If you have oily acne probem skin, what is your cleansing/moisturising routine?

[AndTwoBits]

So at almost 37and have developed pmt and acne on my cheeks. I always had wonderful skin, albeit in the oily side but in the last 6 months my skin has breakout after breakout. I have never looked after my skin so well (make up removal every day, vitamin and omega oil ingested every day) and yet my skin is now dreadful. Red angry spots on both cheeks. Skin sensitivity increasing.

I am now using olive oil soap on my face every night to cleanse it. Skin feels moderately tight afterwards. I wait 20 mins then apply thin layer of Tretinoin cream 0.05% on cheeks. I got this on tinternet last week to try. No bother so far using it but no results yet as have only just begun using this. Then i alternate between a vit e capsule broken onto my face and dove tinted moisturiser to give my very pale skin a bit of colour. This is starting to sting now so may have to knock this on the head. This is my routine, i wear make up every day. But always take it off by 6 pm.

If anyone has any advice or cleanser/moisturiser recommendations i would be most grateful. There are so so many products out there, i am a bit overwhelmed.

[AndTwoBits]

Oh god, excuse typos. Ive been up since 6 with the baby!

[JacksonBrodysWife]

Hi, sympathies as I also struggle with spots which appeared after I stopped BF my second baby.
Can I suggest that you see your GP? I see where you're coming from but using retinoids, even topically, from the internet is potentially risky, are you BF for example, or TTC? Just a thought. Acne can be treated so effectively now, there are lots of options and you will probably save loads of money on expensive skincare products, even if you pay prescription charges.
Cetaphil products are recommended as non- pore blocking, but I've not tried them. I like la Roche posay cleanser for oily sensitive skin, but I have also just started antibiotics to settle my skin! Good luck!

[FrugalFashionista]

Retinoids almost always cause irritation and are also sun sensitizers so proceed with caution and consult a dermatologist. Combining soap with retinoids sounds a bit scary, it can be massively drying. Skincare can only help you if you have very mild acne, if you have anything that causes scarring and deep cysts you will be much better off with antibiotics or other systemic medications.

I've had mild acne since I was a teenager (my brothers have had much worse acne and used Roaccutane), still have some in my 40s. I've found that all moisturizers are potentially comedogenic, my skin is at its best when I avoid harsh cleansers and don't moisturize at all. Due to central heating, I need a moisturizer in the winter. LRP Effaclar and Eucerin have been the best for me.

But again, please consult a dermatologist. If you use an overload of products on sensitive/irritated skin, it will get worse and if you are unlucky, you might even develop contact allergies.

I developed perioral dermatitis after 'starting to take care of my skin'. Have now reverted back to very simple routines (just water and castile soap - when my skin was very dry I only used tiny amounts of soap twice a week, as recommended by a dermatologist) and severely limited stuff I put on my face and my skin has quickly improved. Even after my skin has healed I get eczema flareups from really innocuous sounding stuff - facial wipes, cream cleanser, lipstick, eye shadow and eye pencils. So proceed with caution.

[AndTwoBits]

ok ladies thank you for the helpful advice. i think in the back of my head iknow the doc should be my next port of call. its just hard getting my head round the fact i had 30 odd years of great skin having used make up wipes to cleanse or after a night out nothing at all!! and now i am trying to take good care of myself and my skin is awful. oh the irony.
i am not breast feeding or going to conceive again so i think i will keep going with the acne cream and get a doc apt for next week. and i May even Google dermatologists. if anyone happens to know a good one in Dublin please let me know. long shot i know!

[Walnut8]

Can I ask whether anything has changed in the last 6 months that might be affecting your skin? I break out if I take an omega supplement for example - is this a new thing for you?

I have dry acne-prone skin and at night use makeup remover wipes (Neutrogena), then a gentle cream cleanser, then a Jan Marini glycolic/salicylic acid lotion every other night. I use cetaphil moisturiser only in the morning under makeup.

[DownstairsMixUp]

I have oily skin and I did use something called Zineryt (GP prescribed it) for about a year and it seemed to help. Other than that I find not touching my skin is the best thing for it. Anything like wipes, make up removers, cleaners etc just seem to make it worse. Plain old water seems to be the only thing that causes me to have mega breakouts!