about me - This would probably be a good place to post some before and after pictures of myself

...But to be honest I don't have any close up pictures of myself when I had acne. I just spent the last hour digging through my hard drive because I had to take some close up pics of myself when I had acne for a digital photography class I took, but I seem to have deleted them. Which I really don't mind because I never want to see a picture of myself with acne ever again

I may get around to posting some pics of me now without acne, but I'm kind of an introvert so it might not happen.

My Acne Story

My acne didn't start until after highshcool, I was18 and I didn't get it under control until I was 26.

My acne according to the dermatologist was in her words "severe". It was bad but I've seen people who were a lot worse so I don't know that I would call it severe. It was covering my whole face and not isolated to just one area, and there were breakouts of cystic acne from time to time so it was not a case of just a few pimples.

For the first couple years I treated my acne with over the counter medication. I mainly used Benzoyl Peroxide and Salicylic Acid, but I would try just about any product that promised to clear up my skin.

I've used clay and sulfur masks, natural hormone pills, harsh exfoliating scrubs, Accutane, and other stuff that I can't even remember.

The biggest mistake I made was getting the most potent product I could find - 10% Benzoyl Peroxide for example, and slathering it on my skin 6 times a day. DON'T DO THIS! You have to treat your skin with care, and while this may help for a day or two it will only make your acne worse in the long run.

Another thing I did not do was moisturize. I was using all these harsh products that were drying out my skin and while it may seem counterintuitive that you have to moisturize your skin in order to get rid of acne this is absolutly the case. But, and this is important - you only want to use certain types of moisturizer. Avoid any moisturizer that contains oil, instead go with a water based moisturizer.

As a last resort I turned to Accutane to get rid of my acne, and I can honestly say being on Accutane was a nightmare. It did clear up my skin while I was taking it, but my acne came back within 4 weeks of being off it.

That's when I decided to do some heavy research into what causes acne, and how to get rid of it. And by using what I learned I have managed to stay almost 100% clear with only an occasinal small and I mean small pimple here and there.

I've put all of what I learned on this site as well as some other stuff related to acne so I hope you find it as useful as I have, and don't wait 8 years like me to clear up your skin.