Not going to lie about how incredible my transformation felt after I compared my before and after pictures. It took me about 2 years. I did a lot of trying and testing to see what worked best for me and what didn’t. My skin is a combination, so I pretty much faced the wrath of both dry and oily skin.
I still get pimples in between, mostly when I have my menstrual cycle due, but it is at most one or two of them. I don’t have breakouts anymore so it has become much easier to deal with them. I suffer from PCOS too which adds to the difficulty.
I want to give out a couple of pointers that I feel are important:
1. Trust the process. Be Patient.
I think the most common mistake we all do is, that we get impatient. We expect results within a week. Treating acne is a slow process and the sooner you get started, the better.
2. Focus on one concern at a time.
Secondly, the other most common mistake is we start focusing on multiple skin issues together e.g. trying to fight acne, pigmentation, scarring at the same time (mostly because we are impatient!).
All the issues require a different kind of treatments e.g. exfoliation. Exfoliation is going to make your skin worse if you have active acne but is really helpful in treating scarring.
3. Treat your active acne first.
If your skin is breaking out or you have a lot of active acne, I’d recommend seeing a dermatologist to get it treated. Most dermatologists would recommend medication if you have skin as I did, and it would take around 3-4 months just for the acne to tone down a bit.
I was prescribed Isotretinoin 10 mg initially. It did help my acne, but it was not really permanent, and the acne came back within a month of leaving the medicine. I began the second round of medication after taking about a 3-month break with Minoz. These medicines are strong and I would not recommend taking these without a prescription.
4. Do not touch your skin.
When you are taking medicine or trying to get rid of a pesky pimple, DO NOT touch your skin. I repeat, DO NOT. No serums, no masks, no skincare routines. Don’t even use moisturizers until necessary. Use a basic facewash
to rinse your face. That’s it. This process will take about 3-4 months and this is the most patient you gotta be.
5. Henceforth:
After you feel your skin acne has significantly toned down, start working on scarring and pigmentation. I really recommend using Vitamin C serums. They help in clearing the blemishes and give a healthy glow to your skin.
I use Klairs Freshly Juiced Vitamin Drops every morning mixed with a gentle moisturizer (Cetaphil, highly recommended!). At least once every two weeks I use a sheet mask (again, mostly Vit-C ones).
For pigmentation, twice a week I use Dot and Key’s AHA+BHA serum before using a little steam to open up my pores. I cover it with a mud mask mixed with lemon/honey after cleaning off the steam from my face. This leaves my skin fresh and healthy.
For scarring, I highly recommend using Estee Lauder’s ANR Complex II. It’s expensive but I absolutely love it. It has significantly improved my skin within a short duration. It has boosted skin cell production on my skin and deals with all my skin problems together.
I hope this article really helps you. I tried to cover everything, as much as I could. Feel free to email me if you have any concerns at
mannatbatish@gmail.com.
Appreciate your honesty. Ty.