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VioletSofia
New Member
 
Joined: 20 May 2011
Posts: 8
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Fri Jun 10, 2011 2:48 pm  |
Please help. I am impatient to wait for my Derm appt. so I am hoping someone on here will be super knowledgable or have similar experiences.
I have used several new products over the last couple of months because I started Obagi Nu-Derm, a Glycolic day cream, a once per week Glycolic Peel, (not all at the same time, and a vitamin C cream. I am on a 2 week break from Obagi Nu-Derm Hydroquinone products (in between the three 6-week cycles) and so I am using the Glycolic products for the time being. I don't know what is breaking me out. I get whiteheads that stay around forever and ever and I get zits on the chin and jawline. Not just little zits, I'm talking cysts that are sore to the touch under the skin that seem to last forever. I don't know what is causing this mess. It seems that if I stop using one product to see if its the culprit, I will still get zits and whiteheads.
So I started out using Retin A Micro before all this skin crap started happening, just to help with anti-aging stuff. I went thru the initial breakout with the whole skin purging thing. But I never broke out super bad, mostly just really peely and dry. I couldn't take the redness and dryness so my Derm gave me Atralin to use instead. Although much more tolerable, I think it made my face greasy and may have caused some of the cyst occurences. I stopped the Obagi products that contain the Hydraquinone (sp?) and just started using a Glycolic day cream by Skin Effects and a once a week Glycolic Peel. I really love this day cream product but I was oily by midday and I thought maybe IT was the cause of my breakouts. So I stopped that. Then I thought, OK, maybe its my foundation because it isn't oil free so I stopped that. Still, no end to breakouts and whiteheads. I am back to using the Retin-A Micro but I don't know if Im going through the purging process all over again or what because I still get zits. I'm afraid if I stop Retin A all together, I will break out even worse.
I know that the skin goes through purging but I find it incredible that products that people use to STOP their acne, might be what is CAUSING mine! So now, I've stopped that Glycolic Day Cream and am now using Serious Skin Care Vitamin C moisturizer/sunscreen during the day which I really like, but no end to the zits, in fact I got 2 more last night. Help me!! What can I do/use/stop using?
My current skin care routine:
Daytime:
Obagi Gentle Cleanser
Obagi Toner
Neutrogena Salicylic acid pads
Serious Skin Care Ester C SPF30 day cream
Treatments:
Juice Beauty Apple Enzyme Peel (once per week)
Mario Badescu Drying Cream (for spot treatments, it seems to only dry out the surrounding skin and do not much for the zit)
Nighttime:
Obagi Cleanser & Toner
Neutrogena SA pads
Retin-A Micro
I would really appreciate it if anyone could offer me some advice or suggestions. Despite all of the breakouts, I can really see how the Retin-A made such a big difference in the way my skin looks and I really like it so I don't want to stop using it.. 
Thanks so much for reading.
VS |
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Sat Jun 11, 2011 7:07 am |
I'm sorry you're having to deal with this. I understand how rough acne can be.
Painful cysts usually have hormonal factors, and it can help to change your diet some, as well as look into supplements, and ask your doctor about medical interventions.
Diet: sugar, refined carbs, and dairy cause insulin spikes that can cause skin to overproduce oil, get inflamed, and trap bacteria in pores. Dairy additionally has loads of hormones (e.g., growth hormones that are great for calves, not so much for us adult humans) that convert readily to DHT in the skin and hence also contribute to acne. Getting plenty of olive oil and fish can help with inflammation. Eating lots of cruciferous veggies can help vacuum up xenohormones. Things like blueberries and rooibos tea can help stabilize blood sugar levels. Spearmint tea can help with too-high estrogen levels.
Supplements: codliver oil has lots of vit A, which can help normalize sebum production; zinc (esp. zinc picolinate) is a mineral many acne sufferers are deficient in. You might also consider DIM, a broccoli extract. Alpha lipoic acid can help stabilize blood sugar levels.
Medications: the classics for women are birth control pills (ask your doc which ones have anti-androgen or anti-acne effects) and spironolactone. BCPs have compounds that merely mimic the hormones that our bodies produce, so if you want a more natural approach, you might look into (and ask your doctor about, and read Dr. John Lee about) natural hormone balancing using progesterone cream. Your derm may also prescribe a short course of antibiotics--the lower the dose (e.g., just "anti-microbial" doses), and the more tapered off at the end, the better.
I love my Retin A too, and I don't see any reason why you should have to stop, unless your doc tells you to. It will help with cell turnover on the surface, and that combined with internal changes should help a lot. I also use Clindamycin on spots (granted the spots I get nowadays are very superficial), and it helps them heal even faster--often a 1-day turnaround, whereas with RA only it was 2-3 days.
Hope this helps,
Kay |
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30-ish, sensitive fair skin, oily and acne-prone, faded freckles; tretinoin since Oct 2010 |
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Sat Jun 11, 2011 5:29 pm |
| You must use the right product for the problem. Only thing that works well for acne break outs are beta hydroxy gels and salicylic cleasers. Theres good products over at cosmetics cop website. |
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Sat Jun 11, 2011 6:39 pm |
Sorry you're dealing with this. I'm in the same boat and it looks like we use very similar products. The only thing I might consider leaving out of your routine while you're using the Retin-A is the Neutrogena pads. Along with the apple peel and glycolic acid, that might be just too much for your skin. I'd try to stick to only 1 or 2 types of acids or at least alternate days...
As for the cysts I can't help you there. Birth control pills helped me for a while, but now they're back again, even though I'm still on the pill.
I have noticed a big difference in my skin when I religiously take vitamin C supplements (I prefer the powder variety or the tabs that dissolve in water).
Good luck! |
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Sat Jun 11, 2011 6:42 pm |
| P.S. I know lots of people swear by them, but Mario Badescu products did NOTHING for me. |
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Sat Jun 11, 2011 8:35 pm |
Daytime:
Obagi Gentle Cleanser
Obagi Toner
Neutrogena Salicylic acid pads
Serious Skin Care Ester C SPF30 day cream
Treatments:
Juice Beauty Apple Enzyme Peel (once per week)
Mario Badescu Drying Cream (for spot treatments, it seems to only dry out the surrounding skin and do not much for the zit)
Nighttime:
Obagi Cleanser & Toner
Neutrogena SA pads
Retin-A Micro
I wonder if you need a toner and an SA pad twice a day? Seems like a pretty agressive program. Maybe your skin is reacting to being overworked. I don't believe in purging, but I do believe skin can be irritated by products, the environment, etc.
I hope your derm is able to help. Acne can be such a headache to deal with. |
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Sun Jun 12, 2011 6:02 am |
VioletSofia - you are not using anything antibaterial. You really need to treat acne by clear out the pores (SA/retin-a) and kill the bacteria (bp, sulfur, topical antibiotic).
Which neutrogena acne pads are you using? Both of the one's they offer are alcohol based and not good for the skin because they can cause alot of irritation and make acne worse. I would stop those now. If you want to use SA I would recommend Paula's Choice and only to use once a day.
Keep your routine as basic as possible. You really need to stick to a routine for 3 months to determine if its working for you or not.
The only thing that worked for my cystic acne was Tazorac and occasional oral antibiotic use). |
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Mon Jun 13, 2011 7:16 am |
| Whatever you do, don't take the chemotherapy drug Accutane. You likely have hormonally based acne & will need to do some reading in order to decide on the best treatment. I used the BCP Orthocyclen for 7 years for my acne, am now off it & on BHRT. I went on it after reading It's My Ovaries Stupid by Elizabeth Vliet. The pill made sense at the time, now wondering if diet caused it. I developed adult acne after a decade of veganism. A book called The Shwarzbein Principle helped me understand the possible diet/endocrine connection. The co author of SP, Nancy Deville, has a new book called Healthy Sexy Happy which may help you as well. |
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Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:59 am |
I would recommend switching out your SA pads with a Paula's Choice BHA selection. I'm not too sure what ingredients are in the pads, but PC's BHA is very well formulated and many people use it even if they're not using anything else from her skin care line.
And I'm not really sure if you mentioned how long you used Retin-A for - I might've overlooked it, but it can take up to a year for there to be actual results for some people and there will be a rollercoaster of skin problems in between. It's up to you if you want to battle it out. |
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Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:37 pm |
| I'm not certain if the 302 product line is still around but the only product that I found helpful from their line was the 302 Acne serum....I would and still put it on when a bump appears and it is gone the next day |
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Dry - Combo Skin - added Retin A to my pm skincare regime on March 20, 2015---I have used Rosehip and coconut oil-daily-for over a year and this significally reduced my scarring and evened my skin tone |
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Wed Jun 15, 2011 11:32 am |
Acne is so unfortunate because an individualized program must be developed for any sufferer. I myself have tried topical and oral antibiotics, Proactiv, Mario Badescu, Clinique, Panoxl, birth control, any and all OTC remedies and more... all culminating with a session of Accutane when I was 21. The latter was the best choice for my skin, giving me the cyst-free face I'd yearned for.
Last year, I read the BEST book about the multi-causal symptoms of acne: "Breaking Out", by Lydia Preston. Incredible... it will chage your outlook on your skin and your LIFE!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_scat_283155_ln?rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Aacne&keywords=acne&ie=UTF8&qid=1308162476&scn=283155&h=d80b62092b8b517e57792339d4c484d216f74e40 |
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Wed Apr 29, 2020 11:28 am |
I know this thread is dead, and the website/forum is fraught with viruses due to it not being secured...
Regardless, I wanted to share my experience addressing starting out with 302. For acne/hormonal and sometimes cystic, with normal to sensitive aging skin, I found starting 302 with the Aging/Inflammation line. Learning how to use the products in that kit appropriately made a huge difference.
I added Vitamin A drops, Vit A mist, Inflammatory cleanser and moisturizer and acne/sulfur tx (which is wash off).
I found that most of their products are actually wash offs once I read the manual and understood how to actually use the products.
I would not write of 302, before giving it a good try. The acne intro kit, is not a great beginning for most of us that have complex skin issues and hormonal drivers and underling chronic inflammation.
The game changer for me was realizing how allmost everything I put on my skin triggered inflammation, even WATER!!! And the importance of cycling cleansers, and using most of the products as wash off treatments, led to the best success.
The 1oz sizes are actually cheap enough to trial the cleansers and moisturizers: my favorites: dry/sensitive, oily, inflammaed, 302.
Using the vitamin a drops while you are starting the line (3x weekly) with the vitamin a mist, is a wonderful way to realize the power of the product line. I also use the calming mist. You never know how your skin will react to the products, so having some calming products is always a good idea. |
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Life is the great teacher: Never Give up! Age 47 Sensitive/Combo/Hormonal Acne |
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