Okay, a little addendum to address some questions people have PMed or mailed me about.
For the salicylic cleanser, I just use a generic brand (Eckerd, Walgreens, etc.) “Astringent cleanser w/ 2% salicylic acid” and apply with cotton pads in the morning. During the evenings I use, if possible, a generic brand “Acne body wash w/ 2% salicylic acid”, but if I have to go with a brand name Neutrogena is typically the easiest to find.
Glycolic acid is the biggest bitch to find. I had to hunt all over to get some, since drugstores only carried a very limited (shitty) selection. I went to some upscale beauty shop called Sephora and got “DDF Toner w/ Glycolic Acid”, and I apply that in the morning (after the salicylic) with cotton swabs. If I’m showering I get “AquaGlycolic Cleanser w/ AHA” or something like that.
For BP, I just find the cheapest, 2.5% creme I can get.
I didn’t bother with the cold pack shit after 3 days – that was just too big a pain in the ass.
I’ve replaced most of my soaps with tea tree based soaps, but I don’t think that made any difference (I did that months before trying this). Oh, the author’s name is “Terry Dubrow”.
That should fill in the blanks on this stuff for anyone else that had questions.
I see the name “Dubrow” and all I can think of is “Kevin Dubrow.”
God damn it, as soon as I saw the thread, I was coming in to make that joke. You win this round, Sharp!
As someone who still gets zits/acne (tho not near as bad as a teen… ever had cortisone shot into the side of your nose to stop the swelling from a mega zit? Oh, yeah… mega fun there.) thanks for posting your story BTG. I use pro activ but not all the time. One thing I’ve noticed is that since I sleep on my stomach and thus, one side of my face a lot, that is the side that gets 98% of the zits. Many folks don’t think to change their pillow cases/sheets as often as they should. That or learn to sleep on your back. :)
http://www.rosacea.org/index.php
I had this. It sucks. Might look into it. I was prescribed this:
It was amazing. Used it twice a day and it was gone. Eventually it just went away, except for the occasional nasty pimple or two.
Good luck.
When I was growing up, I used a combination of high-concentration BP plus Retin-A plus Doxycyclene, one in the morning and two at night. Oh, and some other stuff for some scaly tissue I had around my nose.
Helpful thread. I’m 22 and I’m quite sick of my acne. It’s never been horrible, but after being told that it will “go away” after I’m “all grown up” I feel rather gyp’d.
Yeah, well let me know how much more gyp’ed you feel in 11 years. :(
There is no life occurrence or triviality that cannot be exposed with a shitty webcomic!
Thread resurrection alert, sorry
Thanks for all the info. Like others, I thought that once I left puberty my acne would go away, but it hasn’t (I’m 38). It’s much better than it was, but it still can flare up, mostly whiteheads and red bulbs(?). I have very oily skin. BP products left my skin sickly dry and irritated (red), and ruined my clothing and bed sheets and pillows. Has anyone else had BP “bleach” their cloths and bed items?
My unprofessional self-examinations leads me to believe my acne comes from two sources, stress and high calorie diet. Working out or doing house work and sweating for long periods of time can cause acne flare ups. I do both often. I can keep my acne under control (it’s never perfect) by only drinking water, reducing my carb intake, and not eating junk food (no sugars, no greasy foods). Removing coffee from my diet helped keep the red face down and reduced my stress levels a lot.
There are some side effects to this. The positive one is that I’m healthier from eating properly, the negative effects are always having to eat “earth food”, and I’ve lost more weight than I would like. I’m by no means anorexic, but I’m considered thin, too thin for what I’d like to weigh. I’m athletic and try to stay a bit bulky (muscular).
In short, stress, a high calorie diet, or sugars of any sort (even from fruit or sucralose) seems to trigger acne for me. I’m not sure if I should try one of the above mentioned regiments or stick with mostly works for me.
z22, no one has skin more oily than mine, and my acne is pretty much 95% under control now with the regimen I outlined earlier. If I stray from the regimen for a few days, it often takes 2 weeks to get it back under control, so I try to make sure it’s always under control.
I use Walgreens/whatever salicylic face wash and a glycolic acid treatment in the morning and a salicylic soap/body scrub when I shower in the evening along with 5-10% BP.
BP does bleach stuff, but I try not to put it on with a spackle knife and haven’t noticed as big a problem.
Stress and diet can generate the root elements that cause acne, but it’s the root elements that these topical treatments hunt down and destroy, so even under high stress and with a crappy diet it should be manageably with SA, GA, and BP. Of course, high stress and crappy diet make it much harder to control, but it is controllable.
The biggest problem with the treatment is that my face now has a ruddy complexion from the relative harshness of the chemicals, but I’ll gladly take that over pimples.
I’ve found a source on Amazon for the DDF Toner 10% GA, which is a lot more convenient than driving 45 minutes to a mall with a Sephora shop in it.
Hi!