Acne Disappearing - Here's what I've been doing

[mikej7193]

I have made quite a few changes over the last year, and I am really seeing results now for my acne, both on my face and on my upper back.

I am 20 years old, close to 21, so acne could easily remain for a few years, or it could end on its own soon, so YMMV with this.

About a year ago, I switched shampoos to Nature's Gate tea tree oil shampoo, which I also use as a body wash. When that ran out, I used their Aloe Vera formula. Neither of those caused more acne, and may have reduced irritation (some redness) on my back to help my skin be less likely to peel, but I saw no real improvement in my acne from this switch from a previous shampoo/body wash/bar of soap.

A few months ago (4 maybe?), I began taking Now Foods Superior Adam multivitamins, and ginseng in the morning. This seems to have helped prevent getting very sick, and overall having more energy, but no significant acne improvement.


Around two months ago, I began using Bag Balm on my shoulders and face at night to hopefully help as a topical treatment to prevent bacteria from infecting my pores. There was a noticeable difference with this. I saw my results taper off after a couple weeks, but it was a huge improvement (Maybe a 30% reduction from before).


Around a month ago, I began taking Cod Liver Oil as a supplement to help get the Vitamin D I need. I began by taking two or three capsules each day, but shortly increased the amount to 4 in the morning with my first multivitamin, and 4 in the evening with my second. In total, this is giving me 400% of my daily value of Vitamin A (300% in the form of Retinyl Palmitate, and 100% in the form of beta carotene), which is transformed in the body to create Accutane. I have to say that I believe this is the biggest reason that most of the acne on my back is gone. To quantify, I would say that I am at about 20% of the original acne on my back, including many less (or at least smaller) blackheads. My face has been clearing up as well (Probably closer to 40% of the original), but there are a lot of factors that go into my face, including resting my head on my hand during exams, or things like that.

I would not recommend that anyone just starts to take a ton of Vitamin A to solve any acne problems, but I saw the positive possibilities and I found that the possible negative consequences did not matter to me at this time (birth defects possible, more likely to be sunburned, headaches, etc). I have not experienced any negative side effects, other than burping and tasting fish.


I am somewhere around 2/3 of the way through my first 300 capsule bottle, and I have a second one to use afterwards. When these are gone, I will not continue this supplement.

 

[BriDroid]

I'm glad you found something that works for you. I would just check with your Dr about that much vitamin A though. I still get acne sometimes (I'm 40), and witch hazel splashed twice a day after face wash/shave does the trick for me.

When I was younger, I was on Retin A (I think it was called). It's a form of vitamin A. It worked really good, but had nasty side effects like dry skin, etc.

I also take fish oil, and for the burping aftertaste, try putting them in the freezer. They make it past your stomach frozen and you don't burp them once they are in your intestines. Or you could just buy coated pills (that's what I do now and makes a ton of difference). Sometimes the frozen pills would hurt going down.

 

[insomb]

Either of you try Sulphur Soap? This and supplements have helped the most for me.

I don't take Cod Liver Oil, but take Fish Oil capsules. Mine recommend a lot on the back of the package. Serving size says 1 to 5 a day on the back of my Carlson Elite. When I asked the sales rep at Whole Foods if that's for real, he assured me it was and said anything less than 2 a day isn't going to show noticeable effects. I disagree as I often times don't take two a day, this stuff is expensive on top of my multi supplement, more than anything. But it says nothing on the back about Vitamin A, Retinyl Palmitate, and beta carotene. How do you know all this? And is it better to take the Cod Liver Oil versus the Fish Oil for breakouts?

Also, Selenium and Zinc, any anti-dandruff shampoo, I would imagine, with these ingredients is going to be more successful at aiding against acne.

 

[Royce]

Fish oil burps is caused from poorly refined fish oil. Try this if that is an issue:

Also, very important to change your eating habits. I'm hesitant to say diet because diet to many is a temporary fix to loose weight or doctors orders to fix an ailment. It would appear that your body is inflamed and you need to be aware of the signs. Acne is an autoimmune response caused from inflammation. Change your lifestyle. Use food as your medicine. Eat a non inflammatory diet. Meat, vegetables, some fruit, good fats, and drink water three times a day every day. You need to stop eating the standard American diet. No more grains, no dairy, no legumes, no more processed foods and sugar drinks. Don't believe the red meat, cholesterol in eggs is bad for you propaganda. Do some exercise. Get 8 hours of sleep a day in a room as blacked out as possible, not even a light from your alarm clock. Do this and you will notice a significant change in your body one of them being a decrease to a complete elimination of acne. If after 30-90 days you do not notice a significant change in your body you need to look into a diet for autoimmune disease that heals your gut. Inform yourself, check out Chris Kresser, Loren Cordain, and Robb Wolf in no particular order. There is a whole movement going on. Your young much more than myself. I wish that someone had passed this information on to me years ago. The amazing thing about the human body is that it is resilient and you're never to old to fix yourself, until it's too late. Don't be that person that turns a blind eye to what their body is telling them.
A little intense but I tend to get that way when I am confronted with something that I am somewhat passionate about. Take care!

 

[Nerveya]

That's great that you found something that works for you and second a lot of the recommendations that Royce suggested. I'd also add in possibly the most important factor: Drink a lot of water. I mean a lot. A gallon of water a day is the sweet spot and I don't really feel there's a need to go over that, though I wouldn't go too far below it either (especially now that it's summertime). It will help with literally everything in your body and you'll feel great. It'll be hard at first, but you'll get used to it.

Try not to go over 3000 mcg of Vitamin A per day... or bad things can happen. Beta Carotine, on the other hand, is readily converted to Vitamin A and is readily regulated by the body, so it poses no danger of hypervitamosis.

 

[mikej7193]

I'm glad you found something that works for you. I would just check with your Dr about that much vitamin A though. I still get acne sometimes (I'm 40), and witch hazel splashed twice a day after face wash/shave does the trick for me.

When I was younger, I was on Retin A (I think it was called). It's a form of vitamin A. It worked really good, but had nasty side effects like dry skin, etc.

I also take fish oil, and for the burping aftertaste, try putting them in the freezer. They make it past your stomach frozen and you don't burp them once they are in your intestines. Or you could just buy coated pills (that's what I do now and makes a ton of difference). Sometimes the frozen pills would hurt going down.

The fishy taste when burping isn't terrible. I do like eating fish, so it doesn't bother me much. I might try the frozen pills to see if that helps some. The main reason why I am stopping soon is to let my body flush out the excess vitamin A stored up from this. I will see in probably around a month what my skin is like, make a mental note of the date of the last of the cod liver oil, and see how things progress for a few months after. With 2x300 capsules, if I take 8 per day, that's 75 days total, or two and a half months. This is much shorter than a typical accutane treatment, but also my acne was not nearly bad enough to need accutane.

Either of you try Sulphur Soap? This and supplements have helped the most for me.

I don't take Cod Liver Oil, but take Fish Oil capsules. Mine recommend a lot on the back of the package. Serving size says 1 to 5 a day on the back of my Carlson Elite. When I asked the sales rep at Whole Foods if that's for real, he assured me it was and said anything less than 2 a day isn't going to show noticeable effects. I disagree as I often times don't take two a day, this stuff is expensive on top of my multi supplement, more than anything. But it says nothing on the back about Vitamin A, Retinyl Palmitate, and beta carotene. How do you know all this? And is it better to take the Cod Liver Oil versus the Fish Oil for breakouts?

Also, Selenium and Zinc, any anti-dandruff shampoo, I would imagine, with these ingredients is going to be more successful at aiding against acne.

Cod liver has vitamin A in it, but regular fish oil does not. I know many people who have taken Accutane and achieved very positive results, but I don't know anyone who liked the process. From reading about Accutane, I discovered that Accutane naturally occurs in the body, and is a derivative of vitamin A. Some claim that vitamin A will give you the same benefits and negative side effects as Accutane, but others say it only will give the same negative side effects. I thought it was a cheap enough experiment to try, with minimal long-term consequences if it doesn't work right.

I do not know at this point if it is better to take cod liver oil instead of fish oil for breakouts, but I would say that in my single human trial, I have seen benefits.

I used to use those anti-dandruff shampoos, but I believe I am sensitive to SLS and SLES, because my dandruff did not clear up from any of those. It only cleared up when I switched to Nature's Gate, which is SLS and SLES free.

Fish oil burps is caused from poorly refined fish oil. Try this if that is an issue:


Also, very important to change your eating habits. I'm hesitant to say diet because diet to many is a temporary fix to loose weight or doctors orders to fix an ailment. It would appear that your body is inflamed and you need to be aware of the signs. Acne is an autoimmune response caused from inflammation. Change your lifestyle. Use food as your medicine. Eat a non inflammatory diet. Meat, vegetables, some fruit, good fats, and drink water three times a day every day. You need to stop eating the standard American diet. No more grains, no dairy, no legumes, no more processed foods and sugar drinks. Don't believe the red meat, cholesterol in eggs is bad for you propaganda. Do some exercise. Get 8 hours of sleep a day in a room as blacked out as possible, not even a light from your alarm clock. Do this and you will notice a significant change in your body one of them being a decrease to a complete elimination of acne. If after 30-90 days you do not notice a significant change in your body you need to look into a diet for autoimmune disease that heals your gut. Inform yourself, check out Chris Kresser, Loren Cordain, and Robb Wolf in no particular order. There is a whole movement going on. Your young much more than myself. I wish that someone had passed this information on to me years ago. The amazing thing about the human body is that it is resilient and you're never to old to fix yourself, until it's too late. Don't be that person that turns a blind eye to what there body is telling them.
A little intense but I tend to get that way when I am confronted with something that I am somewhat passionate about. Take care!

I just got the cheapest cod liver oil I could because it was just a short-term experiment for myself, so the burping does not really bother me much. It is probably on the order of 2 or 3 fishy burps a day, which is more than tolerable.


Regarding eating habits, I have really been working hard to eat healthier. Last year I was in a dorm, and the meal plan was required, which only offered awful food. This year, I have been eating more fruits and vegetables. I also just got some organic brown eggs, and I try to go to the farmer's market to get organic meats as well.

I do not drink sodas much anymore (one or two per month), but I do still eat sandwiches with processed meats, and I drink milk. However, I drink whole milk, which some say is healthier for you than other types, but I don't know much about that. I do know that I do not drink enough water during the day. I probably drink on average around 2 liters of water.


Funny thing about sleeping... The last few months, I've been getting less sleep than the last few years, and that is where I have had more improvement in my acne.

 

[mikej7193]

That's great that you found something that works for you and second a lot of the recommendations that Royce suggested. I'd also add in possibly the most important factor: Drink a lot of water. I mean a lot. A gallon of water a day is the sweet spot and I don't really feel there's a need to go over that, though I wouldn't go too far below it either (especially now that it's summertime). It will help with literally everything in your body and you'll feel great. It'll be hard at first, but you'll get used to it.

Try not to go over 3000 mcg of Vitamin A per day... or bad things can happen. Beta Carotine, on the other hand, is readily converted to Vitamin A and is readily regulated by the body, so it poses no danger of hypervitamosis.

Thanks for your input on drinking more water. I will work hard to do that.

Do you know what 3000 mcg of Vitamin A is in IU units? The cod liver oil I have says that each capsule is 1250 IU, or 25% of the daily value of Vitamin A. I don't know how those units work very well.

 

[insomb]

Seriously, try this soap, it's not too expensive http://www.sulphursoap.com

Also, why are you planning on stopping the supplements? Does it make a permanent change?

 

[mikej7193]

Seriously, try this soap, it's not too expensive http://www.sulphursoap.com

Also, why are you planning on stopping the supplements? Does it make a permanent change?

I will probably give that a try late this summer, once I stop taking the cod liver oil for a bit (don't want to change too many variables)

I am wanting to stop after I finish the second bottle because I prefer to take fewer supplements and to eat the vitamins I need. Also, I do not want damaging side effects from taking more than the daily value for too long (Some say osteoporosis is a possibility.). Taking at least a bit of time off of a supplement will also help show if the results are permanent or not. Most people have permanent success with accutane, so I would be very curious if I would get permanent results with this.

 

[Nerveya]

Thanks for your input on drinking more water. I will work hard to do that.

Do you know what 3000 mcg of Vitamin A is in IU units? The cod liver oil I have says that each capsule is 1250 IU, or 25% of the daily value of Vitamin A. I don't know how those units work very well.

3,000 mcg of Vitamin A = 10,000 IU .

If, or when, you stop supplementing a large amount of Vitamin A, I would suggest you still take a quality multivitamin daily. That is the bare minimum everyone should do along with drinking water. The next closest thing to 'essential' in my book would be Fish Oil.

When you stop taking cod liver oil (Fish Oil is pretty much better in every way, but more expensive), Carleson's Fish Oil is a great all-purpose super-supplement that promotes all-around health. Barlean's is a great alternative, as well, but I wouldn't venture outside of those 2 sources as they are either a. complete garbage or b. rediculously overpriced. Do some research on it and it'll blow your mind, but be wary if you're on blood thinners (I assume you're not since you're young like me).

A quality multivitamin, a gallon of water, and 2 mg of EPA + DHA (not the fish oil volume, the EPA/DHA numbers) will give you a strong foundation along with exercise to fight off whatever you body throws at it (that includes acne!).

 

[insomb]

Keep us updated, I've subscribed to your thread. I would also like to know if you have lasting effects with this. I didn't know that about cod liver oil and vitamin a, I'm going to look into supplementing my fish oil with cod liver oil or something. It's cheaper anyway.

What are you washing your face with now out of curiosity?

 

[insomb]

Nerveya, what do you think about taking some of both? What about the claims with the Vitamin A? Fish oil doesn't have the Vit A or Vit D, I didn't know this. I honestly don't even remember why I started taking Fish Oil, I only know that I feel better when I do.

 

[mikej7193]

Keep us updated, I've subscribed to your thread. I would also like to know if you have lasting effects with this. I didn't know that about cod liver oil and vitamin a, I'm going to look into supplementing my fish oil with cod liver oil or something. It's cheaper anyway.

What are you washing your face with now out of curiosity?

Lately, I have only been washing with my Nature's Gate shampoo. It seems to be doing a fine job. I have tried grapefruit seed extract washes, dermatologist-prescribed washes, dove soap, and dial soap to name a few things I've previously tried without any difference. I can't say for sure that the Nature's Gate has been helping, but it hasn't caused any negative side effects. I had a slight rash-like dry spot under my eyebrow for a while, which I thought may have been caused by the Nature's Gate, but it only lasted a couple of weeks and went away.

 

[insomb]

Dude, buy the soap. It's not a regular bar of soap. I feel confident in my recommendation.

 

[Big Jay]

Not sure if it was mentioned or not but have you tried organic natural apple cider vinegar? It's cheap and does wonders for acne. Many benefits:

- Helps with digestion
- Helps burn fat
- Balances the PH in your body to help with skin irregularities like acne.

1 TBSP 3x daily works great. Just take a quick shot and chase it with water.

 

[kovalchuk71]

Bentonite Clay. The stuff is MAGIC (and inexpensive). Use once a week and your face looks great.

 

[MattCB]

I would contribute a few things to this as a 37 year old male who still has scarring on his back, shoulders and a few my neck. First off, there are three major factors. 1) A medical issue. you could be ill and your body is trying to purge the toxins.... not likely or you would probably be seeing other issues. 2) Once you get a bad case of acne going you end up with an infection that spreads. This has to be knocked taken care of our at least knocked down hard so your body can deal with it. 3) The oily skin. The oils can transfer the infection when you rub or pick at something. It gets on your clothes and bed sheets and rubs against other parts of your body. (more below)

1) Be carefull of what you use for washing you face and body. Using ANY type of soap or detergent (and yes there is a difference) chemically strips the oils from your skin. Your body responds by pumping out an increased level of oil to try and make up for this "lack" of oil. you end up feeling super oily again so, contributes to acne and you wash more and more. It's a crappy cycle and you will only see short term benefits from washing more or using a "better" soap. I highly recommend sticking with just a loofa and a back scrubber to give yourself a once over in the shower twice a day. Drop using the soap in your daily routine. Use it on your crotch, feet, pits when going out on a date or something or when you are dirty from working on the car or something similar.

2) Work out. I don't mean turn into a gym rat, but work up a sweat and clear out your pores.

3) Wash your face with WATER if you start to feel oily and pat dry with a paper towel. Do this 2 or 3 times a day if needed.

4) Keep your hair cut short. I'm going to harp on the oilyness again, but you will feel a difference with ow the skin on your face feels.

5) Change your bedding at least once a week, especially your pillow. You rub the oil from your face and body on it all week long...enough said.

So... get the infection knocked back or out completely. I know you are in school but see if you can see a dermatoligist to take care of the infection. Work on cleanliness and toss out the soap.

Best of luck. There is hope. I only have the occasional pimple/zit and never get blackheads anymore. The scars on my neck can be a challenge, but I hve found wet shaving has made a huge difference in and of itself. You are on the right track.

 

[mikej7193]

I am now on my second 300 capsule bottle, so I figured that this is my halfway point essentially. Initially, I took close to 3 capsules each day, but I increased to 8 for most of this time. I took a week off after a few weeks of this, but I have been going continuously since. I counted this morning 17 red dots that were visible from about 5 feet away (~2 and a half feet from the mirror). There were close to that on my shoulders, though I did not count. My shoulders are very clear now.

For about the last week or so, I stopped putting bag balm on my shoulders and face at night. I truly believe that it is the cod liver oil that is benefiting my skin. In a little bit over a month, I will be out of capsules, and I will wait a few months for my body to remove any toxins built up before starting again or anything.


I have not been doing anything special directly to my skin for a while to help eliminate variables. In my opinion, the bag balm helped to prevent acne from spreading as much, but overall was not enough to solve large issues.

I have had fewer whiteheads and red marks from acne, and blackheads on my shoulders and forehead seem to be a bit less. The most significant change has been on my shoulders instead of my face, though my face has definitely improved.

 

[Royce]

Research vitamin D3, it's really a hormone. If you are not getting ~10 minutes of full sun on your body every day, shirt off, you need to supplement 5000-10,000iu a day. It is a good idea to get a physical and do blood work to find out your base levels. One of the blood markers should be your d3 level. You want to target between 25 - 50 ng/ml, 35 being ideal. Continue your fish oil, EPA/DHA is essential for optimal health. Look at D3 the same way. Once I got my levels into the optimal range my skin became more healthy youthful looking, pliable. I was able to stay out in the sun longer without getting burned. This is my experience. If you check out The Paleo Solution Blog you can do tons of research regarding acne and many other health issues that can be cured through lifestyle changes that does not cost a fortune. It's simple, stop the hocus pocus the answers are there wating for you. I don't think you are but don't try Acutane your playing Russian Roulette with your liver and future progeny. Good luck!

 

[insomb]

Once you get a bad case of acne going you end up with an infection that spreads. This has to be knocked taken care of our at least knocked down hard so your body can deal with it. 3) The oily skin. The oils can transfer the infection when you rub or pick at something. It gets on your clothes and bed sheets and rubs against other parts of your body. (more below)

What do you mean when you talk about taking care of an infection?