Skin update – How do I treat my acne?

I’ve been really open about my skin struggles. I wrote about birth control pills and how they affected me here. I also wrote about my acne here. Since then my skin has actually gone even worse and finally I decided to go to the doctor.

First of all: there is only so much you can do about acne. You need to have a good routine but not use too much products and constantly wash your face. You need a good gentle cleanser, a toner and a lotion. Serums, mask and exfoliators also help. You should exfoliate and do mask about once per week. Depending on the serum you can use it daily or couple times per week. For oily skin and acne I recommend a serum that has salisylic acid or other BHA in them.

That said, I noticed that I wasn’t getting anywhere with my routine. So my doctor prescribed me acnatac to try at first. It has tretinoin in it to help heal the impurities. I have to apply it on my skin every evening for 12 weeks. Now is my third week of using it and actually I see some improvement already.

The gel makes me more sensitive to the sun and I have to use SPF30 everyday on the areas I apply it. That’s not a problem since I’m already using sunscreen and I’ve found ones that work for me. The only downside to this is that since the gel is exfoliating me every night there’s really no use in using self tanners. I’m used to them so it’s a shame I’ve had to kiss them goodbye for now. I’m definetely gonna start using them again in the fall though! I love Eco By Sonya’s products.

After starting to use acnatac I’ve become ridiculously oily and dry at the same time. I really don’t mind since I know I’m getting rid of my acne but it’s been a struggle. Luckily I’ve found some great moisturisers to be used in the morning and great makeup products that don’t become cakey on me and they actually help with the oiliness. More about them later!

Also my routine has become simpler. I’m not allowed to exfoliate my skin or use any harsh chemicals on it. I’m even doubtful of using a purifying mask – I may need to find a new gentle yet effective mask for that. I have some moisturising sheet masks that I got from Bearel so I will be trying them soon to help with the dryness. For now my products are here (+moisturisers that I will talk about later):

Coconut oil (to take off makeup & sunscreen in the evening)
EkoPharma Purifying Gel Cleanser (In the evening & in the morning)
Acnatac (In the evening)
Biosolis SPF30  (In the morning)

Are there anyone else on some tretinoin?

Scroll to top