When Does Acne Go Away?

Wow, lots of evil and hateful responses on this thread. You must've hit a sensitive spot with this crowd.

OP, have her see a dermatologist. Problem is, not all dermatologists are created equal. Some are awesome at treating acne while others just send you out the door with pills/creams that may or may not do anything. The truth is that acne is terrible complex, and what works for someone likely won't work for someone else.

Here are some things I'd suggest doing before you see the dermatologist:

- I think diet helps. Acne is largely a western affliction, so I'd aim for eating whole, organic foods. Processed foods are full of toxins and other garbage. Also, watch the gluten.

- Drink water. Have her drink a full glass of water before bed each night.

- Be careful about the facewashing. Despite what many think, it's the oils on your skin that often prevent acne from happening, since acne is largely bacterial. A major breakthrough for me happened when I decided to stop washing my face at night. Before that, I had washed my face 2 or 3 times every day (for 8 years), and it never helped at all.

- There are some non-prescription stuff that *might* help. Try panoxyl face wash... look for it at CVS or Walgreens. It's got 10% benzoyl peroxide. Don't use it all the time, though, because it's not great for your skin. Plus, I think using stuff all the time causes it to be less effective.

Good luck. Acne sucks the big one. The good news is that she can beat it, or at least reduce it by quite a bit. Whatever you do, don't let this diminish what you have with her. All these insecure assh0le fvckers telling you to 'drop the b@tch' or whatever deserve the worst acne possible. It's really not something that should be made fun of, and if you've ever had it, you know better.

I had it bad, not really a lot of acne on the surface. I had deep cystic acne. I went on accutane. I know some folks say its bad news, but it cured me.

Acne can be a debilitating disease. It totally wreaks your self confidence.

A long life of acne for me was almost immediately ended by routinely eating yogurt, for the probiotics, and rubbing my face twice daily with lemon slices then rinsing off, for the citric acid.

Cheap, delicious, no side effects, easy.

If your GF has the cystic kind, get to a dermatologist ASAP. Otherwise it will scar. If not, in addition to the suggestions about OTC stuff, try Queen Helene's Mint Julep Masque. It has sulfur and clay. It's very effective at drawing out oil from deep in the pores.

JackOfAss wrote:

I had it bad, not really a lot of acne on the surface. I had deep cystic acne. I went on accutane. I know some folks say its bad news, but it cured me.

Right, accutane worked wonders for me. I went from something like this:

to acne free in 4-5 months. Never had any depressions (common side effect), just dry skin. Then again, it's not on the market anymore in the US and outside of the US, good luck finding a doctor that prescribes it to a woman. You probably won't find one.

Btw, before accutane, I tried everything else before. Didn't do anything.

AcneGuy wrote:

Then again, it's not on the market anymore in the US and outside of the US, good luck finding a doctor that prescribes it to a woman. You probably won't find one.

Hoffman-La Roche's patent expired in the early 2000's in the US. It's still on the market in the US, but only in generic versions.

As others have said, she should talk to a dermatologist.

I'm a woman who unfortunately struggled with acne during high school (it began to taper off during college). It was the deep cystic type and it ran in the family on my dad's side. I just learned from my ophthalmologist of all people that the oil that my skin secretes is very thick and tends to clog pores. That's what lead to the terrible acne when I was younger. The ophthalmologist wants to put me on tetracycline to thin the oil out because even though the acne is totally gone, my eyes are quite dry from the lack of the oil component in my tears. I have to hold hot washcloths on my eyes to "melt" the oil in my meibomian glands so it can flow out and get added to my tears.

The point is that each person is different, and as other posters have said, encourage her to go to a dermatologist immediately! She needs to get on a regimen to prevent scarring. I ended up with scars because I never went to the doctor when it was bad in high school. She should do everything in her power to treat her skin well now because scars stay with you forever. I tried getting Restylane injections to fill in some of the depressions, which worked moderately well, but it's expensive. I also looked into laser therapy to the tune of $6000. All of these cosmetic treatments are just band-aids applied to something that should have been addressed when it was originally flaring up. So do both of yourselves a favor and get it treated now.

Right to all the above posts re. see a dermatologist. Mine was mild in h.s. when the derm put me on tetracycline and topical antibiotic cream - didn't do much. It wasn't until the summer I worked in a restaurant that it became severe, cystic acne (age 22) and it wasn't until I was put on Accutane for 5 months (age 25) that it cleared up permanently. My diet never really changed - I do believe it is an excessive oil production issue, which in my case I believe was caused by a hormonal imbalance.

Please keep in mind this is a very sensitive topic for ANYONE, but especially a female. The possibilities for scarring are very real and are both physical and emotional. If you love this girl, be as supportive as possible. She should have a Dr. give her a diagnosis as soon as possible.

Tell her good luck and there are lots of women who have survived this and many still have their self-esteem (mostly) intact.

A little serious advice wrote:

Hoffman-La Roche's patent expired in the early 2000's in the US. It's still on the market in the US, but only in generic versions.

As others have said, she should talk to a dermatologist.

Ok, didn't know that. It's been a decade since I took it.

Absolutely agree, see a dermatologist. But then again, trust me, I tried everything and my acne was horrendous. Only one thing worked. I was very lucky - next to no scarring occurred to me.

Listen, ignore ALL the home remedies.. acne is a disease. Go to the doctor discuss accutane. I was put on a very mild dosage. I wish I had done that years earlier and saved myself the issues associated with the blotches.

I'm mid 40s, still get pimples. Never had the really bad acne, but was really pimply in high school. It died down in my 20s, but never went away completely. Weird right?

When I was younger it seemed to be affected by diet and stress levels. Junk food exacerbated it, as did/does elevated stress.

Good luck!

It is prescribed still, our dermatologist prescribes Clarvaris, a generic form of Accutane. Deep Cystic Acne runs in my husbands side of the family, he had it, my son had it and now my daughter. As with my husband, our kids tried every kind of treatment before the accutane. My son was on it and it cleared completely after four months, he says it was worth any side effect. The worst was the extreme dryness of the skin , lips and eyes. My daughter is now on it with the hope it will clear her skin too. They take monthly blood tests and are monitored each month by the doctor. The damaging affects of bad acne on a teen's self esteem cannot be underestimated, it's a rough thing.

AcneGuy wrote:

Isotretinoin (accutane) is one hell of a drug. Cured my really really bad acne in just 4 months completely. However, it is big side effects. For guys that's mostly dry skin/eyes. For women, they must avoid at all costs to get pregnant during treatment because birth defects would be likely.

Accutane was therefore pulled of the market in the US in 2009. Not sure where the OP lives.

I've never had acne but have helped other people to get rid of it with the following suggestions.

Do NOT use a hand towel for drying your face. Use a separate towel for your face.

Keep your pillowcase clean.

If you have cats, get rid of the filthy creatures. It's impossible to be clean and healthy around cats.

Keep your hands away from your face, other than washing your face with water.

Going to a dermatologist or any other kind of medical drug promoter/believer won't help and will probably make it worse.

JackOfAss wrote:

Listen, ignore ALL the home remedies.. acne is a disease. Go to the doctor discuss accutane. I was put on a very mild dosage. I wish I had done that years earlier and saved myself the issues associated with the blotches.

Yes, because things are completely black and white!

No, I've known people that have gone on accutane MULTIPLE TIMES without it clearing up their skin. There is no one-size-fits-all treatment. You're best bet is to do all the things you can: follow the sensible home remedies (healthy eating and hydration) and see a dermatologist.

Think, man, think! True, acne is caused by bacteria, but those bacteria are on everyone, why do some get acne and others not? Genetics, diet and hygiene. Drugs will help and may "cure" it, but not always. Family history = my dad and my sister. Personal history = up until my forties. Taking one tablespoon of flax oil (Omega 3s) each day cleared mine up in about three months. It wasn't my idea, my sister is the genius. (Usually I don't post anonymously but since I referenced my family I will this time.)

Darnit! If you had just posted under your normal name, I coulda figured out who yer sister and dad are! WTF man?

hate to revive an old thread, but this popped into my head.

Do any of you experience an increase in acne associated with a decrease in exercise? All my acne came back after cross country ended and I'm starting from taper mileage and building back up again.

Anyone? I'm back down to 35 mile weeks and I'm building up to 50

Tell her to go on a gluten-free diet, get her sleep, stay away from caffeine, dairy and red meat. In other words, go on a total anti-inflammatory diet.

Also, sleep is very important along the theme of stress management.

Supplements: (1) Omega 3-6-7-9s (2) Alpha Lipoic Acid (3) Vitamins A,C,D,E (4) selenium (5) ginger root.

Facial cleanser, facial toner and some kind of DMAE and/or sea buckthorn moisturizer.

I know this is a bit of an expensive approach but its not too unreasonable AND it works. I 100% gaurantee it!