How I naturally cleared 11 years of acne

Eleven years ago, I got my first pimple.

I wish I could remember that day – what I wore, who I sat next to in class, what my mom made for dinner. I wish I could remember it because, although I didn’t know at the time, it would mark the beginning of a decade-long battle with my skin – and subsequently, my self-esteem.

As I navigated my first kiss, first sorority party and first job interview, my pubescent 14-year-old face never grew up. I eagerly looked forward to the day when I would magically grow out of it.

But one pimple at the start turned into round-the-clock breakouts. Whenever I looked in the mirror, there was my face dotted with skin disease: cystic acne, whiteheads, blackheads and discoloration from former breakouts. I can’t remember a time when the breakouts stopped or got better.

Until this March.

This month marks the first time in 11 years that I’ve had clear skin.

My relationship with acne

Because this is such a huge deal for me, I want to take you back to when the tide turned. In October, I became vegan. Among a host of reasons (kinder to the environment, healthier for the body) I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the promise of clear skin was a motivator.

Dairy can cause breakouts? Of course – hormones cause acne, and dairy products contain hormones, not just the dreaded rBGH injected into cows, but the cows’ natural hormones. Why hadn’t I made this connection before! Every morning for nearly a month prior I had eaten Greek yogurt with fruit and granola – and that whole month my cystic acne was out of control.

After a month of being vegan, I noticed my cystic acne had nearly disappeared.

If you’re not familiar with this type of acne, be thankful. Very thankful. It’s a severe form that’s painful and inflammatory (think raised, dime-size bumps), and while makeup can hide a red spot or a blackhead, there’s really no amount of foundation that can cover a speed bump on your face. It’s called acne vulgaris for a reason (mildly graphic pictures here).

If my cystic acne was gone, the rest of it couldn’t be long behind, I thought. But one month turned into two, two turned into three and four, and still, here I was with a face full of at least three large pimples a week (a vast improvement, for sure, but not the satisfying “go vegan for clear skin!” mantra).

What I tried to clear my acne (the abbreviated list)

• For a while, I thought sugar was exacerbating zits, so I cut it out of my diet. No change (and thank goodness, because I don’t think I could give up chocolate chip cookies forever).

• I tried the benzoyl peroxide method via Acne.org, which cleared up breakouts faster, but stung for hours after it was applied and severely dried out my skin (already a problem in dry Colorado).

• I did, however, finally discover a face wash and lotion (Cetaphil) that helped calm my skin compared to other brands I’d tried. Still, no significant improvement. To boot, my skin is so sensitive that I get a rash from mineral makeup and can’t use any oil-containing products.

But this wasn’t new. Over the past decade, I’ve tried a cornucopia of face washes, 3-step systems, medicated lotions, birth controls, exfoliation scrubs, antibiotics, microdermabrasion, light therapy and other things that usually stained my brown towels. (I missed out on a lot of dog kisses due to chemicals on my face.)

I refused to try more severe treatments such as Accutane, and resorted to antibiotics when I was at wits end, knowing there must be a more natural way to clear my face.

I fell into what everyone who chronically suffers from acne eventually falls into: despair.

So what finally cleared the acne on my face?

Supplements.

Because I now work for a natural health and wellness media company, I’m learning all about the science behind dietary supplements, specifically what doses to take to reap the rewards. In February, I began taking 2,000 IU of vitamin D as well as 50mg of zinc, which I started because a) I already had it laying around and b) was coming off the tail end of being sick as a dog and needed an immune boost. I didn’t know it at the time, but both vitamin D and zinc have been shown to have a positive effect on improving acne.

Then, at the end of February I discovered BORBA Clear Skin Capsules*, now available at Walgreens. (I dropped the zinc because it’s already included in BORBA’s supplement.) I discovered BORBA while writing an article about nutricosmetics – a category of supplements that work inside the body to improve the skin.

Nutricosmetics are built on the “beauty from within” concept that’s still not quite taking off, largely because consumers want instant gratification and are used to the act of physically putting a topical on the face in order to appear more beautiful.

I’ve waited 11 years – what’s a few more months, I thought, to see if this stuff actually works?

And, more importantly, what if it did?

Maybe it was the combination of all three or maybe it was BORBA. All I know is one week after taking two BORBA capsules a day, I noticed a huge reduction in the pimples I already had and a slowing of new ones. Two weeks in and my skin was, dare I say it, nearly flawless. It’s been three weeks now and I have a few stragglers showing up on my cheeks and chin, but these pimples? These are like snowflakes on the face of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

This, my friends, is simply monumental for a girl who has declined dates, worn makeup when exercising and hid from cameras for 11 YEARS, all based on the condition of her skin.

Why I’m publishing my struggle with acne

I’m a little embarrassed to post this, because my bad skin has been a source of insecurity for so long. It became a constant in my life – a part of who I was. Nothing I did seemed to make it better, so I resorted to living with the insecurity. In fact, acne literature often reports that there is no cure for acne, only constant treatment to keep it at bay (how depressing!).

But yesterday, I read a completely acne-unrelated article about writing and the publishing industry with this brilliant quote by S. J. Culver: “I think we should stop being afraid of getting caught caring about our failures.”

Having acne made me feel like a failure because I saw it as a problem that I couldn’t fix no matter how hard I tried. As a result, I tried not to care about my breakouts – to ignore them even though they were in plain sight. Not caring turned into acceptance of not being 100 percent confident in myself, physically and mentally. Ultimately, this turned into deep-seated, low self-esteem that I didn’t even notice until the day my breakouts disappeared.

I’ve come to realize that you, the acne sufferer, and I are not a failure. We’ve just been blessed with biology that likes to clog pores. Pores that can be unclogged by making a few lifestyle changes and giving your skin the nutrients it needs to battle disease.

It’s my sincere hope that my experience helps you before you get to the 11 year mark. There are natural ways to overcome acne. Try a supplement. Change your diet. Be patient.

Tomorrow could be your March.

*Disclaimer: In no way am I paid by or connected to any of the companies mentioned/linked. Also, I am not a doctor or dermatologist – please consult a healthcare professional to get help for your acne.

Photo: Phil Balchin via Flickr