My face has broken out pretty badly this week in a cluster an inch or
so below my cheek bone. This has been happening repeatedly on the
right side of my face only ! The left side has been MUCH better for
months now.
Of course I had a dental appointment yesterday and my skin was at it's
worst in months for this occasion. Nothing like bright lights on your
face and people working within inches of it to make you feel self
conscious !!! I almost considered canceling the appointment but then
I'd have bad skin AND bad teeth ! I ended up putting on some
concealer and going anyway, but then I was worried the whole time that
the concealer would be visible under the lights!
How does everyone else deal with this ? 'Cause I have to admit that I
don't deal well with it at all.


I'm on week 8 of my unrefined carb. diet with no visible results
except for the fact that I've lost 10 lbs. I was only 155 ( at 5'11")
to begin with so this is not good. I'm afraid I'll be giving up on it
very soon unless there's some way to turn things around.
The only other thing I do is Spot-Treat with the Proactiv sulfur mask
overnight. Sometimes it helps. I also wash twice a day with Purpose
soap.

Tom D. wrote:
Is that the side you tend to sleep on?
If so, you need to change pillowcase nightly to see if anything improves.
Use a clean cotton tshirt as a pillowcase, that way you don't have to
buy more pillowcases. Recycle tshirt the next day if you want, or not,
whatever.


Situations like that,or if I'm going to the beach, or getting haircut,
or whatever, I try NOT to use coverup. Odds are that sweat and lights
and stress are going to ruin the camouflage, and it will look very
noticeable.
So either way they will be noticeable. But if I don't try to cover them
up, at least I appear confident with non-eroded self esteem about the
zits. I stopped trying to cover most of the problem up years ago. It
doesn't last, tends to look worse than the problem for me. I only cover
up the truly atrocious ones that would scare small children. (Like my
zinc sulfate disaster!)
It (cover up) was a hard habit to break, but it's much less stress to
have a certain level of acceptance.. IMHO, anyway. I notice zits on
others less than I notice heavy coverup, fwiw..


Can you post a list of ALL foods you eat? There may be some hidden carbs
or problems in there.
Flax oil will help with the calories and the skin, pour it on egg salad
or in peanut butter..


Why aren't you using an exfoliant (scrub OR sal acid) to prevent future
breakouts?

Hi Tom,

Sounds awful.

Kita gave you some good advice, though.

You will lose weight when you go low carb. You just need to eat more
healthy calories like fruits and veggies.

I look forward to seeing your responses to Kita.

ar

"Tom D." <delo724@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:nfdviv8mqn9replqldnhiskadf7cg8pq9t@4ax.com...

On Tue, 05 Aug 2003 13:23:52 -0400, Kita <omg8pv4802@sneakemail.com>
wrote:

Yes, I guess it is the side I usually sleep on. I am very careful
about changing pillowcases often however.
I use as little of the concealer as possible-just enough to subdue the
darkest spots. Don't know what it looks like under the bright light,
but right now I can't leave the house without it. Just have to hope
that I'm clearer for my next appointment.
I'll get back to you on ALL of the foods that I eat . I can tell you
generally what I'm eating though.
Breakfast is usually a bowl of Kashi cereal with Soy Milk. Sometimes I
mix in some blueberries or strawberries and I always have 4 oz. of OJ
too.

For a mid morning snack I usually have a slice of Ezekiel Bread with
pear butter and some sunflower or pumpkin seeds.

Lunch is usually a can of Tuna with oil and vinegar and seasoning, a
green salad, and 100% fruit juice or seltzer water. Sometimes I use
lean sliced turkey instead of tuna. If I have time I'll make an omelet
with peppers and mushrooms for a change. I usually have 1/2 cup of
brown rice or a slice of ezekiel bread also.

Mid afternoon I have an apple and more pumpkin or sunflower seeds.
Occasionally I'll have a FEW almonds also.

Dinner usually consists of meat or fish of some kind, brown rice or
corn, and lots of green vegetables or salad. I use a homemade hummus
salad dressing made of chick peas , olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice
and spices. Again, I have seltzer and/or Fruit juice.

I am always very hungry starting about an hour after dinner, so this
is my most difficult time. I snack on stuff like seeds, unsweetened
applesauce, fruit, cheddar cheese (in small amounts) and occasionally
another bowl of Kashi cereal with soy milk and fruit. I like a cup of
tea after dinner which I usually sweeten with stevia.

Well, are you sorry you asked yet ?

I haven't yet found an exfoliant that does't make things worse for me.
The proactive sulfur is all that I've been able to tolerate topically
so far. It does help at times.

Thanks for taking the time to read all of this. All input is greatly
appreciated.

- Tom D. -

Hi Tom,

I love your diet.

IF we were to focus on only food, then I would suggest cutting out the soy
milk. Replace it with rice or almond milk and see if that helps at all.
Soy is a strong allergen and you may be experiencing an allergic reaction of
some kind.

Also, almonds definitely cause a problem for me. Even if it is just one or
two. If you're having them more than once a week perhaps that is the
culprit?

Anyway, I wish you luck. By the way, I break out on only one side of my
face at a time as well.

Take care,
ar

"Tom D." <delo724@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:6ur0jv80cgf9hfn9ur1r55uuelui35cu9n@4ax.com...

Just to clrify things a little, I'm NOT on a Low Carb Diet. I'm simply
avoiding refined carbs.
Thanks for your interest, Tom D.

Tom D. wrote:

Ok. Maybe try changing them every single nite (or use tshirt) for a week
as a test. And maybe this means you need a night time topical, to act as
a barrier between your skin and the stuff that gets on pillowcase (hair
products, oils, etc). Worth a try, anyway.


Don't stress about it. I am sure they see Everything in an average day,
and don't think twice about it. I'd rather look at bad skin than look at
mouth stuff, but I know they don't think twice about that stuff, either..


Wow, you have a really healthy diet!!

Of course, it is Extremely high in carbohydrates. Unrefined ones. But
still, your blood sugar levels are probably fluctuating a lot. Insulin
and other stuff that controls inflammation are aggravated by too much
sugar. Sugar is sugar, be it fructose or table sugar. If you are not
seeing results, I think that it's due to the excess fruits. Specifically
the fruit juice. Despite Juiceman's claims, a lot of the goodness in
fruits is in the fiber. Juicing throws the fiber out. Fiber is So
Important in controlling blood sugar. If you have 10 g of carbohydrates
in a food, but 3 grams of fiber, the effective carb count is 7g. Because
you don't have to count fiber in carbohydrate counting. The body doesn't
treat fiber the same as sugar.
Juice is extremely high in carbs, with no fiber to subtract from it. It
is good for calories, but I think in this case, it's not worth it. I
think you should either eat the fruit instead of the juice, or skip it
altogether.

(I really think you should try one week of Low Carb (under 30grams per
day). If it doesn't work, you will know it quickly.)

However, on a non-skin level, your eating habits are great.


If you like sulfur, you might want to check out Margarite Zinc Cream
( http://www.myvitanet.com/marzincream1.html ) is the stuff, but I buy
it locally in healthfood stores. It is very gentle. Popular on the
rosacea groups, and the dht/hairloss groups, as well. It's a very good
product. Not a miracle cream, of course, but gently works in the
background to help out.. IMO

I was thinking if you could help me out with my diet?

this is what i use to tackle my real bad acne and since using them it has been
reduced alot:

A Blemish control facial scrub. twice a day (EG: St Ives Apricot blemish
control exfoliating facial scrub)

A Moisterizer, Once a day at nite (EG: Sebum face moisterizer)

Tea Tree Oil for bad areas (good for rapid healing)

and a alcohol based lotion on percription by my dr.

Although i am told not to use alcohol based products