Sick of hormonal teenage skin :(

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

For about 2 weeks of the month I have horrible spotty skin and it really makes me feel shit. I'm not on any hormonal contraception and even when I was it didn't make a difference.

I feel like a total child, not a grown up married mother :( especially at baby groups! We've recently moved areas and I want to make friends but I don't feel very confident in social situations at the best of times and I'm self conscious with makeup on too.

What can I do about it? Pretty sure it's hormonal, so do I have to just live with it?

Ok I am definitely going to see how no dairy affect things! Hopefully that will be all I need to do :)

Does dairy include eggs in this instance?

'Give up dairy. '

I have lactose intolerance and eat no dairy. I still have horrendous acne.

expatinscotland well everyone is different.

Does dairy include eggs in this instance? No :)

Eggs - they are not dairy of course, but I figured out that eating cooked eggs (i.e. as scrambled, boiled etc rather than in a cake) gives me a cystic spot on jaw/chin. Every single time. Which is annoying as I enjoy eating them, and my diet is mainly vegetarian so not eating them takes away a protein source.

I am also experimenting with no dairy at the moment to try and clear my skin of the other type of spots I get, just clogged pores really which if I dont clear will turn into black or whitehead. I tried no dairy for a couple of weeks and saw some improvement and also digestive issues dramatically improved. Started dairy again and things have definitely declined 😕 I'm sure like many posters here I just want clear skin!

For me what works is no sugar and minimal dairy.

Sorry.

Panoxyl was discontinued but then they brought back the Panoxyl acnegel 10 but Boots decided not to restock it!

It is available quite cheaply from places such as Chemist Direct.

Giving up dairy is a much smaller part of acne treatment as recommended by dermatologists than it is as recommended by Mumsnet. No contraceptive pill has ever made the slightest difference to my acne either.

I've cleared all my acne using the advice on Mumsnet Q&A by Dr Sam Bunting - and still eat all the dairy I like

If you want to go down the non-dairy route, have a go with it, but otherwise you can go the boring route of Cetaphil cleanser, Effaclar Duo in the morning, Redermic R in the evening (assuming you are not TTC) and Cerave or Cetaphil moisturiser.

Wolpertinger I am glad to hear that! I'm going to try and find that Q&A as I think it was mentioned up thread too.

Her youtube channel is good as well, she has 4 videos on acne.

www.youtube.com/user/drsamshoes/videos

if it's the hormones in diary that you're sensitive to (which is what the research suggests causes the acne-diary link) you can try going organic for diary. Might help a bit.

Honestly though, if it's proper acne, hormonal or not, the only things that are going to fix it are Dianette (not other forms of pill, which can make it worse) or roaccutane (ignore the scare stories). Don't waste your time messing around with topical stuff - will only ever help minimally.

if you can't take dianette for some reason, nest best pill is yasmin. Or, my gynae/dermatology team put me on alternating cycles of 6 months of each.

and - rather than buying the effaclar/rederminc etc stuff, active ingredients can all be prescribed by your GP. Cheaper, and in concentrations/with ingredients that are proven to work.

Effaclar Duo is benzoyl peroxide (prescription for Duac, or Epiduo),

Redermic is retinol (this is the weaker, cosmetic grade of retinoic acid. Most commonly prescribed form of retinoic acid is tretinoin) - which can be prescribed as Treclin, or Adapalene/Differin, or the Epiduo actually has both benzoyl peroxide and a retinoid mixed together.

hope of some help!

sorry - just saw you're at baby groups - might be worth avoiding the retinoic acid if you're breastfeeding. Just in case. Benzoyl peroxide is fine though.

I'm ok with dairy products but chocolate & carbs causes acne for me (I'm ok with fruit sugars) so I eat low carb/Paleo and avoid breads, cakes, pasta, processed foods, chocolate and sweets. There is a slight hormonal element as in the acne is worse just before my period but only if I've had chocolate and/or carbs. I don't miss breads or cakes or sweets but I do miss the occasional chocolate (even a tiny 'sample' bar causes spots ☹️)!

Might be worth experimenting to see if diet is a factor OP?

I completely cut out dairy after my daughter was born, as my body decided childbirth was apparently the perfect trigger for IBS that is made worse by dairy.
Within a couple of weeks, my usually gross, acne infested skin had vastly improved! Then I stayed with my mum for a couple of days, and had cows milk in my tea and coffee...not only was I shitting through the eye of a needle, I had the worst acne breakout I've ever had
All those cow hormones seem to make my hormones go all crazy and my skin really suffers. Need to repeat to myself over Christmas that a single cracker with cheese is not worth it!

I have had spots since I was 12. I am now 24 42.

My skin has been bad on and off over the years but in the last 2 years it had gotten so bad that it was beginning to effect my confidence.

I started getting bad cystic spots on my forehead around ovulation time. This pic was me a few months ago. It's not a terribly clear pic but all those red marks are cystic spots which are very sore and last for ages.

I finally got fed up and decided to tackle the problem properly. I have started using Cetaphil cleanser followed by Pixi tonic then a Clinique moisturiser which contains benzoyl peroxide (on my forehead only - Olay for the rest of my face) and finally some acnecide cream. The acnecide cream is quite strong so I only use it every second day and even then sparingly.

Now my skin is the best is has ever been. The second pic was taken this evening. Not one spot! (Although plenty of lines 😔 but that's a whole other thread). I haven't had any cystic spots and only two 'normal' spots on my chin since I started the regime about three months ago. I think it's the Pixi tonic and acnecide cream that are making such a difference, so I would highly recommend them.

I probably need to cut down on dairy (I have quite a lot) but without doing so, they one thing that has improved my skin is using salicylic acid/vit c face wash once daily - I use the Super facialist Una Brennan brand, about £8 in boots.

Just to add, my skin in pimply with 1-2 fresh spot every couple of weeks i.e just as one heals then next appears, rather than full-blown acne.

Ridinghigh if your skin has improved with the face wash, you really need a leave on salicylic product.

The salicylic in the face wash is on contact for seconds really before you remove it, it's just not long enough for it to work properly. You need a leave on product for it to really work it's magic.

After 10 years of adult acne (mainly on my back, chest and neck but occasionally on my face) I finally went to the DR and he has put me on a 6 month course of antibiotics. I am 4 months into treatment and I am now about 99% spot free.

I wasn't a decision I made lightly. I tried absolutely everything suggested online previous to the antibiotics and nothing really worked (but I did notice a slight reduction on the cystic spots when I cut out dairy and the spots on my neck reduced dramatically when I cut out aspartame). I never had any success with washes or creams (or going SLS free).

i did see woody harrelson say someone diagnosed him in the street with dairy/lactose intolerance due to his ridiculous acne / skin. As soon as he gave it up his skin went completely clear. might be worth a try if you haven't already. Also wheat is a common cause of skin / hair issues, you can be intolerant but not realise it for years.

wolpertinger - do you mean a face mask or something that stays on for longer? Thanks

I mean something you put on and leave there and then put your serum +/- moisturiser/SPF on top. You use it every day in the morning and ideally a retinol product in the evening, unless you are pregnant/TTC. If you read Caroline Hirons, this is what she refers to as an acid toner. Salicylic is beter than glycolic for spots as it dissolves in the oil - glycolic is more a freshening up dry skin thing.

Popular salicylic options on this forum would be Clinique Mild Clarifying Lotion (prob too mild for bad acne), LRP Effaclar Duo (superb), Clearasil pads (the mega budget option), Paula's Choice 2% BHA (also superb). There are loads of others but you need 1-2% Salicylic at the right pH for it to work and lots of products are badly formulated. Benzoyl peroxide is harder to get hold of and another great option.

You put it on your whole face, not just the spots, as the idea is to prevent new spots forming, not react after you already have a spot.

Have a look at Sam Bunting's acne treatment videos on youtube, she goes through v clearly why you get acne and how you can realistically treat it.