# Severe acne due to harsh chemicals



## jenkat86 (May 20, 2014)

Try tea tree oil. You can get it at pretty much any drugstore. I dilute it with water, about 50/50. Just use a cotton ball to apply.


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## gypsygirl (Oct 15, 2009)

Go see a dermatologist
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## DuffyDuck (Sep 27, 2011)

Definitely second the dermatologist.

It may be hormones as well as the chemicals.

Mine is hormones, and I take a different pill these days to help with it.


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## Mulefeather (Feb 22, 2014)

Go see a dermatologist if you have not already, it sounds like you may have cystic acne. In many cases, you need to treat this with oral antibiotics. 

In the meantime, be careful how many drying products you put on your skin, as it can actually make the problem worse by causing your skin to overproduce oils. Avoid touching your skin. Do NOT put anything like citrus juice or baking soda on your skin, despite all those Pinterest forwards you might see about “natural home remedies”. The acids in citrus or fruit juices can make you break out even more as well as make you more sensitive to sunburns, and baking soda is too alkaline and will also upset your skin more. 

I personally use Cerave hydrating cleanser, Stridex pads in the red box (2% salicylic acid) and then Olay Complete All Day Moisturizer (SPF 15). But see a dermatologist first before you change up anything. I really recommend doing some reading over at Reddit under “Skin Care Addicts”. It’s an extremely knowledgeable and helpful community.


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## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

Cut the grains out of your diet...they cause hormonal problems and inflammation, both of which affect your skin.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

Are you somehow getting these chemicals on your skin?
I'm a little confused with the connection with your job otherwise


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## Incitatus32 (Jan 5, 2013)

jaydee said:


> Are you somehow getting these chemicals on your skin?
> I'm a little confused with the connection with your job otherwise


I work at a cleaning company, so I'm in close contact with multiple chemicals for at least five days a week. I try my hardest not to get any chemicals on my skin (I wear gloves, a jacket, rinse with cool water often, etc) however crap happens and it gets underneath the gloves or the fumes irritate my skin. (Because there's really no way for me to escape the fumes entirely.) My hands and arms are usually fine (probably due to callouses and the like) but my face is sensitive. 

My skin is super sensitive around my face. I have some facial scars due to dog bites so (according to my plastic surgeon who sewed me up years ago lol so this might be outdated thinking) this leads to my skin basically having 'holes' where chemicals and irritants can seep in easier. He told me to try some home remedies first before going to the dermatologist as my skin scars so easily it's a big concern whenever anything gets put on. (Just as an example I went to a dermatologist when I was seven for a lotion for dry skin and excema, had to go to back because my legs reacted to it and I had chemical burns up and down. They never did heal right so now I have dark blotches that look like smallpox scars. So me and my doctor are a little bit gunshy of going to any dermatologist. They tend to not believe that my skin scars that easily.) 

I definitely will be making an appointment with a dermatologist as soon as I can find one who my insurance covers and my surgeon gets back to me with one he recommends! 

(But I've never sunburned in my entire life so go figure lol) 

Thanks for the help guys! All of it is welcomed!!


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## Endiku (Dec 6, 2010)

I couldn't get mine under control without a dermatologist either- though I did find that cleaner living and such help. I'm sensitive to topicals as well, so my derma put me on Onexton gel (clindamyacin in it) and Solicydine oral antibiotic and my skin is clearer than it has ever been. But I also found that using a very gentle cleanser called Purpose on my face 2-3x a day REALLY helps me- as opposed to harsh stuff once a day or so. I also use shea butter. I used to be completely covered in acne....arms, neck, face, back, and chest. Now I just get very minor flare-ups. I also scar very easily...despite having clear skin now, it is pretty badly scarred and pocked 

Also, changing pillow case every one to two days helps.
Be careful not to get conditioner for your hair on your face.
No artificial sugar (actually worse for your acne than real sugar)
Don't touch your face.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

Sounds like its not an ideal job for you
I assume that its gotten worse or only broke out since you took this job.
There are quite a few cleaning products that I can't use without wearing gloves, I can't get most perfumes on my skin and even some face/body creams turn me into something resembling a boiled lobster so you have my sympathies
Hopefully the dermatologist can help
Have you ever tried oatmeal - mixed with water and put on your face like a standard face mask?


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## DuffyDuck (Sep 27, 2011)

As someone who work in health and safety, and has completed managers and COSHH exams... your employer should be doing more to protect you. Are they aware of what is happening?

I'm not sure about outside of UK, but here they'd have to look at changing the products or providing PPE.. protective equipment... ESPECIALLY if there are fumes you are inhaling.


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## Incitatus32 (Jan 5, 2013)

DuffyDuck said:


> As someone who work in health and safety, and has completed managers and COSHH exams... your employer should be doing more to protect you. Are they aware of what is happening?
> 
> I'm not sure about outside of UK, but here they'd have to look at changing the products or providing PPE.. protective equipment... ESPECIALLY if there are fumes you are inhaling.


Where I'm at employers usually don't care. We have limited state laws in effect and most of the time unless your someone important or suing there's no jump to correct the issue.  Mine are very good at letting me go if I react and working with me. (I've only had one reaction to one specific chemical, other than the acne, at this time.) If I break out then they let me go and pay me for the day or they use a different chemical or let me do another job. There's not a ton of fumes, just enough that my skin reacts lol. 



jaydee said:


> Sounds like its not an ideal job for you
> I assume that its gotten worse or only broke out since you took this job.
> There are quite a few cleaning products that I can't use without wearing gloves, I can't get most perfumes on my skin and even some face/body creams turn me into something resembling a boiled lobster so you have my sympathies
> Hopefully the dermatologist can help
> Have you ever tried oatmeal - mixed with water and put on your face like a standard face mask?


I'll have to try the oatmeal! Acne has always been a bit of a problem, but usually I changed my diet accordingly and could control it that way. lol I'd love to be able to quit and get an even better suited job, but getting two days off a week, all my holidays off and getting $10+ an hour I'm hesitant to up and leave. 

So far the diet has isolated the acne to my forehead and scarred cheek so I'm hoping with a little extra push I can help it along.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

Wearing a non greasy barrier cream at work might help but you have to be super careful to avoid touching your face and hair when at work
The rest of the time getting your skin exposed to the air as much as possible is probably best
Have you tried various vitamins/minerals - Vit C, E, D & zinc come to mind - you need to be careful of overload with some of them
Keeping a food diary too - might pin point foods that trigger an attack


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## gypsygirl (Oct 15, 2009)

Your diet usually does not have much effect honestly, mostly genetics and hormones. Go see a dermatologist, they don't want you to have scars and will help you.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## SEAmom (Jan 8, 2011)

When I talked to the dermatologist a couple of weeks ago, she said that unless I had a specific allergy or sensitivity that changing diet would have little effect. The cystic acne is more hormonal/bacterial based. Basically your skin isn't doing it's job correctly for whatever reason and the oil isn't coming out of your pores like it should. It's getting stuck below the surface and things are getting infected. That's what leads to the big, painful red bumps and the whiteheads. 

I'm currently using a tretinoin (sp?) based all over face product at night (to avoid sun exposure), a clindamycin spot treatment gel during the day, and a prescription for some pill for hormonal based acne (don't remember what it's called) that I take once daily - all prescription. Simple, gentle cleansers during the day and 10% benzoyl peroxide face wash at night (and rinse, rinse, rinse to avoid bleaching towels, lol). Nothing that contains salicylic acid because that can irritate skin with the tretinoin stuff.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

My son used to come home from college with awful skin but after a few weeks back home it would all be cleared up so I think diet can have an effect


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## DuffyDuck (Sep 27, 2011)

Diet, stress, moisturiser, ill health, hormone imbalance, vitamin deficiency can all have bad effects.

I had a vit D deficiency, and was very ill and dropped a lot of weight over a short period of time. My skin was horrendous.

The month I was in India, despite having bowel issues (I wish it had been Dehli Belly!) between being so chilled out and having no stress, and the cleaner diet... my skin had never been better. I wasn't exactly clean at all times, either.

The thing is, everyone is different and everyone's skin reacts differently. Yours could be a number of reasons, but if its started with the use of the chemicals I would look in to getting a barrier cream.

What state are you in? OSOH I think is what you need to look at, or I can try my hand at it for you. Also the names of the chemicals. Around 7 years ago there was a lady working in a car manufacturer. She cleaned every day for 5 years, and one day she was found dead. No one had told her she couldn't mix bleach and the toilet cleaner she was using together, and was inhaling the fumes. Doing it ourselves in our own toilets is less of an issue, though still potentially harmful. Doing it every day on mass meant that her lungs were so effected it killed her.

I don't want t scare you, but fumes are a serious thing, and so is your health.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Mulefeather said:


> Go see a dermatologist if you have not already, it sounds like you may have cystic acne. In many cases, you need to treat this with oral antibiotics.


Oral antibiotics aren't something that's great to be on for long courses. It upsets your natural microflora and will cause antibiotic resistant organisms to develop in your gut - and as you'll know from doing microbiology and genetics, bacteria are quite clever at passing resistance genes around their own as well as totally different, mating-compatible bacterial species. This then contributes to the worldwide problem of increasing antibiotic resistance, less and less effective antibiotic types, and the serious spectre of people once again dying of simple infections.

Your body won't thank you for rearranging its gut and skin biota either. Treat one problem, create other problems...

In any case, the most effective pharmaceutical treatment by far for cystic acne is Roaccutane. If you go to a female dermatologist, you are more likely to go on Roaccutane therapy, since female dermatologists seem to think more highly of their female patients' ability to prevent pregnancy during Roaccutane treatment. Because Roaccutane is a Vitamin A derivative, it causes similar birth defects to excessive Vitamin A, so patients must 100% prevent pregnancy or be prepared to abort a malformed embryo (if it doesn't spontaneously abort). With effective contraception, less than 1 in 200 women will get pregnant in a given year and so, for 199 out of 200 women per year, this will never be an issue in Roaccutane therapy. Six months is often enough for permanent drastic improvement.

Having said that, some women find trying out different contraceptive pills eventually lands them with one that significantly improves cystic acne. If women are already using hormonal contraception, it means you can kill two birds with the one stone and not need separate pharmaceuticals for contraception and acne therapy.

I'm pretty sure there are also very effective herbal/nutritional therapies. One thing worth looking into is the types of fatty acids that predominate in your diet, and perhaps adjusting those by altering your fat sources. You can also look at trace element and mineral imbalances, vitamin intake etc. 

Plus, plasticisers we eat via plastic food and drink containers etc, and detergent residues, and various other industrial chemicals, have been implicated in causing disease in humans, and famously hormonal/reproductive problems in amphibians. So you could clean up your life as much as possible from unwitting exposure to synthetic chemicals. I recommend "Slow Death By Rubber Duck" as interesting, scientifically respectable and accessible reading on this subject. Also, you can research sick building syndrome and biologically friendly building. Of course, you're probably aware cutting out your chemical exposure on your job as much as possible would also be very helpful...

A toxicologist from our parts who's got good value suggestions:

DrDingle.com - Blog New

Used to take his lectures, and he's first-rate, though he's gone for a popular-science slant to directly reach non-scientific audiences (is a health promotion speaker these days).


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

jaydee said:


> There are quite a few cleaning products that I can't use without wearing gloves, I can't get most perfumes on my skin and even some face/body creams turn me into something resembling a boiled lobster so you have my sympathies


Ditto, Jaydee! From the time I was a kid, I could never go through the perfume aisle at a department store, or the cleaning products aisle in the supermarket, without holding my breath. :shock: I like to think of that hypersensitivity as a protective mechanism driving me into a healthy lifestyle. I'd rather my body rebelled from the go-get than that I just silently got cancer or an autoimmune disorder, etc, years later.

We clean mostly from the arsenal of hot water, sodium bicarbonate, white vinegar, and Vanilla Fridge Wipe (ethanol/water/vanillin mix that's food safe) and are super careful with our personal care products and laundry products.



> Have you ever tried oatmeal - mixed with water and put on your face like a standard face mask?


I can totally second that as the most brilliant, soothing and also eco-friendly mask I've come across. In fact, when I was super-sensitive, I used to wash with a handful of oatmeal rather than soap. I'd still be doing that if it didn't clog up the drains and create a great deal of cleaning work in the shower etc. 

I hear that the little plastic granules now in commercial skin scrubs are beginning to create problems for aquatic organisms once they reach rivers, lakes and oceans after sewage treatment...


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## Reams (Jul 30, 2015)

There are a lot of treatments out there for treating acne and other skin issues. The first thing that I would suggest you is to consult a dermatologist and get an idea how severe is your acne. I had severe acne all over my face and I consulted a dermatologist of a cosmetic laser clinic in BC. Since my acne was severe, he prescribed for an acne blue light therapy.Even though I had never heard about this treatment before, I opted for it because somehow I want to get rid of this thing. The therapy was simple and painless and it takes only five weeks to get cured.


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