Lovehoney - Dani wrote:
I had pretty bad acne bordering on cystic as a teenager, until I went on birth control. I went on it primarily for my skin at 16 and have been on the same one since then (now 24).
Had I not gone on it I might have wound up on roaccutane, which my brother used, as did my partner when he was a teenager. Both have pretty crippling depression now, so while I'm not a doctor it's certainly not something I'm a huge fan of.
I also found that my rosacea and acne both settled down immensely once I started quenching my skin with more oily stuff at night. It sounds counterintuitive as hell but if I use Bio Oil or rosehip oil followed by a rich moisturiser at night, I wake up with less greasy skin than if I just cleansed and toned with nothing else afterwards to comfort it. I think if you have sensitive skin it freaks out and overreacts to harsh treatments, overcompensates by producing more oil that can lead to breakouts.
Salycylic acid or benzoyl peroxide based spot treatments are good if I want to suck the oil out of a nasty zit overnight but used too often or all over my face will leave me with flaky patches - I try to only use it if I really need to.
I couldnt agree more, I don't care what anyone says, but Roaccutane should be avoided at all costs, I had bad skin when I was younger and it was my face and back and I was perscribed this and it was terrible, serious bouts of depression and even nosebleeds and really dryskin and after I stopped using it and from further research I learnt it has led to suicide in so many casses around the world, trust me, the what depression from having bad skin might cause is nothing compared to this druf.
Over time I learnt a good cleaning regime is vital, with cleanser, toner, treatment etc, (not loads of scrubbing and making it raw, just the right products, and if I thought I saw it starting to get worse then I might switch something as I felt my skin got used to certain creams etc, but as you said your skin is getting very dry, and unfortuately and this is the hard thing, most creams etc are to dry out the acne and control sebum and dry skin is a side affect, so it's trying to find a balance between the 2 is the trick, not too dry that is flaky and dry and not to oily that it's blocking pores and causing buid up.
I found Dermatalogica Antibac and Medicated version really good, it's not the cheapest but it is very good, another treatment I used was called Dane (I think) I started with this getting fascials once a week and then I got some home products.
One of my best treatments was in fact a little sun, I always found my skin was at it's worst in the winter and really bad at the change of seasons.
Diet can be very important, I don't mean eating chocolate and all those things people say, what I mean is foods that might react with your skin, so sometimes and allergy test is good, I used to find citric foods made it worse, but one of the really important things is water, drink loads, drink it warm even, it helps flush your system. Zinc can help do this, and so does garlic, but you will find this can push up some whiteheads.
It can be terrible to suffer from acne and unfortunately people don't really know what it's like and how it affects people unless you suffer from it, It used to get me down a lot and then I remember times seeing a person and it would be severe and I would be so upset for them.
Really it will take time and patience, and sometimes it could get worse before it gets better, but it does get better.
But avoid Roaccutane.