My Skincare Routine (The Battle Against Cystic Acne)

I've always suffered from acne since hitting puberty, and in fact, I actually took Accutane when I was young. Not gonna lie....despite all the side effects, Accutane really did save my skin. My acne never came back as bad as it did after taking it...well, not until recently.

Around the beginning of September, I developed cystic acne on the left side of my face. It was really awful and painful, guys! So bad I couldn't even touch it some days. I'm used to breaking out, but not to this extent:(

There were many factors involved: sudden change in diet (i.e..eating too much fried food and seafood), hormonal issues, trying new products that didn't work...they just all culminated into this one massive disaster. I tried so many things but everything was making my skin worse...even my usual skincare stuff that never broke me out! What to do?

I've decided to completely overhaul my skin care routine, and ended up getting a prescription topical treatment from my doctor. (I should point out that even though Accutane worked for me, I really don't want to use it again.)

And so, I present my Before and After, and what I've been using that has been working so far:

Before:

October 2/2016 (no makeup)

October 17/2016 (with RCMA foundation- the only foundation I'm using now)

 After (I still have a long way to go but it's getting better.):

Nov 14/2016 (with RCMA foundation)

Nov 15/2016 (no makeup)

My daily arsenal:

Overview of all the products

1) Cleansers
Shiseido Senka Perfect Whip (AM) and Perfect Oil (PM- for makeup removal)
I know the Perfect Whip gets such a bad rep for its high PH, but out of all the cleansers I've tried, this is the one that I found really worked for my skin. These two are now a permanent part of my routine.
PS I use it with a foaming net to get a great amount of foam.

2) Toner/Essence (AM/PM)
I've said on this post before how Son & Park Beauty Water and Missha First Treatment Essence are part of my basic skin care routine. I did end up not using them for a few days to see how my skin would react, and it made my acne so much worse when I did! Never again!
I use the Beauty Water first after cleansing, then follow it immediately with the Missha FTE.

3) Spot Treatment
My doctor prescribed a Clindamycin/Benzoyl Peroxide cream to use at night, and that helped really calm the acne. During the day, I use the Clean and Clear PersaGel.

4) Moisturizers
Because the treatments above are so drying to the skin, I have to use moisturizers along with the sunscreen. The Innisfree Green Tea Moisture Cream is just awesome and I use that on my forehead and eye area. The rest of my face gets the Neutrogena Oil-Free SPF15 moisturizer, and then the Biore sunscreen (during the day) on top of everything before makeup.

And of course, one must not forget sheet-masking! 

Currently no exfoliants. My skin is currently not liking the AHA/BHA ones I've tried, and am kinda ambivalent to try new products lately.

I also now change my pillow case more often, clean my cell phone all the time (as it touches my face), and I incorporated these into my diet:

Drinking more green tea, and taking the Probiotic pills once or twice a day

I am quite happy with this routine I now have. Unfortunately though, this means I now have a lot of barely used/new skin care products that are "on hold"...sigh....#firstworldproblems

I hope this post is somewhat informative and helpful to someone out there suffering from acne.