My skin has gone crazy, I tried a new Reitnoid solution once, only once and it's just gone crazy. I'm sure late nights, travel, and eating different are also a factor and also running out of my skin ingredient products at the same time but wow is my face having it's own zit purge party at the moment! Please come back skin barrier I swear I'll take better care of you this time!
One of the things I’ve learned over many years is the importance of skin barrier health. I used to throw everything at my face (all the actives, acids, bit of retinol in there, scrub for good measure, drying mud mask etc etc ad infinitum) and then wondered why it still broke out and looked sore and dehydrated. It wasn’t until I saw a dermatologist after a particularly nasty bout of perioral dermatitis that I stopped doing all this stuff (on her advice) and just stuck to non-foaming, non-drying cleansing (with zero actives) and a good ceramide moisturiser, that things really started to change for the better and (the best bit) actually stayed that way. HRT has definitely helped too, but whenever anything goes awry, I pare it all back again to the absolute basics and things ALWAYS calm down and clear up. Also, I very rarely spend a lot on skin care (the Ceraves of this world are honestly pretty unbeatable), having realised that the pricey stuff really didn’t perform any better once my skin barrier had been taken care of first.
Post lockdown my skin was HORRENDOUS. I’d developed this kind of mask acne (maskne?) that just didn’t want to go away. I then hit perimenopause and it got even worse - I’d never had spots like this as a teenager and it was hideously depressing to suddenly get them now. All over my cheeks, forehead, and around my mouth. After much googling I changed my cleanser to the Inkey List salycicic acid cleanser, followed this every day with a basic peroxide spot cream over the counter from the chemist, and changed my moisturiser to a lighter La Roche Posay one. It’s taken 6 weeks but I’m finally getting on top of the acne, in fact I’m now looking for something to help with the post spots redness that is not quite scarring - if anyone has any recommendations I’d love to hear them. My approach might be a bit harsh for some people but thank god the nuclear option seems to have worked for me.
I had the most appalling planning-consent-related stress acne a couple of years ago - crusted weeping zits on one side of mouth only, wtf? - and thanks to you and Madeleine both raving about Clinisept I bought and spritzed away determinedly. It did NOT get rid of the spots BUT not a single scar resulted, to my absolute astonishment because they were awful, awful awful. My poor builders couldn’t look at me. So 100% recommend Clinisept.
General skin question: I have been using a PHA serum for about three weeks and my skin is not spotty per se but is unusually full of those little pale lumps which I presume are blocked but not infected pores. I am assuming this is the acids doing their job, could somebody reassure me this is so?
I swear it’s the British climate…..I moved to Denver 22 years ago and I have had a handful of zits since then. I remember back in boarding school in the 80s we were all covered in them and we had a French exchange student join us for a term. We all ooohed and aaahed at her perfect completion on arrival. About six weeks in she had a complete crop on her chin, forehead etc just like the rest of us…(could also have been the DISGUSTING food we were served though…)
So funny. I never think of ice. I had terrible post-viral skin last year, dry, grey, spots etc. Then I developed eczema on my eyelids, as though it had really THOUGHT about where the most painful and aesthetically annoying place to plonk itself would be. You did a bit on skincare on here, going into what ingredients actually might make a difference to your skin other than water/sleep/being a great person and you mentioned Vitamin C. (I’m sorry if this is actually quackery and I’ve placebo’d myself good and proper and falsely attributed it to you; or: thank you) Being the literalist that I am and knowing nothing about these things, I picked up a reassuringly orange coloured box called Superfacialist (sounds good, right? Super for your face!) Vitamin C night cream, it smells strongly but wonderfully of tangerines if fragrance bothers you, but I quite like it, it feels rather like smooshing a child’s gummy vitamin directly into your face. And one day when my kids are grown they’ll be peeling a satsuma at the kitchen table and have a Proustian dash back to the memory of me kissing them goodnight. Or they’ll at least remember to take their vitamins. Anyway, no more eczema, no more spots. I didn’t take it when I went away to Center Parcs recently, because only room for one moisturiser next to my sense of impending doom, and back to nature innit, and the eczema and spots came back with a vengeance. I mean probably it was all the chlorine and relentlessness but it was back to normal after a night or two of using the cream again, so now I’m happily worrying about the possibility of its being discontinued.
Am immediately going to order and give this a go. I developed an eczema type ‘thing’ on my forehead 6 months ago, tried allsorts but to no avail, fingers crossed this is the magic potion or my last resort is to have a fringe.
To be honest, the only thing that sorts out a deep nodule/cystic horror is a cortisone injection. These retail at about £100 and are hard to find, the Harley Street Skin Clinic does them at their various locations (incl Reigate for us south of m25-ers), and there are a few other dermatology shops in London. Downsides are: the doc has to use it sparingly as too much can cause atrophy and permanent scarring. However, a deep, awful cyst can cause the same anyway. And I've often had to go back for a second blast as the zit so big.
My cysts, when I get them, take about 6 weeks to 'go' and then another 6-18 months to fade. It's fucking intolerable. They are caused by PCOS - i.e. too much testosterone.
Now my childbearing and breastfeeding days are behind me, helloooo DRUGS.
1000mg metformin, daily (diabetic drug for insulin resistance)
100mg spironolactone - daily (diuretic, suppresses testosterone, who needs a libido)
200mg utrogestan - days 15-21 of cycle (bio-idential progesterone, helpful to regulate out of whack cycles and counter solid oestrogen levels)
This has made a MASSIVE difference to my face and life generally. Thanks to the incredible CEMCOR (https://www.cemcor.ubc.ca/) Canadian Period/female hormone centre where I found the advice and printed it off and saw my GP, who was all too happy to have an in and out in 5 mins and an easy prescription. A fabulous resource for all teenage/peri/menopause issues too.
All that said, have just had a random 37 day cycle, period finally arrived.. coincided with running out of metformin... could be coincidental.. who knows... I'm currently hosting 2 zingers, but they've both surfaced and so will be treatable with tretinoin and acnecide.
I had truly terrible acne all through my late teens and twenties. Carried on into my thirties but took a long term antibiotic to help a bit. Tried the pill and it worked quite well for a bit but then they make you come off it. I had a fear of roaccutane (not sure of spelling) so avoided it. Eventually started to grow out of it all but THEN at the age of 40 I got pregnant and seriously I have never had a spot again. I cannot tell you what feats I had about hormones etc flaring it all up but I’m 48 now and literally never a problem. Pregnancy bonus!
It will be Saturday, today I am wrangling life much in the manner you describe so well on a weekly basis here. If you are around I will bring Mario Badescu spot triage en route to @ It's Not Sustainable's house
Thanks this made me laugh out loud. A Harley St dermatologist recommended this to me which is pleasingly cheap and has actually stopped my monthly chin spots from forming in the first place (I just put it on the beard area every night) https://www.boots.com/la-roche-posay-effaclar-duo-40ml-10169551
Such a brilliant piece! Made me laugh out loud on the Central Line. I deploy all three Zitsticka varieties and use the wipe in the box independently for a post-pick clean-up. Building up the courage to spend a eye-watering fortune on a Celluma light.
I use vice reversa micro needle patches (that I think You recommended a few years back) on the big Krakatoa under the skin brewers but I also use dots for spots which are so much cheaper and you get loads of sheets full of them. They hardly show up and meld into the skin ( unless it’s on the end of your nose or something) so I wear them all day and also slap them
On at the first sign overnight… if it gets more sore and boil like then I use the vice reversa. Mine are definitely hormonal
And usually begin to build a week before I’m
Due to go out for lunch with the girls. I’m obviously so excited to be out with grown ups my skin goes into overdrive!
Have you tried Skin + Me? This has been life-changing for me. You send in pictures and description of your skin and they send you a cream monthly to apply before bed. They now do cleanser and moisturiser too. I’ve gone from monthly pulsating lumps on my chin to zero spots. Highly recommend!
I mostly rely on a prescription retinoid for my skin (which remains stubbornly teenaged despite me being 32) but the Murad rapid relief treatment is pretty good at shrinking the big spots that threaten to lurk for weeks on end. It's clear, too, so can go under a bit of concealer if needed: https://www.murad.co.uk/product/rapid-relief-spot-treatment/
My skin is crappy in a myriad of ways but I don’t get spots. I actually felt I was missing out on the typical teenage experience when I never got them at high school.
Anyway, it’s just as well as I’d definitely squeeze them and have lots of scars.
My skin has gone crazy, I tried a new Reitnoid solution once, only once and it's just gone crazy. I'm sure late nights, travel, and eating different are also a factor and also running out of my skin ingredient products at the same time but wow is my face having it's own zit purge party at the moment! Please come back skin barrier I swear I'll take better care of you this time!
https://skin-genius.co.uk/ is very gentle and not just for teens
One of the things I’ve learned over many years is the importance of skin barrier health. I used to throw everything at my face (all the actives, acids, bit of retinol in there, scrub for good measure, drying mud mask etc etc ad infinitum) and then wondered why it still broke out and looked sore and dehydrated. It wasn’t until I saw a dermatologist after a particularly nasty bout of perioral dermatitis that I stopped doing all this stuff (on her advice) and just stuck to non-foaming, non-drying cleansing (with zero actives) and a good ceramide moisturiser, that things really started to change for the better and (the best bit) actually stayed that way. HRT has definitely helped too, but whenever anything goes awry, I pare it all back again to the absolute basics and things ALWAYS calm down and clear up. Also, I very rarely spend a lot on skin care (the Ceraves of this world are honestly pretty unbeatable), having realised that the pricey stuff really didn’t perform any better once my skin barrier had been taken care of first.
Post lockdown my skin was HORRENDOUS. I’d developed this kind of mask acne (maskne?) that just didn’t want to go away. I then hit perimenopause and it got even worse - I’d never had spots like this as a teenager and it was hideously depressing to suddenly get them now. All over my cheeks, forehead, and around my mouth. After much googling I changed my cleanser to the Inkey List salycicic acid cleanser, followed this every day with a basic peroxide spot cream over the counter from the chemist, and changed my moisturiser to a lighter La Roche Posay one. It’s taken 6 weeks but I’m finally getting on top of the acne, in fact I’m now looking for something to help with the post spots redness that is not quite scarring - if anyone has any recommendations I’d love to hear them. My approach might be a bit harsh for some people but thank god the nuclear option seems to have worked for me.
LED red light treatment for scarring is quite good.
yes - I think Vitamin C is also the thing for this. REN (very good brand) has a Dark Spot Corrector cream
Ahh thanks both, will look into those! This is not the skin care journey I was expecting in my 40s I must say…
I had the most appalling planning-consent-related stress acne a couple of years ago - crusted weeping zits on one side of mouth only, wtf? - and thanks to you and Madeleine both raving about Clinisept I bought and spritzed away determinedly. It did NOT get rid of the spots BUT not a single scar resulted, to my absolute astonishment because they were awful, awful awful. My poor builders couldn’t look at me. So 100% recommend Clinisept.
General skin question: I have been using a PHA serum for about three weeks and my skin is not spotty per se but is unusually full of those little pale lumps which I presume are blocked but not infected pores. I am assuming this is the acids doing their job, could somebody reassure me this is so?
During a mat leave my face was so bad a delivery guy winced and said 'oooh chicken pox?'. A career low.
Ooof, ouch!
I swear it’s the British climate…..I moved to Denver 22 years ago and I have had a handful of zits since then. I remember back in boarding school in the 80s we were all covered in them and we had a French exchange student join us for a term. We all ooohed and aaahed at her perfect completion on arrival. About six weeks in she had a complete crop on her chin, forehead etc just like the rest of us…(could also have been the DISGUSTING food we were served though…)
So funny. I never think of ice. I had terrible post-viral skin last year, dry, grey, spots etc. Then I developed eczema on my eyelids, as though it had really THOUGHT about where the most painful and aesthetically annoying place to plonk itself would be. You did a bit on skincare on here, going into what ingredients actually might make a difference to your skin other than water/sleep/being a great person and you mentioned Vitamin C. (I’m sorry if this is actually quackery and I’ve placebo’d myself good and proper and falsely attributed it to you; or: thank you) Being the literalist that I am and knowing nothing about these things, I picked up a reassuringly orange coloured box called Superfacialist (sounds good, right? Super for your face!) Vitamin C night cream, it smells strongly but wonderfully of tangerines if fragrance bothers you, but I quite like it, it feels rather like smooshing a child’s gummy vitamin directly into your face. And one day when my kids are grown they’ll be peeling a satsuma at the kitchen table and have a Proustian dash back to the memory of me kissing them goodnight. Or they’ll at least remember to take their vitamins. Anyway, no more eczema, no more spots. I didn’t take it when I went away to Center Parcs recently, because only room for one moisturiser next to my sense of impending doom, and back to nature innit, and the eczema and spots came back with a vengeance. I mean probably it was all the chlorine and relentlessness but it was back to normal after a night or two of using the cream again, so now I’m happily worrying about the possibility of its being discontinued.
stock. pile.
Am immediately going to order and give this a go. I developed an eczema type ‘thing’ on my forehead 6 months ago, tried allsorts but to no avail, fingers crossed this is the magic potion or my last resort is to have a fringe.
I hope it works for you.
To be honest, the only thing that sorts out a deep nodule/cystic horror is a cortisone injection. These retail at about £100 and are hard to find, the Harley Street Skin Clinic does them at their various locations (incl Reigate for us south of m25-ers), and there are a few other dermatology shops in London. Downsides are: the doc has to use it sparingly as too much can cause atrophy and permanent scarring. However, a deep, awful cyst can cause the same anyway. And I've often had to go back for a second blast as the zit so big.
My cysts, when I get them, take about 6 weeks to 'go' and then another 6-18 months to fade. It's fucking intolerable. They are caused by PCOS - i.e. too much testosterone.
Now my childbearing and breastfeeding days are behind me, helloooo DRUGS.
1000mg metformin, daily (diabetic drug for insulin resistance)
100mg spironolactone - daily (diuretic, suppresses testosterone, who needs a libido)
200mg utrogestan - days 15-21 of cycle (bio-idential progesterone, helpful to regulate out of whack cycles and counter solid oestrogen levels)
This has made a MASSIVE difference to my face and life generally. Thanks to the incredible CEMCOR (https://www.cemcor.ubc.ca/) Canadian Period/female hormone centre where I found the advice and printed it off and saw my GP, who was all too happy to have an in and out in 5 mins and an easy prescription. A fabulous resource for all teenage/peri/menopause issues too.
All that said, have just had a random 37 day cycle, period finally arrived.. coincided with running out of metformin... could be coincidental.. who knows... I'm currently hosting 2 zingers, but they've both surfaced and so will be treatable with tretinoin and acnecide.
have you ever considered a career in pharmacy
I had truly terrible acne all through my late teens and twenties. Carried on into my thirties but took a long term antibiotic to help a bit. Tried the pill and it worked quite well for a bit but then they make you come off it. I had a fear of roaccutane (not sure of spelling) so avoided it. Eventually started to grow out of it all but THEN at the age of 40 I got pregnant and seriously I have never had a spot again. I cannot tell you what feats I had about hormones etc flaring it all up but I’m 48 now and literally never a problem. Pregnancy bonus!
It will be Saturday, today I am wrangling life much in the manner you describe so well on a weekly basis here. If you are around I will bring Mario Badescu spot triage en route to @ It's Not Sustainable's house
Thanks this made me laugh out loud. A Harley St dermatologist recommended this to me which is pleasingly cheap and has actually stopped my monthly chin spots from forming in the first place (I just put it on the beard area every night) https://www.boots.com/la-roche-posay-effaclar-duo-40ml-10169551
Bought this today after reading your comment. Fingers crossed!
Such a brilliant piece! Made me laugh out loud on the Central Line. I deploy all three Zitsticka varieties and use the wipe in the box independently for a post-pick clean-up. Building up the courage to spend a eye-watering fortune on a Celluma light.
I use vice reversa micro needle patches (that I think You recommended a few years back) on the big Krakatoa under the skin brewers but I also use dots for spots which are so much cheaper and you get loads of sheets full of them. They hardly show up and meld into the skin ( unless it’s on the end of your nose or something) so I wear them all day and also slap them
On at the first sign overnight… if it gets more sore and boil like then I use the vice reversa. Mine are definitely hormonal
And usually begin to build a week before I’m
Due to go out for lunch with the girls. I’m obviously so excited to be out with grown ups my skin goes into overdrive!
Have you tried Skin + Me? This has been life-changing for me. You send in pictures and description of your skin and they send you a cream monthly to apply before bed. They now do cleanser and moisturiser too. I’ve gone from monthly pulsating lumps on my chin to zero spots. Highly recommend!
I mostly rely on a prescription retinoid for my skin (which remains stubbornly teenaged despite me being 32) but the Murad rapid relief treatment is pretty good at shrinking the big spots that threaten to lurk for weeks on end. It's clear, too, so can go under a bit of concealer if needed: https://www.murad.co.uk/product/rapid-relief-spot-treatment/
My skin is crappy in a myriad of ways but I don’t get spots. I actually felt I was missing out on the typical teenage experience when I never got them at high school.
Anyway, it’s just as well as I’d definitely squeeze them and have lots of scars.