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Anyone have unusual advice for salvaging bad skin?
I have had terrible, borderline life-destroying bad skin since high school. I've fought it for over a decade with every treatment option under the sun (including copious amounts of SPF to block out the sun), and it's still awful, albeit in a more "beat up, scarred, leathery" way now than a "covered in pimples way" it used to be.
I think I'm totally fucked and just have to accept that. But might as well ask if anyone has any unusual or hail mary methods for improving skin texture/quality, fighting acne, reducing scarring, reducing redness, etc.
Just for the hell of it, here is a list of skin treatments I currently or have formerly used:
Niacinamide
Retinoids (Accutane and Tretinoin)
Azelaic Acid
Urea repair
Vitamin C (topical and oral)
SPF (million sunscreen variants, applied every day, applied every two hours outside)
Snail Mucin Power Essence
Oral collagen supplements
Fish oil supplements
Vitamin D supplements
Daily cleansers
Hyaluronic Acid
Ferulic Acid
Toothpaste (actually a pretty good short term pimple reducer)
Glycolic Acid (exfoliator)
Korean facial masks
Slugging (putting a layer of vaseline or a similar substance on at night to trap in moisture)
Eliminating hot showers
Silk pillowcases
Claritin (to reduce general inflamation)
Rhofade (weird, controversial short-term treatment for redness that restricts blood flow to the face)
Ivermectin (fight skin mites associated with rosacea)
No sugar consumption
No dairy consumption
Black head removal tape
Botox
Dysport (similar to Botox)
Microneedling
Radiofrequency microneedling
Fraxel non-ablative laser
And I'm sure there's a whole bunch of random smaller treatments from when I was young that I forgot
I have become something of an amateur expert on this shit, feel to ask anything if you're curious.
Can you provide more information about what, exactly, is bad with regards to your skin? Is it specifically bad acne of some kind?
This. We need way more information to understand what's going on here.
Are you 100% sure you do not have eczema, psoriasis, acne, or atopic dermatitis? If you do one of the standard treatments is phototherapy. Specifically UV phototherapy. The dose and spectrum are carefully controlled, but blocking 100% of UV may not be doing yourself any favors, given you seem to have some sort of condition. Of course UV can also damage your skin and cause skin cancer, so finding a knowledgeable dermatologist is highly recommended over blasting yourself with sun.
If you want to add another random item to your list though, some people report good results with dandruff shampoo. Like regular 2-in-1 classic head and shoulders. Just using it as body and face wash 1-2 times a week. Lather up, let dwell for 30-90 seconds, and rinse.
I have recently started to explore autoimmune issues as a causal mechanism. Reasoning: I had bad eczema on my legs as a kid, have had psoriasis in the past, and my mother has a ton of weird allergy issues (allergic to penicillin and aspirin, was on daily antihistamines for 10+ years, now goes in for monthly antihistamine shots). I went to an allergist for the first time a few weeks ago and confirmed with tests that I'm allergic to cats and tree pollen, plus based on my description to her, I'm certainly allergic to hot showers (make my whole face turn red and swell up). The doctor speculated that I was allergic to dust, but my tests were negative. Next month I'll do a skin test where they put thingys on my back for 4 days and I can't shower.
But I don't think autoimmune is the central cause. My skin looks more like it's been put through the ringer by standard acne, with underlying irritation exacerbating it.
I will look into this. I used to use Head and Shoulders daily, but due to the irritation caused by even lukewarm showering, I have cut back on my showering to once every 3ish days (I work from home, don't interact with people a lot).
What is the proposed mechanism for how it would help facial skin? Antifungal?
Looking at other Urticaria, once you get past antihistimines and phototherapy, I've seen some suggested treatments as biologic omalizumab, steroid medications, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (!?).
I'm not a medical practitioner at all, but the allergy to warm water seems like something that's pretty pertinent in figuring this out. Your skin is hypersensitive and the root cause of that hypersensitivity is possibly linked to your acne.
I had stress related psoriasis once that went away after dealing with the underlying cause. Is there a possibility that the sensitivity is psychosomatic (in other words linked to stress or other mental health issues)?
I told my allergist about my hot shower response and she diagnosed me with cholinergic urticaria, but didn't say much else except recommending Claritin when I shower. On its own, it's annoying, but not a huge deal. Hell, hot water is generally considered bad for facial skin anyway, so it served as a little extra incentive to embrace cooler showers.
However, on the off chance this allergic response is connected to something bigger, I'm going to press my allergist during my next appointment. Maybe it's worth getting one of those mega antihistamine injections just to see what happens to my face. Honestly, HOPE my facial skin problems are related to my allergies, because that's so much easier to solve. Wouldn't it be amazing if the root of my problems was an allergy to some random fucking environmental thing that I can avoid or crush with antihistamines? But that's probably wishful thinking beyond the rosacea.
I won't say a psychosomatic role is impossible, but I tend to be skeptical. Besides, I beat my psoriasis with cortisone (that stuff kicks ass).
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