(24F) Please help me. 7 years of acne - It makes me want to die.

Hi everyone,

I am in desperate need of some guidance or reassurance.

My backstory:
I (24F) have had severe Acne since I was 16. When I say severe I mean I have had around 30 active pimples on my face every day and my face generally has a redness to it around my mouth and nose that looks inflamed and unhealthy. Generally these pimples are cystic nodules or fugal little bumps, or whiteheads. When I was a baby, I was prescribed 4 rounds of Antibiotics to treat strep throat, which I believe completely destroyed my microbiome before it even had a chance to properly establish itself. Age 16, I was prescribed the birth control and topical as well as internal Antibiotics for Acne with no probiotics, which made my skin explode in Acne to the extent that not a single part of my face was free of it. It made school completely unbearable, and I found being alive very difficult. At age 18, I decided to give in and take Accutane. I took accutane twice, and my acne came back both times - again, I can only imagine how this must have affected my microbiome. At age 20, I was prescribed spironolactone, which worked if I took it religiously - this became a massive source of stress as I was constantly worried about running out. Knowing that spironolactone lowers testosterone and reduces sebum production, I became desperate to understand what was at the root cause of my skin issues and have since been trying to heal naturally. I stopped spironolactone and the birth control pill a year ago, and since have been doing everything I can.

What I am trying now:
For the past 7 months, I have been eating a strict candida diet as I did a test which showed IgG antibodies against candida (ie. past or ongoing infection). I also had a raised testosterone reading last year, which has since gone back to normal levels after adopting this diet. My other hormones are normal. I have no food allergies . For the past two months I have been taking milk thistle to support my liver, which gave me a terrible initial acne flare up but I stuck with it to get the toxins out. I take Thorne SF722, 5 capsules 3 times a day for candida. Three days ago I decided to start painting my face with diluted 15% Lugol's Iodine and DMSO, which has made a bigger difference to my skin that anything else ever has. At this time, I also started taking Iodine internally as per Dr.Sircus recommendation for candida. She suggests six drops four times a day, I am taking six drops twice a day as that seemed like a lot (so I currently take 216mg). I am also taking EDTA suppositories to help my body detox heavy metals, as I read that candida and heavy metals go hand in hand. I take probiotics, minerals to support Iodine and vitamin d and omega 3.

Currently, my skin looks the best it has looked in a long time. At the moment, I have more fungal-looking bumps on my face than anything, ie. dermatitis looking acne and a few whiteheads. My cystic acne has mostly disappeared.

What I need help with:
- Do you think I am on the right track? What are your thoughts or suggestions re my situation?
- I am worried that topical iodine is the main cause of the improvement I have seen in my skin - can I continue to apply iodine ongoingly? I am worried the improvement will disappear when I stop. How can I make sure my skin microbiome gets replenished with acne-preventing microbes - are internal probiotics enough to fix my seemingly messed up skin microbiome?
- Has internal iodine worked for anyones acne - or candida? What was your dosage and how fast did you see results?
- Has EDTA worked for anyones acne or candida? What was your dosage and how fast did you see results?
- Is milk thistle a good choice for acne? It made my skin worse than ever but topical iodine really helped with that - I believe the terrible acne flare up indicated that my liver has really been struggling (maybe its full of candida, heavy metals and toxins)
- Is there anything else I could do to repair my gut microbiome?

Thank you so much for your suggestions. The emotional toll this has taken on me has been suffocating. I feel like I have been living a half-life since I was a teenager. I barely go outside, don't want to see my friends and am incredibly ashamed of myself all the time. I have even had therapy for this and it has not helped at all. I just want normal skin so desperately. Tweet