Tips for those wanting to remove acne

If you have severe acne, constant redness, flacky skin, and sometimes think you have a dry while oily skin, then your skin barrier might be damaged. In order to bring back your healthy skin barrier, here is what you need to do 1. Stop using cleanser, 2. Stop using skincare products containing vitamin c, salicylic acid, aha, niacinamide, and so forth. 3. Focus on moisturizing. (What I mean moisturizing your face is to put on a lot on your face, not a little) 4. Track your skin. If you track your skin everyday, you will see those minor changes directly. It’s more scientific, and requires less guesswork. 5. Using topical retinol or benzoyl peroxide before you go to bed. Just put a little on your acne area. 6. Do some cardio, have a healthy diet, and have a good sleep quality. 7. Don’t pop your acne and scratch your face

I am an acne-prone skin, and have been suffering from severe acne for a long time ever since I went into puberty. I am 23 currently and still have breakout every now and then. But my skin got a lot better than before. Today I want to tell you how to address acne. What I mean acne is not a few pimples or whitehead but those severe one. Many people might claim that if you have severe acne, you should take accutane or at least consulting your derm instead of asking for help on the internet. I think what they are saying does make a point and indeed, consulting a dermatologist should always be your top priority. However, if derm can fix all your problem, why can we still see people asking for help everyday? I have taken accutane three times and it did improve my acne a lot. But the thing is, accutane is not an elixir and in fact, a lot of people cannot take accutane because of its side effects. Even if they take it, it doesn’t mean that the acne would not relapse when they stop using it. In my case, my acne started to relapse 8 months after I stopped taking accutane. In fact. this time I didn’t have horrible acne like I had before. And I want to find an alternative to fix my acne issue for all. And I also started to track my skin to see whether or not this routine is really helpful. Here is what I’ve learnt.

1. If you find yourself still growing many acne even after using cleanser, you should stop using it, no matter how oily you face are. In fact, washing your face with warm water can remove much of the oil buildup. If you have the need of wearing makeup, then you can use a warmer cleanser, or a gentle cleansing oil.

2. If using skincare products that said to cure acne did not bring a positive effect after using for a while, you should stop using it. You can use vitamin c, salicylic acid, aha, niacinamide when your skin barrier becomes healthy again.

3. Focus on moisturizing. I use cetaphil ceramide serum and cerave daily moisturizing lotion. You can choose other products that contain ceramide and b5 as well, such as Dr. Jart+ — Cicapair Sensitive Skin Serum and Etude House SoonJung 2x Barrier Intensive Cream(highly recommended). I use them twice per day and each time using it, I use two to three drops and wait for 5 minutes before using the other one.

4. Tracking skin. Pick any time as you want. But remember, be consistent, and choose the same time.

5. Using topical retinol like adapalene or benzoyl peroxide before you go to bed after finishing all the moisturizing work. Start from lower percentages, don’t hop on higher one.

6. Jogging or doing other cardio can do much help to your skin. Having a balanced diet. Say no to junk food, and dairy! Also, try to have a good sleep, which is important to your skin.

7. Don’t pop your acne and scratch your face. Scratching your face with dirty hand might undo the positive effects overnight.

This routine might give you sudden breakout, don’t worry, it’s just purging. As you continue to use it for a while, these acne would be gone. Also, be patient, it took me at least three months to see positive effects. I saw people sticking to this routine for half a year before they see any positive outcomes. Even If you have a healthy skin barrier, you would still have whitehead, but not those severe acne anymore. Finally, if you have tried other routine but still suffer from acne, maybe you can give it a shot. Next time I will explain the underlying logic of seborrheic dermatitis.