So, got bad acne?

Everything else
1

I’ve been plagued with pretty bad skin my entire life, well past the whole “outgrow it with puberty” conventional wisdom (I’m like 34 now). I’ve pretty much done everything – antibiotics, Retin-A, and yes, Accutane (THREE TIMES). The Accutane worked but had tremendously fucked up side effects that linger to this day.

Anyway, I heard about a book* called “The Acne Cure” that kind of lays out a basic program to ditch acne and figured wth, I’ll get it used on Amazon for $5. First warning sign: it’s written by a plastic surgeon, not a dermatologist.

So I’m already at -1 on the skepticism scale, but I start reading it, and basically the entire book is summed up in a single chapter – the rest is just background and elaboration.

Dubrow is basically anti-oral antibiotics, his justification being that according to most clinical studies they’re less effective than benzoyl peroxide. And theoreticaly they are also, since P. acnes apparently becomes resistant to doxycycline et. al. but has no resistant to BP.

He’s also anti-Accutane because of its side effects and the fact that no one actually knows how it works.

Okay, so the basic regimen is this:

  1. Stop using soap for your face. Stop using anything with detergents or abrasives since they make things worse. And stop squeezing your zits (since that can lead to scarring).
  2. In the mornings clean your face (or chest or whatever) with a 2% salicylic acid solution, available at any drug store.
  3. Follow with a 10% glycolic acid treatment.
  4. Put on an SPF15/30 oil-free
  5. In the evening, he goes a little wacko. First, do the 2% salicylic again.
  6. Then, and this is weird, he recommends icing down the areas that are inflamed (red) until they’re very cold to touch, and the use refrigerated 2.5% BP followed by a cold pack for 15 minutes.

I didn’t bother with the cold pack thing (his justification is that cold is one of the most effective anti-inflammatory things you can do, and you want to reduce inflammation to get BP deep down).

After 1 week the difference was noticeable, after 8 weeks I’m pretty much clear now, or at least 90% better than before. Amazing shit.

Things like diet and exercise can affect things as well, but they’re definitely second order compared to proper maintenance.

Note: while Dubrow now has endorsed a specific skin care system, at the time of the book he didn’t and listed a bunch of brands from others.

Having your skin clear up is one step more uncomfortable than losing weight in the compliments department, because no one likes to say “Hey, you look much thinner!” (implication: you are/were fat) and they REALLY don’t like saying “Hey, your skin has cleared up a lot!” (implication: lol pizza face).

I recommend reading the book, but if you don’t want to bother, the above steps have worked tremendously for me. If you shave he recommends NOT getting a very smooth shave since that leads to in-grown hairs. A single blade razor or an electric razor are his recommendations.

I know this is awfully personal stuff, but as an acne sufferer for 20+ years I’m finally feeling pretty good about my skin and I’ll suffer through some net embarrassment if it helps others.

  • Swear to God, this isn’t some viral bullshit.
2

Bravo, BTG. I’ve known lots of people with similar problems who would love to know about this kind of stuff. Thanks for sharing.

3

Another recommendation I received in my teens was to drink a lot of water as it helps with detoxing. How scientific this actually is I don’t know but it certainly seemed to help.

4

Another recommendation I received in my teens was to drink a lot of water as it helps with detoxing.

Drinking lots of water helps your health in general. A lot of good healthy practices – eating well, taking your antioxidants, leeches, etc. – will probably help your skin, but basically what it comes down to is that acne forms for a specific set of common scientifically understood reasons and you have to kill those reasons to avoid it.

That’s why this book is nice – it basically says “You probably heard the one paragraph summary of what acne is from your dermatologist, and while technically correct, it’s close to useless to understand what’s REALLY going on”

Dubrow’s “cure” is basically a multifold attack against all the different factors. For example, BP is just an antibacterial agent that kills off the bacteria that cause the actual inflamed pustules (what an ugly, ugly word), but it doesn’t do anything for the initial trigger (clogged pores and what not). So you use the salicylic acid and glycolic acid for deep cleaning and sloughing off of dead skin, and then the BP to stop the infection that leads to pimples. In theory if you don’t have pimples, just black heads/white heads, you can even skip the BP part.

What his cure doesn’t do is address the “shine” factor of people with oily skin. He notes that oily skin, by itself, isn’t a single causative factor for acne, you can get it with dry skin as well. I still have oily skin (whereas Accutane basically combats acne by killing off/shutting down all oil generation in your pores), but at least I don’t have the morning half-dozen zits followed by the late afternoon late bloomers I used to get.

So while I don’t have exactly smooth porcelain skin right now, I’m way better off than before and I can now move on to being self conscious about being fat, wooo!

5

Try laying off the bacon…

6

As far as ingredients go, that’s pretty much the Proactiv system. Their main cleanser is 2.5% BP and they also have a deep cleanser for face and body that’s 2% salicylic acid. The toner has glycolic acid.

Instead of icing your face, if you want to reduce inflammation, do an aspirin mask. Grind up some aspirin, mix into a paste with water, put it on problem spots, and it’ll reduce inflammation and make red marks fade.

7

I do also remember being told that products like Clearasil, sold for their acne removing properties, are in fact terrible and actually (in some cases) promote acne.

8

Where can you get a 10% Glycolic acid solution?

9

It sounds like something you either cut drugs with or make bombs with!

10

My acne’s bad (at 33, complete with the cysts and nodules), but I’m not sure it’s bomb-making bad. :)

11

I’m following http://acne.org/

(lol not vm)

12

Puberty was hell for me and while I don’t struggle with breakouts like I used to (unless I do something stupid like putting my hand to my face) the scarring on my cheeks is something that really bugs me. It’s not severe but it’s noticeable.

My new gym has an aesthetician and I figured after years of so-so success with a dermatologist I would go in for a few facial treatments. Mangravy jokes aside I think it’s helped a bit especially with the blackheads on my nose but after 4 peels including 2 microderm abrasion treatments the scarring is still noticeable. Since her prices are reasonable I’m going to give it a few more months of treatment before I consider a trip to a plastic surgeon for laser resurfacing.

I too notice a difference with a high water intake; however my biggest problem is my Diet Coke addiction. Again I don’t get breakouts, but if I don’t drink enough water and if I binge on the DC my skin ends up looks like shit from dehydration. I’m trying to cut back on it but water is sooooooo boring =\

13

Water doesn’t have to be boring. Try sparkling water with a bit of orange juice in the top or lemon juice squeezed into it. Water is a fine drink.

With you on the facials as well. They were what finally killed my acne when I was about nineteen.

14

The only way to Glycolic acid is to squeeze it from the belly of the ferocious Petromyzon marinus. Then you need to mix it with this for stability.

15

Actually, ProActiv does not have salicylic from what I’ve read, it’s just glycolic + BP.

For salicylic acid, just get a cleanser at a drug store, the generic stuff works fine. For glycolic acid it’s much harder to find, I use DDF Toner w/ Glycolic which is pricey @ $30/bottle, but a bottle lasts me a month and, hey, clear skin for $1.50/day? SOLD.

For BP, it’s actually hard to find < 10% stuff, but you don’t need name brand stuff so you can shave costs there.

For mornings I use astringent (alcohol based) salicylic cleanser and the DDF (Dubrow says not to use combination cleaners, stating that they don’t seem to work as well as doing them individually, dunno if that’s bullshit or not but he at least admits that they have no idea why this is). I use standard quilted cotton pads.

During the evenings I use salicylic body wash and then BP after I get out of the shower.

Dubrow claims that his program works for about 90-95% of cases and that in some extreme cases Accutane may be your only resort.

The side effects I’ve had is a redness in the face, at least initially, and I’m not sure which component caused it, but after adding an SPF15/30 moisturizer and my skin getting used to it, the redness/irritation has gone away.

This is definitely worth a shot for anyone that’s suffered with this hell as long as I have. It’s probably a $50 or so total investment for a month or so to test it out and see if it works. You have to be religious about it though, and I think I started seeing results in a week and really noticeable results after 4 weeks. Everyone in my family has remarked how much clearer and smoother my skin is now.

I would also seriously suggest taking before/after photos to aid with objectivity, because it happens slowly – existing pimples disappear, then blackheads disappear, then flare ups that were already underway show up and then disappear, and then finally you’re only dealing with the occasional small breakout, i.e. one pimple here or other and you can’t remember if it was “really” that bad before or not.

16

What does the dude say about washing your face with cold water vs hot? Just kinda curious if either one makes a difference.

Also I cant stand not popping zits because white heads = the most grossest thing on the face of the planet. Seriously.

17

The deep cleansing wash has salicylic. The wash in the original 3 part system is different – it’s called renewing cleanser and has BP. The deep cleansing wash can be found on ebay for cheap and at the Proactiv mall kiosks. I looked for it on the site, but didn’t see it. I didn’t even know the stuff existed til I accidently bought it on ebay, meaning to buy the BP kind.

18

What does the dude say about washing your face with cold water vs hot? Just kinda curious if either one makes a difference.

Well, here’s the thing – I don’t wash my face in the morning, I just use the astringent cleansers (which technically I don’t think I should be using, but were the best I could find – the pre-soaked pads are probably better to be honest) which leave me feeling all squeaky clean. And then evenings I use the body wash in the (hot) shower.

That said, I’m not sure if he has a recommendation either way, but I’m guessing warm (not hot) water is probably the best direction.

Also I cant stand not popping zits because white heads = the most grossest thing on the face of the planet. Seriously.

Yeah, I know the feeling, but the awesome thing is that the FIRST things to go away are the “pus filled lesions” (YUM!), so after a few days that becomes a non-existent problem. Blackheads actually seem to be a lot harder to get rid of because the hard shell composed of waxifed sebaceous material (DOUBLE YUM!) is a bitch to break down chemically, whereas a typical pimples sorts itself out one way or another.

I probably “have” to squeeze a pimple/whitehead (man this is getting into TMU land, but what the hell…) about once every 5 days, whereas before it was 5-6 times/day just to get rid of the obvious ones. And they had a habit of forming like super rapidly – I’d be clear in the morning (mirror check), then I’d leave for the day, and after lunch I’d notice in a men’s room or something I had 3-4 new ones that sprouted in the course of 4-5 hours.

You know what I love? Not having disgusting mirrors anymore.

19

How do ProActiv’s prices compare to buying similar name brands or generics? I’ve just assumed that PA has to markup for paying Jessica and Kelly and Vanessa for their endorsements.

20

To be honest, I don’t know what drug store prices are like. Generic BP products have always made me breakout very, very badly, so I haven’t bought any in years.

I know the package price on the Proactiv site is a rip off for me, because the lotion dries me out so I only get use out of 2 of the 3 main products. Ebay prices aren’t bad and the products last a LONG time. I just replaced the BP face wash for the first time in months and never pay more than $10 for a bottle, about $12 with shipping.