At the start of 2013, I started getting what seemed to be a pimple break-out however, it wasn't like the typical "pimple", instead I seemed to start getting a gathering of tender, red lumps. I have always been prone to a baby breakout once a month, but this was something I had never had before. For the next week or two, I kept an eye on what was going on with my skin, I started to use face washes that rid of excess oil and returned the face back to its natural Ph level. I even stopped wearing foundation altogether in hope of just letting the sun air my skin naturally.
This went on for a fair month or so, some days it wouldn't be so sore and red, and other days it would be inflamed and incredibly uncomfortable. Agitated and confused, I asked someone about it and asked if there was any medication that I should try. A friend recommended me to a doctor who could help me. After seeing the doctor he recommend me to take a 3 month course of acne-medication, the strongest of its kind (Acnotin 10). Acnotin is very powerful medicine and should not be consumed unless under medical supervision. For that reason I will not go into the details of what you should do, what it does, what precautions there are ect, when consuming this medicine because medical supervision is very important and advice should be sought through professionals.
Throughout my three month course, I found my lips did get incredibly dry, and so did my skin. However, weekly I saw my "acne" start to lessen and finally disappear. By the end of my course, my acne had completely gone and I was delighted to have seen the back of it... or so I thought. About 4/5 months of not being on the medication, I started to notice small but sore, red lumps starting to appear in the areas that was effected before. Again, I kept an eye on it and one morning I woke up and my face was pulsing; it had erupted in the night. I could not believe it had all come back after I was told it was fixed.
Fed up, sore and feeling utterly ugly to the eye, I marched back to the doctors and demanded an explanation and all he could recommend was going back on a course of the Acnotin. However, this time it failed to do anything. I had finished my course and my skin was still red, sore and lumpy. By this time I was completely depressed and paranoid that everyone was judging me and talking behind my back; it was really getting me down! Before heading to the doctors for a third time, I took it upon myself to do some research and find out underlying causes of bad skin. Here are a few things I did to try and rid of my acne;
- I started to wash my face with bottled water instead of tap water as the chlorine may have been reacting with my skin.
- I reduced and almost completely cut out sugars from my diet (which made me incredibly unhappy!)
- I stopped using face wash and tried toning waters.
- I tried to stop wearing makeup altogether.
- Washing my pillow case every 2 days.
- Upped my intake of water.
NOTHING WAS WORKING! I was seriously thinking about coming to terms with having "acne". Cystic acne to be precise. However, one night my boyfriend and I were face-timing his mum and she looked at my skin over the camera and recommended me to try Aloe Vera; pure, fresh Aloe Vera from an Aloe plant. I can conclude to this day, since using purely Aloe Vera, no medication and diets, my "acne" has disappeared!! My first time I applied the gel straight from the plant, I decided to leave the product on my face overnight. There was a slight tightening, cooling and tingling feeling in my face however it subdued quickly. The next morning, the redness in my "acne" had cooled dramatically, and the swelling of the inflamed area had eased. I couldn't believe how well it was working! For the next 5-7 days I continued to put on the Aloe Vera gel directly from the plant to my face both morning and night and here are the results below. (Please excuse the awful camera quality as I wasn't planning on making a blog about this and these are photo's that I had sent my family).
Before & After 7 days of using Aloe Vera
Before & After 7 days of using Aloe Vera
These photos are NOT good quality and do not show the true extent to my skin. The dark spots were even darker, the spots were hard, sore lumps and the skin around the spot was raised and warm to touch. However, as you can see within 7 days the Aloe Vera had completely rid of my minor cystic acne and had even helped with the fading of the scars!
Positives of Aloe Vera: "Aloe vera gel contains two hormones: Auxin and Gibberellins. These two hormones provide wound healing and anti-inflammatory properties that reduce skin inflammation. Giberellin in aloe vera acts as a growth hormone stimulating the growth of new cells. It allows the skin to heal quickly and naturally with minimal scarring.
Aloe is soothing and can reduce skin inflammations, blistering and itchiness, while helping the skin to heal more rapidly. Additionally, in Ayurvedic medicine, Aloe is used to effectively heal chronic skin problems, such as psoriasis, acne and eczema."
If any of you do not know what an Aloe Vera plant looks like here it is below. Also, as you can see, it is the gel that is found inside of the plant. To make sure the open stem lasts, put it inside of your fridge.
Aloe Vera plant- Can be found in most plant nursery's.
Also good for sunburns and burns in general.
The Gel inside of the plant!
The purpose of this blog post was to give some people with inflamed skin, acne or just bad spots, some hope! It is not necessary to rely on medication to help fix you skin, especially if they have dangerous side effects as did the Acnotin, if not taken carefully. There are natural remedies that could help; it may not rid of the infection instantly, but it may help take away redness and soreness. You can use this every day, no side effects and barely any expense!
If you cannot find the plant, there is a substitute in bottle form that I am presently using which seems to be doing the job! However, I will say that I much prefer the natural-goodness from the plant itself.
You can find it here;
Cheap, affordable and dries instantly so that you can apply makeup on top, or rush out the door if your in a hurry!
I hope this blog post has shed some light on the issue of bad skin. I've even started to look at home made face masks using natural foods! Have a great evening!
XOX
