40 and acne

L

lulu68

Cathlete
Hello,

I'm a 40 year old soon to be 41 who has been dealing with acne for about 4-5 months now. I don't know what's going on my problem areas are generally on the chin jaw area and sometimes on the cheek area, specially worst around my menstrual cycle. Its so fustrating never in my life have I had a problem with acne. I don't know what to do, I wash my face 2 a day with a glycolic moistirizer and very rarely where makeup and when do I use mineral makeup. I'm really thinking about seing a profesional but not sure if I should seek help from a dermotoligist or esthetician. My acne is not severe but the little I have is really bothering me because they seem to stick around mildly forever and once I'm close to my menstrual cycle they come out with the white head. Please, any advice would greatly be apreciated!

Lourdes
 
Welcome to my world! Same exact thing for me. Acne started recently, never had a problem as a teen. Here's what worked for me YMMV

1) The number one thing I do that works is I try to never, ever touch my face (Unless I know my hands are very clean). That's done a world of difference.

2) I also wash my face twice a day. I use Pernox. It's very expensive and can be drying but it works well for me because I have oily skin. You want something that exfoliates and gets rid of oil if you have oily skin.

3) I saw a dermatologist to make sure it really was acne. (my primary care physician kept saying it was rosacea.) Dermatologist said "It looks like acne to me". He prescribed Finacea in the evenings and duac in the morning. Duac is expensive so I just use a prescription benzoil peroxide called Benzac that doesn't have the antibiotics and it works well enough.

Good luck!
Mindy
 
What I find works

1. make sure I use a mild exfoliating cleanser am and pm. I find keeping the dead skin off my face really helps.
2. Take flax seed oil or another EFA
3. Watch what I eat....even breakfast cereal can make me break out because it causes my blood sugar to shoot up. I avoid candy, cookies, chips (grease and sugar basically), cakes, frostings....
4. Eat almonds, blueberries, fish and other skin healthy foods.

Hope this helps. I am 42 and if I don't do this, the breakouts come back. Usually chin and jaw.

Watch where your hands are when you sleep, I tend to lay with my hands up near my face on my pillow when I am sleeping, I had to work hard to change this habit.

Make sure pillow is clean regularly....

Really for me, working from the inside out helps me the most with the skin at this age (diet, EFA, plenty of water). It is not as much what I use on my skin, although it does help....

Jen



lulu68 said:
Hello,

I'm a 40 year old soon to be 41 who has been dealing with acne for about 4-5 months now. I don't know what's going on my problem areas are generally on the chin jaw area and sometimes on the cheek area, specially worst around my menstrual cycle. Its so fustrating never in my life have I had a problem with acne. I don't know what to do, I wash my face 2 a day with a glycolic moistirizer and very rarely where makeup and when do I use mineral makeup. I'm really thinking about seing a profesional but not sure if I should seek help from a dermotoligist or esthetician. My acne is not severe but the little I have is really bothering me because they seem to stick around mildly forever and once I'm close to my menstrual cycle they come out with the white head. Please, any advice would greatly be apreciated!

Lourdes
Click to expand...
 
I'm sorry this has popped up on you. :confused: I've had acne for 20+ years, and this is what I use to manage it:

Serious Skin Care: http://www.seriousskincare.com/the_cart.asp?compid=14


My main products from them are:
  • The Glycolic Cleanser
  • Glycolic Renewal Gel
  • Clearz-It (5% Benzoyl Peroxide)
  • Super Hydrate
Clear Complexions: http://www.clearcomplexions.com/prod_therapeutic.html

You can use their cleansers, gels, etc., bypassing the first list of products I mentioned, but I have the best luck combining my SSC products with:
  • 10% BP Gel (My skin is used to BP, so I need the 10% sometimes. I wouldn't recommend starting with that though ~ start with the 5%.)
The cleanser is crucial, as it preps your skin for the medicine. Glycolic acid is great for this, which is why it is so often used in these kinds of products.

The BP obviously does the heavy lifting, helping you clear the acne itself.

The renewal gel further increases exfoliation, which helps the skin stay bright, smooth, and flake-free (BP can dry you out). The additional glycolic acid also helps the BP do its job.

Super Hydrate is a moisturizer that doesn't aggravate my acne. Honestly, you can use whatever moisturizer either company offers ~ they're all great.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. :)
 
I have this quite often as well. In fact, I've had more problems with acne when I turned 35 (I'm 42 now) then ever before.

I clean my phones with one of those Clorax wipes daily. My cell phone and the phone at work and home. It does wonders.

I moisturize my face. I found my face was too dry and that was causing these hard cycsts to fester under my skin. I always thought I had oily skin - I have DRY skin.

I sometimes use Oxy10 to help bring out these festers. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
 
Flax seed oil or Fish oil is a great point made by Jen. I added fish oil to my diet a little under a year ago and discovered it made managing my acne easier. It didn't cure it, but then again, I'm a classic, Grade 3 acne patient ~ there is no cure. Grrr. I'm hoping it'll eventually burn out. Maybe when I'm 70... *sigh* :)

For all my complaining though, I must admit: You'd never believe I've had lifelong acne if you saw me. The products keep my skin about 98% clear, and the texture of my skin is very smooth.

Ooo, cysts ~ I hate those! I get one every once in a while, and man they hurt sometimes. Toothpaste works pretty well with most of them, but you need to be careful, as toothpaste is really drying. My face is tough though, so I can handle a couple nights of spot treatments, and the inflammation is dramatically reduced.

You look nuts, of course, with spots of toothpaste on your face. :D
 
I have this also (I'm 47) and thought could this be because of the "change'? (Menopause)
Other women I have talked to feel it is due to this. YEAH:(
 
The thing that affects me the most is diet. Even during TTOM, if I watch what I eat, I don't have problems with acne. But if I eat too many sweets, it hits me every time.

Different people have different triggers. You might document what you eat and see if you're eating one particular thing more than usual whenever you have a flare-up.

And yes, it could be "the change." I know several women who had acne when that time came. Oh, we have so much to look forward to.....
 
mindy999 said:
Welcome to my world! Same exact thing for me. Acne started recently, never had a problem as a teen. Here's what worked for me YMMV

1) The number one thing I do that works is I try to never, ever touch my face (Unless I know my hands are very clean). That's done a world of difference.

2) I also wash my face twice a day. I use Pernox. It's very expensive and can be drying but it works well for me because I have oily skin. You want something that exfoliates and gets rid of oil if you have oily skin.

3) I saw a dermatologist to make sure it really was acne. (my primary care physician kept saying it was rosacea.) Dermatologist said "It looks like acne to me". He prescribed Finacea in the evenings and duac in the morning. Duac is expensive so I just use a prescription benzoil peroxide called Benzac that doesn't have the antibiotics and it works well enough.

Good luck!
Mindy
Click to expand...
Thank you for your input. Was seeking help from a dermotolist expensive, was it worth it? Thanks!
 
cjbate said:
What I find works

1. make sure I use a mild exfoliating cleanser am and pm. I find keeping the dead skin off my face really helps.
2. Take flax seed oil or another EFA
3. Watch what I eat....even breakfast cereal can make me break out because it causes my blood sugar to shoot up. I avoid candy, cookies, chips (grease and sugar basically), cakes, frostings....
4. Eat almonds, blueberries, fish and other skin healthy foods.

Hope this helps. I am 42 and if I don't do this, the breakouts come back. Usually chin and jaw.

Watch where your hands are when you sleep, I tend to lay with my hands up near my face on my pillow when I am sleeping, I had to work hard to change this habit.

Make sure pillow is clean regularly....

Really for me, working from the inside out helps me the most with the skin at this age (diet, EFA, plenty of water). It is not as much what I use on my skin, although it does help....

Jen
Click to expand...

Tha'ts the fustrating part of it, I'm eating all the healthy foods that are sopposely good for your skin. The funny thing is that I also started noticing this breakouts when I started using the Glycolic citrus cleanser instead of my age defying cloth from oil of oil to wash my face. It was recomended by my makeup artist because she notice I had milia, she said it was from the washclothes because they contain wax. Could it be that the cleanser is irating my skin, but I heard glycolic is good for acne. So confuse!!!

Lourdes
 
I use the Obagi system. You can look it up on line but you can only get it from a dermatologist. My dermatologist did not charge me for a consultation, just the products. I did not get them for acne. I don't have bad acne but usually when I get one it hurts, it looks and feels like a mountain on my face. Well anyway, this system I went on for wrinkles and I have to say I rarely ever get a pimple anymore. It is a 5-6 step system and uses retinol. The first 6 weeks are rough but I found it was well worth it. I'll be 40 in april.

What about proactive? I heard it works and is fairly cheap.

chrissy
 
cb1924 said:
I use the Obagi system. You can look it up on line but you can only get it from a dermatologist. My dermatologist did not charge me for a consultation, just the products. I did not get them for acne. I don't have bad acne but usually when I get one it hurts, it looks and feels like a mountain on my face. Well anyway, this system I went on for wrinkles and I have to say I rarely ever get a pimple anymore. It is a 5-6 step system and uses retinol. The first 6 weeks are rough but I found it was well worth it. I'll be 40 in april.

What about proactive? I heard it works and is fairly cheap.

chrissy
Click to expand...

Hi,

Thank you for your input. Why where the first 6 weeks rough? Did you have to get a referral from your family doctor to get a free consultation with your dermotoligist? Thank you again!

Lourdes
 
I'm 46, and had the same thing starting in my early 40's. Nothing really helped. PMS time came and I broke out like crazy! I tried a lot of things too..

The one thing that has been a MIRACLE for my skin, PMS and lightened up my periods to almost nothing is The Pill. My GYN put me on Loestrin a year and a half ago, and it is nothing short of a miracle for ALL those things!
 
Boingo1 said:
I'm 46, and had the same thing starting in my early 40's. Nothing really helped. PMS time came and I broke out like crazy! I tried a lot of things too..

The one thing that has been a MIRACLE for my skin, PMS and lightened up my periods to almost nothing is The Pill. My GYN put me on Loestrin a year and a half ago, and it is nothing short of a miracle for ALL those things!
Click to expand...

That would not be an option for me at this time I'm trying for #6. I appreciate your input!

Lourdes
 
lulu68 said:
Hello,

I'm a 40 year old soon to be 41 who has been dealing with acne for about 4-5 months now. I don't know what's going on my problem areas are generally on the chin jaw area and sometimes on the cheek area, specially worst around my menstrual cycle. Its so fustrating never in my life have I had a problem with acne. I don't know what to do, I wash my face 2 a day with a glycolic moistirizer and very rarely where makeup and when do I use mineral makeup. I'm really thinking about seing a profesional but not sure if I should seek help from a dermotoligist or esthetician. My acne is not severe but the little I have is really bothering me because they seem to stick around mildly forever and once I'm close to my menstrual cycle they come out with the white head. Please, any advice would greatly be apreciated!

Lourdes
Click to expand...

I, too, recently had a problem with acne for about 1 month or so (I'm 44 and NEVER had acne problems -- only occasional pimples here and there as a teenager, but never as an adult). It was really bad and mainly in my chin area (sometimes I would have 15 to 20 small bumps). I googled this symptom and found out that women with acne in this area (and who are in their late 30s/early 40s) is due to hormonal changes. I have definitely had some changes in other areas (hot flashes, etc.), so this was probably the case. This sounds crazy, but when this happened put some antibiotic cream on my face (like Neosporin) and that helped a lot (I didn't want to spend the money on a dermatologist). After about a month, it cleared up and I only occasionally have a few breakouts on my chin (nothing major, however!). So maybe what I read was right and it is hormonal -- who knows! Since I've turned 40 so many strange things have happened I never know what to think anymore!

Julie
 
derm...

lulu68 said:
Thank you for your input. Was seeking help from a dermotolist expensive, was it worth it? Thanks!
Click to expand...

My insurance covered it so hard to say if it would be worth it otherwise. I only had to pay a $30 copay so it was worth that....
 
I orginally went for my eyes. I have dark circles and was curious what could be done without surgery. He talked to me about fillers, botox, heat, etc. He then told me what ever I decided to do I should at least use retinol under my eyes. He explained the whole system to me but I only started with the retinol. I had so many other skin care products I couldn't justify buying anymore. A few months later (sept) I splurged. Intially I think it was about $350 but aside from the cleanser, toner, and retinol I have not had to replace steps 3, 4, 5.

It drys out your skin initally. Around my mouth skin was peeling off my face. Not attractive:confused:. But I am happy I stuck it out. Here is the link:
http://www.obagi.com/article/homepage.html
chrissy
 
jthornton202264 said:
This sounds crazy, but when this happened put some antibiotic cream on my face (like Neosporin) and that helped a lot (I didn't want to spend the money on a dermatologist). After about a month, it cleared up and I only occasionally have a few breakouts on my chin (nothing major, however!). So maybe what I read was right and it is hormonal -- who knows! Since I've turned 40 so many strange things have happened I never know what to think anymore!

Julie
Click to expand...

That doesn't sound crazy at all. I actually use Benzaclin prescribed by my dermotologist because I was getting huge painful pimples around my chin area. I'm 46 and these painful pimples started about 2 years ago. I didn't have any acne troubles before so I'm guessing that hormones play a big part in this. The Benzaclin is a combination antibiotic + benzoyl peroxide. I've been using it for about 2 years with no side effects (and I tend to have sensitive skin) and absolutely no pimples.
 
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