Someone save me!! PLEASE!

[Elucinatus]

Luckily my acne problem seemed to have faded with age, (I'm 18, and I had it in my early high school years), but unfortunately the damage is already done. It has a lot of psychological effects that can destroy a young healthy mindset.

When I was younger I was ignorant of skin care and health, and I didn't really bother to learn, so when it hit me hard my freshman year in high school I was unprepared and scrambling to get rid of it. This ignorance of course led to over washing and hit and miss tactics of the like which made it worse. By the time I started treating it with a Benzoyl Peroxide medicine my dermatologist prescribed to me the scars had already taken hold and to this day my skin shows it.

It is a good investment to take the time to check out a health book and do online research to educate yourself on skin care. This forum is a perfect place to come to.

Edit: I found that after washing my face in the morning, putting lemon juice on it as a topical agent helped a lot. That is if you aren't already using a topical medicine. It is really stingy/itchy at first and annoying but it works.
http://www.acne.org/lemon-juice-appl.../73/page1.html

[Rose]

thanks for the website link!!

[Beyond Beauty]

Yup, tree tea oil and aloe vera are good for acne prone skin!

[Staci]

Bless your heart. I was in a similar situation when I was your age and I sought the help of a dermatologist and my ob/gyn. I was prescribed a low dosage birth control pill and Retin-A. Both helped tremendously and now I am 34 and I don't have any scars and I have been off of the birth control pills for 8 years now. Hang in there and talk to someone about how this is affecting you. Hang in there!

[Gllo]

Hi Ehazy!
There are a lot of options out there to help with acne. Since you're a teen, the hormones sure get things out of whack but there are things you can do to combat and control the irruptions from happening. First and foremost watch what you eat. Check the ingredients of everything. You'll find that most foods you buy from the shelves contain processed, hydrolysed, artificial, colours and who knows what else. (Don't be fooled when the package reads natural flavours or spices - there are still a lot of additives there that the manufacturer can't be bothered to list). Eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. Do a search online for alkaline foods - the more you eat of those, the more our body's ph levels will balance out. Drink plenty of distilled water as this will help to flush out the toxins and of course do some moderate exercise as this will help you sweat out toxins too. Acne is actually inflammation in the skin when the body is trying to fight the collection of bacteria creating pus in the pores that's why you have to watch what you put into and on your body. Fight the inflammation inside and out and you'll win the battle. Secondly, get a good skin care line - and I don't mean a chemical filled, fragrant smelling brand - remember read the ingredients. You are still young, use a good natural line in order to preserve the youthfulness of your skin and combat the skin problems at the same time, you'll be glad you did years from now. Lastly there's an excellent book out there by dermatologist Dr. Nicholas Perricone called The Acne Presciption. Hope all this helps!