To ask what you use on acne?

[Leo86]

I have acne. It's bad. GP is shit and keeps wanting to put me on the pill so does the NHS dermatologist. I can't go on the pill (migraines) and I don't want to poison myself with roacutanne etc.

I am wondering what product you use to bring down redness/inflammation etc.
I read some good things about Dermatologica products. Any other suggestions?

I am well aware these products won't resolve the problem but I least will help with the ichy redness and pain.

My acne used to be awful but in the last few months I’ve mostly cut out dairy from my diet, started drinking more water and employed a daily exfoliation and moisturising skincare routine... the difference has been incredible and I’m really pissed off I didn’t try these things sooner!

Nothing I got from GP helped. I am on the pill but that never helped my spots. I still do get the odd one around my period but that’s easily covered with makeup

I used Dermalogica medibac skin clearing wash coupled with the daily microfoliant.

It really helped keep my skin clearer and kept redness and breakouts down. However, pregnancy was what finally solved it. I didn’t have severe acne though, more ‘moderate’ - I’ll post a pic if I can find one.

My best friend has terrible cystic acne and roaccutane was the solution though.

My doctor gave me a prescription for a topical antibiotic, I think it was called Dalacin (I'm pretty sure that particular version of it isn't made anymore but there will be a new version), maybe ask GP about something like that?

I'd had bad acne for about ten years when I got it, having recently moved to a new GP Surgery.

Thanks for the recommendations! I didn't mention in the original post I have PCOS so these acnes are hormonal acnes and since they don't treat PCOS I don't have much choice. I need to try to cut down on dairy. Good point . I probably have too much cheese and milk.

I have PCOS too which is probably why pregnancy helped mine. Quite a drastic solution though!!

Inositol will cure your hormonal acne. It will also help improve your other PCOS symptoms.

I wouldn’t dismiss roaccutane so readily. I’ve had very few side effects and my skin is totally clear

I use The Ordinary. I use a combination of
Niacinamide and Salicylic Acid. Followed by Granactive Retinoid 2% Emulsion.

Cheap and it's changed my skin OP. Check it out!

Have you tried acnecide?

It kills the bacteria that cause acne.

I've been acne free for almost a year now as long as I remember to use it every day

If you consult medical professionals they will offer you the medical route. I would consider seeing a really good specialist facialist and a specialist dietitian for more holistic advice.

I’ve seen absolute miracles from roaccutane but it’s not for everyone.

Roaccutane. I'm still alive 25 years later and no evidence of poisoning yet.

I figured any side effects were worth it compared to the impact acne had on my self-esteem, social life and work life. I may well have topped myself without it.

The only thing that worked for me was taking an oral antibiotic (Lymecycline) for several months. I can't take the Pill or Roaccutane either. Within a few weeks there was a noticeable improvement, within four months it had cleared completely but I kept taking it for a couple more months as I was scared the acne would come back. Unfortunately, I had to visit four different GP's to get this relatively simple, safe and inexpensive treatment. They all kept fobbing me off with various creams and ointments that either did nothing or irritated my skin even further.

Other things dermatologist advised that helped me

-Switch to Simple brand or Boots own sensitive skin face wash rather than expensive products that promise the earth. Avoid any harsh scrubs or anything with microbeads. Anything that makes your skin tingle after use is too harsh for your skin.

• Make sure to moisturise with a moisturiser that contains sacyllic acid. If your face becomes dry it overcompensates by producing excess oil which exacerbates acne. The La Roche Possay Effeclar Duo moisturiser is good.

• Don't overwash your face. Twice a day is plenty.

• Ditch liquid foundation in favour of mineral foundation and go make up free when you can.

would consider seeing a really good specialist facialist and a specialist dietitian for more holistic advice.

• I wasted ££££££ in my 20s on holistic crap. If you have bad acne it's pointless - you need something heavy duty.

Vitamin C Serum works on some people.

Willowcottage.ie

Their teetree and oatmeal soap is amazing for teenage acne. We used it in combination with their miracle cream. My sons face was really bad but I didnt want to go down the drug route. I found reviews for this online. It was amazing within 4/5 days the deep purpley embedded colour had faded a lot . Within 2 weeks his face was unrecogniseable.

A clean diet is often a massive factor in clear skin, which I hate to admit and find impossible to follow. Been on Roaccutane twice, worked for a while but it keeps coming back. It's diet (for me, dairy, processed foods, caffeine, too much sugar etc and other random stuff).

I also use Quinoderm antibacterial face wash and a prescription of acnecide.

You need Duac. It's a topical cream. My skin cleared up in 4 weeks. It does have some irritation in the first few applications but my skin was fine and it's quite sensitive usually.

azelaic acid cream on prescription and occasional courses of lymecyline tablets are the only things to keep mine at bay.

Second Duac - the higher strength one. It’s absolutely amazing and works quickly, and you don’t go through a phase where it gets worse before it gets better.

Have suffered with acne for 17 years and it’s the only thing that consistently works. Roaccutane does, but I personally would use it as a last resort as it is a strong drug and it made me suicidal (though I appreciate that is a rare side effect!) and the acne came back after a few months of stopping it

Acnecide gel worked brilliantly for me when nothing else ever had- was even better than antibiotics, and it’s not irritating at all, unlike Duac.

You can get it on prescription, or just buy over the counter in a pharmacy.

You have to wash your hands after use and it bleached my hand towels a bit from drying hands afterwards, but small price to pay for clear skin!

My GP and Dermatologist both told me that diet makes no difference whatsoever if acne is hormonal. I was forever cutting out different things in the hope my skin would clear up but medication was the only thing that really helped.

Mild acne, Oxy 10 from chemist nukes it. Severe pitted acne like BFF at school, the only thing that worked was antibiotics (going on pill didn't touch it).

Two rounds or roaccutane here! Worked both times and reduced the number of spots I get regularly, but wasn’t a cure. Since then the pill worked really well (though I know you can’t use that), duac was good (which if my memory is correct is a topical form of roaccutane), I currently use la Roche posay products, though admittedly I don’t need to use as strong products anymore. Milk of magnesia was fab to use as a mask or under make up and soaks up a lot of excess oil.

DD used acnecide gel.She had simple face wash.This works for her,took a few months though.
I think if you read the thread everyone is different so it really is finding what works for you.I agree though that diet has little effect if your acne is hormonally based.

What I do is:

Remove makeup and then gently hot cloth cleanse with a cream or oil cleanser to soften and remove sebum and dead skin cells trapped in pores

apply a bha product and then a moisturiser such as Eucerine replenishing 5% urea face cream (urea is a noncomedogenic deeply moisturising ingredient which also has a mild exfoliating action helping to encourage normal skin behaviour- shedding and renewal of skin cells, meaning your pores won’t be getting clogged up with old skin cells... it’s one of my favourite ingredients ever and makes skin delightfully soft).

Gently cleanse in the morning with a non drying, soap free face wash and use urea face cream again.

Drink loads of water, limit dairy, coffee, alcohol, smoking, eat loads of veg and fruit, green tea (can take in tablet form if you don’t like the taste). And a great one for pcos is SPEARMINT tea (note spearmint not peppermint) to tackle free androgens, you have to drink a fair bit of it but may help with your acne, I also found it really helpful in reducing hirsutism (if you also suffer from that).

Acne is miserable and I feel your pain, mine has cleared up so much since adopting the above routine.

Good luck!