Alternative Methods to Managing Adult Acne

When I was six months old, my parents took me to an audition for Ivory soap. With my Brooke Shields-like looks, they thought I might be able to become the next Ivory Snow. Unfortunately, every time they put me in the bathtub and lathered me up with bubbly Ivory soap, I cried - bawled, really. My parents couldn't understand it. I was normally such a quiet, well-behaved baby. I was known to vomit without warning, but crying was more of a rarity. My parents apologized to the casting directors, bundled me up, and took me home. Needless to say, I didn't get the job.

Only later did my parents figure out that I was frightfully allergic to soap - Ivory soap to be exact. From that point on, Ivory soap and its imitators, however, became the least of my worries. You see, I've always had superbly sensitive skin. It is prone to redness, acne, sunburn, and any number of afflictions. For a good chunk of my existence, I'd found that anything I put on my face seemed to elicit some sort of negative reaction. For most of adolescence, I suffered through just about every variety of acne breakout that exists. I thought it was just a phase-- a normal, even expected annoyance of being a teenager.

To my sheer and utter disappointment, adulthood brought no mercy to my breakouts. Over the years, I'm sure I've purchased the equivalent of my body weight in concealer. I've also gone through nearly ever over-the-counter acne medication on the market. Nothing really worked, not consistently. Noxzema made me break-out, Oxy medicated pads worked for awhile and then made my skin dry and flaky-which is almost worse than having zits. Drugstore variety Nature's Cure seemed to clear my skin at first. After a few days though, Nature's Cure only succeeded in making my acne migrate farther down my face into the safe zone of my neck. If there's anything worse than a face full of pimples, it's a neck full of weird welts and red spots that won't go away. Ick!