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[Aramco]

I use minocycline personally

I hate how I read that as 'Microcline'.

But I personally, don't see the problem with acne. I get that stuff, and don't even care. What's the big deal?

[blackmagechill]

Benzoyl-Peroxide works great, but it's kinda expensive, about three dollars for six ounces.

I took Accutane (mainly for bad back and shoulder breakout) for five months and it cleared up everything, although I would only resort to that if your case is extreme and you're willing to risk side effects. But before that, this benzoyl peroxide is the only apply-to-face product that actually worked for me. It's the magic behind Proactiv, but you can buy in small tubes at any drugstore. I would wash my face with warm water, then apply a thin layer of this before I went to sleep and it made a noticeable difference. It works by drying out the skin and killing bacteria. Be careful about getting it on fabrics though because it acts as a bleach and will discolor dyed materials.

It only causes sunburn if I'm outside fore a while, and I'm usually not, so it works out pretty well. My dad took accutane and has skin problems from it, but he's okay as far as that goes, with a bunch of visits to a dermatologist.

I use minocycline personally

I hate how I read that as 'Microcline'.

But I personally, don't see the problem with acne. I get that stuff, and don't even care. What's the big deal?

It looks atrocious.

[Aramco]

Whatever. I don't really care what I look like, anyway. Not like I can see myself without a mirror.

[ChairmanPoo]

Accutane is isotretionine aka a vitamin A derivate. It must be taken under medical supervision because A hypervitaminosis can cause various problems (ossification alterations, liver damage, etc...). In particular, it's one of these side-effects (sebaceous gland atrophy) which is exploited to fight acne. The other side of the coin is that because of this same thing it can produce a feeling of dry skin. All in all, it's not something to be used casually.

Besides, what Aqizzar points out doesn't sound like acne, but rather something on the lines of a furuncule, which makes it unlikely that accutane would help. All in all he should get a dermathologist to look at it and prescribe an adequate treatment, rather than rely on online advice for this.

[KaelGotDwarves]

1. See a dermatologist. Or at least ask your PCP - Primary Care Physician.
2. You are correct in your assessment that washing too much will just dry/irritate the skin while doing not much of anything positive. Do not use hand/regular soap for your face or overwash, you'll just strip your face of natural oils and the redness will get worse.

For a normal acne problem, I recommend:

St. Ives apricot scrub. It's dirt cheap (comparable to $50 makeup creams) too and you can buy it in the skincare sections of supermarkets/target/walmart. It has worked wonders for clearing my face. I use the invigorating version twice a day, morning and before bed.

EDIT: Other tips.
EXERCISE - this has tons of positive effects.
Quit drinking soda and anything with high-fructose corn syrup. Avoid chocolate and other oily foods and chemical bullshit they try to pass off as edible. They have all sorts of fucking-up effects on your body.
Drink lots of water. Lots.
Go outside and/or get direct sunlight.
When you shower, use warm water (it opens/loosens skin pores) and gently massage your face and/or run your nails softly across your skin. If you have oily skin like I do, you'll clear out all sorts of nastiness. Follow this with the facial scrub I recommended.

[G-Flex]

I would never advise anyone to take accutane. There are known side effects affecting pretty much every single bodily system you could think of, and the side effect profile isn't even necessarily that well-established. I would not trust it, under supervision of a doctor or not, especially for a primarily-cosmetic problem like acne.

[knaveofstaves]

Speaking as someone for whom acne was not a "primarily cosmetic" problem -- when I'm fully clothed, you wouldn't know it's a problem I had -- I'm glad I had health care that allowed me to see a dermatologist with whom I decided to take Accutane. Please read OP:

The title says it all really.  Now, I'm not talking about, "oh man, I've got pizzaface bad, but I wash my face like once a month, so what's the magic solution?"  No, this is more like the "medical" idea of acne.

[Africa]

I used to have medium-bad acne and used some creamy white stuff whose name I forget...in more recent years things were getting better and I would wash my face with soap twice a day, but still got some pimples...I've just finished a two month backpacking trip where I was just rinsing with water once a day and then washing with soap only every few days and my skin has never been better since before puberty. From what I've heard, using soap too often is bad for your skin. Just use water and save the soap for every 2-3 days unless you're real real dirty. Same goes for showering.

Just a general tip I guess.