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[3man75]

I've been putting on this acne medicine for a VERY long time now (5-6 years now) and i still have acne. It's on my face, back, chest, and a bit on my shoulders currently.

Is there any medicine i can buy that will clean this up? Or maybe some other treatment?

[Helmaroc]

If benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid products aren't working for you, you may want to look into prescription treatments. Stronger topical medications and oral medications exist that can get you better results than OTC stuff.

Accutane treatment is the only relatively permanent option I'm aware of. It's a pill you take for a few months that makes your skin extremely dry and results in less acne and skin oils. The dryness goes away after you stop taking it, but there are several significant side effects (some potentially permanent) that can occur and so it is usually reserved for people with severe acne that cannot be managed with other treatments. I took it for about two months and it cleared my skin up about 90%, and fortunately I have not experienced any serious side effects.

I would recommend scheduling an appointment with a dermatologist and discussing your options.

[LordBucket]

maybe some other treatment?

I can tell you what worked for me with I was in high school: clean better.

Buy a new toothbrush. Stop using bar soap. It is harsh on your skin. Buy women's shampoo and conditioner in separate bottles. Wash your face and entire body with the shampoo suds using hot water. Hot water helps open pores. Gently scrub your face with the old toothbrush. Gently. The goal is to clean, not to tear flesh. A luffa can also work, but a toothbrush allows for much finer cleaning of small corners of your body. Using an old toothbrush, the bristles will be soft. Scrub in and behind your ears, your neck...everywhere. Showing serves a purpose: becoming clean. It is not a race. Once finished scrubbing and rising, turn the shower to cold (this helps close your pores) and apply the conditioner. Let it sit while you brush your teeth, then rinse and wash the conditioner out.

Wash your pillowcase and bedsheets. Vacuum carpets and clean your room. Get into the habit of doing both every month at least. If funds permit, consider getting an ionizing air purifier.

Also, stop touching your face if you do that.

VERY long time now (5-6 years now) and i still have acne.

For me, the simple switch from bar soap to women's shampoo and toothbrush scrubbing cleared up my acne in about a week. I've been doing it ever since. Your mileage may vary. But give it a try.

[3man75]

Lord, toothbrush as in the one for teeth? Um, bit out there but okay.

Also, do I HAVE to continue on this treatment for life?

[Jimmy]

LordBucket's suggestion isn't as strange as it sounds. The rationale behind using a toothbrush on your face is exfoliation. Similar results can be accomplished with his suggested loofa brush, or you can use other tools such as microfibre cloths, bath sponges or facial scrub brushes. These products range from a few dollars for a simple cloth to several hundred for a powered exfoliating facial brush. ^[example]

Exfoliation removes the outer layers of dead keratinous skin that contribute to the blockage of pores. ^[citation] Blockage of pores can lead to acne outbreak as oily secretions accumulate behind the blockage and become inflamed. Facial scrubbing is therefore a good first step in acne control, but should be done in a way that avoids damaging the skin by being too harsh and causing damage. It is also necessary to do this regularly to benefit fully from the effect, with daily exfoliation being the most effective method.

Acne can be a chronic problem for some, though in most cases it occurs during puberty and fades as you progress into adulthood. If you've had it for over five years you would likely be reaching the end of the time most would start to find their symptoms improve. For women, several types of oral contraceptive pills also double as acne control medications (though they tend to cost more than your standard combined oral contraceptive). For men, other prescription treatments exist that can offer improvement of acne but cause birth defects when taken by women. Both assume you've exhausted your typical methods of acne control and have seen a dermatologist, which is a possibility if you can't seem to improve things on your own.

Again, LordBucket's advice is sound. Practise good personal hygiene. Eat a healthy diet. Try to get regular exercise. Improving your overall health will help your body in controlling acne. And above all, don't let yourself pick or squeeze your pimples. Doing this will cause scarring and make the redness worsen, not to mention spreading the acne further. Keep your hands off your face!

[nenjin]

LB's advice is solid.

Ditch bar soap for your face. Find some non-fragrance soap that is gentle on the skin. (The perfumes and oils in regular bar soap clog your pours.) I use Cetaphil. It's expensive as hell for soap but it's incredibly gentle.

Never tried exfoliating with a tooth brush but it sounds like it'd work.

Washing your pillow cases is a big one. Oily skin will saturate the fabric quickly and then can't go anywhere else.

Wash your face at a minimum of two times a day. More if your skin can handle it without drying out.

Sunlight is actually good for acne too, to a degree. If you spend next to no time outside, some time in the sun can help. (Assuming your skin isn't already super damaged, in which case sun doesn't help but just aggravates the damage.)

I was on Proactive for like 3 years. Never saw any real benefits (although their exfoliating cleanser was pretty nice.) So I don't have a lot of confidence in these complete acne treatments that are advertised. Most of them are just a cleanser/exfoliant, an astringent and then usually some sort of soothing cream. You can get all that without paying them a premium every month.

FWIW, I had pretty bad acne until about 27 or so. Then my body finally chilled out a bit, and into my 30s my skin has never been better or had less acne. So for some people with really oily skin, you can't really get rid of acne, you just have to mitigate the acne until your body changes the way it works.

I'd advise against seeking medical or drug treatments for acne. Acutane has a lot of side effects, and stuff like Tetracycline has a ton of derivatives which you can't always predict your reaction to. (I was on tetracycline for years to manage my acne, it stopped being effective, so they put me a derivative called Dynacin.......and my first dose put me immediately into Anaphylaxis and I had to go the emergency room. It was not fun.) Using drugs to control what your skin is doing is sometimes like using a shotgun to deal with a ant. That ant will be dead as fuck, but there can be collateral damage to the rest of your body.

And yeah, lastly, know when not to fool with your face. As my dermatologist once told me "Start a timer. After 5 minutes of popping zits or whatever, you're done. Leave the bathroom and don't look in a mirror again until tomorrow." Obsessing about your face and your acne can lead you do more damage than good. Never mess with a zit that doesn't have a white head. Do not try to get blackheads out by hand, you will seriously wreck your skin doing that. Dermatologists actually have a tool they use to remove blackheads while minimizing the tissue damage. It might be worth a trip to a dermatologist just to get an "acne treatment" which, as gross as it sounds, is basically them popping zits and removing blackheads for you. They can also do a chemical peel on you, which is basically a chemical exfoliant. They can generally do what you do in front of the mirror with less time spent and less damage done. But it's usually not cheap.

For backne, get a good soft bristle bathroom brush and just make sure to exfoliate your shoulders with it and some soap.

[Vector]

Also, do I HAVE to continue on this treatment for life?

Something like this is... literally what women do their entire lives? It's really not that bad.

[3man75]

Thanks i just want to clean up EVERYTHING since i've had it for such a long time and my mom (god bless her soul but he knows how many nerves and toes she jumps on) has pointed it out alot. I'm locking this thread now thanks everyone

Also, do I HAVE to continue on this treatment for life?

Something like this is... literally what women do their entire lives? It's really not that bad.

I'd like to just take care of it intensely once and then never again if you know what i mean. Also I don't really care what women do their entire lives. Or about beauty honestly, health yes, just not beauty.