We have all been there. (Lucky bastard who don’t ever have acne, please kindly go away.)
What is acne
Let’s cut this blue sheep. I hate the internet for giving me these stupid SEO bait with a ton of everyone knows information like we are three. Let’s really continue on like a human being talking about stuff.
Who am I to give advice
I am just another guy who had suffered from acne for years. I had dreadfully surfed the internet to find an answer to my condition. Not to my surprise, I find many people just like me, tried everything under the sun, including visiting dermatologist and weird DIYs. Then, I finally got cleared by myself. I guess winner has the rights. And I want to help.
The purpose of this article
To give my years of digested knowledge surfing the web, reading clinical papers and self experimenting those “regimen”, to you in a single article, to save you time. So you don’t need to be in the same rabbit hole. Or at least waste less.
How to read this article
I truly believe everyone is different, soul wise and skin wise. For starter, acne is known to be caused by many kinds of health conditions, poor diet, hormone imbalance, lack of sleep, wrong skincare products, and so on. For the bigger picture, even the water and humidity level in your country could potentially be contributing to your acne condition. So what I’m about to say could never be one size fits all. So take every advice carefully. However, I will try to keep it as factual and objective as humanly possible.
Useful websites
Ok, so for skincare addicts, I recommended you to read the information on this site: http://skinacea.com/. A lady wrote this website to help others after she found what works for her. And almost every information you want to know will be there in detail and in human understandable form, though not clinically verified I figured it is mostly correct (same) comparing to clinical papers or some well-known site written by dermatologists.
Knowledge is knowledge, having a title or not, it is just the same stuff. But amateurs won’t try to make money from you for that, I’m sure.
https://www.acne.org/forums – This is a forum for people who have acne to hang around, it is all there is about. The platform has its own products which I wouldn’t suggest because it uses crazy amount of benzoyl peroxide. And more importantly I tried, it didn’t work.
https://iherb.com – Cheap and easy access to every health products you need. Even some not available over the counter.
Preface
Some people believed that the more helpful product the better, so they come up with a regimen, a step by step routine. To exfoliate, to clean, to rehydrate and to contain the rehydration with a protective barrier layer. I mean, this sound fancy and all, and I know some of us might think our skin will look better because “we did so many things” or “made such effort”.
But treating a human body is like a romantic relationship, it probably won’t work with more effort. You have to find the root problem, which most likely lies within you, your body or habits. Once you tackled that, all things will be cleared.
So, my point being, I now use only one “product” to have a clear skin. And I remembered myself trying everything under the sun, changing my lifestyle, DIY, etc. I actually gave each “regimen” a good few months to prove themselves, and sadly years went by because of that.
But that’s what makes you, you, I guess.
However I must say, don’t fix what’s not broken. If something or a routine is working for you, keep at it!
Get to know some common acne medications
- Table Of Treatments
Now, it’s not all the treatments out there, for example I have omitted salicylic acid and many things else. But these are the most common treatments’ dermatologist would prescribe to you if you visit them.
The table is subjective, and it’s not medical advice.
Worth noting that everyone skin reacts differently. Some say Adapalene did nothing to them except keep breaking them out for 6 months straight since first use. While some said it didn’t break them out at all, but can only see improvement from day 1. So, best of luck. To me personally, I have experienced about 3 months worth of breakouts before I see good result.
Your Case
Now on to you. I would categorise acne caused by any one of/all the three issues – Inflammatory, Bacteria and Skin Shedding Abnormality.
So, if you have clogged pores – it is bad skin shedding. If you have small red zits always coming out, it is bacterial and high inflammation level. Painful big under the skin zits – bad skin shedding (so it can’t come out naturally), AND excessive oil production which usually caused by hormonal imbalance.
Please note that the root reasons that are causing these issues can be different. So the “treatments” are for the issues, not the root cause.
For example, hormonal changes, lack of certain vitamins or too much sun exposure might cause abnormal skin shedding behaviour, then you have acne. But the thing is finding the root cause is difficult because life is fruitful, human body is complex, it’s just too much to factor in. So instead, I suggest you to fix how we look first. Then you get the time, and more importantly your stress-free mind to fix that.
- Inflammatory
Irritation and bad skin shedding ability can cause inflammatory.
As simple as over scratching your arms can cause minor inflammatory on the skin, that’s why you feel itchy afterwards. So any physical or chemical interaction on the face can cause inflammation too. So scrubbing your face with products, squeezing pimple also help, help the development of inflammation.
- Bacteria
To be honest, I highly doubt it’s the major cause for acne. It is because most of us lives our lives like usual, while nothing has changed, suddenly we just have acne. But it might be a reason for the continuation of acne if we don’t treat it properly though, especially if we have acne, that means something is wrong with our immune system or at least the face section of cells routine is behaving abnormally, can’t hurt with a little help of treatment to eliminate this.
Some said that bacteria got into our skin because of our weak skin protective barrier, it can be due to excessive washing or again sun exposure. I agree.
- Skin Shedding Abnormality
Bad skin shedding ability can be caused by hormone fluctuation or wrong use of products on the face. Which means irritation can cause bad skin shedding as well. Sun exposure could also contribute to this, ever feel like after going to the beach your skin feels tight? Then you know the sun has done something to you more than just Vitamin D3. I realised lack of sleep also contribute to this, that’s why people say “I need my beauty sleep.”, because if you are healthy and predictable with your living style, your skin will be predictable too.
- Hormone
Hormonal imbalance can cause all these above issues. Nothing much to say here, puberty, pregnancy, and lack of sleep, etc, all can affect hormone. So you have to keep your hormone level in check.
Ok, Now What
As you can see, we have two major enemies here. One is bad skin shedding, another one is inflammation. So, what a typical dermatologist would do is this:
(Topical / Oral) Clindamycin/Tetracycline + Adapelene/Retinol = Killing Bacteria & Inflammation + Improve Skin Shedding Ability
Now you understand why they put you on such medication. It’s an all-rounder. Not only Clindamycin is the mildest (in my term), effective, adapalene is also the mildest form of retinol.
Retinoid
What is retinoid
So let me briefly explain what is retinol. When you see the term Retin- in the prefix, it is a vitamin A derivative.
In the human history, vitamin A has been proven to be vital to human skin functions. Not only that, when a human is given a certain amount of vitamin A, it boosts or in other term treat certain skin issues. (and eyesight)
How it works
Unlike other treatments, retinoid can “communicate” with skin cells, regulate skin cell cycle or even ask they to run at a faster rate. Take a look at your most expensive moisturizer or so-called “youth serum”, it probably contains a very low concentration of retinol.
A normal skin cycle usually takes around 28 days, so they are always forming, shedding and reborn, just like our hair. For some reason, people who have acne usually have terrible skin turnover rate. *Some studies show acne patients have lower level of vitamin A, D and Zinc*. I am not surprised as everything is related – A for skin turnover rate, D and Zinc is related to hormone functions.
We’ve talked about how skin shedding behaviour is a major contributor to acne, therefore we can conclude that it is almost a must to use retinol to regulate our skin cycle back to normal.
Which Retinol to use
Adapalene, Tretinoin, Isotretinoin and even Accutane, is one form or another of vitamin A. So you can see how important it is when it comes to treating acne.
However, Accutane has the strongest approach among all, because this treatment suggest an overdose of RDA (recommended daily allowance) vitamin A orally for a human body, for a certain amount of time, usually over a course of a few months.
Comparing to adapalene for example, has the lowest concentration of vitamin A, therefore lower irritation level, and it applied only on the face, so it won’t potentially damage other body parts. The other two kinds of retinol has higher concentration, higher sensitivity towards sunlight, so it could potentially cause more irritation and discomfort. It is used when others won’t work, so we up the game.
*Reminder* all retinoid is photosensitive, which means very reactive towards sun exposure, it is never recommended to use them under the sun, only use them before bed.
So if my humble suggestion would be Adapalene > Tretinoin > Accutane (think twice)
How to fix hormone
To be honest hormonal problem is too deep and broad to tackle, even being a moody person can affect your hormone level (and vice versa). However something I know can be of help are the following.
- Vitamin D
You can get vitamin D2 from and D3 from 15 minutes of the sun ray. Vitamin D is vital to the regulation of hormone functions.
- Zinc
Zinc is both good for inflammation and regulate hormones. Low Zinc level is found in acne patients in clincal studies. So it may matters.
- Birth Control
I am a guy, don’t know much about it here. But the only thing I know it is not healthy for you, neither you should take it long term. So, please use every other options before you rely on this, which you should never.
- Avoid dairy
Many dairy products has hormone in them. Some people “cure” their acne by simply quitting dairy. Didn’t work for me.
- Sleep
Time can heal many things, so as adequate sleep. Sleep can recover your body, that’s why if you feel energized after a nice sleep. If sleeping can do you good to recover from tiredness, it should help with your hormone, too.
Extra bit – avoid sugar
Sugary drinks or sugar in general can cause a spike in blood sugar levels, leading to an increased release of insulin. Elavated insulin levels can encourage sebum (oil) production in the skin’s sebaceous glands. So put it in simpler way, sugar intake can cause more oil production, and if you skin shedding is not normal, acne happens.
Final Regimen
I know you want a regimen to my success, here’s what it is.
I use only Adapalene (Differein).
That’s it.
I drink sugary drinks, milk, don’t sleep regularly, junk food everyday and my skin is now clear still.
I wash my face with water and cloth, nothing special about it, I just gently rub it.
Applied a small amount of adapalene all over my face right before bed every night, that’s it.
No cleanser, moisturizer, mask, exfoliator, serum, acid, chemical pee, facial – no nothing.
What you should do
I know it’s hard to give up all your products. But something I found people who are still struggling uses too many products. Well my face is dry I need moisturizer, it doesn’t shed right so I use chemcial peel. My face is dry so I use face mask. WHILE using acne treatment product.
It is aginst the purpose of say adapalene – it is meant for regulating the skin back to a normal state, where it functions like it should and comes with a bit of anti-inflammatory benefits. If you use too much (or any) other products while on these treatments, you will never know which exact one is working or not. Maybe it would work if it weren’t for the other moisturizer you put in the routine.
However, everyone is different. If your hormone is out of whack, has too many germs, or too many sun exposure, one treatment alone does not going to fix it. So you might need multiple treatments or even higher strength.
Conclusion
I know I am biased. Topical retinol might not work for you, or maybe BP (benzoyl peroxide) would. But I believe bacteria alone cannot cause acne, and hormone alone cannot cause acne, if your skin is shedding properly. That’s why Adapalene alone can do all the work.
Sugary drink spikes insulin level so more oil? It is a none issue if you pores functions normally allows them to come out easily. If you don’t do extra cleansing barrier is still there, bateria wouldn’t penetrate your skin in the first place.
So, let the treatment kill the remaining bacteria, fix the skin cycle, and all things will be back on track.
Though, my face was dry and irritated for the first few months of daily use of adapalene alone. I still didn’t use and have never used any moisturizer. I let the peeling peel, it looked funny, but it passed.
I didn’t include all the other products or DIY I’ve tried within this article, because it would be way too long. However, you can imagine a logical person like me doing endless digging and self-experiments for years has come to this conclusion. I know you might be doing the same too.
I just hope this has shed some light to you.
**I also know adapalene might not be over the counter for you, so head to iherb to buy it. That’s how I got mine.**
Oh, and retinol has anti-aging effect too, because when you get older, your metabolism runs slower too. Topical retinol can boost your collegen to work faster, so it keep youth for you. I don’t know if the effect would still be there if I quit using it. But I don’t plan to find out, I will just use it every night religously. Just like I take a shower once a day.
You are welcome to leave comment below.
Best wishes to you stranger, hope you are well.
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