Beauty Tips For Body Care
VERY LONG - TL;DR at the bottom - Thanks!Hi,I'm a male in my mid-twenties that started battling with acne in my last year of high school (2009) and have continued to struggle with it to this day. For the first 4-5 years, I used over the counter products until finally having the courage to visit a doctor. I was prescribed minocycline, phisoHex (an anti-bacterial cleanser), and Benzaclin (clindamycin + benzoyl peroxide topical at night). After a few months of using the minocycline and the phisohex, my cystic acne subsided and I began to solely use Benzaclin religiously. For the first two years of using only Benzaclin, I had limited acne and oily skin.For these two years, my acne didn't bother me so much as my oily skin. After a shower or washing my face, my skin would look clean for about 3 hours and then as the oil collected on my face, it seemingly aggravated my acne (making my face look red and agitated). To deal with this, I would frequently rinse the "grease" off my face under a sink throughout the day (using water only), sometimes up to 3-4 times a day.Near the end of these two years on Benzaclin only, and rinsing my face under a tap regularly, I noticed my face was better than it had ever been. Even my oily skin wasn't aggravating my face as much (even though my face still always looked much better after having recently rinsed it), and I decided to stop using Benzaclin. For the first time in about 6 years, I was using nothing but water on my face. About 2 months after stopping, some small closed comedones reappeared, and shortly after that I began getting cysts again. I immediately went back onto minocycline and Benzaclin. A 3-month course of minocycline again, seemingly took the cystic acne away. Which brings me to today.I've been back on Benzaclin for about 7 months now, and despite having minimal acne, my face looks absolutely horrid (I've seriously never seen skin even remotely close to as bad as mine is now; at this point, it looks more like some alien skin substitute than actual human skin). In my panic, and in my attempt to quickly get back to how good my skin was, I have likely overused Benzaclin. Because Benzaclin dries out the skin and causes it to peel, I sometimes used it morning and night in an attempt to quickly get rid of clogged pores/acne. As a result, I believe I have completely destroyed my 'moisture barrier'. At certain points in time, raising my eyebrows would crack and crease my forehead, rather than ripple it. During this time, I would be peeling off my entire face almost every other night in the shower. The outer layer of my skin would disintegrate if it was wet and I merely brushed it with my hand.In addition to overusing Benzaclin, my oil problem continues. Right after washing, my face looks best. But as the oil production starts, it makes my dehydrated, cracking, scaly looking skin look that much worse and it makes it hard not to go back to old habits of rinsing my face (which obviously further robs my skin of moisture).Having read a bunch of information here about restoring the moisture barrier, I realize the most likely solution is to make a moisturizer my face's best-friend day-in and day-out for the foreseeable future. The problem I have with this is, whenever I use a moisturizer throughout the day, the moisturizer and my oily skin combine and makes it look like I'm sweating slime (on top of the oil aggravating and reddening my acne). But maybe this is just a necessary evil I must endure? Or might it be possible to moisturize only at night to slowly rebuild the barrier?Anyways, I'm looking for any and all advice. I feel as though I could be happy with the limited amount of acne I have, if I could just make my skin look like ACTUAL skin. As of now I'm still using Benzaclin at night and my dermatologist has suggested that it is possible that the Benzaclin is no longer working as effectively as it was when it cleared me up earlier and has prescribed a Retin-A gel, 0.025% (i.e. more moisture barrier destruction). I'd especially love to hear from anyone with a similar history of annihilating their moisture barrier due to being reliant on prescription medication to stave off acne.Thank you for your time!TL;DR I believe I have effectively destroyed any and all remnants of my moisture barrier after 5+ years of prescription acne medication use (mostly Benzaclin) and over-washing. The logical thing for me to do would be to begin using a moisturizer 24/7, but my oily skin makes using a moisturizer throughout the day a struggle. Having my face look like it is sweating slime after a few hours of oil mixing with moisturizer is about as appealing as having my face look like the concrete it does without moisturizer. I'm looking for any advice on how to rebuild a moisture barrier while continuing to use prescription acne medication at night, but while also not having my face look like a sopping mess during the day (if even possible). I feel as though I could be happy with the limited amount of acne I currently have, if it weren't for my skin looking so abnormal (presumably because of dehydration).
Girls Blog 2015
Submitted by hotelobby
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