Recurring acne?

**FlangMasterJ** · 23rd July 2007, 13:28

A ranty kind of question.

I have just finished my third course of Accutane (Isotane) which is a medication that stops the production of oil which is secreted through the pores which in turn is meant to reduce and stop acne.

The first two courses worked well while I was on it and for the following few months but then came back. This third course reduced the amount of acne but I was still breaking out throughout.

Here's the question. I have been bodybuilding for the past six years, so my hormones are always up and down. I supplement my diet with Whey Protein shakes. Now does anyone know if Whey Protein can be the cause of the acne or is it the bodybuilding itself?

The acne I experience is a pain in the ass. I don't squeeze or irritate them yet they still tend to scar up.

10 years and no real let up.

**jrandom** · 23rd July 2007, 13:40

It's the testosterone, dude. Are you juicing? Just be glad you're not one of those gorgeous smooth-skinned young chaps who cry themselves to sleep every night because they can't put on any muscle. The hormones have their benefits.

I always found Isotrex (topical version of Roaccutane) to work well on the nasty-arse shit that breaks out on one's shoulders and back. The pills just fucked with my mood.

**janno** · 23rd July 2007, 13:44

My advice - get your arse down to a good naturopath, homeopath or qualified chinese medicine doctor. Your body is out of whack somehow and I doubt conventional medicine will be able to track it down.

Although if you are taking bodybuilding steriods, which I sincerely hope you are not, acne is a major side effect of those.

If you are not doing the drugs, then your body is desperately trying to expel through your skin something it can't handle.

Taking the anti acne meds is treating the symptom, not the cause, imho.

**jrandom** · 23rd July 2007, 13:51

Originally Posted by janno

My advice - get your arse down to a good naturopath, homeopath or qualified chinese medicine doctor. Your body is out of whack somehow...

Yeah. He's got heaps of testosterone floating around in his system, which is driving his sebacious glands nuts. You can suppress the T (good lord no!), suppress the sebacious activity (Accutane, et al) or try to deal with the overload (fancy soaps).

Of the above options, only supressing sebacious activity is both effective and without unwanted effects.

Originally Posted by janno

I doubt conventional medicine will be able to track it down.

Jesus H. Christ. With all due respect, shut up.

FMJ, go see a dermatologist. Stat. You haven't, yet, have you?

Originally Posted by janno

if you are taking bodybuilding steriods, which I sincerely hope you are not, acne is a major side effect of those.

Bodybuilding steroids = testosterone, with or without a few carbon bonds shuffled around to make it more or less active in various roles. It's just like being a teenager again. Tell me, exactly why do you hope he's not on the juice? Be specific.

Originally Posted by janno

your body is desperately trying to expel through your skin something it can't handle.

The happy-clappy flowers and crystals shit is all good, so long as FMJ does actually get his endocrine balance checked out by a dermatologist. Don't send him off on any wild goose chases in the mean time.

Originally Posted by janno

Taking the anti acne meds is treating the symptom, not the cause, imho.

Nonsense. Frankly, I'd love to still have the natural testosterone levels that I had at 15. Having to use Isotrex and dealing with a few more scars on my shoulders would be a small price to pay.

**jrandom** · 23rd July 2007, 13:57

Originally Posted by janno

.. your body is desperately trying to expel through your skin something it can't handle.

This deserves further comment.

Your medical logic, here, is about on the same level as that which would bleed people to re-balance their vital humours, or sprinkle holy water on their head to expel the demons which were causing their neck pain.

You put forth pure and completely irrational speculation.

How on earth do you link infections in blocked pores due to over-active sebum production with the body 'expelling something it can't handle'?

**FlangMasterJ** · 23rd July 2007, 14:01

Nope juicing's for lazy cheats.

Did the isotrex work? Can you buy this from a pharmacy?

**FlangMasterJ** · 23rd July 2007, 14:03

Originally Posted by jrandom

FMJ, go see a dermatologist. Stat. You haven't, yet, have you?

Multiple times. He's the one that prescribes the medication. $90 to tell me I have acne (fucken genius)!

**Sanx** · 23rd July 2007, 15:01

Originally Posted by janno

My advice - get your arse down to a good naturopath, homeopath or qualified chinese medicine doctor.

There's a reason this kinda stuff's called 'alternative medicine'. It's because no-one's managed to prove it does anything. Yes, I know everyone's had a story about how conventional medicine failed and some massively diluted flower-water managed to save them, but one example does not constitute scientific proof.

Once an 'alternative medicine' is proven to work, it stops being 'alternative' and just ends up being 'medicine'.

**jrandom** · 23rd July 2007, 15:13

Originally Posted by FlangMasterJ

Did the isotrex work? Can you buy this from a pharmacy?

Worked way better than Roaccutane for me, but YMMV. It was over a decade ago.

Prescription only.

And I've got to admit, there's something grimly satisfying about the sharp sting of an alcohol-based gel going into the raw bloody holes that remain after you cut boils out of your shoulders in the shower. Feels like you're doing something about it, instead of just meekly waiting for the pills to take effect.

Ahhh, the joys of being a teenager. I still remember sterilising my knife on the stove before breakfast and going through the day with bandages under my shirt to stop the blood and pus from staining my clothes.

**FlangMasterJ** · 23rd July 2007, 15:19

Originally Posted by jrandom

Ahhh, the joys of being a teenager. I still remember sterilising my knife on the stove before breakfast and going through the day with bandages under my shirt to stop the blood and pus from staining my clothes.

Ahhhh the good ol' days.

At least on the third course I didn't get the scaly balls I did the first time round. Smelled like chicken bacon

**scumdog** · 23rd July 2007, 15:22

When I was a boy (just after the last dinosaur died) I used stuff called Phisohex (Or similar) and it was the only thing that worked to keep my skin oil-free and prevent acne.

**jrandom** · 23rd July 2007, 15:35

Originally Posted by scumdog

When I was a boy (just after the last dinosaur died) I used stuff called Phisohex (Or similar) and it was the only thing that worked to keep my skin oil-free and prevent acne.

I used the same stuff. Good cleanser, but it didn't cut the mustard when it came to controlling the scary-arse black plague shit that cropped up on the thick oily hide on my shoulders. Isotretinoin meds are the only way to go there.

**Gareth123** · 23rd July 2007, 15:56

DO you see a nutritionist? I went to one who recommended that i drink around 2.1L of water a day. That was worked out on my weight(i was 69kg).

Water helps out your skin BIG time! Also try using a cleanser (Nivea for men has a good range and doesn't smell girly) and afterwards moisturise. I know it sounds really gay or metrosexual to moisturise but it actually replenishes moisture lost by washing and blocks crap getting onto your skin and clogging your pores. Just wash it off at night and put it back on before bed and do the same in the morning.

Then again you could try my brothers way. He works at McDonalds, eats alot of McD's, does nothing for his skin other than wash with a damp cloth and he has no pimples at all! Also weighs 10kgs less than i do and he doesn't even do half the exercise I do! Oh how unfair!

He's even had girls ask him if he's wearing concealer?!? Some people are born with good genes. I just wish i got some of those genes too. I'd only have been fair, we are twins!