I know that sometimes skin flares up if you stop tetracyclines suddenly, but in my case I had no choice because of my allergic reaction. I can't believe that a B-vit complex and omega 3 are affecting my skin this badly. Must be the dermalogica products. I'm using a pre-cleanse product that mixes with all the oil in your face and rinses away and then a gentle cleanser to really clean deep down.
However, today I have been doing a lot of reading around how spots actually form (really nice step by step explanation here:
http://dermatology.about.com/od/acne/ss/how_acne_forms.htm).
It seems that they don't just appear overnight (this morning I woke up with 6 new spots that weren't there yesterday). It's all about the shedding of cells and the blockages that form in the days preceeding the spots. Very interesting - seems that the skin cells get "stickier" and cause blockages.
So I've been wondering about my pre-cleanse solution - I know it's oil based, as oil disolves in oil, and that removes the sebum (in theory). What if traces of that oil are being left behind and making my skin cells sticky, hence, 6 days later I'm covered in spots? If this is the case, the worse is yet to come.
Terrified of how I'm going to look this time next week, and also certain that constantly swapping products around and trying new things (what I have been doing for ages), just leaves my skin ultra confused, I'm starting a new routine this evening that I am going to stick to.
It's not entirely natural - I've got a 2.5% (mild) benzoyl peroxide gel (Panoxyl) from the pharmacy. My skin needs a bit of extra help at the moment as it's in such a mess. I've also bought a basic soap (one of those dead sea things), and some aloe vera gel. Both products are gel based, as I want to avoid all oils and creams on my skin as much as possible.
Something else I'm going to do is be ultra gentle. I've always rubbed cleanser in and massaged my face, but reading about how acne forms it seems that inflammation (pustules and cysts) appear when the follicle or pore ruptures. Maybe I am causing this?? If pressure from me washing my face is breaking the walls of my pores that are blocked, then if I stop rubbing so much, maybe I'll just get little blackheads and whiteheads to sort out.
I'm going to be ultra gentle - literally just wash my face and pat it dry before smoothing on a tiny bit of benzoyl peroxide and some aloe vera gel to keep it moisturised.
So to summarise, this is where I'm at:
Twice a day:
Gentle wash with soap
Apply thin layer of BP
Apply Aloe Vera gel
Also:
As usual, I am avoiding ALL milk, in anything (ie chocolate, white sauce, any processed foods)
Avoiding alcohol, save the odd glass at the weekend,
Avoiding sugar as much as possible (feeds bacteria!)
Eating as much fruit and veg as I can
Taking a B-vit complex and Omega 3 supplement
We'll see how it goes.
P.S. This morning's attractive surprise:
