My Dermarolling Experience Update to my Update! :)

Wow, it's been over a year since I have updated this blog! Lots has happened since I last posted. Here's a quick overview of what I will be posting about. Please read because there is some valuable information that could help you with your acne breakouts.

My skin problems

In my last post, I complained about breaking in small pimples out all over my forehead. This was due, I THINK, to the Facialist using equipment that hadn't been properly sanitized and I am assuming she was using expired products. It took over 6 months to clear my forehead and the rest of my face. Sadly (for me), the acne spread from my forehead down to the rest of my face. I was full of cysts and little pimples. It was horrible.

Do your research before hiring a facialist/esthetician

 If you are thinking of going to a Facialist/Esthetician, research like crazy! Ask your family and friends for recommendations.  Read reviews online. Check out the place before getting anything done.  It's YOUR face. Don't let people be sloppy with your skin.  I learned my lesson the HARD way and I hope you don't have to go through the nightmare I went through. Read How to get rid of acne and red marks to see what I had to deal with.

Getting my skin under control

My skin is finally clear. I rarely break out in cysts and when I do get one or two, they are practically non-existent. Yes, my skin problems are finally under control and I am very thankful for that but some of the scars have remained. This includes the linear scar I have complained about in the past.  I know a scar will never completely heal but I would like to minimize its appearance. Dermarolling helped but some scars are resistant to the dermaroller. There is a reason WHY dermarolling works for some people but not for others. I will share what I know in another post! *The update is up!


Once last thing before I sign off for the day. I spend hours and hours researching and came across a procedure that could help smooth out acne scars. It's very expensive but from what I have read it is very effective. It's called subcision. I will go into more detail about that in a separate post.


Todays post was mostly a list of what I plan on writing about. Stay tuned for more detailed information! Thank You for stopping by and hope you stick with me throughout my journey. It's been a long one but I'm not giving up. I have come too far to give up on my skin!

Update: Peels Are they Good For Your Skin

I went back and got my facial with a peel. I broke out even more and it lasted for several months. It was torture. My forehead and cheeks were affected the most. I have never had a problem with that area. Sure, I've gotten zits here and there but not cysts! My skin was left badly scarred...the holey ones. Because I was breaking out so much, I couldn't dermaroll which is why I haven't updated. I've been depressed.

Do Your Research before hiring a Facialist/Esthetician

If you're planning on getting a facial, or peel ask what's in it, and expiration date for the products (my whole forehead got infected). Ask questions. It's your face...the first thing people see that you are messing with. Being embarrassed to ask questions isn't an option!

Dermastamping

I purchased a dermastamp and used it today. I love my dermaroller but I want to focus on a few small areas instead of rolling the entire lower half of my face. Dermastamping will allow me to too that.

Update Posted 

I finally got around to posting a final update about the issues I was having after I got a facial and peel done with an Esthetican. Actually, I tried to post one years ago but it got lost when my connection went down. Luckily, I keep notes of my progress. 

Peels...are they good for your skin?

Recently, I decided to get a facial. A peel was included with the facial. Got the peel and guess what happened to me!?! I broke out in 6 cysts and now have non cystic acne where I have never gotten them before (jawline, and forehead). My husband said it's a coincidence but I don't know. It's strange that I got this acne after my peel. I have waited a month and they haven't gone away.
I am serisously thinking I got the acne from the peel but I don't know for sure. I have decided to get another peel to see if that is what is causing my acne. If I break out more, then I know where the acne came from.
I recently gave up dairy and switch to Almond milk. This was around the same time I got my peel so I thought it was the Almond milk that made me break out. I have given up Almond milk and I am now drinking soy milk.
I know we all react differently to certain things so something that makes one person break out will not affect someone else but I am going to test out my peel theory (it's not like my skin is perfect anyway so a few more zits isn't going to make a difference) and post an update. I'll let you know how it turns out. Hopefully I am wrong and I won't break out again. I get my facial with a peel on Monday. Wish me Luck!

The update to this horrendous story has been posted. 

Dermarolling between Dermarolls

I decided to lightly dermaroll my skin last night. Normally, I do a hard roll every 6 weeks (when I'm not breaking out) that's it but I know Dr. Fernandes sent his patients home with a dermaroller (with shorter needles) so that they could roll at home to help with product penetration. Well, that's what I always wanted to do but I didn't have the money to purchase a whole set of rollers so I just did my one roll ever 6 weeks.
I have been getting such terrible breakouts and it's happening all the time. I have so many new scars (indented and red marks). It's so depressing. I apply vitamin C serum and vitamin E and A daily to help my skin heal but come on we all know that our skin is a very strong barrier and nothing is getting through that! I'm basically throwing away money each time I apply my special serums and lotions!
So, the last time I rolled, I waited about a week and I lightly rolled and the applied my products. I decided to lightly roll last night. I may have rolled harder than I realized because my face was all red and it stung when I applied my vitamin C and E. I woke up this morning with my skin stinging and when I went for a jog the sweat on my face stung my face.
I really need to invest in a new roller with short needles. I don't want to destroy the collagen my skin is producing.
I'll let you know if my light rolls are helping the new scars heal faster. I'm going to do it once a week. I am also considering doing single needling. I am not familiar with that process but there a few scars I always seem to miss when I roll.

My dermarolling experience

A couple of people I know have asked why am I blogging about things other than dermarolling. Isn't this supposed to be a blog about dermarolling? Yes it is but you can not dermaroll unless your skin is clear. You can roll the areas where there are no breakouts but you should never, never, never roll over skin with acne (cystic or non cystic), or over any open sores. You'll spread the bacteria and make your skin much worse.
My problem is the area I need to roll is also the area that keeps breaking out. My left side keeps getting new cysts so it's been almost impossible to roll that side. I have rolled the other side and now my face looks a little lopsided (wrinkles on the right side have improved while the left side is very noticeable). This is something new that I just noticed. I guess it just takes wrinkles awhile to "heal." Even though I hate having a lopsided face, I love that I can actually see the difference the dermarolling has made. In previous posts, I wrote that I didn't think dermarolling helped wrinkles but I was wrong. It works but it takes time. Just like it takes time for scars to fill in. 
Back to what I was saying in the beginning of this post....I blog about other things such as products I have used and professional treatments because those are things I have used to help clear my skin. Clear skins equals to being able to dermaroll! I post my honest opinions (whether it's positive or negative)and tell you what has worked for me. Like I've said so many times before, we are all different so something that worked for me may not work for you or vise versa. I'll try anything and if it doesn't work I move on to something else.
Right now, I am working on getting rid of one pimple that won't go away. It's very fleshy and there's nothing inside of it. As soon as it's gone, I'm rolling like a crazy nut!
Thanks for reading my blog! I have a couple of new products I want to blog about that I think could help you. My skin is clearing up thanks to one of these products. I just used something else yesterday so I'll report on the results in a few days. Stay tuned! :)

Apple Cider Vinegar Cystic Acne Results with photos

I thought I'd share a couple of before and after pictures of what Apple Cider Vinegar did to my 3 cysts! Yep, it ZAP them off my face. There is one small bump left from a fleshy cyst I have. It is not like the any of the other cysts I have ever had. This is a very soft cyst with nothing inside. I have no idea how to get rid of it but ACV did shrink it.

The first 2 pictures are of my cysts before I applied ACV:

 This is what my skin looked like a few days later! Amazing, right!?!

It's been over 2 years since I've posted these results. Check out the update I posted.

Do hot compresses really help Cystic Acne?

Apple Cider Vinegar works

As you all know, I have recently started using Apple Cider Vinegar to get rid of my cystic acne. It totally works (look at my before and after pictures)on hard cysts! I got another cyst on my chin and it was BIG! I applied ACV twice the first day (undiluted) and woke up the next morning with a little bump. I applied some more the next night and I woke up with nothing! NADA! It was gone. Then I got another cyst on the bridge of my nose so I applied ACV and guess what!?! 2 days later it was gone. It takes 2 days for it to work on me which is fine. Sometimes those things would stick around for a month or more AND they'd scar! None of these new cysts with the short life span has scarred (what I mean by scarred is indented scars). I do have some red marks left on the bridge of my nose and the other 3 cysts I had before also left red marks but they aren't bad.

Do hot compresses work on cystic acne?

I have one cyst that is fleshy and unlike any cyst I have ever had. It's very soft but there's nothing inside of it and it won't go away. ACV helped shrink it ALOT but there's a little bump AND it's very red. I decided to try a home remedy I read about online: hot compresses supposedly help break up the material inside the cysts.
Well, THAT did not work at all! All it did was make me look like a clown. I started off with warm water because I read that hot water could cause bacteria to multiply. Who knows but I didn't want to take the chance. The warm compresses weren't working (I tried it for 2 days). So, I decided to warm up the water a little more and boy was that a BIG mistake. My whole face turned red.
Look at the picture! ALL that redness wasn't there until I applied the hot compress so please be careful! Luckily, 3 hours later the redness went away but what a pain in the butt! And I had to go out looking like that!

Honestly, I don't think warm or hot compresses work to break up the stuff inside the cyst. It sure didn't work for me! I won't be trying that again! If you try it, then do it when you don't have to leave your house that way if it turns out the way mine did you could at least wait it out until the redness goes away.

I so desperately want that fleshy cyst to go away (it's the dark red mark) so that I can finally dermaroll that side of my face. If anybody has any suggestions on what I can do, please message me or post a comment with advice!