerball applicator thingy on it.

I've had acne for 23 years (yikes) and it's now mild enough that I get by with medicated washes. Specifically, 10% sulphur soap and Panoxyl wash (benzoyl peroxide 10%). The key is to leave them on for a minute or 2 to sink in.

Only yesterday I finished reading The Clear Skin Diet by Logan and Treloar. I'd highly recommend it. Very interesting and if you think your acne is hormonal in cause then this book discusses how diet, vitamins, sleep etc affects our hormones. Crucially, it backs it up with referencing a lot of scientific studies.

www.acne.org is the forum to join in you do ever want general discussion about all acne related stuff.

I'm dumbfounded. It works in a matter of days for us (and my mate come to think of it), twice a day application and yes it did have a funny dark grey applicator thingy on the top.

Still definitely worthy of a trial to see though. Had a look over there and for those it works on it's a miracle lotion. For those it doesn't work on it's rubbish. Some people took over a month to get effects though - me and the Mrs. had results in days.

[pl1]

I had really bad acne for years. I eventually went to see a specialist and was prescribed 'Roaccutane', and now I have been completely clear for 6 years. However it has some nasty side effects.

What side effects did you get from it? I was given four courses of it over a period of about a decade, it worked less and less each time. I know people can get depression from

it.

Is Retin-A related to Roaccutane? I have never tried this cream, can anyone else attest to it's efficacy?

Zineryt lotion, never tried this. Anyone else second it?

I shall have to second the negative comment about rollerball Dalacin solution. Did nothing for me either except sting like f**k.

Any more for any more?

[ccc]

I have never had acne. However my pal did. He got this - was recommended by a dermatologist I think. Cleared it up brilliant. Just uses a little bit to wash his face mixed with water. Had a google and there seems to be a bit of chat about it. Give it a go. Why not.

[HappyNudist]

Echinacea - works for me

[Quagmire]

I had quiet bad acne in my late teens. Roaccutane cleared it up. I still get the occasional zit but more conventional treatment based on benzoyl peroxide (just 2% I think) clears it very quickly.

Looking back, I wish I had just looked at my diet and lifestyle, rather than using the "nuclear option" that is roaccutane. I still notice a correlation between how "pure" I live and the overall state of my skin.

If I do the following:

• Exclude processed food (including bread, pasta, margerine, cheese)
  
• Eat plenty of high quality meat, veg and fish
  
• Get lots of exercise - OUTSIDE
  
• Avoid stress
  
• Sleep plenty
  
• Drink plenty of water/green tea
  

I don't get spots. If I ignore any of the above for more than a couple of days my skin goes to crap.

[Bob Loblaw]

I was plagued for years by cold sores on my lips. Used to get a breakout every 2 months or so and they made my life a nightmare sometimes. Anyway, tried all the creams and none of them worked, some even used to exacerbate the condition. I stumbled upon a product called Virulite which uses a controlled burst of light at a specified frequency. Started using it and now have virtually no cold sores ever. When the occasional one does come this device clears them up in less than a week where normally could have the sore for around three weeks. Anyway, it is the best product ever as far as I am concerned.

The people who produce the Virulite product have released a new product specifically for acne called Bactelite. Whilst I have not used it if it is as effective as their cold sore treatment it is well worth a go.

The first is a local firm to me in Newton Aycliffe and they do seem to have hit on something.

[pl1]

I was plagued for years by cold sores on my lips. Used to get a breakout every 2 months or so and they made my life a nightmare sometimes. Anyway, tried all the creams and none of them worked, some even used to exacerbate the condition. I stumbled upon a product called Virulite which uses a controlled burst of light at a specified frequency. Started using it and now have virtually no cold sores ever. When the occasional one does come this device clears them up in less than a week where normally could have the sore for around three weeks. Anyway, it is the best product ever as far as I am concerned.

The people who produce the Virulite product have released a new product specifically for acne called Bactelite. Whilst I have not used it if it is as effective as their cold sore treatment it is well worth a go.

The first is a local firm to me in Newton Aycliffe and they do seem to have hit on something.

Thanks, I had a quick scan and it looks promising but has anyone on here ever used this product? If it worked I would probably buy it. It's not cheap though so I would need independent confirmation.

[pl1]

Interesting link.

http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Nutrition/Vitamins/acne_drug_may_boost_suicide_risk_1611101226.html

"Acne drug may boost suicide risk by lowering serum vitamin D"

Actually been known about for a few years now. Wasn't known when I took Roaccutane and I'm piffed about that. I noticed depression effects. What are the odds of getting compensation?

[ccc]

Actually been known about for a few years now. Wasn't known when I took Roaccutane and I'm piffed about that. I noticed depression effects. What are the odds of getting compensation?

Did you end up killing yourself ?

If not I am afraid your chances are slim .

[Pezerinno]

I find the Oxy face washes and balms good for off the shelf solution however I still suffer despite my diet/lifestyle being almost perfect. If you have acne on your body you could try sea salt baths.