Hellobee Boards

Mine has been really bad this pregnancy. I actually just bought some clean and clear spot treatment to help. I haven’t had acne products for at least a decade because I didn’t really need it. I’ll update if I see any improvement

I had it so bad the last 2 years but after buying so many different products finally found something that seems to be working for me.

Nighttime:
- Dr Bronner’s organic coconut oil to remove makeup. Must be this brand of coconut oil as others seemed to clog my pore.
- Skinceuticals LHA Cleanser gel to wash face
- target brand benzoyl perioxide acne spot treatment on my forehead, chin and jawline.
- then The Ordinary Azelaic Acid Suspension all over face
- eye cream

Morning:
- SkinCeuticals LHA Cleanser Gel to wash face
- The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% gel all over face
- The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA face lotion

This routine has made a 1000% improvement in my skin and I haven’t had a breakout in months and my skin is actually glowing. I’m just so happy that I love to share with people. Hope this helps!

@meadow: honestly I was hesitant for that reason but I haven’t noticed any bleaching with the amount I use. But I do make sure I use white washcloths

This is a major struggle for me! Honestly the two things that have helped the most were a prescription for spironolactone and a retinoid rx. The spironolactone really helped so much and I noticed a major difference in how painful and inflamed my breakouts were right away. I took that for about 9 months and it helped get me sort of back to neutral. The retinoid helps keep me there. I’ve also noticed that I do have some diet triggers, chocolate and yogurt. At this point I get the occasional painful cyst and sometimes have two at a time but it’s so much better than when my whole chin and jaw was red and pulsing with knotted cysts.

@Jennibenni: Just saw your response! I was wondering if I would need to stay on the Rx forever or not!? Sounds like you ditched it and are still experiencing clear skin - yay!

@jennibenni same. I'm on spironolactone and a rx retinoid. Also use Aczone rx topical. The retinoid does dry out my skin so I don't use any other topical treatments.

I take my makeup off with oil (Mac cleanse off oil), then wash with Cerave ultra hydrating cleanser. Then Aczone, then retinoid, then Cerave night cream. If I'm really dry, I add Cerave PM night lotion in between the Aczone and retinoid.

In the morning, I wash or just rinse my face, then Cerave PM night lotion (it's very thin), then Cerave AM lotion with sunscreen, then makeup.

My acne isn't *gone* but it's definitely improving. I started spiro, aczone, and the retinoid about 3 months ago.

Honestly the aggravating part is that I've always had very oily, acne prone skin and for the first time in my life, my skin is *dry*! So none of my makeup or skincare works and I have no idea what to use.

I get hormonal acne but I suspect I make it worse by having a crappy diet and not eating enough water, I’m also a picker so any pimples I have are made worse by me picking at them (this has been a problem for most of my teenage and adult years).

I do find that using Trilogy Rosehip oil on my face does at least help promote healing and I’ve just starting taking a hormone blend of hemp and evening primrose oil (plus something else) so hopefully that will help.

Trying to remember I think it was about 40/month. Part of the premise is that too many products can be overwhelming. So it is a simple three step cleanser, moisturizer, and tailored to your needs prescription cream. Just those until your skin is happy then you can slowly add fave products back in if you wish and see how your skin does.

My skin went insane when I went off birth control pills in my low 20s. I always had acne, but it was pretty mild for years until then. I had horrible cystic acne that covered my cheeks and made me feel awful. I tried everything under the sun to get rid of it, but I finally ended up taking a 6 month course of accutane at 25 and that's what helped the most.

I did deal with some acne after accutane, but nowhere near as bad as before. Pregnancy seemed to help as well and I havent dealt with more than a random pimple or two throughout my entire pregnancy and now 8 months later I'm still acne free.

I have some indented scars from how terrible my acne was and wish I did accutane sooner to avoid some of the marks on my skin.