Acne, etc

[Scythiroth]

If you keep your hands clean, would it really matter if you touch your face or not?

[Exoduso]

I don't think it has anything to do with them being clean, it's more about you irritating the skin. Just stop heh, it's not that hard to avoid touching your face -- if you see yourself beginning to move your hands towards your face just stop.

[Palin]

Also your hands are extremely oily, touching your face with them only adds to th eoil on your skin.

[Maguspk]

I used to have realtively harmless pimples and stuff, but in about 7th-8th grade I made the foolish mistake of scratching at the pimples and popping them. Now I have a slight scarred area on my left cheek.

DON'T TOUCH YOUR DAMN FACE OR THE PIMPLES

It will make the problem worse, no matter what you do, and if you pop pimples you will leave scars eventually, which is the last thing you want.

Stop worrying about appearance so damn much and let what everybody's body goes through, go through on your body. It's natural just let it run it's course.

That said, if you want a good face cleanser, read the ingredients. Benzoyl Peroxide is BAD for your face because it will dry it out. You don't want to counteract your bodys natural functions you just want to clean your face. Like someone said before, Salycitic Acid is best for this purpose.

So just clean your face everyday (once is fine, twice is better, 3 times is OCD ;p) and you'll be doing the best thing you can for your skin. IMHO I don't think Dermatologist creams are worth the trouble, unless you have parents who are willing to blow the money on one. Other than that, just keep your face clean, and don't mess with the pimples.

[Scythiroth]

Bleh, I can't stop touching my face. >.<

[Onde]

http://www.popthatzit.com/category/3-fa ... tures.html

check that out and realize its not as bad as it could be!

[Exoduso]

http://www.popthatzit.com/category/3-fa ... tures.html

check that out and realize its not as bad as it could be!

Seriously, just take care of yourself lol... i'm sure none of you are as bad as these pictures.

[Pamelita]

It sounds like Acutane would be good for your situation, a friend took it and it worked wonders for her. Either way, just keep bugging your dermatologist till you find something that will work for you specifically, pretty much trial and error. I'm sure Acutane won't be bad as long as your physician says it's ok for you to use.

Other tips to keep things down is don't touch your face unless you absolutely have to, fingers are dirty little things. Drinking more water also helps tons.

And, ew at the gigantor pimple...

[Lbelle]

http://www.popthatzit.com/file/26-sebaceous-cyst2.html

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[Scythiroth]

And I'm done touching my face...

[Kuya]

Bleh, I can't stop touching my face. >.<

I have this problem to

i just cant stop touching myself, haelp pls

[Epical]

I work in a retail environment where I'm constantly interacting with people, shaking everyone's hands, touching dusty/dirty boxes, touching computer demos that have been touched by many people before, etc. I've learned that if you *need* to touch your face, using the palm side of your fingers is the absolute wrong thing to do.

It's hard to explain so just follow my directions: hold your hand out in front of you, palm side towards your monitor. Now, look at your index knuckle, and travel up. See the second place where your finger bends (second knuckle if you will)? That's what you use to touch your face. If you didn't understand that, do this: make a fist. See where your thumb is touching? That.

Seems awkward at first, but just keep doing it, and you'll finally get into the habit.

[Exoduso]

You should write a book about the magic of the index finger.

But seriously, that's what I use if I absolutely need to scratch my face for some reason.

[Tilo]

If you can afford it, accutane is amazing.. and also amazingly expensive. You have to take it for 4 months? I think, with the first month costing 600+ US dollars and each subsequent month costing more.

I still have not used accutane for this very reason, but I have friends who had really bad acne (worse than mine, if that's even possible) and that shit worked perfectly.

[Navia]

Hormone imbalance usually triggers acne.
I used to use retin-a when i was younger.

Its helps if you change the cover on your pillows in case you sleep with your face against it.
A lot of people subconciously touch/pick their face repeatedly during the day which doesn't help - hard habit to notice and break, but worth the effort.
Exfoliating your skin can work wonders too.

[TehMehHeh]

I\'m about 17ish and back when I played FFXI I drank pepsi like it was crack, and got some bad pimples and blackheads and such, I now I only drink water but my diet isn\'t so hott anyway (lotsa frozen food). I only get a few pimples every now and then, it\'s just part of growing up I guess. Also, if you have problems with blackheads or something, get a facial mask that will harden on your face it, will probably rip the majority of the little bastards out.

[mikazuki]

if you really need to stop touching your face, it's conveniently winter, put some full finger gloves on - or mittens, the kind you can fold back would be best if you actually want to ya know, use your hands. keep them on for a few weeks and as long as your fingers are covered you won't be able to touch your face without thinking about it and stopping yourself.
keep the gloves clean because you'll end up poking yourself for a while anyway.
if you actually need to touch your face, the back of your hand is better than your palm, but you can also use your wrist.

you'll notice if you start poking at your eyes they can start hurting and then you want to poke them more to get rid of the irritation. just putting your face into a basin of cold water will make it cool down and stop itching.
after washing your face, don't scrub at it with a towel, you should always dry sensitive skin by patting at it gently.
use revitalising creams when your skin is dry, neutrogena for example is good, cocoa butter (various brands), and hypo-allergenic moisturisers also work.

[Neosutra]

Proactive worked for my little brother when he had it pretty bad. I had it not so bad and it worked for me too. It also worked for Jessica Simpson and Puff Daddy.

Quoted for truth.

Wife and I both had just enough to be annoying, nothing major, but sucks going to work looking like a teenager with skin problems. We tried proactive and have never had better skin. It amazing.

Definately worth the problem. Had a few friends with pretty bad skin problems too, and it cleared them right up.

Problem with americans is steady diet of steriod enhanced food and grease combined with low exercise. Try good eating habits and proactiv, you wont be dissapointed.

[zakhiel]

Okay. Here's my take.

Dermatologists are a waste of time. I went to a derm from the age of 14 to earlier this year (currently 24). Waste of time, waste of money. Dermatologists are not in the business of curing your acne - there's no money in it. They're in the business of treatments. Pretty much goes for the entire pharmaceutical industry. Why develop and hand out a 'cure', and never see you again, when they can give you a 'treatment' and see you again in 2-3 months when it doesn't work?

And don't believe this bullshit about 'be patient/it takes time/let your body run through its course'. It's true for some, probably most, but not all. Me, for instance. My mom is 44 and still has some acne. Lucky her, though, she can wear makeup so it's not really noticeable. I (HURRAY!) seem to have inherited this trait. There is NO REASON to just ignore it and 'let it run its course'. This is fucking stupid advice. There is no reason to suffer. Yes, you should try to not let it bother you, but at the same time you should try to do something about it if it bothers you. I got so tired of hearing this advice from people who DID NOT HAVE ACNE. They don't know what it's like, so they need to piss off.

Here is what I do, and it works for me.
1) Drink shit tons of water. In fact, drink nothing but water if you can. If you can't, drink juice and water. Do not drink sodas.
2) Avoid ALL fast food. All this about food not effecting you is B.S. The Western diet is a disease upon mankind. Look at documentaries of tribal peoples who hunt and forage for their own food. How many people will you see with acne? I've never seen any. I avoid chocolate, because it DOES break me out (I have tested this, I hadn't eaten chocolate in a year, and after eating one chocolate-rich bar, I broke out BAD days later, worse than I had over the course of that year). I also try to avoid greasy/fried foods, though this is particularly hard for me. I'm pretty sure that dairy, bread, and other non-natural foods have some sort of correlation as well, but I'm so hooked it's taking a lot to give 'em up.
3) Sleep on your back! Nevernevernevernever sleep on your stomach. Your pillows absorb the oil and bacteria from each night, and you're rubbing your face all up in that shit. Wash your sheets/pillows once a week preferably, once a month at least.
4) For me, NOT washing my face all the time helps better. All it does is dry it up, and putting moisturizer does not help. Your body knows that shit isn't really oil, and will produce the oil anyway to naturally moisturize. Washing your face constantly just stimulates your oil glands to go into overdrive. At least for me. I wash my face once, twice a week maximum - the rest of the time, I just rinse it with mild temperatured water.
5) I take a multivitamin, and also take separate Beta Carotene pills. Taking Vitamin A pills isn't as safe, because high levels of Vitamin A is toxic - taking Beta Carotene pills, the precursor to Vitamin A, however is totally safe. Your body will only convert the B.C. to Vitamin A as needed and discard the rest. This was probably the only good advice I've ever gotten from a derm. (FYI, all Accutane is is a very high level dose of Vitamin A, or at least, it's in the same family as Vitamin A.)

This is what works for me. It hasn't cured it yet, I'm pretty sure if I start exercising more and drop the other bad foods it would though.

[Exoduso]

Stuff.

Amen to that. ^^ You should try drinking wheatgrass, I did everything you said, plus drinking the wheatgrass, and I pretty much have 0 zits on my face now... (and even if some break out, they are gone within a day or two because they're so small it doesn't even matter.)

Sure, it's hard to give up on all that food, but once you do you'll feel better too (I used to eat fast food like there was no tomorrow, and now that I stopped eatting it and dropped the extra pounds I had on me (before I started actually exercising mind you), I actually started feeling better because my stomach wasn't getting bloated every 2 seconds because of the goddamn intoxicating mcdonalds/whatever foods.

If it's getting better as you say, drink wheatgrass in the morning before you eat anything and you're fixed.