Adult Acne - I can't be the only one! (Calamine Lotion update - TY Lively!)

I blame the IUD. I didn't really have a problem with acne UNTIL I got the damn IUD. I had it removed in February because we are TTC after the wedding next month, but my face has never been the same. Neither have my damn hormones for that matter. Sorry you have to deal with this! I'm praying that it won't be TOO bad for the wedding, but I'm not holding my breath either. I wash my face every day and every night too, so it's not like I don't try to take care of it. All I can say is, thank God for concealers.

I had the same issues as Randi and Claire, I had really bad cystic acne when I was in high school. I took accutane and I don't get pimples at all on my face. I love using the clairsonic to exfoliate and I highly recommend it with a good skin cleanser. Proactive made my acne WAY worse. Although now I have some back acne from working out all the time but Neutrogena Body Spray keeps it under control.

@Lively I've never heard of using calamine lotion before! I may have to try that. It would definitely be a less expensive fix!

I had really bad cystic acne in high school but now it's mainly not cystic. It's weird though... when I was a teen I mostly broke out on my forehead, between my eyebrows, and on my chin. Now it's around my mouth, my nose, my cheeks, and chest. The area around my mouth is the worst though

OP - This is what I have been using.

http://www.askderm.com/miracle-skin-transformer-miracle-revival-mud?gdftrk=gdfV210337_a_7c4054_a_7c11839_a_7cMIR0014&gclid=CjwKEAjw0NytBRD-1d3QsdHNpR0SJACGXqgRonZyNOAIQ9QswC-UUxg2JCdjHtQv9LqMOEF2o2NEtBoCllPw_wcB

I have also had very bad acne since puberty. It sucks! Nothing topical ever works for me (proactiv, prescription stuff, OTC stuff). The only two things that have ever worked are BC (this works the best). I had a good experience with Loryna (generic YAZ) and now am on nuvaring (on for like 6 months now and it has finally cleared up my skin). And antibiotics (I might go on these shortly before the wedding if I need to- a backup plan). Accutane was suggested, but its so intense and scary to me- (I know someone who got pregnant on it, depression runs in my family- and my doc told me it should be fine, but still, etc.) I just feel like my skin will explode when I go off BC to try to get pregnant

Honestly, go see a dermatologist! I had beautiful skin in high school- my senior pictures had zero retouching done. Then when I went to college, I went through like a second puberty and had a lot of breakouts. I used proactiv for awhile and that helped. When I hit 22, it was like my skin changed overnight and I still got breakouts, but my skin became very dry -- which only made my breakouts worse. Since then, I've had what I would consider pretty good skin, but I would get cystic pimples near my period that wouldn't go away for 3 weeks or MORE. As we got closer to the wedding, I just wasn't having it and finally just went to a dermatologist. She prescribed 2 topical creams, one to use in the morning and one to use at night. It cleared my skin up completely.

Oh y'all, I wish i had seen this post sooner! I was on Accutane for five months in 2010. It worked WONDERS - but (I am so sorry to be a debbie downer) do not think that it works forever. I had friends that warned me that they had to go on it again about five years later - and, well, in September of last year...I started breaking out again in a massive way on my cheeks. When I got engaged, I finally said screw it and went to the derm. Nothing worked (antibiotics NEVER do anything...or topicals) until they put me on Aczone and Spiralactone, but if that hadn't worked, I would have been back on Accutane.

Don't get me wrong - I will forever swear by accutane and tell you that the side effects are worth enduring for a little. But don't be surprised if it isn't forever!

Also, while we're on the topic, if your lips are super chapped from Accutane - this stuff works MIRACLES. It is the ONLY thing that worked on my chapped, peeling lips.: http://www.drdanslipbalm.com/products/dr-dans-cortibalm

So many questions for all the gals on Accutane! First if my wedding is 3 months away should I try it or is the dry skin thing going to be an issue? Is there any way to be pro-active about the dry skin or even lotion up all the time will it still be bad?

@Athena I think it might be too late - but it depends on each persons situation. As for dry skin, the biggest thing that helps me is just drinking a lot, lot, lot of water. I would say that a dermatologist would likely be your best bet - they can tell you what will/will not work three months out, but if you choose to go, you should go now - most things take about 1.5 months to start REALLY working.

Surprisingly, my face is my only clear spot....I have poor skin everywhere else.. I have KP on my arms and legs and I get BACK ACNE. Ugh, it's so uncomfortable and against bra straps. It's gotten much better since going on BC, but truthfully, my diet and water intake helped a lot! A clarisonic brush was also worked into my routine and that somewhat helped.

I'm not sure how many of these results are in my head! My skin still isn't clear but it's definitely better.

I've always had acne -- it's never been super bad, but I'll always have a few pimples here and there. Like you, OP, it's now more around my mouth and on my cheeks than when it was when I was a teenager. I know hormones have a lot to do with it.

Someone suggested I try a facial bar made with activated charcoal and I LOVE it!!! Lush makes one that I tried first and fell in love. It helps keep my oil in check without drying out my skin and now I only get breakouts around my period. Biore also makes one that I like that's a little bit cheaper than Lush's. I actually use it as my body soap, too, and my breakouts on my chest and back from working out have pretty much disappeared. If you're not at the point where you want to see a dermatologist, it might be worth it to try that!

@Athena, I would not try it so close to your wedding... I seem to remember my acne getting worse on it before getting better and just in case you have a bad reaction (god forbid) it would suck to have to deal with that pre-wedding

I've had acne for years, and nothing has helped. A few years a go, my face was just getting better. Then my Crohn's flared up and the inflammation went right to my cheeks. Recently, I was on anti-biotics, aczone, clindamaycin and spironolactone. spironolactone gave me a really bad reaction, and i couldn't catch my breath working out (it is a drug that was originally for blood pressure, but found it helped block female hormones better. IF YOU ARE ON THIS DO NOT GET PREGNANT. it has serious side effects if you are pregnant with a boy). i'm at the point where i just say screw it. right now i'm using Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay Deep Pore Cleansing. I hope it's making it worse before it gets better.

I gotcha Laura! Is there a reason you did five months instead of six? I'm always curious about that because my derm refers to a six month treatment as normal.

And Athena - don't. Not this close to the wedding, so sorry! I heard about people having the worst breakout of their life when they first started Accutane, and WHOA was that the truth. It got worse before it got better (but then it got way better). But even after it starts getting better, while you're on Accutane your skin gets super dry. Like, it can get insanely dry--cracked, peeling, bleeding lips, yuck.

And then there is always the chance of other side effects too. FH didn't have any other side effects when he did it, but the other side effects I have experienced include but are not limited to:

-the flu

-an infection in my mouth

-extreme sensitivity to the sun (apparently I'm a vampire now? Less than an hour in the sun, WEARING SUNSCREEN WITH SPF ONE HUNDRED, caused me to break out in an itchy rash from the sunlight)

Glad I asked thanks ladies!!! I will definitely try this when I get back from the honeymoon though!

I had terrible acne until about 4 years ago. My derm took one look at my face, literally just said "hormones," and wrote my a prescription for BC.

My skin is basically perfect now, minus a little scarring from my teen years. I wear Bare Minerals makeup because it's light, and I've been on that pill ever since. If you were on a pill and it wasn't working, it may not have been the right pill. My derm said that some pills are much better than others, and a pill that doesn't have the right hormone levels won't be effective. I take a generic of Yasmin and it's been amazing for me.

I use to get light to moderate acne, even on the pill. I read this dumb sounding tip and tried it, and I really do swear by it. It will probably not solve your problem completely, but it will certainly help (and it's cheap and easy). Essentially, I place a new, clean, hand towel over my pillow every night (or you could flip the towel over once). I've been doing this for about 6 months now and have only had 4 or 5 major pimples. It does generate a lot more laundry, but generally worth it for me.

Ladies who have said that iuds have been problems, which ones have you been on? I'm thinking of switching to iud after the wedding but I'm nervous.

I won't been able to get in to talk to a doctor about the medication suggestions for a week or so but I tried @Lively's suggestion of calamine lotion for the last two nights and it's actually dried up my little forehead pimples!! Not the bigger more troublesome ones tho they *maybe* look slightly less inflamed. THANK YOU Lively! I can't believe I never knew about using calamine lotion. Definitely worth the $4 the bottle cost me.

I'm like you - I feel like I've had acne my whole life (awesome!). I recently tried Mario Basescu's line and I swear, overnight, things were different. The drying lotion is my favorite thing in the world (and it has some of the calamine lotion in it too), the enzyme cleanser is nice, and I love all the masks. I buy at Ulta, but they do free samples online.