Acne Update

Since May 2018, I’ve been able to keep my skin clear except for a few very minor breakouts here and there that can easily be controlled. I’m hoping I’ve found out what I need to do to keep my skin clear long-term.

The images show my skin back at the beginning of 2017 when I was experiencing terrible breakouts due to the iron and vitamin E imbalance in my diet and my skin at the beginning of this year, almost two years later. My breakouts waxed and waned between then and now mainly due to dietary and supplement changes.

I haven’t used any prescription acne creams or gels for over a year now, and I haven’t been on antibiotics for acne for nearly ten years. My skin was actually clear and kept under control by the antibiotics and prescription topicals, but I wanted to figure out the root cause of my acne issues and control it with over-the-counter products if I couldn’t come off of acne products altogether. I found out certain things like the shampoo I was using were causing breakouts, but eventually I needed to start turning to diet. The first significant change was discovering food allergies. My acne got worse while I was consuming flaxseed because I had developed an allergy to it. My skin got better after I stopped consuming the flaxseed, but of course the acne came back. Removing wheat from my diet resulted in significant clearing of my skin, but the acne came back with a vengeance due to cross-contamination. Properly dealing with cross-contamination allowed my skin to clear. I eliminated and reintroduced dairy and noticed no skin issues upon reintroduction. Sugar also doesn’t seem to cause skin problems. There were still additional steps I needed to take to keep my skin clear long-term, which were correcting nutritional imbalances and getting onto a good supplement regimen. I also needed to stay consistent with a good skin-care regimen.

My skin-care regimen consists of a 2% salicylic acid face wash that I use twice a day along with a 2.5% benzoyl peroxide cream in the morning and a retinol cream at night. I apply moisturizer at the end. I use 10% benzoyl peroxide cream to spot-treat blemishes that may appear. I try to stay as consistent as possible, although at times it can be hard to stick with it at night if I’m up later than planned or if I’m tired. As of this writing, my supplement regimen consists of the following.

• Centrum Women’s Multivitamin, which I take with a warm-water mixture containing sweetener and a tablespoon of cocoa powder

• 25 mg riboflavin

• 500 mg magnesium

• 600 mg calcium

• 300 mcg biotin

• complete omega supplement

• probiotic

• 30 mg CoQ10

I’m hoping this supplement regimen will continue to work so that I won’t have to make further changes, but for now, I consider the list above subject to change depending on what may happen with my health in the future. My primary nutritional imbalances were between copper and zinc and between iron and vitamin E. Correcting these has had positive impacts on my skin and on my health in general.

I hope that these changes I’ve made will continue to work to keep my skin clear. My skin hasn’t been clear like it is now, without the help of prescription acne medications, since my preteen years. Knowing this, I feel confident that I’m doing what I need to be doing.

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