You may or may not have noticed that I hardly ever use close-ups of my face when I do personal-style posts. That's partly because I want to showcase the fashion and not my face, but it's also because my face is seldom clear. As it turns out, I'm joined by a fairly large portion of my demographic (hormonal acne affects 45% of women between 21 and 30, according to a study cited in this New York Times article.) Dermatologists aren't in agreement about the best approach to fixing the problem, which makes ridding ourselves of it that much more complicated and frustrating.
My Skin
I'm convinced that prolonged stress is what's caused the two bouts of cystic acne I've had in my life. At 19, I chose the wrong college for me but felt I had to remain there for financial reasons. Trying to convince myself to be happy in an environment that was not conducive to my happiness was a toxic way of living, and it showed on my face. My dermatologist prescribed an antibiotic (doxycyline) to me, and after taking it for a few months, and then spending the summer at home, the acne cleared, with little scarring.
The next case of acne came a year and a half ago when I was living in my husband's small-ish hometown in South Africa. My situation in South Africa was another one in which I was not entirely happy but was trying to convince myself to be. I was surrounded by the natural beauty of mountains, oceans, lakes, and estuaries, and I had returned to this country after having an intense love affair with it when I studied abroad my junior and senior years of college.
 |
| This is where we lived. |
But this time, things were different. I was in a more isolated town, there were no other Americans or foreigners in our friend group, I didn't have my own housing (lived with my in-laws), I had limited access to jobs (no work permit), and I felt that I didn't have an identity outside of my husband. This perceived lack of control of my social, financial, personal, and professional life produced in me a perfect storm of stress. Add the guilt I allowed myself to feel for not being happy in such a beautiful place, and you'll have what I believe to be the trigger of my current cystic acne. While I was in South Africa, I tried antibiotics for two months, but they didn't work.
When I returned back to America to live, the acne didn't go away. It's been about nine months since I've been back, and I'm still breaking out on my cheeks and jawline. However, in the past few weeks, I have seen improvements in the number and size of breakouts. So here are some of the things that I'm thinking could be playing a part in these improvements.
Possible Solutions
1. For the past month, I've cut coffee from my daily diet, replacing it with chai, chamomile, and peppermint tea. I only started drinking coffee on a daily basis when I was living in South Africa, so the inclusion of coffee in my diet could have been contributing to my acne.
.JPG)
.JPG "chamomile, peppermint, and chai tea")
2. I'm on my third month of Lutera, a birth-control pill. Balancing my hormones could be helping, though I didn't notice any improvements until now--my third month on it. I was hesitant to take bc again because I had had a bad experience with Yaz a few years back, but Lutera has been pretty good to me in terms of physical and mental side effects, and it may be the reason why my acne is not as severe now.
.JPG)
3. I started using this organic sugar scrub. It's deep cleaning, and it leaves your skin feeling soft but not greasy. I follow it with either tea tree soap or African black soap from the same shop. I truly believe that this scrub is central to my recent success with limiting the breakouts.
.JPG "Organic sugar scrub, All Good Things Soap Shop, Madison, Indiana, Acne Reducer")
4. I have a stable job, and I work for people I love. The job provides me with purpose, keeps me challenged and keeps my mind active, and gives me financial security. This all reduces my stress.
And that's about it. The type of makeup I wear (or don't wear) doesn't affect my acne much. And the expensive Clinique acne products that my grandma insisted I try really didn't help much either (except for the dark spot serum--that stuff is pretty good for scarring.) But, yeah, maybe keep in mind that price does not always guarantee effectiveness. So there you have it. I'm crossing my fingers that I continue to see improvements.
hey tara,
ReplyDeletei'm glad that stuff is working for you. i agree with going the natural route. my face has had issues pretty much since 15 (some self-induced), but has really improved over the last couple of years from living in pak where there is a lot of cheap oil and natural alternatives. p.s. miss ya
Adrienne! Hey! I miss you too. What kind of oils worked best for the type of skin problems you were having?
ReplyDeleteUgh. Cystic acne. I started getting my beautiful red patches of acne on my cheeks and jawline my junior year of high school. The medications the dermatologist gave me then actually did more harm than good I think. I did the benzycline, benzamyacine, and some other crap in a tube I can't remember...something that started with a D. Birth control seemed to help, but the bouts would still come and go.
ReplyDeleteBy my sophomore year in college, I hopped on the Accutane train and never turned back. Sara took that stuff too and she swore it is what fixed her skin too. It changes the way your oil gland produce/secrete oil (kind of scary but being sad all the time about my face was worse to me). I don't know if it is still on the market, but it might be worth looking in to. Maybe there is something similar on the market. There ARE side-effects. I felt really moody and depressed, but who knows if that was just because of my situation our sophomore year and how unhappy I was being in Evanshell in general. It was only 3 months of treatment though (I think), and 3 months of moodiness was worth ridding my face of cystic acne.
Anyway, it sounds like you've found a routine that might be working for you - which is great!! My dermatologist said one of the big things a lot of people overlook is routine and moisturizer. A lot of people don't want to use moisturizer because they fear breakouts but lack of moisture actually leads to breakouts. Astringents are really good too. I use the Seabreeze sensitive skin formula, and just regular Oil of Olay moisturizer (pink bottle). Everyone's skin is different though so I'd just stick with what you're using if it is working.
Something that I SWEAR helped my skin was never towel drying my face because there is SO MUCH bacteria on towels. I leave it wet after showering and then put a pea size amount of face lotion on my face on top of the water. It feels slimy at first, but the water helps lock the moisture in my skin, but since I'm using so little, it doesn't leave it greasy. I think it also has helped with wrinkles! I don't really have "crows feet" or the standard wrinkles of our age and I attribute it to this routine. I've been applying moisturizer this way since I was a sophomore in college because the Accutane made my skin so dry. This was my solution!
I also wash my pillow cases semi-regularly and sleep with my hair in a ponytail... lots of bacteria on the cases and your hair oils can cause breakouts too.
I don't know if any of this is useful to you at all, but I feel your pain. Cystic acne is the worst. :(
<3 Kate
p.s. I miss you! I need to come to MN soon.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, Kate! I remember you telling me about your process of applying your daily lotion. I've tried it and like it a lot. It really traps in the moisture! I think a post about finding the right moisturizer would be an interesting one. What moisturizer do you use? I still haven't found one my skin particularly loves. And, oh, yeah, the doc in SA listed accutane as an option for me, but she suggested that I try everything else first.
ReplyDelete