My Battle with Acne

I never thought I would have to battle Acne. Look at me, this sounds like the beginning of a commercial, but it's the truth. I had a face a couple of weeks ago that was worse than a kid going through puberty. My 15 year old relative has nicer skin that I do. And it was frustrating me more than anything.

Firstly, I did not have skin like this when I was in High School. I had a pimple or two during my period, which were usually the cyst-like, huge, and annoying. Those that didn't pop on their own, my mother would lance and drain and they would go away. Those are the sorts of pimples I've always had and I've dealt with them.

I was on the birth control pill for around 11 years, which I started a year after I left high school. This helped control what little acne I had and when I went off the pill, I still would get the odd cystic pimple, but again, no severe issues that would make me want to cry and hide under my sheets.

Fast forward to now ... I had a child two years ago. Little under one year ago, I had an IUD placed. Three months ago, I began having severe uncontrollable acne where those cystic pimples were popping up all around my mouth, on my chin, and all over my forhead. I would have anywhere from four to eight red, inflamed infected pimples on my face, something I have never experienced before. Make-up wouldn't even cover them and I was so embarrassed I could barely go out in public. I got to the point where I wanted to go see a dermatologist, but I thought I should exhaust all over the counter measures before doing so.

Something to note here, I'm a serial pimple popper. I know that is the absolute taboo of acne. If I leave them alone, yes, they will go away after a week, then a week later that one, unpopped from before, will be back worse than before in the exact same place. If popped, yes, they do leave a red mark which takes it's time to go away, but once drained, they stay gone. Another thing, I HATE white heads. I can't stand seeing them on other people's faces and I hate seeing them on mine.

Prior to my severe outbreak, I would wash my face in the morning with some teen marketed face wash (the Wal-Mart brand of Clean and Clear I believe) and then layer on the also teen marketed face moisturizer (also Clean and Clear). Probably too thickly, as I hate that dry feeling you get from the face wash, which takes all the oil off your face. Then put on my make-up and ... well, that is where it ended. Never washed my face in the evening, or took my make-up off.

In my defence though, I do wear Bare Minerals foundation, which is apparently so pure, you can wear it to bed. Now I don't know how true that is, given the trouble I've had in the last few months, but I'm sure it works for someone. The only other make-up I wear is eye-liner. I also layer on the lip balm all day, various brands, like it's going out of style. It's an addiction I picked up in high school.

When the outbreak happened, I decided to change my routine and move on to the more adult marketed face washes and moisturizers. I went for Neutrogena, which fit into the middle price range, not cheap like the Teen marketed products and not expensive like Olay or similar. I bought:

**All the following products can be found on the Neutrogena Website.

1.) Fresh Foaming cleanser - For daily wash in the morning before putting my make up on.
2.) Health Skin Face Lotion (SPF 16) - For All Day Moisturizing
3.) Deep Clean Relaxing Nightly Cleanser - For before bed to remove make-up.
4.) Light Night Cream - For moisturizing over night.

I went with this routine for about a month. I even cut down the amount of moisturizer. I would use to a tiny amount. It didn't work... or I shouldn't say it didn't work, it didn't change my acne at all.

I then picked up a Wal-Mart brand Benzoyl Peroxide pimple treatment. Still didn't work.

So I did a little research and found that Salicylic Acid pimple treatments are better, so back to Wal-Mart I went and picked up the Neutrogena Rapid Clear Fight & Fade 2-in-1 Gel. It did not do what it promised, but what I did notice was that my pimples headed out faster and if they scabbed, they healed a little faster, but I still had to do something to keep them from coming up to begin with.

I went shopping with my 15 year old relative who also wanted to get some Acne products for her milder issues and we looked at all of the kits that boasted being better than Proactiv. They were less expensive than Proactiv, but given that I had never used Proactiv before (was considering), I couldn't really base my need for them on that. There was one I liked, but decided to hold off and go back to Neutrogena. They had an kit themselves, but they also had an Acne range the Fight & Fade gel came from, so it was worth a try to find singular products there before I spent the money on a kit (given how much money I'd spent so far on facial care products).

I bought: Neutrogena Rapid Clear Oil Control Foaming Cleanser

I also brought back out my bottle of Clean and Clear Acne Control Moisturizer which has Salicylic Acid in it to use in the morning. And then I also purchased a bottle of Noxzema Deep cleansing Cream.

And I am finally winning the battle.

In the morning:

1.) I wash my face with the Oil Control Cleanser.
2.) I apply a tiny amount of the moisturizer.
3.) Put on Make up

At night:

1.) I wash my face with the Oil Control Cleanser.
2.) I put the Fading gel on anything that looks particularly bad or those that are healing.
3.) I pull my hair back from my face with a head band.

If I sleep during the day either before or after a night shift, I'll give my face a little cleansing boost with the Noxzema, which I like the tingly-ness and the feeling of a clean face before sleeping without have to strip the oils away.

In addition, I do use Neutrogena Healthy Skin Eye Cream for around my eyes, because otherwise, I suffer from severe flaking of the skin on my eyelids and it's the only one I can find that isn't really expensive and isn't all about being an anti-wrinkle eye cream. I don't care about the wrinkles, I just don't want my skin flaking off my eyelids!

The war is far from being won. I am still trying to get rid of some old ones that have popped up again, but are slowly going away, but I'm down to two healing and no new ones which is great for me. There are still red marks from the bad outbreak due to popping, but they will fade in time. It might be a month or two. Interestingly enough, the two that are healing popped up over one night I forgot to wash my face and didn't pull my hair back when I went to bed, so clearly what I am doing is working.

Thank heavens!