Skin Help Please!

View Quoted Comment How different is dermaplaning from microneedling? And maybe I will look into acne chemical peels.


My skin is very oily.

View Quoted Comment

It's totally different! Microneedling is more for damaging current skin to cause new skin & collagen to grow and help issues like scarring. Dermaplaning is another form of exfoliation. It's basically shaving your face so you 100% get rid of peach fuzz, but also any dead skin. A lot of people do it monthly instead of facials or other types of exfoliation.

My skin is dry, so the products I used probably won't work for you. I'd just develop a consistent skincare routine if you haven't already. I'd also start sleeping on a silk pillowcase, touch your face as little as possible, disinfect your phone often, and always 100% take off your makeup. Drink a lot of water too & cut unhealthy food out of your diet. Salicylic acid is good for acne (I'd obviously try a lot of these things ASAP since you don't want to introduce new products a month or less to your wedding) so maybe a good SA face wash would work for evening & night? I use Neutrogena alcohol free toner in the mornings & evenings too. Witch Hazel is another good option for toner for oily skin. A good facial cleansing brush would help too (Amazon has a ton). I think Clinique has a good acne oil mask you may want to try. Then I'd use a moisturizer for oily skin too.

View Quoted Comment Ohhh okay now I can visualize dermaplaning I have read an article before. Im taking vitamins now & plan to switch to vitamins for “acne” by murad and I will take ur advice on pillowcase. I already use benzoyl peroxide/SA cleansers and creams. But Im wondering if I should maybe start Differin gel. And like u said, start Asap kind of. My bridal shower is on the 25th of this month so I want to make sure I plan it out to start next week or immediately after the shower.

View Quoted Comment

Great! I did take Balance Vitamins by Alani Nu for awhile, but they made me dizzy (my body is super sensitive to changes like that). One of my bridesmaids took them for a month or two and saw huge improvements with her cystic & hormonal acne. I still would say seeing a well reviewed medical spa would be helpful (maybe the place that did your microneedling?) just to see if a chemical peel or facial (or mixture of two things) would be good!

View Quoted Comment Thanks for chatting with me! Im going to pay attention to how long my face is clear after microneedling. I usually just notice it but never actually counted the days. Maybe I can time it out To at least be clear for the wedding.

I started with apostrophe over 3 months ago. I'm on an oral and use tretinoin. Hormonal acne is down to two and I barely get new pimples. Its pricey, but I'm really loving my skin.
I use pond's to get makeup off. Panoxyl 4 in the morning, followed by vita c serum from The ordinary, then cetaphil spf. Night is ponds sensitive, cetaphil gentle cleanser, tretinoin and niacinamide, then cetaphil moisturizer. Seriously consider drugs. I wish I would have done so years ago.

View Quoted Comment

Nice! It sounds similar to Curology? Where it's a DIY system? I personally don't do well with those. I didn't even understand I had such dry skin, so I marked things like "oily" and "acne prone" instead of "dry" on the quizzes. So the system wasn't working well for me. After seeing a medical spa, I learned so much about my skin & was so happy to see results using the correct products. I personally don't want to take anymore oral medication, after taking accutane (which caused horrible side effects 10+ years later that haven't gone away) my views towards basically all oral medication isn't the best. But I know they do work for some people and I'm glad it works for you!

View Quoted Comment It's not really a subscription service. You take pics of your face, submit them to your derm. They give you a treatment plan. They ask if you want to clear slow or fast. I wanted fast, so I did oral and topical. You don't have to do that. Every 3 months, I upload new pictures. They ask how you're liking treatment so far, etc. This second appt, we kept trentinoin script the same and upped spironolactone. You dont have to even buy the scripts they suggest. You can get your scripts in 30 or 90 day increments. They have me 3 cleanser options, 3 moisturizer options, tell me how to do am and pm. That's pretty much it

View Quoted Comment

That makes sense! That's similar to Curology for sure, you send them pictures of your skin then update your assigned dermatologist as you progress (every month or so). You also do 30/60/90 day options and it's usually a cleanser, moisturizer and treatment. They don't ask the slow or fast questions though. But I'm glad you like it! I feel like what I did was similar, just with my medical spa instead. I go in about once a month anyway and since they see me so often they are able to direct me towards the best products for my skin and it's really been helping. I started seeing progress around May 2019 (after seeing this medical spa for a few months). The picture I originally posted in this thread showed the pitting/scarring on my skin, and the only way to get rid of that is through things like microneedling & professional chemical peels. Cleansers & moisturizers for sure helped my skin and acne, but they won't do anything for deep scarring like I had.

Well i just want to say you here that I'm on the pill, tragically depo made my skin inflammation deteriorate so I'm reluctant to change that at all or do much else brief than the pill!

Struggled with acne my whole life. was even on accutane and it came back. indian healing clay mask saved my life

View Quoted Comment

I understand! I had horrible side effects (not acne though) with Depo. I have bad hormonal acne and the pill doesn't help it either. I'm going off birth control soon but my skin is already pretty unpredictable so I don't think much will change.

View Quoted Comment

I'm glad to hear that! I was on accutane about 10 years ago, it left me with horrible permanent joint pain and my acne came back around my 20th birthday. I've used indian healing clay a bunch, but didn't see much progress. I've heard great things for a lot of people though! For me, a 10+ step skincare routine morning & night, lots of masking/dermaplaning/dermarolling at home, and professional treatments once a month is pretty much required if I want to keep my acne (especially hormonal) under control.

Apostrophe for the win. I have 1 cystic spot on my jaw and discoloration is slowly going away. I've been doing this for 6 months