I’m not a massively zitted teen myself, a few here and there and they usually die within the week. My problem is that no matter when one dies, a new one is there to take its place. I’m convinced my diet is too blame, the sugars and whatnot…anyways I’ve experimented with a few things that have given less than adequate results: Tea Tree Oil, Noxzema Cleansing lotion and Neutrogena Deep Clean Cream Cleanser. So far the Tea Tree oil works best. (I’m aware that the two lotions aren’t designed to kill zits specifically.)
What do you use that works fast and keeps them off for good?
Nothing really works fast that I know of. You don’t want to “shock” your skin-- it can make things worse in the long run. Some of those harsh chemicals can actually worsen breakouts. Sometimes acne is caused by your skin trying to keep itself moisturized, and heavy-duty acne products can sometimes dry your skin out of its natural oils.
Here’s a suggestion . . . it may work for you and it may not. (It worked for me.)
Find some witch hazel pads. (You might find them at a health foods store.) They’re slighly abrasive like Oxy pads, but without the alcohol and harsh chemicals. After using them to clean your face, apply an oil-free moisturizer. Do this a couple of times a day. My problem cleared up in about a month after trying this method.
A doctor prescribed BenzaClin for me recently and it’s been working okay, not so well recently for whatever reason. It’s a mixture of benzoyl peroxide and clindamycin, an antibiotic. I would note that I have cystic acne which is a pain in the ass to deal with. I was on tricycline for a long time and I’ve tried any number of doctor-prescribed things to deal with it, none of which have been successful at actually eliminating it. I’m waiting for the acne-killing pill. I’ve heard rumors of a vaccine that may be available in the next decade or so.
Well in the middle of it I mainly used tea tree oil face wash (from the Body Shop) and a vitamin e cream applied lightly so as not to completely dry out my skin. It worked pretty well when I actually used it.
More recently I had a bad case while pregnant (all those out of whack hormones) and nothing really worked but afterwards I started using Johnson and Johnson Deep Cream Cleanser. My hormones settled again and my acne mostly faded but the cleanser really helped clear it up, and I still use it because my face is still oily and every so often zits pop up (there and on my back/shoulders) so I use the cleanser on all those places mainly when I shower. It’s kept it under control since then. I also use the vitamin e cream just because I like it
I took accutane from 15-17, then I didn’t really have a problem until I was about 19 I guess. My skin got really dry, so the dermatologist prescribed Nizoral(sp), which is a shampoo mainly, for my dry scalp/face. Seems to work well enough, but I find that face specific washes(using clean and clear ‘light scrub’ or something now) work better on my face than the shampoo(which the doctor told me to use, I wouldn’t normally wash my face with shampoo!).
I’ve had only a few big zits after starting to use 2% salicylic acid wash on my face every night. You can actually see the dirt you get off. I do get some dry spots, which I put Vaseline on in the morning. I don’t know that’s what’s best, but it’s what I have.
Straight lemon juice from a quarter of a lemon cut fresh then rubbed on the facial area (avoiding the eyes) followed by 10% tea tree oil works for me. It leaves my face reddish but then, better than craters erupting all the time. I’ve avoided the cystic stuff to date. Retinoic acid has been used by some of my colleagues in extreme cases but it’s an extreme treatment for a persistent difficulty and I wouldn’t recommend it, based on the appearance of my mates following treatment.
I took Accutane for six months and that helped a lot but it’s a last resort because it has lotsa side affects. I’ve been on Duac Topical Gel ever since - its Rx. I love it.
When I was a teenager I used Differin gel b/c my skin was way to delicate for Retin-A and the Montreal cold and winds only exacerbated the peeling and drying. I just went back on Retin-A (after all, it fights wrinkles too) b/c my adult acne started flaring up again and it cleared everything up in a jiffy. I also use a cream with retinol and SPF during the day. My dermatologist also starts off my treatments by a round of Tetracyclene (basically every other year or so I convince myself that I no longer suffer from it and go off of all the creams. Then once it comes back I need to start with a Tetracyclene round along wtih the creams).
Home/drug store remedies don’t work for me. I also don’t have a lot of acne but if I don’t take a Differin/Retin-A/Benzamycine treatment then I get one zit on my face that is replaced by another once it goes away. Now, I only have to deal with a small period zit. Oh, and I also eat a lot of salmon and take Vitamin E as it is supposed to make your skin very healthy.
I didn’t get acne until I was in my late 20’s or early 30’s, when I developed cystic acne. I had no luck wth drug store remedies so went to a dermatologist. I took low dose erythromycin and used an EES (see previous big word that starts with an “E”) topical with excellent results. In my 40’s, I don’t have the outbreaks I used to, but still use EES occasionally.
I’d recommend spending your spare cash on the Dr rather than the variety of OTC preparations available at the drug store, particularly if your outbreaks are greater than average. Apparantly there are different types of acne that respond to different treatments.
TeenSthrnAccent usesProactiv. It seems to make a difference when he sticks to the regimen.
He took a prescription for a short while before we tried the Proactiv, but he’s an athlete and a lifeguard and it would make him ill when he was out in the sun.
I didn’t really bother to deal with my acne as a teen, but now that I’m in my 30s, I use three topical prescription meds: Retin-A Micro, Cleocin and Differin (I think). Works for me.
I use the Neutrogena bar of soap that’s a sort of transparent orange color–I don’t remember the real name for it–as a preventative. If zits start to show up, I’ll use some benzoyal peroxide (sp?) cream where the skin is oily. To deal with the zits themselves, I usually squeeze the living daylights out of them.
Strangely, I find that if I just forget about my face, and don’t touch or prod it, and don’t wash it more than twice a day (once in the morning, once in the evening), they get much better. Try avoiding washing your face too much as it dries it out. Leave it and the oils balance out a bit.
I use tea tree oil too, and if there’s one coming to a head, a dab of toothpaste left on overnight tends to do the job.
What I found worked best for my oh-so-not teenage skin was from this thread. Miracle whip facials. Yeah, it sounds icky. It smells bad. But it did work when I did them faithfully.
