Finally Beating Acne - Article

[Crankin'steiN]

---FINALLY BEATING ACNE---


Written By: Crankin'steiN (AKA Crank)
MOD @ Worldclassbodybuilding.com
Admin @ Fitnessgeared.com


I am writing this article in the hopes of informing and helping some people in the bodybuilding community who are having problems with acne. As everyone knows, acne is a very common side effect from the usage of steroids . This can be a very hard battle and can be very stressful emotionally.... I know guys with great physiques who refuse to take their shirt off at the beach because of acne. Now obviously if you have worked hard for your physique, it would be nice to show it off sometimes without worrying about acne.

I will start from the beginning.... Everyone knows that while we are going through pubertity we will most likely get some acne. The severity of this will vary person to person, but most will get some. Why is this important you may be asking?? Well, for guys that get their acne later in their teens (say 17 or 18), it may last until their early 20's. This is an important thing to take note of, because for those guys it is crutial that they deal with the acne before ever taking any steroids. I have seen many cases where a young person has started steroids before taking care of the acne problem and it becomes much much worse.... So if you have acne naturally, you need to take care of it before using steroids!

Now on to everyone else who develops acne from steroids. There is a few things to keep in mind about your steroid usage and cycling that may help you contain your acne. The first thing is that the having numerous high androgenic steroids, or high dose androgenic steroids in your cycle will be very hard on your acne situation. Highly androgenic steroids are well known for being a big cause of the acne people get while on cycle. So try to minimize the number of different highly androgenic compounds, or limit the dosages... The second thing is that keeping your hormone levels as steady as humanly possible will help greatly in reducing your acne. You can do this by splitting dosages into numerous shots through out the week I.E. If my dosage of test for the week is 500, I can split that into 2 equal shots of 250mg twice per week. Mon, and fri would be fine.

Now on to ways to treat the acne once it has started to show itself....

First I will go over the simple things you can do daily to try and reduce your breakouts:

- Shower 2 times a day, and immediately after sweating (after your workout) if possible
- If a shirt your wearing gets sweaty, change it as soon as possible
- Wash with a very gentle clenser, I recommend Cetaphil!
- Use a shower puff for scrubbing
- Drink plenty of water
- Tan regularly
- Do not use harsh soaps, or soaps that are scented.

Second is over the counter (OTC) remedies, everyone will respond to these differently... There is no way to tell if it will work for you unless you try it, so generally I recommend that people try the OTC remedies before moving on to the prescription stuff...

- High intake of B5 (pantothenic acid) daily. This is a remedy that is really hit or miss with people. I have talked to many people about it, and it really has mixed reviews. You must take between 3-5 grams of B5 per day spread out as evenly as possible through out the day. The capsule are usually 500mg per cap. So you would have to take 6-10 capsules a day. If this remedy works, it should slow down oil production and you should notice your skin is not so oily.
- OTC acne creams. You can purchase acne creams at any pharmacy and there will be one of two active ingredients in it. Salicylic acid, or Benzoyl Peroxide. Depending on the severity of the persons acne, these creams may work very well at fighting outbreaks and getting rid of acne that is currently there. Put a little bit of this cream on trouble spots every night before bed. This cream will stain sheets and pillow cases so be aware of that.....

Third is prescription remedies, this should only be taken to this level if the acne does not respond to the other OTC treatments. A doctor should be involved in the prescribing and obtaining of these prescriptions. I would never recommend someone take a drug without consulting their doctor first!

- Anti-biotics. There is many different anti-biotics that can be prescribed to help rid someone of their acne. Tetracycline is a common one which has worked well for many. It should be known that this will make the user sensitive to light and tanning should be out of the question. Using anti-biotics for acne usually means taking them for 3 months or more at a time. Anti-biotics are also noted to have an anti-anabolic effect, so although taking steroids while using this drug will not have adverse side effects, the effects of your cycle may not be as good as they should have....
- Topical creams. There is also many different kinds of acne creams. Retin-A is one of them and usually works very well for most people. It helps clear the area, and fade old scars. It is also light sensitive and tanning should not be considered while using it...Clindoxyl is also a topical gel and works VERY well in my opinion. Neo-Medrol is the name of another drug that can be used. It is used for shoulder and back acne, and tends to dry out the area pretty bad. It does work fairly quickly and also helps to fade old scars. There is several other topicals to consider, but I won't list them. The main thing to remember is that there is more then one choice, so if one doesn't work for you, then you can try something else. Some of these creams work faster then others, for instance retin-a can take a month or two to start working, but the other two I mentioned seem to work fairly quickly. What might be of interest to bodybuilders about all these topical creams is that you can use steroids while on them without adverse side effects.
- Accutane. This should be the absolute last resort.... No not skip everything else and go right to this because it will work. The reason being, it is very harsh on your body and your liver in particular. You can't drink while on it, you can't use steroids while on it, and you must use it for at least 3 months, sometimes longer for it to clear up the acne. The good news is, that many users of this have reported that the acne was gone for good. It never came back even when they used steroids again.

* It is important to remember that even though I mentioned some remedies that can be used while on a steroid cycle, you should keep in mind that if you were not on steroids during your treatment, the success rate and speed of success would be quicker. Also, though several treatments can be combined at once (i.e. OTC products and anti-biotics), we must keep in mind that if we over do it the we may actually worsen the acne. In many cases that is exactly the problem. The person is over doing it trying to get rid of their acne, and they are worsening the situation!


Nobody likes acne, but as bodybuilders a lot of the time we have to deal with it. But hopefully with this article you will be able to take some of that information and start helping your acne sitution today! Then you can get out there, and take your shirt off! Se ya at the beach.

[theflatline]

Good article!

Let me share my personal suggestions as well, what works for me.

1. For my face and head(I keep the old bean shaved) I keep a jar of Stridex acne pads with my at all times. One in car, one in office, and one at home. During the day I degrease my face and neck and head. Keeps me from being shiny and keeps me from breaking out.

I shower twice a day. Both times I use Lever 2000 blue body soap, as it is gentle, but i use a hand mitt that is slightly rough to exfoliate me. On my face before I go to bed and when I get up I wash with Oil of Olay skin cleanser that is heavy on the witch hazel.

If I do this every day without fail i do not break out. If my back gets oily i run a stridex pad over it. This keeps the pores clean.


TheFlatline

[BUYLONGTERM]

Great post. I'm on 10g of Vitamin b5 and though in the beginning I thought it was helping, I'm not so sure anymore. I'm also on Doxycycline (sp) and that doesn't seem to help either.

[TheMudMan]

great post!

[hung-solo]

nice read crank!!

[Crankin'steiN]

Thanks guys!

[bluethunder]

great post

[Dude-Man]

I don't know about a few months.. because for me, retin-a starts working in about 5 days.. i notice my skin shed cycle increases dramatically, and current blemishes dry out and flake off.

[NoobJuice]

Why is it not safe to use Accutane and AS at the same time, someone suggested in another post it would be ok?

[dieseL atC]

I'm one of the lucky people who doesn't get pimples but great post

[j.r.w.]

I found that tanning regularly and rubbing alcohol does the trick. Both dry the skin out, thus decreasing acne. Also, shower immediately after your workout or as soon as possible. Take hot baths to open your pores, then after drying off use rubbing alcohol to wipe your back and shoulders with. I'm sure a dermatologist wouldn't recommend this method, but it works great for me.

[juiceinthehood]

Why is it not safe to use Accutane and AS at the same time, someone suggested in another post it would be ok?

accutane is harsh on the liver there is actually one of those class action lawsuits against the makers of accutane

[Crankin'steiN]

I don't know about a few months.. because for me, retin-a starts working in about 5 days.. i notice my skin shed cycle increases dramatically, and current blemishes dry out and flake off.

It is possible that your retin-a cream was dosed higher then mine... but mine didn't show effects until 3-4 weeks in... Also my acne was fairly bad, and every individual will react different to diffeent meds....

[Crankin'steiN]

Why is it not safe to use Accutane and AS at the same time, someone suggested in another post it would be ok?

As stated in my article, accutane is very harsh on the liver which is why while on accutane your doctor will take blood samples every month or so to check on liver values....

Steroids are also hard on your liver (especially orals such as d-bol and drol), so the two together can be a very nasty combo. So if you want to keep your liver and stay healthy I don't suggest taking these two together.....


And yes.... The odd person does not heed this advice.... But I hope they check their liver values often, or they are asking for major liver problems, maybe not too far down the road....

[Matto20]

I found that tanning regularly and rubbing alcohol does the trick. Both dry the skin out, thus decreasing acne. Also, shower immediately after your workout or as soon as possible. Take hot baths to open your pores, then after drying off use rubbing alcohol to wipe your back and shoulders with. I'm sure a dermatologist wouldn't recommend this method, but it works great for me.

The only problem with tanning regularly and using rubbing alcohol is the fact that they age the skin so rapidly. I don't want to sound like a total fag, but I hope you use some good moisturizer after you do this, or you're going to look like an old man fast.

Great post. I'm on 10g of Vitamin b5 and though in the beginning I thought it was helping, I'm not so sure anymore. I'm also on Doxycycline (sp) and that doesn't seem to help either.

B5 doesn't work for most people. And I know for a fact it didn't do a thing for me. Antibiotics aren't the answer either, and I myself am beginning to pay the price for years of antibiotic abuse. I'll tell you what got me absolutely clear (which was a difficult thing to do) and made me the prettiest mofo in town. All it takes is Cetephil facial cleanser (extremely effective and mild as all hell), Benzoyl Peroxide (anything over 6% is too harsh and unnecessary for facial acne - 2.5% is just as effective as 10%, but with 10X irritation), and a topical retinoid (I use retin-a micro at the lowest dose). I plan on following this regimen for the rest of my life. Also, try to use a bit of moisturizer after using any topical on your face - if you get the right one it will not cause any further breakouts and will help your skin heal up.

Everything I do now was recommended to me last October by an extremely good dermatologist in my area, and has worked perfectly. I has breakin out pretty bad back then, but my skin is flawless now.

[Crankin'steiN]

I'll tell you what got me absolutely clear (which was a difficult thing to do) and made me the prettiest mofo in town. All it takes is Cetephil facial cleanser (extremely effective and mild as all hell), Benzoyl Peroxide (anything over 6% is too harsh and unnecessary for facial acne - 2.5% is just as effective as 10%, but with 10X irritation), and a topical retinoid (I use retin-a micro at the lowest dose). I plan on following this regimen for the rest of my life. Also, try to use a bit of moisturizer after using any topical on your face - if you get the right one it will not cause any further breakouts and will help your skin heal up.

Everything I do now was recommended to me last October by an extremely good dermatologist in my area, and has worked perfectly. I has breakin out pretty bad back then, but my skin is flawless now.

All tho this will not work for everyone, it will work very nicely for some. You will find I talked about each one of these things in my article!

A good moisturizer to use is oil of olay.... Sounds fruity, but is a great moisturizer....

[bigbodyjosh]

what do you guys think about tetracycline w/ b5? good stuff or too many pills?

[numero uno]

very helpfull information

[Headred15]

I dont know about you guys, but Proactive works amazing for me... I buy 2 kits (one of the body, one for the face) and it works wonders..

Only thing is I have the ol' girlfriend wash my back and run the cream also.. If you dont have a girfriend, just ask your mom!

Ive never had to go as far as prescription, but MOST acne is cause by dehydration, and Hormonal Imbalances, and stress.

With that being said, drink a good 64 ounces of water a day, calm the hell down, and keep those injections days apart... Id rather let the body heal itself, then throwing on some harsh chemicals such as accutane.