<p>Eliminate caffeine and soda from your diet.</p>
<p>Clarisonic really helped my daughter’s skin. The frustration for me is that when her skin is clear she isn’t as diligent about taking care of it and then her skin gets bad again. Right now she has a lot of surface bumps and redness and we are trying epsom salt masks. It seems to be drying up the surface oil that is clogging everything.</p>
<p>Here’s a link to the espom salt info:</p>
<p>[Epsom</a> Salt Reviews](<a href=“http://www.acne.org/epsom-salt-reviews/1067/page1.html]Epsom”>http://www.acne.org/epsom-salt-reviews/1067/page1.html)</p>
<p>We have used some oral antibiotics and prescription topicals. They work for a while and then the acne comes back. Hope you find something that works. I know that it is very frustrating.</p>
<p>Some people are sensitive to the hormones in dairy products. You may want to eliminate dairy for a month to see if it helps. You can do a search on this topic, there has been recent studies to confirm this sensitivity.</p>
<p>Skin is just an indicator of what else is going on in your body. Concentrate on improving nutrtion& digestion. Increase fiber and drink more water. </p>
<p>[Skin</a> Nutrition: Vitamins and Minerals for Your Skin](<a href=“http://www.webmd.com/healthy-beauty/features/skin-nutrition]Skin”>Skin Nutrition: Vitamins and Minerals for Your Skin)</p>
<p>My D had recurring pimples on her forehead. She switched to shampoo with no sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate and the problem cleared up. </p>
<p>Some people are also allergic to bar soap. My dermatologist doesn’t recommend that anyone use bar soap. </p>
<p>I don’t think these simple things have much impact on true acne but can help with breakouts.</p>
<p>D had good luck with some of the approaches mentioned already, especially the cleansing and topical treatments, but what really worked were the antibiotics and birth control pills. Her case was severe enough that she’s been on one or the other, sometimes both, for years.</p>
<p>Our dermatologist has been pushing Accutane, but I’ve heard enough horror stories about side effects that I’m not willing to put my child at risk. (In fairness, the doctor claims the negative stories are all anecdotal, but accepts our decision.)</p>
<p>Have you tried the oil cleansing method?
My son has very bad acne (he’s a candidate for acutane, but it’s not in the budget now) and I can tell by how his skin looks if he is using the oil cleansing method or if he’s neglecting it. So, I can verify that it does make a difference for my son’s acne. </p>
<p>It might work well for you. You make the oil (by mixing two ingredients) and the ingredients are quite inexpensive, so you don’t have much to lose by trying it.</p>
<p>You can read about it here.
[The</a> Oil Cleansing Method - A simple, cleansing facial massage for clear skin!](<a href=“http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/]The”>http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/)
And you can also google “oil cleansing method” and you’ll find many articles and testimonials about it.</p>
<p>Even I have had years and years of recurring acne, even after I had children! I remember my derm had suggested birth control, but this was back in the day when doses were incredibly high. Finally, in menopause and my acne has cleared.</p>
<p>My kids must have similar issues. They’ve been successful with a pad that their derm. has prescribed, but it’s not perfect. One of my kids really should get something stronger. After reading this thread, I’m tempted to suggest Accutane, but I didn’t realize it was so expensive. And the side effects are scary. If you’re reading this, and you have any experience, can you tell me how long did it take to notice results? How long did you stay on it? Did you have any side effects? Thanks.</p>
<p>Both my D’s have done accutane. Oldest had worse acne case; it took 4 months to really clear up, and she still has hormonal breakouts so stayed on BC pills also. Youngest D’s acne wasn’t as bad overall, but after years of trying the antibiotics and topicals, accutane worked for her too. Both experienced dry lips while taking. Youngest also forgot once to sunscreen and got a bad sunburn on her forehead. (It makes you more susceptible to burning) We know quite a few young people who have taken it - no one had any depression symptoms, if that is the horrible side effect you are referring to. There are blood tests every month to check cholesterol levels. Our insurance co only pays for 5 months, although derm wanted to do for 6 months.</p>
<p>OP, if you are a woman and this is adult-onset cystic acne, it’s probably hormonal. Birth control pills work to clear it up. Topical over-the-counter treatments will not really solve the problem. I had beautiful skin as a teen and terrible skin in my 20s. I had beautiful skin again during and after pregnancy, bad skin again in my early 40s, and now it’s getting nice again. It’s all hormones.</p>
<p>I’m 56 and I’ve had acne (1-5 zits at any one time) constantly since I was 15. I told my doctor that I missed my son, partly because he took his acne medicine with him (I used to snitch some). She told me that isn’t the right kind for me, and gave me a prescription for Clindamycin phosphate topical gel, 1%. Wow. No more ugly red zits. I still get whiteheads sometimes, but the infections are gone. it doesn’t make may skin flakey, and I use it only on my trouble areas. It’s pretty gentle.</p>
<p>S was on Accutane, and it took 4-5 months to clear up (it got worse the first couple months). He was on it 6 months, and he does not regret it. He still uses topical benzaclin, and he is able to maintain clear skin. He had dry lips, but that was it … after initial headaches, which the derm took very seriously (he took him off for 3 months, then began the new regimen with a lower dose). Two of my brothers used Accutane in their 30’s - one had to do 2 rounds - and they agree it was something they wish they had done sooner. Our family history is one of BAD cystic acne (not the stuff supplements and over the counter remedies can clear).</p>
<p>D has always had issues with acne, but it has gotten worse in her 20’s. She has tried many things - topicals, antibiotics,etc - with no luck. Hers is hormonal (I had it, too - got better with kids, and went away with menopause). She tried birth control a couple years ago, but she was put on Yaz - had health issues and anxiety attacks - and she swore off BC. After more unsuccessful tries with various things, she is now on Spironolactone and a tri-phasic BC pill, along with Retin A. It has only been 5-6 weeks for this regimen, so we still have our fingers crossed. What we know is that it does take several months for any regimen to work.</p>
<p>My daughter had horrible acne on her ivory white skin. It was so bad there were deep purple spots that I thought would last forever. She has a hormone problem that began around age 19.</p>
<p>Anyway she went on line and answered questions on the Skin ID site. They sent her product based on her answers about her acne.</p>
<p>This ended up being her miracle cream. She has beautiful skin and all the deep marks have disappeared. </p>
<p>We were both in shock at how quickly and completely it cleared her acne. </p>
<p>It is worth a try.</p>
<p>My S has acne. He went through the topical-to-antibiotic-to accutane routine. He did one course of accutane–at a fairly low dosage, I think–and his acne cleared up. Interestingly, he did not have the monthly tests that some report. His major side effect was extremely dry, painful, chapped lips. THe fact that his course took place over the winter in our northern climate probably exacerbated the situation. A year or so later, the acne was back. We got him accutane again, but this coincided with his leaving for college, and he stopped taking it. At the time he told me he thought it was affecting his mood. When I asked him about it recently, he said that it didn’t but that he was worried about the more dangerous side effects that he was reading about on the internet.</p>
<p>Now he wants to do something about his acne, but he is no longer on his college health insurance and not on ours either–he is in Europe, and has health insurance there, or will if they ever submit the forms for the insurance he paid for over almost two months ago, ARGH–and he doesn’t want to do accutane. I don’t know what to think, frankly. He’s 23, and doesn’t seem to be growing out of it, although it does wax and wane to some degree.</p>
<p>I just went to the SkinID website and when I clicked on the page for a free skin evaluation, I got this message: Sorry, this page is currently under maintenance.</p>
<p>So I’ll have to wait to see if this site will have a miracle cure for my son. Accutane is out of our budget right now.</p>
<p>Dermatologist put S1 on low-dose antibiotics and a prescription cream that worked quite well. Both were top tier on our Rx plan, but doctor gave us coupons that limited the co-pay to $10 each. His face cleared up quite nicely & he uses the cream now for minor breakouts.</p>
<p>D2 had very bad acne. She had to wear very thick makeup to cover up her acne. When we lived abroad, her dermatologist put her on low dosage accutane (50% less than American dosage) for 12 months instead of 6 months. Her skin started to clear after 3 months. She is at the end of it now. Her skin is beautiful. She wears very little makeup now. The side effect she had was dryness to her skin. She was given a lot of creams for her face, lips, even for her nose.</p>
<p>My acne was really not bad but it was continual. I’d been going to a male dermatologist for years and tried just about everything. Finally, when i was about 40, I did a course of accutane after a female dermatologist i talked to at a party told me that a course of accutane would knock my acne into remission. It did! And my oily hair dried up, too.</p>
<p>I’d recommend a high quality zinc supplement. There’s a company called bio innovations or something like that that makes good products</p>