Frustrated with cycstic acne

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bennybinster

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I have been searching for a reason why in the last month my forehead has broken out in cysts, mainly above my eyes. I have been on Accutane twice in the past 15 years for them on my back and behind my ears but never, NEVER had them on my face. They are painful, large, noticeable and VERY erabarrasing!! Other than work I dont even want to leave my house and even at work I cancelled 2 lunches this week just because of my forehead.

3 months ago I decided I wanted to lose some weight and get healthier with a new diet and it hit me like a ton of bricks maybe this was connected to the sudden ONSLAUGHT of these cysts. There are very few 'snacks' I can eat on this diet and peanuts is one that I can and I love peanuts. In the last month or so I have been eating about a 1/2 to 1 cup of them almost nightly. It occured to me maybe this was a cause and surprise, surprise when I checked online lots of people found the same thing!

I am going to eliminate them completely and see what happens. I have also noticed an improvement with less dairy. I am 37 and as a teen I never had acne so I find the last decade frustrating. Anyways...I sympathize...sitting here I felt like the only one in the world because all day today; everyone I looked at, had perfect skin. Why me!?

PS - Is there anyway I can at least reduce the swelling, pain and inflammation during the 'peanut free' experiment??
 
Hello everyone. I'm actually on the board looking up accutane because my daughter is about to undergo treatment. I am 45 and since age 11 have suffered through cystic acne. I've tried everything but accutane-EVERYTHING. I did antibiotics, creams, gels, 6 different birth conrol pills, even yasmin BC that made my acne worse and my blood pressure soar. I decided to try Spiroaldactone (aldactone) one more time and really stick with it. I have been on 200 mgs. a day for 2 years. This drug, in my opinion, neeRAB to be taken at that dose to work. Ladies, it's a miracle for me. My face is perfectly clear and has been for a year or more. The hair on my face and I have DARK hair is much thinner and I have no new growth. I must tell you that to see the true effects, you've got to be committed to this drug for a long time 6-8 months. I don't have oily skin anymore. I can now apply sunscreen, which use to make my acne worse and wear makeup all day. I would not post on this board if I did not have these results and felt it was not valuable information. I wanted my daughter to try it, but the doctor wants her to use accutane. Another point I have to add is this is a long term drug. The effects go away if you stop taking it. I have had no side effects from it either. Good luck to you all!
 
An antibiotic such as Doxycycline taken long term can work wonders to ease the inflammation & swelling of cystic acne. Of course, an Rx is needed. Good luck to you. :)
 
hi Dannaboo...
I totally agree with your post. I have been on it for almost 2 months and have seen a slight difference in my complexion. My face is not as oily and I am not getting the constant pimples. But, my doc told me I would need to take Aldactone long term. I've 31 years old and so far so good. However, you need to watch your potassium intake...like the doc told me to stop eating so many bananas and prunes.
 
I'm 38 years old and have adult cystic acne on and have for 12 years. I have been through three rounRAB of accutane, which all treatments worked well for approx. three years, then my acne came back. Now it is worse than ever before with painful cysts on the right side of my chin and forehead (currently have three that are under the skin and throbbing). I've been on tazorac for two months and doxy, which I just quit taking the doxy because it made my stomach feel bloated. My acne seemed to improve after about three weeks on taz, but know it doesn't seem to be helping at all. I also started taking spiro, but I'm not very hopeful with that either. I've been doing lots of research about cleansing and balancing hormonones with herbs. However, this sounRAB like a long process. I'm afraid by that time I may have permanent scarring. My derm has recommended a fourth round of accutane, but I hate the side effects and know that if I don't find the root of my problem, by acne will return. I'm looking for anyone who has been through this frustrating cycle who has had any success. My fiance and I broke up six months ago (which was when my acne started full force again), and I want to date but feel so self-conscious. People that don't have this problem do not understand. I just want to cry everytime I take my make-up off and my 12 year old asked me if I was going through puberty, lol. I've also read info about Zenmed, which is along the healing from the inside out. I have another appt. with my derm in three weeks and I'm having blood tests of my hormones. Hope to get a better answer besides four times with accutane.
 
I too have a problem with cystic acne. I'm 47 and have already had laser resurfacing surgery to minimize all the scarring I have because of the cysts. I had that surgery about 5 years ago and I already need it again. I've also tried everything to help clear up my face to no avail. I notice that whenever I'm under stress, I get cysts. If you find something that helps, please post because I would be very interested in anybody's success treating cystic acne. I think my dermatologist gave up on me and my acne and I guess I gave up too because I got sick of paying a doctor and not getting any results.
 
I am 47 and have had alot of problems with acne cysts. I not sure if this is what has been helping me but I started taking capsule of borage/flax/fish oils for a few different reasons and I havn't had any big problem cysts lately. If one does seem to be coming on I also have started using ice on it to keep inflamation down. Also have been using a vit c and acne serums I purchased from mychelle cosmetics. I found them on-line recommended from a different acne/skin forum. They are a bit pricey but I use very sparingly and the small bottles I purchsed have now lasted about 5 months and still some left.I just use a few drops at a time. I also use their face scrub, I think its lemon grass or something...really strong smelling but nice.
 
my dermatologist injects the cysts with kenalog. They disappear in 24 hours. I also do not leave the house as much as possible. They hurt and are so erabarrassing. I also did not have acne as a teen. It really sucks. It has ruined many of my vacations.
 
I am so relieved to find people with the same problem, and in the same age group.... Up until now, I have only been able to find teens and up to mid 20's with this problem.

Okay.. I will warn you before I start my ranting b*tch... I have a really huge bad cyst on my chin right now. It hurts like hell and looks just as bad. I cant even cover this one up at all.
I have decided to become a hermit. I have had this damn thing for 11 days now, and its not even close to diminishing. Actually I had it longer, and the derm injected it with cortizone and it was getting smaller and barely noticeable. And then bam! it came back with a vengeance!
Its actually making me seriously depressed right now. Its bad enough to deal with aging/wrinkles, body not healing quickly any more, let alone a huge cyst or two, or three every few months, isn't it?
I am 43 and I am tired of it. My face is a mess with scarring. Nothing has worked thus far....
The entire cycline family of antibiotics, topical ointments, everything I have read about to treat cystic acne in terms of dr. recommendations, diet changes, more exercise, less exercise, huge amounts of water, fish omega 3 oil pills, more vit.c, less vitamin c... all of it. More recently, Aldactone... which only worked sometimes... still got cysts once every couple of months.
I appologize for the negative attitude, but I am tired of it.

I am on day 8 now of accutane. Am I feeling the side effect of depression of the accutane? Possibly, but I am not really feeling much different about the cyst that I have in the past when I wasnt on accutane.
I am almost wishing for the flaky dry skin now... as for some weird reason, I am oily than I have ever been! It feels like when you first enter a steam room and you can feel the moisture stick to your skin. Why is that? Is this going to be another drug that will not work for me?
Thanks for reading this if you got this far. I just feel like taking a razor and cutting the cyst out... dont worry, I havent lost all common sense, but I wish I could! Gawd I hate it!!!!!!
 
Hi everyone..
i too have dealt with cystic acne...i did do a round of accutane last year which was great..im also on diane 35 bcp...BUT i am planning on coming off of it this month or in january..im seeing a naturopath to help me with this transition...as i am very worried about the acne coming back..esp. the cysts...
i have altered my diet dramatically...first, i cut out dairy...dairy can be a major culprit in acne..think about it...alll the hormones in dairy products that we are putting into our bodies..
plus i dont eat gluten as i am sensitive to it...the dr thought i have celiac disease but i dont...but i have cut out gluten...
these are two culprits that could affect your skin...
i personallly have pcos (polycystic ovarian syndrome) which one of the symptoms is acne...so basically i have to control my insulin in my body with the fooRAB that i eat in order to keep it stable...
i also take a few supplements...vit c, calcium magnesium, iron and omega 3 oil
maybe try altering your diet to see if there are any results..
i never used to believe that diet could affect your skin...but if diet can affect every other part of your body, why wouldnt it affect the biggest organ (skin)
also..i have heard that people who eat oranges tend to develop cysts..i personally have not tried that but its worth a try...
 
BennyBinster For inflamation/swelling try taking ibuprophen/advil 1x daily, maybe 2x. I tried this last time I had a inflammed cyst, I think it helped. I saw something, somewhere about people being on a daily dose of this stuff for a pain situasion and they notice their acne cysts improved. I am also using some serum, I guess I mentioned in a previous response. I think it is helping me, not sure but havn't had new one for at least 8 months now. I was doing searching for natural/herbal remedies. It really gets into your skin deep, I apply after a scrub.
 
May I suggest removing dairy from your diet for a month and see if this helps? I have read and found first hand that significantly decreasing the amount of milk I consume helped clear up my face. I no longer suffer from adult acne with cysts, as I used to. But at times I do get blotchy red spots that don't look good, but they aren't painful like I know cysts are. I stopped eating ice-cream and stopped drinking milk for 2 months and this really seemed to make a difference. I have read the hormones in milk causes increased oil production in the skin and can cause acne. And it does not matter if it's organic milk or not. Every type of cow's milk has hormones in it that causes the oil production. I went back to eating ice-cream and drinking milk about 1 month ago and noticed my face got worse again. So now I have started weening myself off of them again, but not completely stopping all dairy, just most milk products (no milk in the house or ice-cream).

I have found that doing acupuncture helped me a lot too. I used to get regular treatments of it and noticed my cystic acne would start clearing up within a couple days after treatment. I used to go through periodic episodes of severe OBs that would linger for weeks and nothing would make them go away, except when I tried acupuncture. I disliked having the needles in my face, but the results were DEFINITELY worth it! It helped with my back pain so I decided why not try it on my face for the acne, and it was a great find. I think I had severe OBs because of stress in school. Mind you, I got adult onset acne too, never had bad acne as a teenager. It got worse with age.
 
Ask a doc for erythromycin.

I'm 34. I had accutane treatment when I was 25. Before that I'd get big, fat cystic acne in different spots, esp. my forehead. After accutane, my forehead has been clear for the most part. The benefits of accutane lasted for a few years, but around a year ago I started getting the cystic/nodular stuff on my cheeks, around my nose.

I want to get another course of accutane but have to wait a few months. The tetracyclene antibiotics did ok for a while, but then stopped doing anything.

Long story short, the best thing for me, right now, is erythromycin. Lack of sleep is my biggest problem, and with the erythromycin, I have mild acne. (I don't want ANY.) But even when I get nodules or cysts after a crappy night's sleep, the erythromycin helps a lot (after a couple of days).
 
Funny you should say that... I too noticed it. I did cut out milk and yogurt, never ate ice cream anyway...and have very little cheese. It did help some. But still I get cysts regardless. So yes... cows milk, hormones.. bad.
Thanks.
 
Do you include dairy products of any type into your diet? You sound like me!!!! I am 33 and have the same issues and have since I turned 30. I tried everything that the Dr. threw at me and was still having painful breakouts. I took myself off of milk (after doing a ton of research) and noticed a huge difference right away. Since then I took myself off all dairy and my acne has cleared up, while stopping my meRAB.

Guess what...stupid me thought that since my acne was gone then I had been cured and was able to introduce dairy into my system again. OH MY GOSH....I broke out just like before.

In short...try getting off milk. Many people are allergic to the hormones in milk and the meRAB that they give the cows. These in turn are passed down to us and our skin is what tells us that there is a problem. People like us (I assume you have very sensitive skin) break out easily, so when it is something that will break anyone out a little, it will tend to break us out more. Just try it before you do any other meRAB....try it for 2 weeks. Let me know how it goes!
 
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