/ot/ - off-topic

I might go to hell for this, but I burn/boil a sharp needle, soften the whitehead with hot water and stab it with the needle to make a cavity and then carefully squeeze everything out and clean it carefully afterwards. It'll leave a small bloody spot, but it'll heal in a couple of days.

>>159369
Make sure the coocnut oil doesn't break you out. It is highly comodeogenic and breaks many people out. There are many other oils you can try

I am super into skincare and whatnot. Always on the skincare reddit communities which are great. Cleared up most of my acne this way. I would post before/after pics of my acne (only forehead or something) but I don't want people to shit on me on here.

I'm on accutane now though for hormonal acne. I cleared almost all of my other acne though with a good routine/time. In around 6 months is h I went from severe cystic acne all over to nothing/a few spots. I'm still amazed. I might tbh post a super cropped acne pic so you can see it.

>>159371
my old pizza acne. January

>>159372
After routine for six months. Same part of forehead. note, no acne but only scars from acne

>>159372
>>159373

Fucking hell Anon, you poor bean.
I'm really glad that cleared up for you, it must have left you completely debilitated at the time when it was at its worst.

I myself don't have a problem with acne but I feel like I might as well.

I have seborrhoeic dermatitis, a type of eczema, and it affects only my face and my scalp.
It really sucks because the flare-ups come periodically and can stay for as long as 3 months.

I develop scabs, flakes whiteheads and open, weeping sores all over my face. Severity varies, the worst I've ever had it the side of my nose dried up and cracked open like an enormous ground fissure and it weeped fluids for over a week before healing.

There's no cure and no real treatment, you can only try to manage it which can be difficult as not everybody reacts to the same treatments. One treatment is anti-fungal creams like for yeast infections/athletes foot as it's thought the eczema is caused by an overproduction of fungus on the face.
The best I can do is exfoliate every morning with an abrasive glove and then moisturise with cocoa butter before applying foundation to cover the scabs and sores, but is never totally covers the redness.

The problem with this is that the exfoliating actually prevents the scabs and flakes from disappearing as you're rubbing them off and damaging them, forcing them to have to rebuild every day, but there's nothing I can do. If I leave it, well, I don't like leaving the house and I can't even hold my head up I'm that embarrassed.

Picture related is not me, just an example of how it looks.

Acnefree face wash has helped a bit with my big cheek and chin zits, but
I still have small skin colored bumps all over my face and some on my arms. No luck getting rid of those yet.

I have awful acne.
The only things that I've seen help significantly are antibiotics and hydrocolloid bandages, available at your local Walgreens. They will literally drag the pus out of your blackheads within three days.

you pizza faces should censor this shit its gross af

>>159377
does shitposting make u feel good jw

>>159372
hey have u ruled out nutritional causes like allergies/sensitivities/deficiencies? have you ever tried liver supporting herbs etc? glad you're seeing progress you look so much clearer and healthy!

>>159379

Thanks for your nice words ^_^ I have tried really everything to get rid of my acne. I had perfect skin until at 19 it all went to shit. This change occurred in a year ): hah

-Rant incoming- not to you anon, just blowing steam in general

overall though, I really hate when I say I have hormonal acne and people tell me 'try eating clean'. Seriously. Do you think I haven't tried many things with the way my face looked? especially since I said I'm into skincare and whatnot.

I'm no retard. Not only that, I have a dairy free, greasy food free, shitty food free diet. I can not eat shitty food or I end up in the hospital. I eat better than most people and take better care of myself but I have natural shitty pizza face due to my hormones. Not only this, I am under immense stress at times which aggravates my acne (bipolar disorder ffs…)

It sucks. People like to ask me things like 'hurr hav u tried not eating chocolate :^)' or 'omg hav u tried proactiv or like washing ur face :^)' and it's always some person with a shit diet and perfect skin/person who never takes care of themselves but perfect skin.

The worst is going into a store and asking something like 'oh do you have this pink lipstick' and unrelated to everything the first thing they say is 'oh are you doing something to take care of that (my acne)' or ' you should go to a dermatologist/wash ur face' LIKE WTF DO YOU THINK IM A RETARD?!?!!? Jesus…It's so fucking rude…I hate fucking sales people fuck

>>159374

wow, this looks horrible ): I'm sorry…How do you personally manage it? do you have a 'treatment' plan you follow?

Yeah. ,my acne not only was ugly but it was painful. Face constantly throbbing with pain, hurt to touch it or sleep. I was constantly getting my face injected which hurt like a bitch.

>>159379
but seriouly anon, you got me thinking, maybe medications contributed to my acne? I honestly have no idea. I went off them but my acne kept going so not so sure about any correlation

also I hope you don't take that rant towards you D: just reminded me of things people say/wanted to rant.

>>159370
I do that too. After I put polysporin on the scar and it goes away in a day or two. I think this method only really works though if you get one or two pimples every now and then

>>159380
sorry i didn't mean to ask something retardedly obvious. just wanna make sure you're covering all the bases.
have you heard of these things? they have helped people with hormonal acne-
vitex
DIM
saw palmetto

> I can not eat shitty food or I end up in the hospital.
this kind of response from your body might indicate some kind of immunological or food intolerance issue or something… something 2 consider and rule out

>>159371
Yeah, I read about that. The only reason I started using the coconut oil is because my older sister used it in the span of a month and managed to sort out her acne issues. Mine has been worse than her's, I definitely know I won't get that sort of reaction in such a short timespan, but I'm hopeful that I can get there with patience and consistency.

I'm going to keep using it regularly along with changing pillow cases daily and a simple face washing routine. I would have written out a "report" today, but everything bad I could do to myself the past few days I have done (eating horrible food, skipping night face washing routine, not getting enough sleep at all). In addition to the stress, I started to pick at certain parts of my face, so I really dropped the ball on taking care of myself. Next few days should be a lot better.

>>159372
>>159373
It's good that you found something to take care of it and the results look really nice.

>>159380
Wow, fuck those people. I just recently had someone try to push their Proactiv shit at me and it took all my power not to yell at them. They were seriously insisting it would help. But I'm kind of in the same boat where my skin was never a problem in high school and my early twenties and then one day it just exploded all over my cheeks and it's been an issue ever since.

I wanted to plug this one site I found that seems to have really legitimate advice. The person who made it struggled with awful acne for years and wanted to pass on their experiences: http://www.skinacea.com/index.html

>tfw hardcore, cystic, hormonal acne from 12-19, even went on accutane and didnt do shit. tried everything those 7 years, change pillow cases, drink 5 liters of water daily, eat clean, washes, etc
>TFW birth control for 2 years, skin clears up on its own, minor acne here and there
>establish PERFECT skin routine to clear up all acne, seriously find the best stuff that never makes me break out which is impossible
>have to get off birth control because it literally is killing me and making me go bald
>skin turns to shit, worst hormonal cystic acne of my life. literally just never surfaces and stays under my skin throbbing

>bitches try and tell me that my my skincare products are shit

HOW ABOUT NO. IT TOOK ME 10 YEARS TO FIND A CLEANSER/MOISTURIZER THAT DOESN'T BREAK ME OUT.

>>159384
Coconut oil anon here again and I gotta say the oil is treating me pretty well. I'm not sure if my face purged or broke out about a week ago, but it recovered really well, a lot better than usual. I'm using a bar of soap to wash in the morning and a gentle exfoliator in the evening, both followed by the coconut oil. I've also started eating more vitamin C foods and taking fish oil supplements since I'm positive my acne is due to my hormones.

I'll try to take pics of my cheeks to share. Wish I had done it before now.

>>159385
spironolactone will save your life. i have hormonal too, and it's such a fucking bitch. the way dermatologists treat you "HERE, TAKE DOXYCYCLINE. HERE'S A BENZOYL PEROXIDE/CLINDAMYCIN MIXTURE TO BURN OFF ALL YOUR SKIN. WHAT? YOU'VE ALREADY TRIED THIS LITERALLY TENS OF TIMES? TRY AGAIN", and the idea that everything is just bacterial… ugh. it feels so shitty.

go on spironolactone. it is the only thing that works for hormonal acne. i was on it for two years and it's fucking amazing. way better than bcp. the only problem is finding a dermatologist that won't hock topicals and ever increasing antibiotics on you instead.

I've had fairly clear skin for most of my life (with the exception of my back that has always been bad, mostly between my shoulders/mid back) but about a year ago I suddenly started getting terrible acne all over my cheeks. Mostly heavily clustered with a couple of cystic-looking spots.

I got a acne facials from an esthetician and changed skincare routines a few times. I was mainly using Murad. Worked alright, but I still had a lot of acne and my back was actually getting worse. (Now it reached from neck to hips and spread out onto my shoulders).

Finally started taking birth control and switched to using Dermalogica and PCA. Dermalogica's overnight clearing gel is my holy grail. As of right now I only have 1 pimple on my face, not red, and completely unnoticeable unless you're touching my skin. I'm guessing a lot of my acne problem was hormonal because my back is almost completely clear now too, aside from tons of scarring.

>>159380
>The worst is going into a store and asking something like 'oh do you have this pink lipstick' and unrelated to everything the first thing they say is 'oh are you doing something to take care of that (my acne)' or ' you should go to a dermatologist/wash ur face'

Hello, me. Are you still having the acne problems? Because if so, Isotretinion (more commonly known under the brand name Accutane, which isn't used anymore) will clear that shit right up. It's super expensive, the side effects can be gnarly? And the monthly bloodworm/derma visits/script cost/ prego tests added up to about $5,000 for 6 months for me, I was on 20mg 2x daily.

But now? Shit. No cysts, no acne in general actually, and my skin went from "oily an hour after washing" to normal.

>pic related

1 is the day I went to pick up my first month's dose of Iso. 2 is me without makeup now, 3 is me with BB Cream in my bathroom lighting and 4 is BB Cream with natural lighting (I use Missha Perfect Cover, which is actually very light and amazing and I definitely recommend it for acne scars/sensitive skin in general).

I still have the scarring but once I pay off the loan for a surgery I had to have last year (unrelated) I'll get blue laser therapy to remove those as well and it'll be like it never happened. I have lots more info on both of these if you're interested!

And just as a bonus, some shit I had to deal with before I got treatment:

>"you need to wash your face"
>"is it contagious"
>(random stranger in a grocery store) "do you eat gluten? That's more than likely what's causing it"
>(another random stranger in a makeup store) "try boiling organic parsley and using that as a face wash, but you have to use t whole it's still very hot or else it won't work. It'll hurt at first but your skill will toughen up and get used to it"
>"are you just too cheap to buy acne wash?"

And when I worked at a grocery store little kids would ask me "what's wrong with your face?", not maliciously, but it was always awkward as hell with the parents when they got into their kids about it in front of me and made them cry. So glad I don't have to deal with that shit anymore. Or the random strangers stopping me in public to give me bullshit advice that they swear will "cure my acne for good!".

>>159389

Fuckin' derp

I will try coconut oil, I didn't know it was good for this. I don't really have acne right now, but I had a terrible trouble a few years ago. I used the 3 steps from clinique and some avene stuff and it was ok for my skin. Now I have 2 or 3 pimples, mostly caused by period. I use the clinique soap, biologique recherches toner (it's all bio and smells like vinegar because it's mostly that, it's an exfoliating tone and leaves my skin fucking soft. I'm in love, but it's expensive ew) and oil free dramatically different gel moisturizer from clinique. I sometime use Skin79 masks (tea tree the most ) and Sephora masks. I have combination skin, chin is more dry than forehead and cheeks and nose are a little oily, so the masking thing helps me a lot (using masks for zone, for example:tea tree mask on cheeks, something moisturizing on chin and forehead, clay mask on nose…). And when I feel my akin irritated I use a Bulgarian rose toner. I'll include coconut oil in my life, too many uses

>>159390
can you ACTUALLY get rid of scarring though? not quite convinced.
also you look great now, grats anon. sorry you had to go through that.

>>159390
You can very obviously see a photo editing app has been used in the 4th picture. The under eye are is extremely blurry, particularly under the right eye.

>>159392
You can get rid of the red, deeper scarring under the skin but if you have pitted scarring on the surface, not so much. Scar treaents have come a long way in recent years.

>>159393
I always get rid of my dark circles, I have them pretty bad because genetics, but the point still stands, I don't have cystic acne anymore and in fact I barely get pimples ever. I will say I was lucky not to get any keloid scarring which can happen with Iso, it's listed as one of the more common side effects. It's extremely YMMV.

I don't have acne, but I also have combination/oily skin and used to have red areas - or what ever the hell you call it - around my nose, blackheads and huge pores.

However after I moved to South Korea I became obsessed with Korean skincare products and the ''Korean skincare rutine'', all though I tweaked it and don't use as many steps as normal.

I swear to god this shit works, my skin is clearer than ever, and I don't even have to use foundation any more.

Every night (after removing make-up) and morning I use

>Laneige Sparkling Water cleansing foam
>Laneige Orginal Essence (this shit is a miracle in itself, it actually healed up a tiny scar I've had on my nose for several years)
>Laneige Sparkling Water Essence
>Elisabeth Arden Visible Difference Moistening Cream

Also once or twice a week, during my Night routine I use Laneige Water Bank overnight mask and/or Etude House mugwort mask.

Korean make-up and skin-care products are god's gift to women, and compared to prices at home, good quality Korean brands are cheap as well.

>>159392

YES! Using a dermaroller/dermal roller can totally transform your skin. It's basically a roller with tiny needles on it– they can vary in size from .3mm to 2mm+, depending on what area/what kind of skin problem you are trying– and and you pretty much just clean wherever you're rolling and roll over the area a few times. I just started using one (1.5mm for acne scarring on my cheeks) and I saw results after one treatment. They're not that expensive, I got mine for just under $20. Basically the tiny needles perforate your skin and to heal it all up, your skin produces elastin and collagen which rejuvenates everything. I've seen peoples' photos where once they had a big fat scar, post-dermarolling there was only the faintest hint of one.

After I roll, I put on a DIY vitamin C serum (protects against sun damage, promotes collagen production, fades acne scars as well) and wait a little while before continuing with my normal skincare routine. Like >>159396 said, Korean skincare is where it is AT. I can't get enough of Missha's Cell Renewal Snail Cream. If I pop a zit, it heals ten times faster when I put snail cream on it than when I didn't use this stuff.

ALSO, AHAs and BHAs have worked really well for me in keeping acne at bay. I use Paula's Choice 2% BHA treatment and it is a holy grail product for me. I've had cystic acne breakouts on my cheeks and my chin for years, but when I started using this it slowly went away. It didn't clear anything up overnight, but it has definitely stopped the cystic acne from cropping back up. If I don't use it for a couple days, I will ALWAYS get at least one cystic pimple, and my forehead will be covered in tiny bumps.

If anyone is wondering about the order of these, it goes Vitamin C serum, then BHA, then AHA, then the rest of my Korean beauty routine. Some products, like the vitamin C and the two acids, are pH sensitive and are rendered less effective if you put on a product with a pH outside of their "effectiveness range" on before you continue with the other products.

Sorry for sperging out, skincare is my favorite.

>>159397
is this effective on stretch marks anon?

>>159398

http://www.realself.com/review/york-derma-roller-dermaroller-treatment-stretch-marks#

You bet it does, but you have to keep going with the treatments for a while. There's a great dermarolling guide here:

http://dermaroller.owndoc.com/dermaroller-instructions.pdf

Owndoc does sell dermarollers, but you don't have to buy them from there. You can also find them on amazon or ebay but idk if I'd trust some random $6 roller I'm going to puncture my skin with… Owndoc seems like a no bullshit place that legitimately cares about people knowing about the treatment and how to do it right. The one catch is that you really have to stay committed to it to see any drastic results.

>>159399
You are very informative and helpful. Thanks so much!

>>159397
>>159399
>>159400

For some reason this reminds me of when Charms was still a tripfag on /cgl/ and started hardcore pushing derma rollers in the skincare threads before she got shot down for doing so.

Please don't do this to yourself unless instructed by a dermatologist on how often to do it, what size to use, how to clean them, etc. Repeatedly stabbing holes all over your face every day with needles is just gonna fuck your skin up otherwise.

>using dermarollers

my mom actually was instructed by another deramatologist to dermaroll. my mom used hers for about a month and RAVED about it until she ended up with an infection on one side of her face and ended up in the hospital on IV antibiotics. she literally ruined her skin and had to spend 6+ months getting chemical peels from a another dermatologist (amongst other things) to get it back to normal. don't fucking dermaroll srsly.

>>159402
I bought a dermaroller but I only used it like twice and stopped because that shit fucking hurts (I couldn't be bothered buying numbing cream).
I was wary to make sure it was disinfected after each use though but you can never be too careful.
yeah, I'm not going to be using it ever again.

Can your skin "sink in" from picking? I've picked the acne on my chin (like on the sides below the corners of my mouth) and I swear the skin looks a bit sunken there or something. Is there anything I can do about it?

>>474201
You can get pitted scars (pockmarks) from picking acne, yes.

>>474201
Yep. If you pick a large one the chances of it being a pitted scar is high, especially as you grow older. Don't touch them.

>>474201
I had a cystic spot on my chin when I was around 20. I picked the fuck out of it and now I have a dent in my chin when I smile. it doesn't bother me but sometimes when I see it in pictures I think of it as a battlescar in my war against acne lol.

in other words, yes, picking can scar. but there are options to help even out skin after the fact, try rosehip oil for this. it's helped me with the little scars on my cheeks!