Please help me!!! Terrible breakouts of my face!!

[dana4nyc]

I am in desperate need of advice. I am 34 and have generally good skin, albeit a bit oily in my T zone area. I have suffered the occasional breakout here and there since becoming an adult but for the past 3 or 4 months my normally ok skin has taken a dramatic turn for the worse. I am covered in spots all over my face and they are more like knots under the skin, they aren't coming up in whiteheads but they are full of stuff, I can feel it when I touch them. The only way I have been able to get the pus out is to mash on them with the curved end of a hair grip (I know that sounds grim, but I have been desperate). I wash my face several times a day, I have been using the Clearasil Pore Cleansing Pads as well as Clearasil spot cream but NOTHING is working :(

I am just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for products that I can use to help. As soon as one starts to heal, 2 or 3 more crop up right next to it. They are also leaving marks, not scars as such, but just staying red for ages and never properly going away. I am really down about it and wanting to get it cleared up. I know I might need to go see my GP to try and get a referral to see a dermatologist but I feel a bit silly going for this reason at my age. I used Proactiv when I was younger and I am tempted to order that again but I wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations for something else. When I used Proactiv I had just normal teenage spotty skin, not these 'cyst' like things under the skin, so I'm a bit reluctant to order it again in case it doesn't work and it's not exactly cheap.

Thanks in advance!!

It sounds like cystic acne. I don't know why you feel silly about asking your GP for a referral to a dermatologist - this is the only way that you can get your skin sorted. Nothing OTC will help at all.

Thanks Bonsoir, I guess it's because my GP is a bit dismissive and I'm assuming he will just blow me off (I realise I could be wrong about this). I know you are probably right and I should just go. Do you know what could have caused this? I am still breastfeeding my 9 month old so I guess it could be hormones. Or maybe I am just really lucky?

What products are you using on your face? Do you wear makeup?

I use the oil cleansing method to clean the skin. The Clearasil stuff will only irritate the skin and make the oil more likely, which will lead to breakouts. It's too harsh and will stimulate the oil producing glands. The OCM is a more gentle way of cleansing the skin.

I can recommend Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant - it's a rice based product and exfoliates gently and really smoothes the skin.

The last thing I've found is excellent is Rosehip Oil - It's fantastic, really soothing and calming, helps blemishes and breakouts and helps with the oil as well. I bought some after recommendations on here and haven't looked back.

I agree with Bonsoir, this sounds like cystic acne. If the spots are as big and as tough as you describe, they will leave scars. Go to your GP, OTC products will make little or no difference. Don't hang about.

Go see a dermatologist OP, while teenage acne is quite easy to solve in most cases, at our ages it needs to be treated. In the meantime, I suggest stopping aggressive treatment (deep cleansing stuff and furious scrubbing) and just cleaning with an H2O solution (the Bioderma one is fantastic - most make up artists use it nowadays, I have been using it for a whole now and it is very gentle). It might just be a harsher than normal reaction to sunlight exposition (skin goes thicker and cysts develop under) or acne but in both cases you need something to cute it,
HTH

Definitely sounds like cystic acne and none of the Clearasil type products will shift it.

At your age it is likely to be hormonal so you need to be under the care of your gp and or dermatologist.

Have a look at www.acne.org, there is a regime on there that many of the forum users swear by. It will help keep the acne under control until you can get seen by a dr. I swear by MD Formulations Glycolic products - I use their oily skin kit which has transformed my skin over the past year, alongside doing glycolic peels. However, my skin had settled a lot before I started using and was probably only getting one cyst a month at that point. I would use the products on the website mentioned above and get seen by a dr pronto if I were you.

And lastly, do not try to squeeze, pick or mash () the spots - what happens when you do that is that they are imploding under the skin, the infection then spreads deeper and you will get pitted scars (which are an absolute bugger, if not nigh on impossible, to remedy). However awful you feel the cysts are, and however awful they make you feel, you can And will get your skin clear again and being left with deep pits is mostly avoidable if you leave the cysts alone. My god I wish someone had told me that 20 years ago :(

Good luck OP and don't let your gp fob you off - if they do then see someone else :)