I can't leave the house looking like this.

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I'm at a point with this adult acne that I just don't know what to do anymore. I've stopped leaving the house, I'm so depressed. My skin is horrific. I was meant to have someone quote to fix water damage in our kitchen, I've cancelled, I can't have someone here looking at my skin and wondering if I don't wash.

I left my previous job due to anxiety and self esteem issues because of my skin. So many family/friends say only I notice and see it - but at work, after speaking to a customer, I heard them say to their partner, "is that scabies?!" I use to be a relatively confident and outspoken person, I've turned into a mouse.

I have a strict regime for my face, using cleansers toners and moisturiser as well as prescribed cream a couple of times a week. If I miss one AM or PM cleanse, my face gets worse overnight. I'm on Yasmin (OC) that hasn't really helped, they will not allow me to take dianette.

Has anyone had any luck with this? I'm about to turn 30, I'm tired of hearing advice like, I need to wash my face more/less, my moisturiser is to rich, my diets not right, I need more sun etc. I have tried all these things, (no dairy, no oil, fucking raw(!) more water, no caffeine, every mask under the sun, steaming, facials, icing, pills, antibiotics, topical antibiotics, benzoyl peroxide etc.) I'm about to try roaccutane even though I'm not secure in my mental health at the minute, but I can't see this improving. Does anyone have some advice, any prescription, cream, magic spell, that has worked for you?

I've attached photos, one of forehead, one cheek, this is over the entirety of my face, I just didn't want to out myself as I'm feeling very insecure right now. (Also, this is my skin looking pretty good, in between the cycle of healing and erupting.)

This cream contains colloidial silver and is meant to be highly effective www.amazon.co.uk/argentum-plus-Silver-MSM-Cream-60/dp/B007BM6PJU?tag=mumsnetforum-21

Hi op,

I was exactly the same as you and I was also worried about roacutane but dr reassured me about the links to depression etc.
Honestly op it is the absolute best thing I've ever done! I have been acme free for 6+months now and I feel amazing!
I've gone from not even answering the door to doing the school run/going to shops makeup free.
I have freckles i didn't even know I had! My skin is so soft and smooth!
I knew I had spots but I didn't realise how red and puffy and just not nice my skin always looked but that's all gone now.
I could still do with some treatment for scarring but I can actually look at myself in the mirror and don't feel disgusting

Should also add that you need to stick with ro. It made my skin very dry and I didn't see any results really until about month 4/5 out of a 6 month course

I was on erythromycin for around three years for acne OP, the GP said there was no reason I couldn't be on it long term. Has a longer course been suggested as an option? I was on 4 x 250mg per day if I remember rightly, and reduced it down when I was ready to stop.

Other than that I drank tons of water and used aqueous cream for cleansing and moisturising. Kalme cream also helped massively for skin redness (not sure if you have that issue too - but mine was on the verge of rosacea and looked particularly attractive with the adult acne!)

If it's any consolation other people probably notice it a lot less than you think - I thought mine was horrendous but some people hadn't even noticed that it was there

Last week there was a post about porridge having a positive effect on acne.
A teen was having results so his dm tried it and saw an improvement in her skin also.
Just a thought.

I had adult acne very badly. The only thing that worked for me was to stop washing my face altogether or using any products on it. Look up the 'caveman regimen'. I put on some concealer and left it there. For a week my skin looked worse, then about two weeks later all acne was gone. I've never ever had it since.

So sorry you're skin is so bad op. Life is not fair and it's such a shit thing to go through. Sounds like the roaccutane is your best bet. I had it in my early 20s and it helped. The only thing that truly works is when I'm pregnant but I have recently been putting on niacimide from The Ordinary and it's been amazing not one spot since I had my daughter. I also use simple moisturiser and I don't use anything else on my face. Good luck x

Please try the roaccutane. It changed my life. I have always suffered with MH problems but my skin clearing up really helped. It is grim to take but in my experience it was 100% worth it.

I used pro-activ to great effect in my 30's then moved on to dermalogica which also works well.

My skin always improved when I was away from home (extremely hard water area) so I stopped washing my face daily and use the garnier micelles cleansing water !

Have you been on Doxycycline?

I used to suffer from horrendous cystic acne on my chin and jaw area, and my GP prescribed one antibiotic a day. Within a few weeks, my acne improved massively. 4 months down the line, I only get a spot or two when I have PMS, and I only take an antibiotic a couple of times a week now (mostly 'cause I'm terrible at remembering to take them).

I hope you get somewhere soon, as I know how debilitating it can be

Mario badescu does an overnight spot treatment which I find amazing also

My skin started to clear itself as I got to about 34.

Stay diary free, the more I did it the more it helped.

Personally i wouldn't bother with chinese medicine, I want it to work but I went to 3 and it was all useless.

I second using oils to cleanse.

I probably would just take the roaccutne though. Remember you need to use 2 forms of contraception while using it

Thank you so much for all your replies, you've given some great advice, definitely going to try some of the creams/washes suggested.

I think I will ask to try roaccutane, I've been putting it off, but I really want my skin sorted, and now I've heard several success stories I think that has reassured me.

Thank you once again, you've made me feel a lot better about my skin

Roaccutane was a life changer for me too- I have some fairly severe anxiety issues but it didn't have any effect on them - what I did do is totally clear my skin. 20 years on from taking it and I do get the occasional spot before my period, but nothing at all like I used to get - i used to be covered in them from head down to mid back. It was fairly grim taking it (because of the cracked lips and nose), but honestly, it made such an amazing difference that if my skin ever got bad again, I would go back on it in a heartbeat

Hi OP, sorry to hear you're going through this. I've also got adult acne (much improved now) and am under a dermatologist (I'm not in UK).

I didn't want to take anything orally and my derm wanted to avoid this as well. Here's what worked for me:

• initially really stripped back on my skincare regime. I only cleanse, use a little eye cream and SPF during day if I will be exposed to sunlight. Some of my spots were definitely caused by ingredients in products blocking my pores. I had also been using a cleanser which left a residue on my skin and this also blocked pores and caused spots. My skin is actually fine without moisturisers and serums which surprised me and stopping products got rid of a lot of my spots.

• low dose antibiotics for 4 - 6 weeks (can't remember the name but can find out).

• tretinoin (retin A) at night. This has made the biggest difference. Initially I had a purge as tret can bring out spots and I had a lot of those painful under the skin ones. But now 4 months on, my skin is almost clear. Plus you get the added benefit that tret is anti-aging! I introduced it very slowly so not had any side effects.

• azelaic acid (Skinoren) (on nights not using tret)

If you google the dermatologist Sam Bunting and acne she has some very good You Tube videos which discuss all this in detail. My derm said that treating acne requires a lot of patient and can take months.

I do appreciate it's not easy to get tretinoin in the UK but perhaps you can get a referral to a derm from your GP? I'm not sure if GPS can prescribe tretinoin.

I hope you find something that works for you. I know how you feel. It's horrible having people comment on your skin all the time. I've been there....

Oh I'm also on the fantastic skincare thread in style and beauty and there's some really knowledgable ladies on that thread who I'm sure will have good advice too.