How I Overcame My Acne

*This is a post filled with brutal honesty because I need to let you know exactly how I cleared this acne up - there was no miracle and it took a long time.*

I was always so thankful for my complexion when I was younger, I would get one big spot the week before my period once a month every month and that was all I had to deal with. How I long for those days *sniff*

I've been on the contraceptive pill (Microcygnon) since Summer 2012 but came off it last year in May when I went through a break up and didn't see any point in it anymore. I was off it for about 6 months before...*ahem*... my "needs" returned and I went back on it, however it was the "new" Microcygnon called Rigevidon. There were no problems with my skin for the following couple of months until about late February/March time when literally out of the blue 3 or 4 large spots appeared on my jaw line and around my mouth. I didn't think anything of it, I thought it was just a flare up and that it would die down soon, but it never did and it hasn't completely since then. 

Now, I'm not sure if it is anything to do with my change in contraception, and unfortunately I can't see my GP until I move back to Guildford in October to see if there is a change I can make pill-wise. Therefore, my natural instinct when I realised these spots weren't budging was to go out and spend an absolute fortune on some skin care solutions. I tried all sorts, the YesTo Tomatoes Daily Repair Treatment (which did nothing, although I used the whole bottle out of principle), most of the BodyShop's Teatree range such as the overnight lotion and the facemask (I really loved both of these treatments but they helped the areas of my face that wasn't covered in spots way more than my acne), Lush facemasks, Una Brennan facemasks bla bla bla the list goes on and on. If anything my acne was getting worse and my bank balance was getting lower. 

I was feeling so down and self confident about this issue, I never left the house without a tonne of makeup on and as lame as it sounds I was really envious of everyone getting excited about summer makeup when I knew I would still be wearing thick and heavy foundations. "ENOUGH" I internally and externally screamed, "I HAVE to get this sorted" I cried to my mum, and so after several evenings consumed by internet searches of cures, off to Boots and Lloyds Pharmacy I went, and I think/hope I've found a solution. 

The lady in the Boots Pharmacy gave me a tube of Benzoyl Peroxide which cost about £8 and that was as much as she could do. I then went to Lloyds Pharmacy and the lady was so helpful and sympathetic I nearly cried on her. She poo-pood the treatment I'd just been given and said to be really cautious of it as all it will do is dry out the spot and leave scars. She suggested the La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo Plus which aims to dry out the spot but moisturise around it at the same time. 

Of course I was expecting an immediate result (even though she told me there wouldn't be) as it was a fairly pricey product (£15.50) but sadly no such luck. However since using it for nearly a month, over the last week or so I think I've finally started seeing some improvements!

I'm just going to list exactly what I've been doing to and my advice - 

1. Drink an absolute tonne of water. You see this tip everywhere but not only do I think this has helped my acne, in areas not acne covered I can see that it's general appearence is smoother
2. !!MOST IMPORTANT!! Minimise your skin care routine. Just as I was about to get in to the swing of finding and discovering some new skin care items, the acne became too much and nothing was helping, so I went a bit mental-
1. I was using maybe 6 or 7 different products on my face a day and there were no improvements, the spots were not budging! Since cutting out exfoliators, facemasks, fragrant moisturisers and night creams and just sticking to a cleanser (I bought the La Roche Posay Effaclar Foaming Cleanser at the same time) and a simple moisturiser (I use Aveeno) and then the La Roche Posay treatment on top of this I have finally seen some improvements in my complexion. 
2. I then went the complete other end of the spectrum and used so much benzoyl peroxide and combining it with the La Roche Posay treatment (I'm talking 3-4 applications a day) because I got so fed up of nothing working I completely dried out the whole my chin and around my mouth and it looked even worse, spots and flakey skin! So use with caution people, slow and steady wins the race. There WON'T be immediate results but they do come, I promise!
3. Avoid touching your face. I'm probably preaching to the choir with this as it's something so simple that everyone tells you to do but after consciously avoiding picking at, squeezing or just leaning on my problemed areas, I really do think it's helped. 
4. Keep moisturised. Healthy, moisturised skin is going to heal more quickly and behave more kindly. I use quite a heavy moisturiser at night time and was using a mattifying one in the mornings (The Body Shop Seaweed Mattifying Moisturiser) as it has an SPF 15 and seemed to keep everything in shape.

If I'm totally honest, it's hard to say how much I can credit to these products and how much it is to do with hormones and their natural dying down. My internet searching showed me that a lot of girls in their early twenties suffer with hormonal acne breakouts and that it will naturally die down on its own. So as much as it sucks it's just something that my body went through that I will hopefully be able to deal with better if it ever comes again (I pray to all the gods that it doesn't).

Now that the main body of it has cleared up, I'm left with quite a few acne marks and scars which is the next thing I need to address, watch this space! I really hope this was a helpful post and that it's not affecting too many people because it sucks! A lot! But there is a light at the end of the tunnel, I promise.

kloveyabye x