So depressed about my skin

[miggleswiff]

I have PCOS and had acne since I was 12, so I have a fair few scars on my face and uneven skin tone/pigment. I also have quite a lot of small thread veins/red spots on my skin - I think this might be from using an epistick for facial hair (another delight of PCOS).

I'm now 42 and thankfully now only get a few spots here and there. But I am feeling so depressed with how my skin looks without make up on. I'm also worried that continuing to use the epistick is just going to give me more and more thread veins, but its the only thing that's really got my facial hair under control.

I have tried thermavein but it didn't work - I just ended up with pock mark scars from where the needle went in. And this was from a very respectable plastic surgery clinic.

I currently use superdrug hot cloth cleanser, clearisil toner (I used to use the rapid action pads as they have more salicylic acid but I was worried that the scratchiness of the pads weren't helping with the thread veins) and neutrogena water gel moisturiser. I also use Ultrasun pigment reducing suncream from April - September (I barely go outside in winter as go to and from work in the dark). I also use Nip + Fab glycolic face mask once a week.

In the past I have tried La Roche Posay effaclar but it brought me out in massive cyst-type spots.

So, is there anything I can do to give my skin a more even tone, reduce scarring and pigmentation, and reduce or prevent facial thread veins? I am feeling so depressed about this and hate looking in a mirror or even my DH looking at me too closely. I'm also worried about things just getting worse and worse as I get older.

Thank you so much for any advice.

Op using a hot cloth cleansing regime will also not help, heat encourages thread veins and broken capillaries, I too wouldn't touch clearisil if you paid me!

Have a go with a Lilibeth of New York eyebrow trimmer come dermaplaner thing perhaps? Amazon or I think QVC. They are cheap, not mannish at all, pretty designs etc but as well as trimming eyebrows they are intended for what is euphemistically referred to as peach fuzz..and they do a bit of exfoliation at the same time which might help your skin generally.

When you have laser hair removal you cannot remove the hair from the root and so in between treatments you have to shave. I have therefore been shaving my face. I would always have been one of those shouting "don't shave your face" with absolutely no reason for making that statement other than having read others saying the same thing.

Actually it has been fine and has made my face as a whole completely smooth and fuzz free. No issues with the regrowth either. In fact with other methods such as plucking, waxing and threading I've always had the occasional ingrowing hair issue which you don't get with shaving.

I have very difficult skin. Being overly vigorous with it gave me thread veins. I had laser with limited success. I also had electrolysis, which was more successful but by Christ it hurts! I've tried loads of different products. Ive been on antibiotics. I've done the obagi regime, which is hard core but does work. I'm now having amazing success with blue/red light therapy. Cystic acne has gone, after a 15 year battle and the red marks from previous spots are fading.