Anyone else with rubbish skin no matter what you use?

[midnightmoomoo]

Just that really. It's occurred to me that no matter what I use......cheap/expensive/double cleanse/acid tone/serum etc etc......my skin is just generally crap. I'm spotty, my skin is congested but sensitive too so I need to be careful what I use. I'm quite pale so any marks or spots show up. I'm early 40s and I'm just fed up with crappy skin! I take evening primrose, eat well and drink lots of water, and I've always looked after my skin. Why can't I have clear, glowing skin???!

Ditto!!!

Which acid toner? Have you used a retinol?

I would say crap acid toners make no difference to my skin, good ones make a lot of difference and the spots only really go with a retinol, which also eliminates what I thought was sensitivity. And for me diet and water intake make no difference whatsoever although I do appreciate they do for other people.

And if you have a load of big cystic spots just see your GP. Life is too short to be ripped off by beauty companies

I haven't used a retinol, they sound scary!
Acid toner wise I've used the Clearasil fruit pads, Clinique, Boots Time Delay, Pixi Glow (my skin reacted to the ginseng) and I've got the dragon blood pads but I'm not sure they do much!

What can the GP offer? When I've mentioned it before she just wants me to go on the pill which I don't want to do.

My dd was given a topical cream (plus the pill) to help with hers. It's helped alot though she still gets outbreaks at period time. Perhaps you could discuss alternative treatments with your GP

Have you found any links at all with your diet? After a really long time of suffering break outs, I worked out my skin really doesn't like cheese, bananas or citrus fruits/ juices. Usually results in at least one big red angry eruption! I also have sensitive skin and by trial and error have worked out olay total effects are ok for me (as is clarins but I can no longer afford it!!), but most other brands cause dreadful breakouts (including eg Liz Earle through to loreal!)

If you can afford it, the clarins sensitive skin range was fabulous at calming down my skin, just to use for a few months to help it rebalance itself.

My diet is pretty good, and I've been losing weight slowly so have cut back on chocolate, sweets and wine. I don't eat diary except for cheese but I don't have it very often. I'll have a good think though, there might be something I'm missing.
Good idea about the gentle Clarins, I used Clarins years ago but started to find it too perfumed and switched to Liz Earle (not C&P though, breaks me out). Will go back to the doctor too. I know one easy option is the pill but I've not been on it for 13 years or so (since I had DS1) and as everything in that dept is fine I don't see any reason to mess with it.
Thanks for the suggestions, I appreciate them! I usually work with 'it's ok as long as I can cover it up' but it would be so nice not to have to!!

Basically you haven't really tried much that's effective for acne

Acid toner will only take you so far any way. Of what you have tried, Clearasil isn't great as it's the wrong pH, Clinique is very very mild does nothing for me at all, Boots I'm not familiar with and Pixi Glow is glycolic and you want salicylic.

What you should be having is a bland cleanser like Cetaphil or Avene Gentle Gel Cleanser, an active treatment in the morning, an oil free moisturiser/SPF - Sunsense Daily Face is great.

Have you tried Effaclar Duo or Benzoyl Peroxide? I'd suggest you have a look at Dr Sam Bunting's acne videos on youtube as you want cleanser, active, moisturiser and SPF - not acid toner and serum.

Also there are many many prescription options that aren't the pill if that isn't what you want to do.

BTW what works for me is Avene Gentle Gel Cleanser, Paula's Choice 2% BHA lotion, prescription Retin A, Cerave moisturiser.

I have always had crappy skin. Only combination pill ever sorted it.

I visited a dermatologist who specialises in acne and am taking spironolactone.

It acts on the androgens which cause oiliness.

I have been taking it almost a year now and all is well.

It's a bit of a pain having liver function tests regularly but worth it for normal skin.

I am in my late 40s so hoping that old age might dry up my skin at some point soon anyway.

It's worth reading up on it.

I have Avene Extremely Gentle cleanser in the drawer, it's my fall back rather than every day cleanser. By 'active' do you mean effaclar? I'll get some if so.
I've tended not to treat for acne as my skin is so sensitive and it's hard to find products to treat one without aggravating the other!

Combination pill is lovely. And then you get too old for it and POP pill is a disaster for acne.

There are lots of other options than combination pill though. Lots of GP surgeries will also have one GP who is especially interested in dermatology too so worth checking if there is and you are seeing that one.

The first two times I saw a consultant dermatologist they would offer me no more than antibiotics. Worked on the bacteria but not the oiliness.

Finally I found this derm who straight away suggested spiro which the other two had pooh poohed. I believe it is more common in USA than In UK.

The La Rouche Duo range has sorted my skin out a lot, its not 100% but its much better than it was!

Oh and all u use on my skin now is Dove soap and a moisturiser if I think I need it.

Acouple of times a week I apply Epiduo overnight. It's benzoyl peroxide and adapalene (a retinoid)

I used effeclar duo every day last year for a couple of months and it really sorted my skin out and one of their gel cleansers which has now been discontinued. However if I use them now they dry my skin out but they were brilliant when I needed them.

Now I'm on the hunt for the perfect routine.

I have just ordered in fact from John Lewis a dermalogica pack for dry/combination skin to try out their products. They have a pack for oily skin too.

www.johnlewis.com/dermalogica-normal-oily-starter-kit/p1721601

This is the one I've ordered because I wanted the exfoliator

www.johnlewis.com/dermalogica-normal-dry-skin-starter-kit/p1727385

Many years ago as a teenager I was prescribed roaccutane and it got rid of my acne, which appeared out of nowhere but was brutal, and it never returned.

My daughter takes 'clear complexion tablets'they are herbal and as a beauty therapist myself I have tried all sort of products and treatments on her to help, I was a bit unsure if they'd help but her skin is beginning to be beautiful(she is absolutely beautiful to me...I mean in her eyes!) ! I admit it has taken about 3 months of her taking them daily to make a difference but she is so happy with the results and her confidence is through the roof!! Even wants to go to her prom now x

These ones x

Have you tried Korean products? Since I moved to Korea, my skin has been much better. I rarely get spots these days (despite being constantly knackered and having an only averagely healthy diet). I used to have blotchy, pale, oily skin with dry patches. It's also really sensitive. It looks so much better these days.

At the moment I use:

Skinfood rice cleansing oil
Innisfree green tea toner (it's sold as 'skin' rather than toner but toner it is)
Tony Moly Flora Nutria energy 100 hour cream

Whatever serum/emulsion I get for free, have yet to commit to one yet
Every second day I do a sheet mask

I keep Nature Republic Snail Skin Booster on my desk and apply it a couple of times a day.

My boyfriend was constantly getting spots too. Since I started him on my regime two months ago, he has only had one.

I think my problem before was that I was trying to clear up my oiliness with overly harsh products. Since I started using bland stuff and using more moisturising products, my skin has been so much better.

You can get most Korean stuff on amazon and ebay. I find you get way higher quality for the price you pay.

If you want to stick with British stuff, I also found the Superdrug Vitamin E range quite good a few years back.

I'm with seoulsurvivor - it helps to stop attacking your skin for misbehaving, but instead trying to soothe it and help it heal. It's misbehaving because it's unhappy. There are plenty of excellent skin care resources out there (not Caroline Hirons, mind) who will help you learn about maintaining the skin's natural barrier function which is an absolute baseline.

I've suffered from awful adult acne for a few years now, cysts all up my jawline and down my neck. Thanks to the Asian Beauty reddit I've started to keep the ph levels of my cleansers down, use bensoyl peroxide on my acne (they told me to, and I vehemently protested saying it never did anything for me before, then I started thinking maybe that was because I used it to attack my face with all the things - it works a charm now that I incorporate soothing and hydrating products) and layers of hydrating products. I also use a retinol cream which is good. My current one isn't very strong even, but it's nice all the same. :)

You don't necessarily have to use Korean/Asian products, but incorporating some of that caring, multi-step thinking and some real science into your skincare will help immensely. My skin still isn't great but the cysts are gone, and I hope to be able to work to refine texture and pores now. The acne is most likely hormonal which means I won't get rid of it completely, but I don't mind the odd spot. Those blood-filled cysts were so demoralising though.

I've just read this.

Basically about balancing hormones by healing your gut. For me, although I thought I ate really well, I realised that going by her guide, I had 'sugar face' . Might be worth a squiz - my skin is a lot less dull these days.

Oh, and also recommend reading this. Boiled down it says to gently exfoliate once a day, THEN cleanse, then moisturize. And lots of other stuff, too, but that's the nub of it

I like a good beauty book, clearly!

I should add that the 'exfoliate, cleanse, moisturise' routine completely got rid of some horrific hormonal 'bacne' I had last year.

Banivani, what benzoyl peroxide do you use? Seems to be hard to get hold of in the uk, especially if you want 2.5%