Products and Medications Worsening Your Acne? Seems like There’s No Hope? Hold On, Because There Is!

Basically, our skin naturally, was structured for it to be able to control and maintain itself, just like how our body produces certain amount of hormones and etc to maintain homeostasis. It produces the optimum amount of moisture, and etc… Naturally, it’s not flawful and acne prone. (There are exceptions however, just like some people are born without limbs, some people are born with a skin very prone to acne. Now, of course I took this into consideration so I wrote down on my first post who I believe would benefit the most from this (ie: people who have no acne anywhere else except their face))

Now, the problem with some of us is that we use SO much medications, chemicals, and etc at our mild or even low moderate acne that eventually and overtime, the chemicals contained on these products (BP included) destroy our skin structures. In analogy, it’s just like bombarding a city to eliminate all the bad guys, but at the same time, killing innocent ones.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

I am an acne sufferer. WAS an acne sufferer. I followed my research and experimented in my own skin. After a year, my results were excellent.

Here are mini updates I wrote in my journals regarding my condition:

UPDATES AND PROGRESS (Descending Order)

1/11/06 UPDATE: Well… what can I say – I’m clear. Been clear for many months. I can officially say that my skin has finally recovered from all these chemical damages done from commercial products such as Pro-Activ, Murad, BP, and etc… I don’t care about my skin anymore. I don’t take care of it, don’t look at it, and even go against my diet advices. Why? Because I never get BAD BREAKOUTS anymore, even when after eating boxes and boxes of chocolates, pizza, and spicy stuff. I’m glad I started this. It’s been a struggle waiting paitiently and faithfully, but my God, it was worth it.

7/16/05 UPDATE: (what I wrote in my last post in this thread) I just want to bump this article for one last time. Every since I’ve been following my theory religiously, I keep getting better and better results. Now, which has been many many many months since I’ve started my product, my face is entirely different. Because my skin has REGENERATED AND REPLACED my old one that I had when I first wrote this thread, it is now completely new skin, undamaged and untouched by SKIN DAMAGING medication and products. Results? My own skin’s natural defenses and structure keeps me from having acne. I am now, 99% clear! 99% only, because I have two which after many months of being clear, appeared. They’re both fading now though.

EVEN MY REDMARKS FROM THE MOST RECENT PIMPLES now disappear QUICKLY (just weeks!), instead of waiting for 6 or so months! I don’t know why, but it’s probably because of my new and undamaged skin which can now properly repair itself.

3/24/05 UPDATE: It has been 5 to 6 months since I have started my regimen. For the first 3 months, I was getting results, but I still have acne (small ones). My acne never became worse since the third month. The next month, I have been improving, but slowly. I however, could not get past 3 BIG acnes. Everytime those 3 BIG acnes disappear, new ones appear. It was annoying. Every surface of my face is clear from acne though, but full of redmarks, which are worse than acne. At that point, my face responds to my DIET sensitively. Everytime I eat more than 3 pizza slices, I break out BIG TIME, but usually, small ones accompanied by a BIG ONE. In the past month, 5 months after this regimen, BIG acne has been reduced, and appear randomly in numbers, but never getting past 3. Sometimes, I get only one, then it would disappear, then the next week, two, then disappear. However, every other surface of my face is clear. Now, I don’t have any BIG ONES, just one left, and even though it has been there for a while, I don’t grow anymore acne, even small ones. I can now say that I am 95% clear, except for that one BIG one, and some small ones which aren’t really noticeable unless it’s really sunny and my face is magnified on a clear clear clear mirror. I am glad I found out this regimen early. I really am. I now wear make-up because my red marks are not completely healed. My skin texture has also improved, and has finally repaired itself, although not fully. I can’t wait to see my fully recovered, and hopefully, free from redmarks and acne 5 months from now. I will still wear make-up though, because I seem to get fond of them already. I rarely get breakouts now because my skin has repaired itself, and because of that, my resistance to acne has greatly increased, that even if I eat more than 5 slices of pizza, I don’t get anymore breakouts – maybe little ones, but I don’t know since I don’t look at my face in a magnifying glass anymore. I however, do have mild scars on some areas. I know there’s nothign I could do with them, but they’re not that bad, and with makeup, they look ok.

1/31/05 DISCOVERY: Alright, I have discovered something from experience, observation, collection of data, forums, people, etc. Wonder why you inherit acne form your parents? Well, no, you don’t inherit acne from parents, but rather, their skin type. Acne is not inherited. No one in this world has a skin that is totally immune to acne, and no, not even the clear people you see today. Why so? It is because their skin type is one that is very strong from acquiring acne. Many of us who have acne are fated to have them because our skin is not strong enough, therefore, a little disturbance into our skin, such as hormonal changes, diet, and etc that alters our skin will make us breakout. This is why DIET very much affects acne. Well, why is it that even though you eat a box of chocolate and still not breakout while everything else makes you break out? Well, everyone has some kind of line, which depends on the strength of their digestive system, that they cannot cross. What I mean is that everyone can eat chocolate, sweets, etc, just as long as they don’t cross that line because once you cross that line, then that’s when what you eat affects your acne. The thing is: EVERYONE HAS DIFFERENT LINES. This is why some people believe that diet does not affect acne at all. It is because they haven’t crossed that line yet, which is maybe because of the effectiveness of their digestive system or etc. If you don’t believe this, how about you try eating a room full of chocolates, that would for sure cross anyone’s line.

You’re really curious, so let’s begin the topic

Just a note: This is not an absolute cure/prevention for acne. There is none. This however, will prevent acne up to 90% and the rest is up to diet, and etc. Also, this Regimen prevents us from the damaging effects of medications and commercial products. Read on to find out more

So…Is this Miracle method? Nope, but it absolutely works!

Why? Because 10% of acne sufferers in this world are the only ones that have REAL ACNE. The rest of us don’t. Then why do you have acne? Read on for more information.

Have you tried all medications available in the market, but acne still breaks out out from their shells? Well, guess what, you may have been thinking that you have a serious uncurable acne, but really, you might not.

If you have acne in face, mild to none on chest and back, or limbs and pubic area, and have tried all products including proactiv, benzoyl peroxide, anti-biotics, etc, but acne still exists and have become worst, then here’s a reality check:

You are not suffering from a serious genetic acne or terrible unbalanced sebum production, but rather, your own works. Because of your paranoia, you use all these kinds of products from half-effective ProActiv, Murad, BP, and etc, and because of that, your face gets irritated and thinned and becomes worse, that your own face, from your own works, becomes more prone to acne).

– -SO ALL THOSE COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS? THOSE ARE BS, and guess what, of course they minimize acne production, but the thing is, its maximum effect is just that, and nothing else. You may have had clear days that lasted for a week or two, but that’s it. Pure luck. Now, it is proper to wonder why even after using ProActiv, Murad, BP, and etc for over a year, you still have breakouts even with your optimized diet – –

– -Also, your parents have little or no acne, which was present only in their teen, and your siblings don’t have acne as serious as yours. How about you figure out what they’re doing. They’re not using as much medications as you right? – –

(for a few only) Have you noticed that areas with acne, or had acne that you neglected before, is now clear? I had back acne, but I neglected it because no one sees my back anyways. So, after many months, or, maybe just weeks, my back is clear without me doing anything! Unbelievable? Yes, but TRUE!

Also, my forehead was the place of my first breakout. However, just like my back, not many sees my forehead because I made my front hair long and so, I just ignored it too. Until then, my forehead is clear!

Why, and how? I’ll get more into that later.

If you ask me, I regret being manipulated by commercials and descriptions to buy expensive acne products, only to make your skin TRULY DEPENDENT on them.

– -If you’ve been lurking around the internet, there are many posts about how people cured/prevented their acne by just using vinegar, or baking soda, or water, or lemon, etc, without prescription/over-the-counter drugs, or accutane.

Guess what? Those people are right. ALMOST right. While there are many who disagree with them and also those who bash them because their face have become worse, it is because we have different skin types.

So this method is only for specific number, but majority of people:

If your parents do not have acne right now, or that if they have little or no trace of scarring; if you have acne only on your face, and only in specific areas where you keep putting medications; if acne only exists on a section of your face; if you rarely get neck acne; if you have mild to moderate, but not serious acne on back or chest; if you have no acne growing on pubic area; if you have little or no acne growing on your limbs; if once in your lifetime, you have not been using medications, and as a result, you barely notice that your’re clearing up, but when you continued medications, your acne flared up again, and became maybe worse for the first few weeks, then this method will work for you!

If all or most of those characteristics fit you, and you have no serious acne at all, so how about you listen to this: STOP YOUR MEDICATIONS. Well, of course, if you stop them, you would flare up pretty badly (maybe), and that you would lose courage, but if you trust me, and you have tremendous amount of luck, then you might not break out too bad, or even at all. But, read on, and I’ll talk about how to prevent bad breakouts after stopping medications.

Ok, I already said that you must stop your medications, but here’s another thing: have you ever noticed that the more you put medications, that area does not stop acne, but rather, still exists with even the slightest bumps. It may have stopped big acnes, but why do you still have slight bumps? Well, it is because the more you use medications, the more you irritate your skin, and destroy your glands, and disrupt the repair process, thus thinning your skin and permanently destroying your glands and making you more prone to acne. Now, for some of us, that’s the reason why our parent’s and sibling’s face is scar and zit free, unless they use the same medication as you do.

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Here’s a detailed explanation and steps on what should you do.

In order to prevent flare ups after you stop your medications, you must slowly decrease the amount or strength you use to your acne. For example, if you’ve been using benzoyl peroxide, when you stop it, damn, you’d get a hell of breakouts. Now, what, what should you do? Slow down the reaction by applying nothing in your face except vinegar, or to some, Cetaphil or anything as gentle as that. I’m not explaining how that works, but there’s many posts about that. Of course, you will still break out, even after a month of stopping your medications and using vinegar.

However, after two or three months of using vinegar, you will certainly notice very very noticeable improvements both on your acne prevention and red marks. At that time, it is safe to stop the vinegar, and now, just apply one solution: WATER.

You might have little breakouts after you quit the vinegar and have a transition to water, but don’t worry, they won’t last long: maybe at most, a month. However, these aren’t big breakouts. And, if you breakout, apply vinegar still, but make it a spot treatment. Because guess what, Vinegar is great great great on pulling out the white stuff, or puss, to the surface. In three days, that big pimple will be ready to pop, and you won’t even have to pop it, because even by leaving it by itself will pop itself. However, the vinegar should just be applied as on-the-spot treatment.

At this point, you may have a lot of red marks from previous breakouts. Don’t worry though, they’ll disappear soon. However, it will take months or weeks for the lucky ones. Hydroquinone creams would work. Do not use them for more than a month though since I don’t think prolonged use of hydroquinone is safe. If you have red marks, buy those chinese Pearl Cream or Placenta Creams because they’re great on recovering and rebuilding skin. They contain nutritions needed to help rebuild skin.

Alright, well, now you’re applying water as your morning and night treatment. I advise you to not wash your face more than twice. How about when you’re having stressed days? How about when you have to stay late at night for homework or other stuff? Well, here’s what you do. Carefully observe your skin under a light using a small clear handy mirror. If you see that your skin is getting oily, and really oily, then it is probably time to wash – with just water. I prefer hot water.

However, at those stressed nights, still have a limit on how much you wash your face. Three to four times is the MAX. Continue with the water, I prefer HOT WATER, but not too hot. Just the max the faucet can go. So after a month of just using water and maybe those chinese placenta creams and sunscreen (I prefer sunscreens with collagen and vitamin E), your face should be clearing up. Maybe a little bumps, but those are really nothing and won’t be noticeable. After many many months of just using water and nothing else, you’ll finally be fully independent from medications and even vinegar! Congratulations.

Remember however, this is a process that needs a lot of patience, courage, and common sense.

I really hope I figured this sooner. I really could have prevented acne earlier and its scars.

Good luck everyone.

Here’s some proven working tips to minimize breakouts. I do some of them, and sometimes, none of them, but I still don’t get breakouts anymore! Why? Because my skin is not so thin and damaged anymore from Medications! However, if I like go back to Benzoyl Peroxide, I would certainly have to follow all of these tips because I will become even more prone to acne. But why should I go back to BP if I have clear skin already?

-NO SALT and NO SUGAR. I am exagerrating, because in order to function, we need those, but it’s the my only way of saying minimize salt and sugar intake. Unfortunately, this really affects acne.
-Irregular Sleeping does not cause acne, but stress does. It causes more oil production. If you read all the rest of my paragraphs, you should know what to do about this.
-Exercise a lot! It might help, but I really don’t know. However, do it still since it’s good for your body and attraction points.
-This tip works: Drink water an hour or two before and after eating. Works for me, and many others. Very good advice to follow
-Green Tea is good. I don’t know if it helps prevent acne, but it makes you poop more and release all toxins effectively.
-Gargling Baking Soda and water helps prevent bad breath
-Vinegar a day gets the puss away
-Don’t touch, or pick, or even feel your face
-Eat right
-Chocolate and sweets are really bad. To a degree, you can eat, but once you pass a certain line, it will soon cause damage to your skin.
-search for topics with keywords: Vinegar, Baking Soda, Lemon, No washing.
-FINALLY, my last and best tip! For RED Marks, Baking Soda is better than VINEGAR. It is very gentle and works like magic. Let it stay for an hour or so at your face, then rinse.

There you go.

Have fun.

Remember, there are no overnight solutions, not even weekly solutions, but there are monthly solutions, and this one is the greatest one.

Also, bums don’t have acne, and people in the past rarely get acne, so think about it.

In conclusions, here’s some of the Regimen tips:
-If you have been using medications such as Benzoyl Peroxide, and choose to follow this great Regimen, a good transition product would be Vinegar, then finally to Water
-Some effects of transitions would probably be initial breakouts. However, if you follow the tips I’ve given above, you could minimize it
-Use the transition product, ie: Vinegar, or something else, for at least a month or two. Then, when all the big zits and cysts have gone (Vinegar is great for that), and when all that’s left are typical mild acnes, then start the Water
-Water is best when kinda hot. I haven’t tried with cold water because hot water has been working, and if it ain’t broke, don’t change it. Also, hot water seems to be more effective in washing off the oil and stuff, so go with hot water
-However, each of our skin are different. There’s a line between too hot and not hot enough. Me, I use the Maximum hot water my faucet can give, which doesn’t really irritate my skin. Ya, it will be red for a minute because water is hot.
-Maximum washing time: 30 seconds or less. No scrubbing or stuff needed. Just gentle swipe.
-When drying it, just pat the towel. And there you go. I however, advise you to put sun block (I prefer ones with Vit. E and Collagen) 5 minutes after you washed your face in the Morning.
-At night, I prefer some kind of regeneration cream. Chinese stuff works such as Placenta creams that has nutrients for the skin. Stuff with collagen and Vit. A, E and etc are great too. Just remember that it has to be non-comedogenic.
-Also, if you have school or work, when you get home, wash your face and put some kind of cream. Not a moisturizing cream. That totals to 3 washes. Morning, middle wash, and night wash.

Note: The point of the transition product is to minimize breakouts when going from medication to water. Going directly from medication to water would be a breakout galore.

Good luck and HAVE FUN!