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???!

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

Such terrible advice being banded about for acne.

There is a two pronged approach:
Hormonal treatment : the contraceptive pill

Antibiotic:
In the form of topical creams which are bensoyl peroxide based
Oral antibitoics

OP, be cautious with Effaclar. Don't want to throw a shadow over the product which does have great viewes but have a look at my post as I've added pics, its 'Effaclar duo and acne.' It's given me severe acne in under a month. I had such high hopes.
Three products that 100% do not give me acne and/or help my skin are:
Cetaphil gentle skin cleanser
Proactiv but only USA version
Bare minerals makeup.

Good luck X

Inneedofadvice553

I take Spironolactone for my acne. Which acts hormonally - but isn't a contraceptive pill.

So there are other options to explore.

Also Differin and the like act as retinoids to keep the skin cells turning over and help prevent blockages.

Again - prescription treatments - but not antibiotics.

Am afraid the 2 things I'm going to suggest are expensive - to be honest, I can't actually afford them myself. But they have stopped the spots completely.

I have CACI/Microdermabrasion treatment once a month. Although this is primarily for anti-ageing, it really helps with spots and pores. I also use the Skinsceuticals range - particularly the Blemish Cleansing Gel and the Resveratrol BE. Again, eye-wateringly expensive but really made a difference and they last a long time.

I wonder why adult acne exist in the first place. I feel like it would be best to treat the root cause, not just buy nice cleansing gels and such?

Ok, so the Avene Gentle Gel cleanser stings!!!! Do you think I can take it back to Boots to exchange for the Extremely Gentle one?

I have periodic seborrheic dermatitis and acne rosacea... I can control it with the following routine (a combination of cheap and notso)
Ponds cold cream cleanser
Avene Toner
Avene serum
Pro-skin rosacea cream
Dr Organics Vit E oil
If I get an outbreak I use Nizoral, as the doctor told me it would help.
The proskin rosacea cream i buy on amazon. I went onto some rosacea forums and people were raving about it so bought some. Theory is that rosacea is caused the dermodex mite which lives on everyones skin but more so on people with rosacea and so the cream kills it. It works for me...

Hope it gets better soon. Doctors can do more than you think.

Two words: Caroline Hirons. She gives really good advice (for free!)

www.carolinehirons.com

Well yes, the cheat sheets are useful. But maybe worth reading the Caroline Hirons thread on here as lots of us are feeling a bit wary of bloggers' recommendations at the moment!

Yes defo take it back to boots for a refund! All the Avene stings my skin even the extremely gentle cleanser :(

Why don't you try oil cleansing, then a Konjac sponge just with water on.

Been back to boots and they swapped the cleanser without any bother. I really like the extremely gentle cleanser so the moral of the story must be to stick with it and not be tempted to try anything everything else!

I agree about the CH thread, it's been a really enlightening read! I first read her blog a while back and just the list on the cheat sheets put me off. I do like the idea of acid toning over scrubs though.

Caroline Hiron's cheat sheets are the best thing about her website, I don't trust the product recommendations. And acid instead of scrubs? Never used such things, it sounds a bit scary...

Acids are far kinder to your skin than scrubs, scrubs can damage the skin mantle and those little beady things are crap for the environment.

Sorry to hijack but are there any acids for reactive skin? The mild Clinique and the ren (both meant to be mild) both burn my skin terrible

Indecisivejo can you say a bit more about your skin and what problem you are hoping acid exfoliating will solve?
If you have very sensitive skin it may prefer being left alone and supported with skin barrier ingredients. The Clinique Mild Exfoliating Lotion really is mild, don't touch the others with a bargepole, but I think it still has stuff like witch hazel in it which you might be sensitive to.
Although yes I am signed up to acids being better than scrubs, I am not at all signed up to the cheat sheets which sells far too much product and are based on you having unreactive, probably oily skin.

Think my skin might be one of those best left to minimal products! It's very sensitive reacts to lots, very dehydrated and often feels tight and irritated but also prone to breakouts

What do you want to improve Indeciseivjo?

I can promise you that the Clinique is not strong enough to stop breakouts from my personal experience!

Things you might like would be a very very bland cleanser like Cetaphil or Avene Gentle Cleanser. I luffs my Cerave - it's got lovely hyaluronic and ceramides which are nice for sensitive skin but some people will react to niacinamide although it is another lovely skin barrier ingredient.

Are you sure you don't have rosacea? Sensitive, red and the breakouts could be rosacea spots rather than acne spots? In which case you should be going for mega bland, and lots of physical sun block.

I have recently bought boots botanics cleansing toner all bright which has plant aha in it. I'm really liking it as a toner on days I want to keep things relatively simple for my skin and when I use products like today that make my skin instantly react superdrug vitamin e hot cloth cleanser so have to recleanse etc yes my face did actually look this colour.
I use the botanics rosewater and glycerin toner for hydrating, it's really good half way through the day when skin is looking dry.

Re foundation (make up) I recently bought boots No 7 stay perfect recently. It is a truly lovely consistency, perfect colour match like none I've ever had, doesn't oxidise etc. Worth looking at ESP for those with sensitive rubbish skin as it hides redness and blemishes really well. I will be wearing it all night at a party later so interested to see how it holds up and looks in photographs etc.

In redards to makeup, I find bare minerals the least irritanting and least likely to cause spots. Coverage is good but doesn't last long, I have to reapply throughout the day

I bought a tub of sudocrem because of this thread and I just want to say I love whoever it was who recommended it! My permanently red, blotchy face is no more! It's like I've gone back 15 years!

lemon what do you do with the sudocrem? Are you using it as a face mask?

only Not as thick as a mask, but slapped it all over in a thin-ish layer at night after cleansing and toning. Not every night but about 4 times over the last 10 days or so. Absolutely fabulous.