My Skincare Journey: Part 2

So about 5 months ago I wrote a blog post on my skincare journey and all that I had experienced with acne. It’s been almost a half year later and I have had consistent acne for the entire time. My acne has slowly changed from extreme acne to little blemishes here and there. For the most part, my acne has maintained itself as I try to keep a solid skincare regimen for a period of time so I don’t get casual flare-ups. Since my skin is sensitive, I’ve noticed that treating my skin the same way every day and night is so crucial to keeping the acne contained.

Catch up on My Skincare Journey – Part 1

Why Do I Have Acne?

Lately, I have started to do more research on acne and the causes of it. I want to share a few of the things that could cause or make acne worse. Now, this does not pertain to everyone who has acne but some of these things could be causes so it’s good to look at.

The Mayo Clinic states the 4 main causes of acne are:

1. excess oil production
2. bacteria
3. hair follicles clogged with oil and dead skin cells
4. excess activity of any hormone (androgen)

Most of us all know that throughout a person’s teen years is when acne could start due to a sudden body and hormonal changes. What is so funny about that is I never had acne during my teen years. You can read all about how my skincare journey started in part 1.

The 4 factors that could worsen acne are:

1. hormones
2. certain medications
3. stress
4. diet

As I did this research, I thought diet might be a trigger for my skin, so I decided to look up specific foods that worsen acne. There are 10 known trigger foods that I found worsen acne.

1. Chocolate
2. Spicy Foods
3. Cheese
4. Nuts
5. Peanut Butter or nut butters
6. Sushi
7. Milk
8. Pizza
9. French Fries
10. Potato Chips

So basically all the good foods. UUFFF. They say these 10 trigger foods could worsen acne and possibly cause more breakouts. It is important to note that food cannot cause acne, only worsen it through time. I want to do a little experiment and see if I were to eliminate a few of these foods from my diet, would my acne clear up? The only way I’ll be able to know if one of these foods worsens my acne is by eliminating them one by one. I will start with cutting out nuts and nut butters from my diet for two weeks. I am not saying that this will work for everyone. But I’ve decided to give this a try and see if the elimination of certain foods helps to slowly cure my casual acne flare-ups.

Of course, we all know that certain foods don’t settle well with people’s digestive systems or stomachs or what not. However, I never thought diet could really affect the skin. It is so important to have a good, healthy, and nutritious diet just to feel better but now even more for the health of my skin! I can’t wait to see how my skin reacts to the change in my diet and I will definitely be updating you all on the results.

Treatments used

Since my last post, I have slightly changed up the treatments I use on my skin. Like I said, 5 months ago acne started to reappear on my face. The most common spots where acne resides now is around my mouth. About two months ago I noticed some acne in the middle of my eyebrows and on my forehead. Up until this point, I am still using the Neutrogena Foam Cleanser I’ve been using for a while to wash my face off at night. I decided to stick to using that and then I ordered this on the spot night ointment that my mom actually researched about and found that a lot of people had great results from. It’s called Emuaid. It is a nighttime acne treatment and I must say it worked well. It really dries up your acne blemishes and does the trick if you stick to it for 30 days. Nevertheless, it didn’t work for removing acne forever, ya know? So I definitely think I need something stronger and long-lasting. But, I am still using Emuaid at night and washing my face every morning and evening. I would recommend emuaid to anyone that has random blemishes, but not for those who have constant everyday acne.

Next Steps

As of right now, I will be taking some other steps to finding the cure for my acne. The last time I went to see my dermatologist she told me about Accutane. If the antibiotics didn’t work the next best thing would be accutane. I’ve heard so many different opinions and thoughts on accutane. Most of them were good. A friend of mine did it two times and finally the last time her acne was completely gone! Healed!!! That gets me so excited because I haven’t had a clear face in almost four years… it’s definitely become a little insecurity of mine. Yet, from here on out I will be continuing my same regimen as mentioned above, including the experiments with diet change and then sometime soon, I’ll be heading back to my dermatologist to talk about accutane and if it is a right fit for me!

I would love to hear comments on this topic and also thoughts on accutane. If you have used accutane or know anymore information on it please comment below. We love to hear from you – xoxo!

Read more on My Skincare Journey – Part 3!