A post for those STRUGGLING with acne:
From the ages of 14-17, I had dealt with acne in one form or another. "It's hereditary" my family told me, and that my fathers side had a history of acne-prone skin. I had been prescribed all manor of remedies from topical benzoyl peroxide and zinc w/ erythromycin, to oral antibiotics. I took the antibiotics for months on end up to my 17th birthday, with no idea it was DESTROYING my gut.
When the summer of me being 17 hit, I had had a particularly stressful couple of weeks, with many personal things going on, so stress levels were at an all-time high.
My worsening acne was just a result of my stress I told myself. However, my acne had morphed so suddenly in to painful cysts. Everyday actions like eating, brushing my teeth or going to bed became painful. This isn't normal I told myself. On closer inspection I realised I had also developed nodules, Back to the doc .
They referred me to specialist dermatologists since this was out of their league. Started with the retinoids topically, before quickly being ushered down the path of Accutane. "If you were my son, I would march right into here to make sure you take your accutane and get your blood tests done" the dermatologist told me after my preparatory blood test results showed I was in good health to start Accutane. I declined by thanking the dermatologist, and said I would find another way that didn't have such severe side effects.
6 more months of everyday pain and horror, not knowing what had caused my acne to get so aggressive. Google "severe cystic acne", and you will know what I am talking about, rather not spoil your appetite in this post. I started to process everything logically, of what could be causing it. Since I had worked in retail at the time, it was very hard having many customers offer me tips for acne, from "spit" to yogurt masks, to turmeric. But I knew topical alone wasn't the answer. But nothing came to mind. Alas I was searching some online posts about cystic acne on acne.org, and came across a lady detailing what she cut out her diet to stop her cystic acne...Dairy! The next day I stopped consuming all dairy, and started replacing it with dairy-free substitutes (poor options back in the day, thank the lord for today's brands even if you're not vegan).
Within 2 weeks, 70% of my acne had gone, with cysts also diminishing rapidly. I was amazed, like an infant child that's just been given a new toy! 6 months later I had hoped this "allergy" to dairy went away, and tested that with a cheese pizza - only to have such a huge cyst on my nose, it left a permanent bump on my nose even after a decade! Lesson learnt, this was going to be a lifelong commitment, but for clear skin I was prepared. Mind you, going from 100% to 30% intensity was a big jump for me, as I could now sleep much easier in less physical pain. But there was still work to do.
Over the next 4 years I learnt with many challenges that the remaining 30% was just as tough but can be summarized as: - hydration: keep a bottle of water with you and chug all day - hygiene: quality face wash and pillowcase regimen - Omega 3's: powerful anti-inflammatories that kept my skin smooth day after day. - stress: kill it by going to sleep on time, since I was a 1.30am individual at that point. I always thought about why specifically DAIRY was my allergen that caused my cystic acne. Now I learn, that the antibiotics I took daily contained BEEF GELATIN in the capsule.
My period of high stress + antibiotics destroying my gut + ready allergen for my gut = cystic acne when exposed to bovine products. My expectation was that any beef products I would now be allergic to, and beef did give me small spots. Thankfully that disappeared when I introduced Omega-3. 10 years later, i was introduced to the concept of A1/A2 casein/milk proteins. A1 getting the bad rap for poor digestion and acne problems. I tried some local raw Jersey milk... and haven't looked back since, no issues other than some gas (lactose intolerant after so many years without dairy) . Moral of the story is to never give up hope, learn about your body and what it reacts to and what goes well with it. Oh, and God Bless the Jersey/Guernsey cows!
What I've learnt is that if there is a natural solution, find it. If not, educate yourself before embarking down the Big Pharma route.