How to deal with adult acne?

[cheesytoasters]

I have a 10 month old and after he was born I seem to have really painful and obvious spots around my jaw, chin and neck, chest.

They are constant and flare up around my period. I eat a balanced, healthy diet. The only thing I could probably improve on is water intake.

I use a dermalogica pre cleanse oil for make up removal, followed by an eye make up remover and then a frothy face wash. I don't know what I'm doing wrong and it's so embarrassing because I look young for my age anyway and several people have thought I'm a teenager recently and I'm convinced it's because of my horrible skin.

Any advice if you've had similar issues?

Hi, I could of written this myself. I had a conversation with another lady in the steam room and as I mentioned I was trying to I.prive my skin, she asked if i was dairy intolerant. I honestly didn't think I was but she said to try a 2 week dairy detox. I went away thinking nah I'm not dairy intolerant (I'm already veggie so didn't want to cut out more food groups) but then thought what have I got to loose so gave it a whirl. I swear it has been life changing. My skin in 80% better already and improving by the day. I had every skin product, bought a foreo face washer gadget, 6 weekly facials etc and yet cutting out dairy has been the fix. It could be worth a try?

I bought some retinol from The Ordinary and have been putting it on my neck nightly- was getting awful cystic acne mid cycle and then before period. Seems to have helped massively.

Try hot cloth cleansing after removing your make up/washing your face. It hasn't got rid of my spots but I notice they are worse if I skip this step in my routine. I've also found Nip and Fab glycolic pads (instead of toner) to be good.

At the moment I'm on antobiotics and using acnecide that I got from GP but you can buy it over the counter. It's definitely helping. I'm awaiting an appointment with the dermatologist anf GP mentioned roaccutane. I'm heading for 40 and sick of teenage skin so want to get it sorted once and for all.

Acnecide has saved my sanity! Two applications and months of terrible acne started to disappear.

The only thing that keeps my adult acne under control is 2.5% benzoyl peroxide. I team it with a gentle non-comedogenic cleanser (Cetaphil) and a non-comedogenic moisturiser (Neutrogena oil free daily).

Don't scrub your face, pat it dry, add moisturiser gently. The benzoyl peroxide needs to go all over the acne prone areas of your face twice daily and for the first week you may get some irritation. Gel is better than cream.

Inexplicably, 2.5% concentration is really hard to find in the UK so you can use Acnicide (5%) but you will get more irritation and possibly flaking.

Nothing worked for me except accutane which was amazing

Adaptaline/Differin. Order it online.

I used to get (and still do occasionally) large cystic acne on my chin. I did some googling and witch hazel came up as something to try and it has made a huge difference. So cheap and I use it as a toner after hot cloth cleansing

Thank you all so much for the replies. Lots to look into.

I'm definitely going to try stopping dairy for a few weeks and see if that improves anything.

I'd be interested to see if it helps. Once I'd googled it, it seems common. I was using acnecide too. It bleached my bedding it's really harsh.

See a dermatologist for roaccutane if it's really bad. There can be side effects but you do get fantastically clear skin so you don't have to just suffer with acne.