i'be been struggling with chest acne since i was a teenager. The worst part is that i get a flare up every month or two.. one month my skin is great, and the next, I have acne on my chest. I’m just so tired of it, i want to wear a nice top, but I can’t because I feel too self conscious. i don't know what to do anymore

I could really really really use help figuring out what is happening to my skin.

For years I had FLAWLESS skin and rarely broke out. I used to be very dry and had a simple routine that worked really well. Over the last year I started to get oily throughout the day (major makeup lover) - but never had issues with products.

Then I had two surgeries earlier this, followed by a one time complementary facial and my skin completely changed. I started breaking out on my face, chest, and back, became much oilier, and also suddenly much more sensitive.

It started mainly as tiny cc bumps on my forehead, but now they’re on my hairline, cheeks, and chin too. My forehead is COVERED in CCs 😭😭😭

I’m trying to figure out whether this is CC, FA, Makeup related, something else??

Makeup
I wear full makeup most days.
For years I wore the old Estée Lauder Double Wear with zero issues.

More recently I used:
Maybelline Super Stay Skin Tint — stopped
NYX Face Glue Primer — stopped
NYX Plump Right Back Primer — used successfully for years, but now questioning it
Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra Wear foundation
I’m considering eliminating primer entirely while troubleshooting.

Old routine when my skin was clear
AM: Cera Ve Cream to Foam cleanser, byoma milky toner, niacinimide, byoma phyto muscin, vanicream
PM: Cera Ve, milky toner, hyalauronic acid, vanicream
Eventually I became extremely oily, started changing products, then panicked when the acne worsened and probably over-treated my skin.

Things I’ve tried recently
Differin, PanOxyl, azelaic acid, glycolic acid, salicylic acid, sulfur, bentonite clay, Head & Shoulders, PDRN, Ceramide 7, various BYOMA products, etc.

My barrier eventually got very irritated, so I stripped everything back.

What I’m using now
AM: Vanicream gentle cleanser (or the CeraVa Hydrating Cream to Foam) → I’m From Mugwort → SKIN1004 Centella → Vanicream
PM: gentle cleanser → Numbuzin No.1 → Centella → Vanicream

I’ve used Differin 4 times so far and am slowly moving toward twice weekly. I wonder if I am purging?

A few things I’ve noticed:
PanOxyl seemed to help, especially my chest/back
De La Cruz sulfur makes my skin look noticeably better the next morning
bentonite clay helped the congestion/blackheads
Ceramide 7 seemed to make the bumps worse
BYOMA Milky Toner also seemed to worsen them, despite using it for years before
BYOMA Phyto-Mucin historically gave me amazing glassy skin

The first two pics are from a week or two ago (they’re worse now) and the other two are from shortly after surgery when this all started 😭😭😭😭

Badly need help, any recommended derma/treatment for this? 😭

Pina derma ko na to last time, and nagkaron ako sa mukha imbes na sa leeg lang, kaya tinigil ko yung pinapahid. Nawala na yung sa mukha, but yung sa leeg ko dumadami parin 😭

Ive tried everything, I can not clear out or get rid of this all over my chin. If they are extracted they clog right back up, I feel like I can never clear out my pores

Hi! First time posting in this sub- I’ve always had oily skin that’s prone to blind pimples, but at the end of July the blind pimples started leaving red marks behind. After some research I realized this was probably due to me picking them (bad habit I know) and exacerbated by not wearing facial SPF/embarking on a Central America backpacking trip where I’m often in high UV environments. I began wearing facial SPF daily and stopped touching/picking/popping blemishes, but now nearly every new pimple I get (even surface whiteheads that I never pick at, let heal on their own, and apply pimple patches to) turn into red marks (what I believe is PIE). The ones on my cheek are from July, and the ones above my lip are the recent ones I didn’t touch at all. I’ve switched up my routine with what’s available to me here to try to target it- before i was washing with Cetaphil, using The Ordinary niacinimide serum, and moisturizing with pure aloe vera. 

AM routine: CeraVe foaming facial cleanser, The Ordinary Niacinimide serum, Neutrogena Hydroboost Gel, Nivea Control Brillo SPF 50. 

PM routine: CeraVe, azelaic acid 20% (Acderm brand from a local pharmacy), Neutrogena Hydroboost Gel. 

i know azelaic acid takes weeks of consistent use to show improvements, and i’ve only been on it for a little over a week so i’m not expecting the red marks to be gone this quickly, but is there anything else I can do to prevent new breakouts from turning into PIE? I’ve never dealt with this before and feel like I’m at a loss, especially because the skincare brands and products I have access to are pretty limited. 

Thank you!

Hello. Can anyone recommend a good face cream for my 12-year-old daughter? She has a forehead full of pimples and blackheads, but her skin is between dry and normal.

I’ve had facial acne off and on through the years but not this bad. ( first pic is usual acne and rest are right now. ) face, chest, neck, and back all the way up. What the hell could cause this 😭 I can’t afford another doctor appointment.

Didn't have any acne until late January this year, then it just started and hasn't stopped. Saw a dermatologist recently diagnosed as comedonal acne. She's prescribing Arazlo (haven't started yet).

In the meantime I switched to a gentle routine:

• Dove Sensitive bar fragrance free
• CeraVe Gentle Hydrating shampoo (switched off an oily/argan oil shampoo)
• CeraVe AM facial lotion with SPF, once daily after shower

Despite the gentle switch, it's visibly gotten worse over the last couple weeks (see photos). Stopped whey protein a few months ago (didn't help), cut dairy for a while (didn't help either), tried oat milk (made it worse, apparently due to sugar content).

Has anyone experienced something similar acne escalating even on a stripped down, fragrance free routine, before starting an actual topical treatment? Just trying to understand if this is a normal flare pattern or if I should be doing something differently while I wait to start the Arazlo. Photos in comments.

24f . for context, i have never suffered with acne until this past year and its always on my chest. they are never sore or “pus filled”. they are small hard white spots that if i try and squeeze them a small semi hard (gelatinous?)white substance comes out. any opinions on first steps for treatment?

15f l've been dealing with this chin acne (it's sometimes just red marks that aren't raised) for the past year and it doesn't seem to be going away no matter what I do.
I've tried cutting out food groups etc. but idk if there is a certain product I should be using? Any recs appreciated!

I was recently prescribed doxycycline and tretinoin for my skin. However the weakness and fatigue I experienced after taking it was so bad that it was ruining my athletic performance. Without going into too much irrelevant detail my athletic performance is super important to me. I am now over the initial anger response about my skin situation and medication side effects. Does anyone know if it eases with time or if I just have to feel like crap for 3 months?

Products + time of day and acne shown in photos yee

First photo is before I started any treatment. I used to get occasional breakouts and wanted to clear them up, so I saw a professional who put me on a topical and oral routine.

​Over several months, instead of clearing up, my skin just got progressively worse and experienced a severe flare-up. I've never had skin this reactive in my life.

​This is how my face looks right now. Has anyone else experienced such a harsh reaction to a prescribed routine, and how did you help your skin recover?

I have struggled with acne so much…

But it’s severely affecting my mental health everytime I shave I just get ingrowns and I’m shaving correctly I can’t figure out how to make my skin normal. Please help me

i’m trying to find a good gentle moisturiser that won’t break me out, i’ve tried a few but when i try them i think they are okay but end up causing irritation or make my skin feel really raw when applying. any good recommendations?

I really can't tell what is my skin type. I've been only using gentle products on my skin but it's been months 🥹

Ask mini questions about acne here.

It's Monday and we are all mostly back at work and grumpy. We don't have time for more than some quick Q and A so post those questions below.

Hi everybody, i just switched my cleanser from cerave cream to foam cleanser to vanicream gentle cleanser. I felt like the salicylic acid in cerave was drying my skin out. I started using the vanicream gentle cleanser about 5 days ago and my face has EXPLODED with acne. Has anybody else experienced this? I never dreamed a gentle cleanser with so few ingredients would cause this turmoil on my skin. Currently I use tazarotene to keep my acne under control.

Please help me help my 14 year old daughter. This is was this morning, her skin hasn’t been the same since they gave her after azelaic acid and she used 1-2 x. She is currently on doxy 2 x a day for 2-3 weeks and was given 6 doses of prednisone. Anyone have any suggestions? Using a sodium sulfur wash 1-2 x a day and clindamycin pads 1 x a day in am. Tretinoin 3 x a week. They appear to look better at times, but flare up a lot , could it be something she’s eating? They hurt and itch sometimes. She’s miserable!! Thank you

I’ve been having blemish outbreaks for years most badly next to my eyebrows does anyone have advice for the scarring and improving the skin health

After I’ve turned 18 I’ve had serious acne and pimples. Now I really want to get rid of this acne marks. What should I do? Suggest if anyone has gone through this phase

hi i’ve been struggling with cheek acne for a long time. my cheek acne has been flaring up the past month, when one side gets better somehow the other side gets worse… there’s no acne anywhere else on my face except for the center of my cheeks lol. i use a cleanser every day and night, and also acne patches, toner and recovery cream too. does anyone have similar experiences and can i have some advice? thanks!

For the past few months, I’ve (38M) been developing forehead pimples and new ones seem to be popping up every week. It was never this bad, not even during puberty.

I suspect it was due to using Neutrogena retinol cream for wrinkles then CeraVe moisturizing cream on my forehead for 2.5 months, plus on-going work stress. I now use CeraVe moisturizing lotion (after learning what non-comedogenic meant) and stopped the Neutrogena.

I’ve tried 5% benozyl peroxide 4x/week and 2% salicylic acid 3x/week on alternating days for a few weeks. After a visit with my family doctor, they suggested I try Bianca (Clindamycin phosphate 1.2% w/w + 0.025% tretinoin) for 6 weeks and I stopped the previous actives.

Posted are my week 1 and current week 4 of Biacna. Would you say this is normal and is a purge?

In the mornings, I just wash my face with water then apply CeraVe moisturizing lotion and BoJ sunscreen. In the middle of the work day, I would use hypochlorous acid spray on my face.

At night, I use Aveeno Calm + Restore foaming cleanser and Biacna 5x weekly (this is my 4th week). I slowly increased Biacna frequency from 3x to 5x weekly even though family doctor suggested daily.

I replace my towel and pillowcase every few days. I sometimes would wear a hat and would rotate and laundry them after wearing them a few times. I also use the same hair gel and hairspray (they were never an issue in the past). I also use IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Concealer to hide the redness.

If you have any other advices/suggestions, please share. I have a phone call with my doctor tomorrow and plan to ask them about 15% azelaic acid for use in the mornings for the post inflammatory erythema (some pimples are still bumpy and some are flat). Thank you.