Sudden outburst of acne. WTH????

jax3cats

I am 41 years old and have never had a significant problem with acne, even as a teen. I did (and still do) get a break-out every once in a while, usually on my chin/jaw area, but nothing too out of hand. When I asked my Dr. about it he said that acne on the lower part of the face for someone my age (this was 5 years ago) was generally hormone-related.

This past week I seemed to have an explosion of zits, at least 6-7 at once, all on my chin, jaw, and the area where a double chin would be (what is that called, BTW?). Some of the zits are the garden variety red ones that you have to resist popping, but most of them are hard, painful bumps. I hadn't changed anything about my routine to explain the sudden outburst, so I'm perplexed by it. And I'm working like a fiend to get it under control.

I've been cleaning with salisylic acid pads (stridex--no alcohol) and using BP like crazy, but it doesn't seem to be getting much better. The red ones seem to be drying up, but the other ones are still hard and painful and don't seem to be subsiding very much.

Anyone have any ideas what might be going on, and how I can hurry along the helaing process? It just doesn't seem fair that I need to deal with wrinkles and zits at the same time!

jujubeecurlycue

Try not to over cleanse/medicate your skin while is is delicate and aggravated. Chin breakouts are normally cause by a hormone surge or depletion. Have you been taking any hormones? Feeling different lately, time of the month?

I'd suggest a gentle clenser - you might want to look into the kinerase line of products. They are known to be very reliable.

Cherish

I got 3 painful ones on the chin a few days ago - I went off the pill recently. I seem to have them under control by alternating clean and clear BP and neutrogena clear pore vitamin A stuff. I also use netrogena oil free cream cleanser - my HG.

DominicanaHeat

This happened to me a few weeks ago; just this sudden break out that came out of no where. Two huge ones right in the middle of my right cheek, two smaller ones on my left cheek below my cheekbone, two along my hair line near my left eye brow. I figured it had to be with the sudden high temperatures and crazy humidity causing me to sweat non-stop, thus causing breakouts. I was freaking because the only time I ever see a blemish on my face is one little pimple while I'm PMSing, and it goes away by the time I'm on my cycle. So, I wanted to buy something to use on my face that would kill these badboys off, and I saw St. Ive's had something called "Apricot Radiance", which was a cleanser spinoff of their scrub. They had for normal skin, dry skin and oily/acne prone skin. Since my skin was nonstop oily and breaking out, I bought the one for that type of skin. Used it and saw within a couple of days a big difference on my face. I was afraid that it would dry my face out, but it remained moisturized and it also left my skin glowing. The zits all gone now, not a trace of them in sight.

jax3cats

Thanks for the suggestions/comments. I'm thinking I experienced a freakish surge/depletion of hormones, since there haven't been any significant changes in my routine. Thankfully, it seems that my breakouts are in their final stage, and I hope to keep them at bay by using a mild BP lotion on my chin at night.

hollyp

I have had great luck with nuetrogena clear pore treatment and Cetaphil . I have been using it for almost three weeks and my skin has cleared up. I am amzed a how my skin has changed from day to day, each day getting better and better. Today was the first day in my life that I have left the house w/out makeup and not felt self conscious about my skin!
The Cetaphil for normal to oily skin has been my HG cleanser for over six months, it is gentle enough to not aggrevate my skin while being strong enough to clear away the excess oils. I love it!