Hormonal acne misery.... Please help!

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I've always had normal acne since I was about 13, I'm now 28 and it's making me miserable. Even more so as I get married in a months time and just know I will have big, painful, red spots. The only thing I have found to lessen them is a certain contraceptive pill, can't remember what it's called, but I am breastfeeding and can't take it anyway. Do any of you know of any products, or anything really, that I could try? Will be keeping my fingers crossed that one of you wonderful mumsnetters has answer!

Really feel for you, I too suffered horribly, at age 30 I started with nodular acne which would flare up and last months and months. I have fairly sensitive skin and I think most are too aggressive when they have acne.

I'm also a skincare therapist and not having great skin even though I had a good routine was really demoralising. After being prescribed loads of different stuff that never worked I was prescribed hibiscrub and it literally worked wonders. I used it am and pm for a 2 weeks until my skin began to sort itself out. Now I use it every morning, I also use Alpha H liquid gold 3 nights a week along with a crap load of other stuff

Treat the sensitivity first, drink plenty of water and if you can take some fish oil capsules. This will help your skin internally. Are you getting spots on your jawline or elsewhere?

It's awful when your skin is bad. I've had luck taking agnus castus, it fixed the hormonal acne on my jaw and reduced pmt too. Not sure if it's okay while breastfeeding though.

If it's hormonal I'd go with evening primrose oil capsules as well as fish oil. Both are safe to take while bf.

They'll take a while to work, so to treat the ones you've got Mario Badescu's buffering lotion works wonders on the ones I get occasionally.

I've had acne still my teens. I've previously taken dianette and a course of roaccutane (under dermatologist). The thing that really, really helps now is La Roche Posay effaclar - it is the most amazing skincare range and made all the difference to my skin, and I never thought any skincare would help.

Thank you all for your responses. I will look at all of the products you have mentioned now. The spots are mainly on my chin and jawline and are really painful. I'll attach some pics. My skin is also very red and bumpy :-( I've tried topical creams from the dr years ago but they didnt help. I will however see if they will prescribe hibiscrub. I have ordered some pixi glow tonic as that has good reviews, has anyone tried it?

You can get hibiscrub at any pharmacy or online Amazon etc for around £5 it should last you a few months. Pixi is a good tonic also. Recommended by Caroline Hirons, if you haven't read her blog she has an acne cheat sheet.

Thank you GingerbreadBaubles, I will check out her blog now and add hibiscrub to the list of things I need to buy lol!

There is cream on prescription called Duac. It combines antibiotic and benzoyl peroxide but is quite gentle. I have suffered from lumpy jawline acne my entire adult life to varying degrees and am now free from it.

I've also used any amount of expensive creams, washes and facials. It's the Duac that has helped me.

Please see your GP and get this wonder gel.
Good luck and have a lovely wedding.

I had acne for 20 years. Tried Duac, Dianette, Yasmin, 2 years of antibiotics continuously all kinds of over the counter skin preparations, nothing really worked and I told my GP I was starting to become depressed about it until 6 months ago I started eating Turmeric paste, I haven't had a single spot, not even a blemish since.

I used luck with Dianette too, OP, but have been off it for years and my current holy grail combo is La Roche Posay purifying gentle cleanser, Hibiscrub (diluted with half water), LRP Effaclar Duo and LRP Toleriane moisturiser, alternated with Neal's Yard Rose Facial Oil.

Used luck = used to have luck

I second the recommendation for La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo, it stopped my jawline actively breaking out so much easier to cover up the red marks left from healing spots.

I also realised I wasn't getting all my makeup off at night which was probably contributing. Washing twice with a cream cleanser and clean facecloth wrung out in hot water really helped. If you use a white cloth you can see when your skin is absolutely clean!

If coming up to the big day you have a blinder that will be painful and hard to conceal, you can fork out for a dermatologist to inject cortisone into it. Will reduce it very quickly but expensive as an option. Or, just prophylactically take ibuprofen for a couple of days before the wedding and do aspirin face masks each night for maximum anti inflammatory effect.

Enjoy your day and remember, no one will be paying as much attention to your skin as you so don't worry about it too much

What helped me was micellar water for cleansing (I use castile/black soap for the second cleanse), LRP Effaclar AI (dabbed on jawline in breakout prone areas), switching to mineral foundation and ditching concealers. I think going oil-free helped a lot too, for some reason I get acne cysts from skincare oils and many moisturizers. Am totally acne-free now. I am exploring Asian skincare ranges now and they seem to have lots of serums and creams that moisturize well without triggering acne.

Agree seeing your GP may be a good idea, nonprescription products only work for mild acne.

I had horrendous spots from age 14 to 35. Then I went to see a herbalist who could see I had a hormone imbalance.
I was given mixtures that energised various glands so my body rebalanced itself.
I also stopped eating dairy and sugar, ( no sweeteners) and drank more water.