Acne Magazine

I received the following question from a new reader about Vicodin - she too experienced breakouts while on the popular strong pain reliever prescribed for oral surgeries and several other types of serious pain, and had this question about it’s effects on the skin. 

You posted this comment on AcneMagazine.com, and I’ve responded.  thanks! 

Question :

I am so glad I found this site. I just had two of my wisdom teeth out and was prescribed antibiotics and vicodin. As Tonya mentioned, I am having acne breakouts that I never had in my life…worse than when I was a teenager. I have been trying to figure out if the break-outs were from the antibiotics or the vicodin. Hearing from other experiences makes me feel better. I have stopped use of vicodin for a couple days now and I think the break outs were delayed reaction. How soon did your skin clear up after? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!

Hi there!  Thanks for reading this blog, we always love aquiring new readers who can share experiences!  Yeah, with the Vicodin, it was a delayed response for me.  I noticed my skin flare up big time about 2-3 days after I started taking it, and since I always correlate anything that speeds up my heart rate with breaking out, I knew that it had to be the Vicodin that was breaking me out. 

I’m not exactly sure if Vicodin causes hormonal changes, but I wouldn’t doubt it since many stimulants and downers have been known to interfere with hormonal balance and trigger changes in the hormones testosterone and estrogen, which is pretty much trouble for acne sufferers. 

I discontinued the use of Vicodin (weening off, of course, you never want to quit this kind of stuff cold turkey), and noticed that my skin cleared up about 4 days later.  It must have just been a matter of getting it all out of my system, but my skin did pretty much return to normal after that.  I’m not sure how this can be avoided if you’re on this class  of pain relievers, and that thing that stinks is that certain surgeries require stronger pain meds, and many over the counter ones that won’t touch that pain, like Tylenol, of course don’t cause the same skin flare up issues as the serious narcotic pain relievers like Vicodin. 

I hope this helps a bit.  Rest assured, the damage isn’t permanent and your skin will return to normal.  Just try not to pick at them so you won’t get any scarring leftovers. 

Hi!!!
I was wondering if you ever did the Master Cleanse? If you did, was it a success with you acne?

Hi Vicky.  Yes, I have tried the Master Cleanse diet, but unfortunately I could not make it far enough on the rigorous fasting diet to determine whether it was of benefit to my skin or not.  However, I can say that I experienced no breakouts at all during the almost 3 days I was on the diet, and it did seem that I was starting to achieve a sort of clarity in my skin that I had only seen when I was on a really good role with my diet (ie, eating lots of fruits and veggies, limiting meat and carbs etc.)

The Master Cleanse diet has been widely reported by it’s users to help clear up the skin and a massively big help to the skin in many ways, not just to help clear up acne though, and with the regimented cleanse, I am sure that it would be nothing but good for the skin, especially since it doesn’t contain any known irritants to the skin, and also because of the internal cleansing the diet itself helps to do to the body, which always helps the skin out, no matter what your skin problems are, as many people can attest to.

My sister did the full ten days on the Master Cleanser diet, and she said her skin looked really amazing, so I do have someone I trust who told me from personal experience that this diet helped their skin.  Sorry I couldn’t help you out more on this one, but I really found that the diet is pretty tough, especially if you’re someone who loves to eat, like me

I have a really good suggestion for those that may have skin like mine which is a person in their early thirties who needs to address not only breakout and acne concerns, but also needs to address their anti aging concerns.  You may be able to go through a somewhat transitional phase with your cleansers and moisturizers, which is what I have felt I’ve been able to do as my skin has aged. 

It used to be that I had to use a certain kind of cleanser with no moisturizing agents or anti aging ingredients in it to get my skin to stay clear, and I find that now that my oil production has died down a bit (barely, but it has a little so I can tell I’m aging lol), I can use products now that feel great on my skin and don’t leave it dry at all. 

One such product I’ve recently purchased and really like is by BWC, Beauty Without Cruelty.  It’s a very reasonably priced product, I think it was like eight bucks or maybe even seven for this face wash, and it is gentle and has great, organic ingredients in it.  It is also a pretty generous size, and the cleanser is a clear liquid, which is best for acne prone skin in my opinion - far better than solid bar soap and colored cleansers with additives and colors, but that’s from my personal experience.

It’s BWC Vitamin C and CoQ10 facial cleanser.  It comes in a pump bottle which is great for ease of use, and it holds up fine in the shower, although I have found a bit of leakage around the rim where the pump meets the bottle, but no biggie, and it leaves my skin refreshed and not dry or tight at all, yet it thoroughly cleanses it.  Best of all, it’s anti aging in nature and has not broken me out at all, and my skin does tend to be sensitive to vitamin c sometimes, so this is a good sign as well.

I had talked about a Neutrogena anti blackhead product several months back - heck, maybe even a year ago now, it’s so hard to keep track of time these days. It’s called Neutrogena Warming Blackhead scrub and cleanser, and it comes in a tube that if you use very little with every use, it could probably last you a really long time.

Picking the right products for acne prone skin, especially skin that may be prone to a lot of inflammation, such as those with acne rosacea, is tough. It’s hard enough to pick out moisturizers, foundations, and cover ups that don’t clog the pores or cause some other sort of mess on your skin when you are subject to oily skin that is bumpy and also produces comedones (blackheads) and whiteheads.

It almost never fails for me. If I wear a somewhat tight and confining piece of clothing on my upper half, and I happen to also sweat profusely while I’m wearing it, I almost always will break out in that area. Case in point is the fact that we used our infrared sauna last night, and I stayed in a bit too long, which means I ended up drenching myself in sweat, especially on my upper extremity.

For those of us who have suffered from acne on and off, or for much of our life, including adulthood and our teen years, it’s really tough to find a moisturizer that will not further clog the pores and also cause future breakouts through simply irritating or “over moisturizing” the skin.  I’ve tried several that I simply cannot use because of my oily skin, even ones that are marked noncomedogenic, which means non pore clogging, and had to throw them away because they caused me to breakout or just did not agree with my finicky skin in some way. 

For that reason, I am constantly trying new moisturizers, because contrary to what some may think, people with acne or oily skin still need to moisturize, especially when it’s winter time and the dry heat starts to make our skin dry and flaky, or if we live in arid climates where humidity is a rare commodity. 

So I’m glad I tried a recent one that seems to be working fine on my ultra oily skin (by the way, if you’ve read this blog before you may know this already, but I am 33 years old and still have very oily skin).  It’s by L’Oreal and honestly the only reason I even bought it is because it was on clearance at a local Marshalls store to where I work here in Ohio, so I bought it on a whim, thinking it might be good, although I already have plenty of other moisturizers that are half used that work fine as well. 

I only use this one in the morning though, since it contains an SPF in it, and I’m still a bit leery of using creams with SPF at night, even though I can’t be certain SPF can cause breakouts.  The L’Oreal cream I bought is in the Visible Results line, and it is labeled as a “skin renewing moisture treatment” that is supposed to provide visible results from using it within days, creating a more youthful, dewy and glowing appearance to the skin. 

I like it because it has not caused any breakouts, but as for improving my skin’s appearance, the jury’s still out on that since it’s only been a few days.  All in all, I think it’s a solid product, and I love that it has an SPF 15 in it without making your feel like you’re wearing a heavy mask, which often happens in day creams with SPF in them since the SPF can have a thicker consistency to block out the sun’s harmful rays. 

I decided it was time to again try a new face wash, and yes, I’m still not out of my last one that I tried, but I just can’t seem to stick to anything lately since I love to buy and test out new products, as you well know.  This product, I’m very pleased to say, I love.  I’m pleased to say it because it’s from a well respected line of organic beauty products and facial skin care called Beauty Without Cruelty. 

It means that they make, test, and sell their products without harming a hair on an animal’s head, which is not something that many cosmetics and beauty companies can claim since the majority of cosmetic safety testing is done on animals.  The face wash I purchased is one that contains some very powerful topical antioxidant nutrients that are used in cosmetics and skin care, as well as oral supplements that help to make skin clear and glowing, kind of like the antioxidant approach that the Acnezine herbal acne pill uses.

The two antioxidants that it uses are Vitamin C and CoQ10, which is an enzyme that has received a lot of just praise in the world of beauty and skin care for it’s skin tightening, antioxidant abilities.  The cleanser is a clear solution, and it’s not too thick.  It comes in a pump, which is very convenient to use (I hate to have to squeeze a face wash out in my hand, it seems more messy and more of a pain), and it has a very clean scent too it that is not overpowering in the least like some other cleansers, especially cleansers especially formulated for acne, as I’m sure you’re all too aware. 

I’ve been using it now for about four days, and I love the way it makes my skin feel.  It’s never tight or dry after I use it, and best of all, it’s not an “acne cleanser”, and yet it has not caused me to break out since I’ve been using it.  I love the fact that it has two very powerful antioxidants in it as well, but I’m not sure how much that really matter for something you have on your face for maybe one to two minutes all together before you rinse it off.  It’s price is very reasonable, I think it was just a little over seven bucks online.   

I received this question from a woman about using a rosacea product because she is pregnant.  Of course, I’ve kept this anonymous to protect privacy, but thought this answer may benefit some others potentially, although I did ultimately have to defer to the company to answer for sure. 

Question :

hello, my name is XXXXXX, I’m interested in zenmed acne rosacea kit for dry skin. i would like to try it, but just cant find information- if it’s safe for pregnant women?. or it’s better to wait whil baby is born and then buy it?

thankyou

I would be very happy to get answer

Answer :

Hello XXXXXX.  Unfortunately I do not know enough about the product (besides that it does work well for many people as a natural alternative to rosacea skin problems, it is very soothing and helps take the red out), to tell you whether pregnant women can use it. 

I have not read anywhere on the indications for the product for pregnant woman to not use it, however, I’ve included a link for you to go to their website and contact them to ask them directly about this issue.  Here it is Zenmed Rosacea .

Good luck if you do decided to go with this natural line of products.  Also remember that drinking fresh squeezed lemon juice in your water can help with inflammation problems in the skin (I also recommend this for those with acne, since both acne and rosacea are thought to be inflammatory skin problems).  I drink lemon in my water and find that it helps my skin stay much “calmer”. 

Again, good luck!