Chronic Cystic Acne

Hello,

Just wondering if I could get any suggestions of what I might do to alleviate chronic cystic acne and the scarring that has occured and is occurring with the current cysts.

Self Description: 27 year old female with chronic cystic acne for 12 years (progessively worse) - have tried everything that dermotologists suggested: oral and topical antibiotics and other topical solutions, 2 rounds of accutane (with absolutely no significant improvements). Hormonal birth control also has no effect on the acne.

I have also recently tried Accupuncture and Chinese herbal treatments - more improvement for the acne than the western medicines, but not much more. This did, however, seemed to help balance my emotions (which I think might, in turn, have made my acne problem somewhat better).

From the forum rules, I'll describe my symptoms:

- State of mind: depressive tendencies, self doubt

- Colour and consistency and regularity of your stool: normal

- What makes a particular symptom feel worse or better: cysts, whiteheads, and blackheads tend to get worse with stress and seem to be somewhat reactive to menstrual cycles

- Where exactly is each problem located? Face cysts on cheeks and chin, white and blackheads on chin, upper lip, cheeks, area b/w eyes, forehead; whiteheads and occasional cyst on chest area; cysts and blackheads on back, cysts on buttocks and inner thighs

- When did symptoms first occur, and what brought them on? occasional cysts at onset of puberty

- Your sleep pattern: fairly normal (~8 hrs)

- What are you sensitive to (i.e. light, cold, heat, drafts, touch, criticism etc.): perceived criticism

- For women, where you are on your monthly cycle? difficult to say right now, b/c of birth control method (was using Depo Provera, just changed to non-hormonal IUD)