Is Proactiv available there? I never personally used it. But I have heard from people that I know it works pretty well.

I wouldn’t recommend Proactive. Its active ingredients are benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid. Both of these things can be found in much cheaper generic versions at a drug store.

I find that if I had too much dairy (which has hormones, even if the cows weren’t given added hormones) I can get bad acne (and I’m well past the age where this should be a problem). If you do drink a lot of milk or eat a lot of dairy products, you might want to try to cut back for a couple of weeks and see if it helps at all.

I suffered, and I mean suffered with acne for years, the kind where you couldn’t put a finger tip on my upper back without touching one, my skin hurt! (And yes, I had it on my face, throat and at times on my upper chest too.) A dermitologist brought the worst of it under control, and truthfully I am still on antibiotics to make sure it doesn’t come back (this is over a period of some ten years), however, the two things that helped me the most were neither of them conventional, or recommended by my doctor. I had fantastic results with the products from this site:http://www.naturesgift.com/ Sorry that isn’t the precise page but it is on that site, … they have a whole product line (three or four products that is) and that ended the cycle for me! They are based in the States but ship world wide. The products are actually very reasonable (even more so when you factor in that they actually work), but the shipping is a bit steep, or at least it was to here, Canada. I never would have stopped using them (and probably would not be on antibiotics since I didn’t need them while I used Nature’s Gift cleanser and syrum), but needing something less costly (the shipping) I discovered the Derma E line. I get mine at http://www.Well.ca where you can at least read about them. If well.ca doesn’t have the full line they are very close. They have products specifically designed for acne, I haven’t tried those, but what I will swear by is there Positively Radiant Peel. It has vitamin A and works over night, I’ve seen pimples that were forming get smaller overnight and go away rather then form when I’ve applied it. I also use their oil free gel, great moisturizer and although I haven’t needed them there are several other products in their vitamin A line that look good and safe for sensitive troubled skin. (They are also incredibly reasonable in price, the Vitamin A in particular, so much so that the price originally put me off a bit, had to wonder if they had much to offer, … so glad I tried!) I’ve searched online and I know you can get it from other sites, I didn’t try very hard since Well.ca is a pretty good deal for me, … they’ve gotten fussier lately but there’s a good chance they’d ship to you, no idea what the rates would be.

And lastly, I know it runs contrary to standard advice but if you can give the affected skin some time in the sun that will help! And don’t try to dry it out, that doesn’t work and usually makes it worse.

Best of luck, I really hope you’ll be able to wear your pretty summer dresses, I so know the feeling! Tell you one thing though, next time you wear one it will feel Terrific!

I have no clue what is in the stuff. I have just heard that people like it.

For some all it takes is finding that perfect skincare routine and product combination that suits your skin. I find that keeping skin well moisturized helps (cream/lotion/drinking water). Since some pimples are a result of excess oil production due to dryness. Also something to consider is using birth control pills to deal with it. Obviously consult with a doctor first and be aware there are other side effects.

LBJ – I didn’t mean to sound harsh at all. I’ve just wasted lots of money over the past I don’t even want to count how many years and was pretty annoyed when I realized that my pricey Proactive wasn’t anything special.

The milk thing was something I discovered about 2 years ago. I had been on accutane twice, antibiotics for probably over 10 years, and every topical ever invented to no avail. And I drank a ton of milk and ate cheese all the time. But I noticed that whenever I went overseas, where dairy wasn’t as readily available to me, my acne would clear up. Once I connected the dots and limited my dairy (and I still allow myself one glass of milk a week and cheese a few times) I’ve stopped all the pills and am only on an over the counter topical. And my skin is so much better than it has been since I was little. So now I try to spread the word as much as possible. I know it won’t work for everyone but it has, literally (the original meaning,) changed my life.

Dobby, your experience and the cause of your acne really isn’t unusual, and I’m surprised (and really feel for you) that your doctor didn’t mention dairy to you as a possible source. (I can’t count how often I was told not to drink milk in the first year of mine.) Sadly it isn’t always so simple, I’ve never been a major consumer of dairy products, and have always (or at least since I was sixteen and could use a washroom pretty much whenever I need to) drunk roughly two litres (the standard eight eight ounce) mugs of hot water a day. My system is flushed and I am well hydrated, and I tried systematically removing foods and beverages from my diet, nothing helped. Some times it really seems to be stress related, or grounded in some other cause.

And since there are many types of acne its worth pointing out that one does need to be careful, try one thing at a time and be prepared to adjust or discontinue something immediately if it makes things worse. Drying out the skin is wrong, but not all acne responds well to being moisturized. Mine needs to be moisturized but only with certain ingredients, no moisturizer, definite flare up, wrong moisturizer and it can be months before things are back to normal. It can be endless fun.

All that said, Bunny Girl don’t panic, you are likely simply going through a phase that won’t last years or need drastic care, … but do try to look after it now and get rid of it. Oh, and I know its hard but try not to cover it up with make-up, that clogs the skin and only makes the acne worse, creating a longer vicious circle.

Diet changes are certainly some easy things you could start on bunnygirl. If you consume a lot of dairy, start there. Or soy milk… i think I’ve heard can cause problems for some.
Just make sure you get your calcium and magnesium from other foods.

Another consideration is your households water. Hard water won’t clean the skin as effectively and leaves a residue of products used.
Try rinsing off with bottled or rainwater. Rainwater probably still contains minerals making it hard water, but not nearly as much.

I didn’t have too much acne as a teen but got occasional breakouts after I was 18. I always thought it was age/hormone related. But now I think of it, I grew up using rainwater for everything and then went to mains water as an adult after moving out of home. I think I’ll start rinsing in nicer water myself. : )

Best of luck finding something that works well for you!

Another thing that I noticed over the years is sugar can cause a bit of acne on me, personally. Like when I go on a soda binge or candy binge (I have my moments! :p) I notice that my skin will start to break out.

Also dairy is very known to cause some acne issues sometimes. I had a friend that had to actually completely cut out dairy from her diet because her acne would get so bad when she ate it. Her acne would have acne. When she cut out dairy she was good to go! Some people just have a sensitivity to it.

I would wash your face at least twice a day and try different products. Some products may work for others but not for you as everyone has different skin type. Some people have oily skin some are dry. Some products make people’s skin oily while other it helps so you have to experiment a little bit before finding the right

go out in the sun for a bit, it helps dry up the oil in the pores.

dairy totally f’s with my scalp now,, although it never really bothered be until i was in my 30s.
so now i try to avoid it for fear of inheriting my dad’s hairline

Hugs Kiddo, It is one of the most devastating and heart breaking things we humans can go through as teenagers. I didn’t specifically have acne but I suffered the pimples and spots down my arms and across my shoulders as well as the nasty throbbing beasts that would come up along the jaw line, chin etc. At one point they diagnosed it as folliculitis but all of the other people I saw felt this was not correct… Hormones play a big part… One of the things In found helped immensely was daily exfoliation, in the shower with a really good exfolliating cloth. it gets rid of the dead skin etc and also helps to bring the underlying oxidants and toxins that cause the bumps to the surface. Get rid of any soap products and use something like the Bathox Lavender shower gel. (IGA, COLES, Woollies) It’s hard to get sometimes because it is really cheaply priced and people know it is good. I didn’t find the Pill helped, instead it just made me dreadfully ill. I have tried Roaccutane but it stopped the spots and caused a whole host of other problems. It can also cause damage to the heart which isn’t obvious till later. Ditch as much dairy as possible but keep up yoghurts and other cultured products, drink stacks of water and really up your intake of leafy green vegetables. Look at getting a good Vitamin B supplement, particularly B12 (it has made a huge difference to me) as to hormones, I know this will sound silly, but look at some of the herbal menopause treatments. Most of them are based on plant oestrogens and progesterones Whilst I could not take normal hormones the plant ones made my skin glow and look like silk. (People are often unaware how important the progesterone is and focus on the oestrogen)

Oh, and the herbal menopause supplements. I got onto those years ago when I was still young… I actually discovered their benefit of plant hormones when I decided to try a herbal product for cellulite, I think it was called Cellosene or something like that. Didn’t notice what it did to the cellulite was to busy being absolutely thrilled with what it did for my skin… Went looking for it again a while ago and found the closest thing is herbal menopause supplements.

Everyone kind of has to find what works on their own skin. One note though: if you clean too often/much you can actually cause your skin to produce more oil. It’s better to find something that works, than to constantly be washing with something that doesn’t. Jojoba oil is a good moisturizer for people with acne issues, especially if you put a little tea tree oil in it. It is used by professional massage therapists for people who have acne problems and can’t use the traditional oils due to that, I use it on my boyfriend because his back breaks out badly if I use anything else. Make sure it’s the natural organic jojoba though, not the “fake” jojoba with chemicals.

Some people also have had luck with african black soap – this is a hit or miss thing though, depending on your skin type, it can either make it much better or much worse. I personally prefer to turn the soap into a body wash, since in soap form it leaves brown residue all over the bathtub.

Stress and diet can make it worse as well, so try to do things to relax and eat healthy, with less dairy and processed foods. Common causes of worse break outs.

Uhm. Lets see… what else can I think of. My boyfriend uses ivory soap because it’s the only soap that doesn’t cause him to break out.