A few weeks ago I posted about my morning skincare routine and asked if you wanted to hear about how I cured my acne. I had a lot of comments and emails asking for my story, so here it is. I know a lot of people suffer from acne and if this post can help anyone I would be so thrilled. This is my story of the steps I have taken and products I have used, but keep in mind that this may or may not work for everyone.
Most of us have at least one physical feature we want to change: hair, weight, your nose, etc…, sadly we all have something. Since my early twenties, mine has been my skin. In my teen years I never had much of an issue with acne. I mean, sure, I had lots of black heads but that was from being a lazy teenager and not washing my face before bed to remove the layers of makeup. My pores are not thanking me for that now. It wasn’t until I was 19-21 that things took a turn for the worse, much worse. Like I said, I had acne before this, but it was normal puberty acne that a lot of teenagers deal with. Around my 19th birthday I developed deep nodules and cysts on the lower part of my face, neck and back. Gross I know. The blemishes were incredibly painful, not to mention embarrassing. I had no idea what the case was or why this was happening now. I thought, “I am an adult now, why am I breaking out like I am 14?!” Was it something I was eating? Was it the birth control I stopped taking? Was it the cigarettes I was smoking? (I am no longer a smoker) I had no clue what was making my face look like that. I started getting really depressed, so I decided to try to fix the problem without a dermatologist. I started buying and trying anything and everything I could to fix it. Over the last 8 years or so, I can honestly say that I’ve tried every product that Walgreens, Walmart, Target, oh, and Ulta could sell me. I even tried the stuff you see on infomercials.
When John and I started dating I was 22, and my acne was worse than ever. Thank god he loves me for me and not my face! I would complain to him on a daily basis about my skin. John suffered from acne when he was a teenager and was prescribed Accutane, which cleared this acne right up. He has been telling me for years to go see a dermatologist, but I wanted to find a way to fix it myself. So, fast forward to two years ago when I got pregnant with Charlotte. My acne was still running my life and I was still so depressed about it. I hated not feeling like I could step out of the house without makeup on. I LOVE makeup, but I didn’t want to feel like I had to have it on. When I got into my second trimester my acne started doing something I have never seen before – CLEARING UP! I thought it was some type of miracle! Well, I was wrong. For the rest of my pregnancy my skin stayed clear…but after she was born it came right back. I spent the next year counting the days until I was done breast feeding so I could finally go to the dermatologist. I am not a fan of going to the doctor or taking medication unless I seriously have to. This was one of those cases.
The day finally came when I was sitting in the dermatologist’s office, anxiously waiting to see what he would say. The nurse called me back in the room and asked me a few questions, then got up and said the Doc would be in shortly. A little while later he came in. We chitchatted while he looked at my skin. After a few minutes he described everything that I had been dealing with over the last few years and gave me some prescriptions to pick up. Honestly, I left feeling like, “OK so these creams and this one pill are going to change my skin? HA, OK we will see”. SO I headed to CVS to pick them up and $70 something dollars later I was at home Googling everything I could about the products. I did’t find too many positive reviews. But John told me to stop worrying and just try them to see if they would help. The pill that he prescribed me was an antibiotic by the name of Minocycline. I had never heard of anyone taking an antibiotic for acne, but apparently it is very common. There were two creams/gels as well. Finacea for the redness on my face and Desonate for my acne. I am pleased to tell you that between the cream/gel and the antibiotic, my cystic acne is GONE… GONE GONE ! I am so happy I finally went to visit the derm. He saved my skin from the embarrassing break outs. Butttt I still had moderate acne.
Around this same time I was sent a product by a company named Basq, that I spoke about in my Morning Skincare Routine. Basq mostly deals with stretch-mark and body products(side note the stretch-mark products work great review on those are coming soon), but they have a few facial products as well. Among the products they sent me to review was their Rebalancing Facial Cleanser. This cleanser is wonderful, it has cleared up my blackheads/ breakouts better than any product I have tried before. I have fewer small break outs around “that time of the month”, and my skin looks much more glowy and happy!
There are a few other products I want to give a shout out to for their efforts as well. Neutrogena Clear Pore Oil-Eliminating Astringent, as my toner. Purity Made Simple by Philosophy (not pictured since I was almost out) for washing off my makeup. Olay Pro-X Cleansing Brush, I use this with both cleansers. And last but not least the Neutrogena Microdermabrasion System, I use this twice a week to gently exfoliate my skin.
I know that diet also has a lot to do with acne, so I am doing my best to cut out problem foods, or at least eat them in moderattion. That is definitely a work in progress for me.
So that is my little story about how I cured my acne. Remember that most acne can be cured with a good skincare routine and a healthy diet. But if you are someone like me that struggled with this for years, please don’t waste thousands of dollars on products that just will not cure you acne. Spend the money, go to the doctor!
Do you know others ways to cure acne? If so I would love to hear your success story! Leave comments below or on social media!