If you have/had acne, what has actually made a difference?

[NothingBreaksLikeAFart]

Really fed up with my skin. No longer get big cystic lumps on my cheeks but lots of big pores, whiteheads on my chin and hormonal sore ones on my jawline (these ones are usually before my period).

What has actually helped?

Double cleansing in evening followed by Superdrug Naturally Radiant glycolic acid toner, then rotating Garden of Wisdom serums - azelaic acid, salicylic acid and vitamin C/ferulic acid, then a light moisturiser. Every so often REN radiance renewal mask. Lots of water and veggies. Skin better than it has been in years.

As with pp having a baby has cured me. It completely re set my wonky hormones :)

But before having a sprog, differin topical cream was great. It's a retinol.

Having a baby.

Had had acne for 15 years, as a late teenager to early 30's. Skin cleared after Baby 1, and apart from an odd breakout when stressed, has never returned. Goes to show that for some people it's a truly hormonal thing, where food, alcohol, skin treatments make no difference at all.

Quite a drastic solution though!

I've tried everything OTC and through the doctor with no luck. Skin Genius is the only thing that has helped. It has transformed my skin from awful acne to the odd spots, mainly around my period. Truly amazing stuff!

Having a baby has NOT worked for me. Nor did it get rid of my hayfever. Harumpf.

I'm trying double cleansing with an oil then LRP effaclar. Probably won't work but I'll keep trying anyway. Acne and grey hairs at the same time doesn't seem fair.

coco I think I have PCOS symptoms but GP won’t do anything. I might have a look at private options.

Not looking to have children atm!! But that is interesting though about the hormones.

Yep tablets for me too, also the ordinary niacinamide and salylic acid helped

Tetracycline

Dianette for me too - especially if they are hormone related. But it is (or was for me) just a short term option as they wouldn’t prescribe for more than 18 months at a time. The cheaper and milder alternative they prescribed (maybe Celeste?) wasn’t as effective. Then they also got twitchy about my weight and increased risk of clots etc.
So I’m not on it now. I also think it caused/exacerbated depression.

For me at the moment following a Keto type (high fat low carb) diet such as BIWI’s Mumsnet low carb boot camp does work and improve things.

Pregnancy did also work for me but it wasn’t a permanent improvement!

And dianette did not seem to affect my fertility as I fell pregnant multiple times (5) soon after stopping it although did have 2 mc (between dc1 & dc2 and between dc2 & dc3)

This worked for me

Thank you everyone! Just googling some of these things, apparently tetracycline is also used to treat plague

yasmin cleared my dds skin miraculously. Dr wouldnt prescribe dianette.

Inofolic. I think I have lean pcos after having dc and taking this sorted me out within weeks.

Cutting out dairy works for me. Every time I have lovely cheese or a cheesecake, I get disgusting spots.

Roaccutane

I had had everything before that, oral ABs, topical ABs, Dianette, benzoyl peroxide (allergic) so Roaccutane was the last roll of the dice.

Roaccutane.

Watching this with interest.

I had lovely skin after having baby1 after years on acne cysts only to have a huge breakout on my chin over the last couple of weeks. It's so sore and am still breastfeeding DS2 who keeps catching it with his fingers so can't do anything. It's really affecting my confidence.

I have found aspirin mask and La Roche Posay Effaclar duo to be game changers.

Roaccutane. Nothing else ever made any difference whatsoever, but Roaccutane worked immediately. I wish I could have had it 10 years earlier.

My acne was way worse than yours sounds, though. Painfully cystic.

As others have said retinol. Prescription retin A is amazing stuff. I've just started it today for its anti-ageing miracles, but have friends who use it for its original purpose which is curing acne.
All their skin is absolutely flawless now, from being v severe. Plus they're wrinkle free.

There's a very good subreddit about it if you google "reddit Tretinoin".

Having children. Also I used to find before that, that sun beds helped. I only used them very lightly for short durations

-less harsh cleaners (I use the no.7 foam thats for oily skin)
-lumie clear- don't know why I don't keep up with it as it helps an awful lot
-not drinking milk, even better if I avoid all dairy but it's hard to live without cheese!
-quitting caffeine
-the pill, but it has too many negative side effects
-more water, fruit and veg
None of these got rid of it, merely reduced from severe acne to more normal spots and scars. When I drink milk I notice the texture gets awful very quickly.
It got worse when I first got pregnant, then better for a bit, now I'm in the third trimester it's worse again.

OP - why won’t GP do anything about PCOS? That seems wrong. I had a hairy chin and painful large spots which years of creams and lotions and potions didn’t do anything about. I was slim (size 10) so the doctor couldn’t blame weight as weight can exacerbate symptoms of PCOS like hair and spots. Interestingly though the consultant did say I could always try and slim down a bit more in case it helped which I thought was crazy as I was 5ft 6 and a size 10!

I ended up with roaccutane the first time around, but the second time around it was quite easily sortable with a cream called acnecide which I is a peroxide cream from doctor as nothing else off the shelf would fix it.