My Story
Home Treatment for Acne and Healing

Don’t be misled by my headline.

Home treatment for acne may be the way I control my acne today, but it is not the only method that helped to clear my skin.

I have been through a plethora of treatments along my journey to clear skin. For each round, some of them helped reduce the amount of acne I had later on.

I have lived with this skin disease for nearly 20 years. Yes – the medical community now recognizes it as a disease!

It started when I was 8. By the time I reached adulthood, it had turned into a battlefield of cysts.

Today, I am happily married with 2 wonderful kids, and confident about myself and my appearance. But a few scars remain that betray the past history about my struggles externally – and internally – with my appearance.

How could I ever express how damaging it was to my self-esteem to have severe acne?

It simply amazes me – the number of ignorant people out there (with clear skin) – who just don’t understand that washing your face isn’t enough to make your zits go away!

Over my lifetime of living with acne, I have received every possible piece of advice on how to treat my acne.

When I was 8, I had a pimply forehead and my math teacher told me to drink more water and get more sleep.

When I was 12, family friends pointed out to my parents in front of me that I had a lot of acne. No, really?

I hated going out in public and getting "analyzed". If there was a home treatment for acne, where was it?

When I was 15, I broke out in cystic acne during the most sensitive time of my life. Aren’t the teenage years bad enough without having to deal with pimples too?

I took antibiotics recommended by my family doctor. They didn’t work.

After that, my mother sent me to see a Chinese herbalist. He prescribed an herbal remedy for acne that had to be prepared a certain way and taken everyday.

Still my cysts did not go away.

From health expert to health expert I travelled. Trying this, trying that. I always wanted to hide.

Out of desperation, I even mail-ordered Acne-Statin from the late-night TV advertisement shows. I didn’t want people to see me buy embarrassing acne products from the store.

It didn’t matter anyway. My family went on vacation and my busybody neighbor took care of the mail and found out.

When we returned, my neighbor handed me my Acne-Statin package and explained that I should change my pillowcases because dirty pillows cause pimples. Again, break-through advice from someone who’d never experienced a single zit in her life.

And so I continued to live with my cysts through university, graduate school, and partway through my career.

I avoided sunlight like a vampire. What a shame. I loved swimming, but that was a definite “no” since my makeup would disappear, and people would see the real me.

My daily armor was coverup, concealer, foundation, powder – you name it, just to hide my imperfections.

Finally, I found an aesthetician, who I'll name Maria (not her real name), who specialized in persistent acne, and offered some of the best acne medications (in my opinion) from Europe. The woman knew everything. She educated me and supported me.

Maria taught me about proper food, diet, and nutrition to tackle the root cause of illnesses. Western medicine focuses on treating the symptoms – a “patchwork” approach.

She taught me about regular daily plumbing (cleaning out your bowels). As a matter of fact, did you know many serious diseases originate from bowels that are not emptied every day?

She taught me about stress, hormonal cycles, irritating products, and toxins in the body.

She even explained the differences in skin according to ethnicity – Caucasian, Asian, black, Hispanic, etc.

My education from my aesthetician about the human body was far more valuable than the products and services I paid her for.

Not only did she work with me, she encouraged me, gave me confidence, showed me pictures of previous patients with worse acne than myself who'd been successfully treated by her. Everyone needs some hope.

Later on, I'd be able to develop my own home treatment for acne. For 3 weeks, Maria gave me products with varying concentrations of benzyl peroxide and pH levels. The strengths were adjusted as my skin got better and I no longer needed such strong creams to control my acne.

I was also given numerous herbal supplements to clean out my liver, bloodstream, and bowels for a short period of time. I felt much healthier.

But after awhile I could no longer afford my aesthetician’s products, they were getting too expensive for me. I still visit her though from time to time to show my gratitude.

Currently, my home treatment for acne consists of 2 parts. The first part is the cheap BP cream from the grocery store for SHORT-TERM control over periodic acne flare-ups.

I only use the potent stuff (BP) initially to get my pimples under control quickly. It is a good short-term solution but should not be used indefinitely. The skin can become accustomed to it. Also BP is extremely harsh on the skin.

When my acne is under control I switch to rooibos tea. This South African tea has been scientifically proven to calm your central nervous system, ease acne and eczema, fill you with anti-oxidants, and a host of other good things!

I empty some tea into a spray bottle. I spray the tea on my face as a cleanser - it removes makeup fabulously - and I leave splashes of it on my face and let it dry naturally.

The second part of my home treatment is the REAL KEY to LONG-TERM control over persistent acne. It is a detoxification diet that includes juicing and eating raw foods.

It’s been well documented in several studies that juice cleansing and raw food diets have cured everything from minor ailments like bad breath to more serious problems like kidney stones and even cancer! So why not acne too? You can read more about the health benefits of juicing here.

Since following my routine, I no longer need to hide. My skin has cleared, I haven’t gotten sick, and I have amazing amounts of energy. Juicing and healthy eating has become a regular part of my life and is a lot of fun!

Most importantly, knowing that I am building my immunity against disease is a reward that is priceless.

So there you have my story.

The human body is complex. Study it. Learn everything you can. I hope you can use this site as a tool to find the treatment that will work for you.

Warmly,

Yvette

Questions? Feedback? Stories? All comments are welcomed and appreciated.