19 year old male that's looking to get rid of my whiteheads. Need help!

By AJ1992 on 01 May 2012

I'm a 19 year old male that has been struggling with acne all through adolescence. Their are some days when my skin looks really good, while their are others where I can barely look at myself. It seems as though I've tried just about every treatment out there. I have to consider myself somewhat lucky because I only seem to have a lot of whiteheads on my forehead, chin and cheeks. I don't usually get any big red pimples, but I get a few small ones occasionally.

I was on minocycline for about a year at 50 mg once a day and that seemed to help for a while, but after a while it stopped working. Almost three weeks ago I started taking minocycline at 100 mg twice a day. The dermatologist said that stronger dosage would really help after I've been taking for a few months. I've also been keeping up with my routine of use the Proactive products, and it doesn't really help or make my skin worse. It seems like it has just been about the same. I also get facials and extractions every few months to unclog my pores and get those whiteheads out which does help but they just start to comeback after a few weeks. It doesn't help that I have naturally oily skin which I do my best to control. I heard of a laser treatment called Acleara that seems like it would be great to try. Any suggestions about other acne treatments and products that are out there would be of great help and much appreciated. Thank you!

Comments (10)

birdland 10 Dec 2012

Hi Aj, I have the very same problem. I recently discover Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle Anti-Blemish Cleanser. I find it helps push the whiteheads to the surface. Clean and clear also makes a very good cleanser and moisture but I rather Neutrogena. Do you have a Comedone Extractor (this helps me to remove the whiteheads after a hot shower or steam face). Facials help a great deal but too expensive so I recently started using Brazilian peel. Another option is a sulfur mask (olay has one in their acne line).

Whitney5 31 Oct 2012

And feeling very tired and rash

Whitney5 31 Oct 2012

The treatment has some side effects like fever, joint pain

backlinkking01 21 Oct 2012

Here is a simple tip that you can use to reduce your acne scars and pigmentation. The Oil Cleansing Method What you will need: Warm Water Cold Water Clean Towels Castor Oil Olive Oil The first thing you need to do is to wash your face gently to remove excess dirt and oils from the surface. You will then need to warm a clean towel in warm water and apply it to your face for 3 minutes. Do the same thing with the cold water but this time for one minute. Carry out both the warm water and cold water procedure about 3 times but always finish with cold and then pat dry with another clean towel. Next mix a small amount of castor oil with a small amount of olive oil. A 50/50 ratio will do just fine. Apply the mixture to your skin and let it stay there for 30 minutes and then rinse with warm water. Pat dry with a clean towel and you are good to go

alicet 18 Jul 2012

This is good to know. I have tried everything from Burts Bees but way to oily. I’ve tried every product too at whole foods almost. I do the at home facial with the Riiviva Microdermabrasion tool for my acne scarring and it’s terrific. Its here at http://www.riiviva.com.
Do you have any recommendations as to what avenue to take for mositurizing with out all the oily residue that happens when I use oils. Thanks

Megan P (Community Manager) 18 Jul 2012

Depending on how little oil you want and how much you want to spend I found that the Dermalogica Active Moist worked really well when I wanted as little oil as possible, but sometimes it seemed like too light of a moisturizer, plus it doesn't have an SPF in it. It's about $50 a bottle.

I also really liked the Laura Mercier Repair Oil-Free Day Lotion. It has an SPF 15 and feel amazing going on, but since it runs $95 a bottle I can't justify the cost.

I currently use Oil of Olay Complete with SPF 15 for sensitive skin. It works pretty well. I'm having breakouts, but I think its due to other factors than this moisturizer. Overall it seems like a great value.

Megan P (Community Manager) 2 May 2012

Have you talked to your dermatologist about Retin-A or Accutane? Accutane is a pretty severe drug, but it seems like it has helped many with persistent acne.

I have tried both. Unfortunately I had to quit Accutane before it was able to heal my acne. I use Retin-A regularly now along with a Clindamycin lotion in the morning and that seems to help...of course being that I am a 34 year old female, we probably have pretty different skin. ;)

AJ1992 2 May 2012

Accutane is definitely out of the picture for me. My family has a history of depression, so that isn't an option. But I think retin-a would help, even though I have heard that it takes several months to start working effectively with is kinda frustrating because I just want it gone.

Megan P (Community Manager) 3 May 2012

Oh yeah, you are definitely best to stay away from Accutane if that is the case.

As for Retin-A, yes it definitely takes a while to see an improvement & for me it did get worse before it got better. :-/ I just kept reminding myself it would get better while I was going through that phase, but still, no fun!

eupheme 8 Jun 2012

May be you could try Acnezine, but be aware that it may cause some drying of the skin however that shouldn't be much of a problem for you since you have very oily skin.