Long post...
I always had clear skin until a few years after I hit puberty (which for me was like 16)...by the time I was 18 I was breaking out like crazy. I tried so many products, OTC and prescription - I even did a course of Accutane - but nothing has ever cleared up my skin entirely. The Accutane worked for a few months, and I started getting bumps here and there again.
I finally considered that it was hormonal because I felt that I was losing more hair than normal (I had super-thick, curly hair)...sure enough, some tests showed that I had elevated DHEA-S, an androgen.
A reproductive endocrinologist wanted to put me on birth control, but I have heard horror stories of women who do that - more hair falls out, their skin gets worse...or after they go off the pill to try to get pregnant, their symptoms come back even worse than before.
Right now I'm controlling the hair loss (it's lessened significantly) using a combination of the Nioxin hair system and Eufora aloe-based products.
However, the acne is still so bad, especially around my period! My forehead is just so bumpy, bumps everywhere...it drives me nuts because I'm almost 25 and shouldn't have to deal with this stuff. I don't really get cysts or whiteheads, just lots of bumps.
I'm using a BHA product to try to exfoliate inside the pore, and I'm purging right now (I HOPE it's purging and not going to stay this way), which is depressing. I do use Benzoyl Peroxide on occasion, too, but I know that's rough on skin. In the end, the biggest thing for me is that I'm not getting at the root of the problem; I'm just managing the symptoms.
Does anyone else have hormonal issues? What has helped you the most? Did you go to an MD or an ND or what?
Anyone else have wacky hormones?
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