Adult acne, what works?

[Lovespolly]

It's almost certainly hormonal but I have reacted badly to contraceptives so I'm not wanting to go back on birth control.

I've been using acnecide (benzoyl peroxide) for 5-6 weeks now and seeing no improvement.

I cut out sugar and massively reduced my dairy intake.

Currently my routine is: tea tree face wash, miscella water to cleanse, benzoyl peroxide and a light moisturiser.

Can you reccomend products that you believe may help?

I forgot to add:

I seem to react badly to products from The Ordinary, having tried several and each time getting horrendous breakouts.

My skin is extremely sensitive

Roaccutane is prescription only but seems to work fantastically for many people. It didn't work for me (but acnecide worked wonders) but I think it has an 80% success rate. It has been associated with some mental health problems in a very small number of cases so you have to have a psychological assessment but it might be something to ask your GP about.

Double cleanse - oil/balm to take off first layer (be that makeup/sunscreen), then face wash with flannel (any wash, doesn't make a blind bit of difference as long as it's not too stripping)
Nip and Fab Glycolic Pads - the strong ones - wipe it over throroughly
Serum - quite strong salicylic acid. Vitamin C also helps.
I breakout from niacinamide so that was useless to me.
Depends on the level of acne - this is not for big cystic stuff!

Having a routine might help, look up Caroline Hirons. You don't have to buy all the expensive recommendations, her cheat sheets on the blog are really helpful. Like someone else suggested Double Cleanse at night if you wear makeup or spf. A balm cleanser to take off makeup then something like Cerave SA cleanser with Salicylic Acid that helps with spots. Adding an Acid toner to your routine will really help exfoliate like Paula's Choice BHA or Pixi Glow Tonic. A lightweight moisturiser such as Neutrogena Hydro Boost water gel will help hydrate. If it is still bad after trying these then a prescription cream might help, the GP can prescribe something like Epiduo or Differin that should work. I'm going through it myself and at 35 I hoped acne was a thing of the past.

I find balm type cleansers seem to work better rather than face washes or micellar waters, they just seem to give a deeper cleanse, but they don't strip the skin of oil completely (something you want to avoid as your skin will produce more oil to compensate).

These ones are good:
www.ocado.com/products/true-skincare-organic-cleansing-oil-safflower-geranium-466320011
www.thewhitecompany.com/uk/Super-Balm---Gentle-Daily-Deep-Cleanser/p/SKDSU?swatch=No+Colour.

I know you've had problems with breakouts from The Ordinary products (me too, particularly the Vit C) but their glycolic acid is great for acne prone skin- I just use it where I know I am likely to breakout.

My skin is much happier without moisturiser, I just use an SPF50 that doesn't make me break out: this one
Finally benzoyl peroxide helped, but it didn't really get my breakouts under control. My doctor eventually prescribed benzoyl peroxide for the AM, Differin for the PM and Spironlactone tablets which finally tamed it.

If it’s hormonal I’m not sure any topical treatment will truly help. Have you tried Dianette? I know you have had bad experiences in the past, me too, but Dianette is the one thing that has seriously made a difference to my skin.

If you think it is hormonal then you need treatments that work from the inside and act against the hormonal imbalance.

Benzoyl peroxide will help clear spots up quicker and limit spreading, but it’s treating the symptom not the cause and so will not stop the underlying spots.

My suggestions for hormonal acne (no particular order)

• Dianette
• Roaccutane
• Spironolactone
• DIM supplement

I have tried all of these and funnily enough the most effective for me has been DIM which is also the gentlest and only non prescription one.

Everyone is different though so you may need to try several different things before you find the one that works for you - make sure you give each one several months before ditching it and trying something else.

A face wash for oily skin may also help (I use Cetaphil, Cerave also gets good reviews). Some are too drying which makes the problem worse IME. You don’t want your face to feel “squeaky clean” after washing.

I went on long term antibiotics. Zineryt lotion is also good. Benzoyl peroxide just burnt my skin and left the spots

Also second dianette if youve not tried it yet.

Not a recommendation as such (yet0 but will report back. I have ordered "revive collagen" sachets to try. A couple of friends have been using them and say their adult acne has really improved (and skin and hair improved in general) so I am hoping they will help me with mine!

Try dermatica.

I've been using them for 4 weeks and see a huge improvement. I wish I had signed up sooner.

What is finally clearing my horrible acne is epi duo, spirolactane and gallons of water. I'm around a month in, and still having some break outs but the difference from this time last month is wonderful!

Another vote for Spironolactone, I’ve found it to be life changing... tried roaccutane in the past and it didn’t work. 33 and had massive cysts for years. Good luck.

I got adult acne at 24. Never had a spot in my life. The pill never agreed with me but I tried Dianette and it was brilliant. I had no side effects and acne cleared right up and never came back.

Hi, I've been using Paula's Choice BHA Lotion for the last 6 weeks or so and I think it's making a difference to my breakout prone skin.

Ah FluffyOwls87 you’re the only other person I’ve found who Roaccutane didn’t work for! Everyone always recommends it... didn’t work for me 🙄

Another vote for Paula's Choice BHA lotion - for me, it's great if you have that feeling a spot is about to erupt, and this lotion seems to stamp it out overnight! It's amazing

See your gp, there’s a plethora of treatments before roaccutane is used. Ask me how I know .

Most acne’s hormonal isn’t it? My derm didn’t give two hoots what caused it.

Paula's Choice BHA. After that - GP. There are loads of things that aren't Roaccutane.

For me a simple cleanser, the BHA, Cerave moisturer did 99% of the work. I then got obsessed with skin care and did tretinoin and that got rid of the last of it plus made my skin look amazing - nice bonus. But I was delighted with how much everything had improved without it.

I second a previous poster - Zineryt topical antibiotic lotion worked for me. I never had spots until I was in my late twenties then I suffered from troublesome outbreaks around my chin for a few years. Zineryt helped a lot.

Wow so many recommendations, I really appreciate the replies!

I've made a list of everything mentioned here and I'm definitely going to scrap my current routine and start afresh with some of the suggestions here.

I've heard alot about roaccutane and afaik it would only be prescribed if everything else has failed and the acne is severe? I wouldn't say mine is severe (but it's not pleasant nevertheless)

I've just started at a new job and I'm too self conscious to go bare faced, whereas usually I barely wear make-up at all.

I'm prepared to see my GP if I can't get a handle of it myself (fingers crossed I can)

If acnecide isn’t working save yourself time & just see the dr. Acnecide is strong stuff.

OP, you can save yourself a lot of time and trouble if you book a dermatologist appointment now. I paid £300 for mine in central London, if you are elsewhere it might be cheaper, and my NHS GP kindly gave me the prescriptions via the NHS so they were cheaper. I got antibiotics. I'd been going to the GP for 5 years before that point trying different things, but she was able to give me good advice based on having examined my skin and working out what worked for me.

The NHS GP tried, bless them, but they're not skin experts and they're not going to refer anyone to an NHS derm unless your problem is really really severe.

I see someone suggested dianette, the GP gave me that and now I have the awful permanent side effect of melasma on my face because it screwed with my hormones. It's a fairly common side effect that they don't mention!

@minipie do you mind telling me which Dim supplements you use?

@Mrstwiddle sure, I take DIM made by Nutri advanced