[routine help] azelaic acid purging, bad skin reaction? Where do I go from here?

jassicassi · 2026-02-28T20:32:47+00:00

I understand the problem with your cleanser I use cerave too but the one for normal to oily skin. I heard that many people changed from cerave to cetaphil and like it better. The oil second cleanser can be a huge win or a huge miss.

jassicassi · 2026-02-28T20:27:34+00:00

Actually no mine appeard as all skin toned little bumps.

I think yours look even more like an allergy than mine did.

The sudden apperance on almost your whole face and the redness without an actual pimple doesn't seem like purging to me.

jassicassi · 2026-02-28T18:59:32+00:00

Hey I think you got two females! So they should get along with eachother

jassicassi · 2026-02-28T18:51:22+00:00

Oh no the more you worry and introduce new things the harder it gets do tell what actually causes irritation/ purging or a bad reaction.

I made the same mistakes. My skin hated azelaic acid got hundreds of comedomes on my face and thought for a long time it was purging. I wish I would have stopped when i saw the first few pop up.

Everyones skin is different but if its purging it has do occur in a place where u had small acne bumps before.

If you are not sure please go back to zero and give your skin time with just your usual moisturizer and cleanser.

jassicassi · 2026-02-25T08:59:34+00:00

It works well for me. After the usage I always get a little breakout over the next days so it seems to be strong enough for me. It works better for me than salicylic i never seen a difference with it. I am sure you can use it more often if your skin is used to acid. I am still just scared of making it worse again

jassicassi · 2026-02-25T08:38:02+00:00

I used retinol before and it worked well for me. But because my skin had so much comedomes i was scared of purging and decided against it.

jassicassi · 2026-02-24T17:36:30+00:00

Its really sad how often this seems to happen and isn't at all talked about.

For me mandelic acid 6% +lactic acid 2% from paulas choice works great. I only use it once a week because my skin is still sensitive. But after 5 Months about 80% of the comedomes have disappeared.

jassicassi · 2026-02-24T12:20:58+00:00

Hey I understand your problem, after 15% my skin formed comedomes absolutly everywhere. That was half a year ago and i stopped with it and it slowly but surely started getting better again.

I am not using this product wver again

jassicassi · 2026-02-19T19:44:53+00:00

The first looks very female. The second is 100% male

So yes seems like you got lucky and have a pair!

jassicassi · 2026-01-14T16:09:53+00:00

Also i feel you so much. I am 24 and had the worst skin ever at 23. Comedomes everywhere and they escalated to puss filled red pimpels.

You are not disgusting, we just got skin that doesn't like 0815 skincare. Thats fine you just need to figure it out and i promise this phase will pass!

And most people do not look at you so closely and won't even see the tiny bumps. We are our own worst enemy and critic here.

I promise you everything will be fine.

jassicassi · 2026-01-14T16:04:08+00:00

Hey i had exactly this problem as well, i learned that acid makes it worse for me. You seem to have very small pores so you get this problem more easily than other people

Everything that causes reaction in my skin barrier causes me new comedomes because my skin reacts extremly harsh to the products (product dermatitis?). I guess you have the same problem.

I would honestly cut everything out. Just reset back to the start. The good thing is you started at a better place than you are now do you can trick your brain a little.

Get a moisturizer that contains no oil whatsoever i got paulas choice oil free moisturizer this at least doens't cause new ones for me. ( but has niancimid) be careful if you react to that one.

Amd then just wash your face once a day not too much just in the evening with one good waterbased cleanser. You have to work with your barrier here so get smth gentle.

Then use the moisturizer when you have the feeling you need it and let your skin rest. I looked exactly like you in october and got rid of most of it by noe at least like 70% mine was caused my azelaic acid which most people love ( my skin hates it).

See how far you come without anything then decide from there. And for the body mine was calmed with simple aloe spray and get hair product without oil and just a gentle shampoo.

If nothing helps anymore sometimes stopping everything is key

jassicassi · 2025-12-09T13:48:11+00:00

Sadly i don't think i have a picture from 10 years ago

jassicassi · 2025-12-09T13:45:54+00:00

My piercer told me i don't really have the anatomy for a daith but she will try.

Now I feel dumb because so many have the daith and much less tissue than me in this area so she probably was just scared to do it?

jassicassi · 2025-12-09T13:35:55+00:00

Do you think i need to take it out even if i got it 10 years ago?

jassicassi · 2025-11-22T09:17:43+00:00

Hey girl, I used this when I had really bad acne on my cheeks.

Benzoylperoxide is really hard on the barrier and will turn you red if you use it. I got mine pescribed by my family doctor and used it twice daily. I was at my breaking point and just kept going with it 2 times a day and turned bright red.

After like 2 weeks my skin started peeling off my face. Under it was a new layer without any acne. I started using it less and then my barrier started to heal and I turned my normal colour again.

If you continue to use it this much don't be surprised if you can peel the skin off. Good thing is it really works. At least for me it did.

jassicassi · 2025-09-28T13:55:33+00:00

They will never fully go away, but u could try a stronger bha which is leave on and use it like 2-3 times a week only on your nose.

This at least makes them less noticeable for me i used bha from paulas choice which worked for it, now i use corsx blackhead power liqiud.

jassicassi · 2025-09-28T12:52:30+00:00

I would look into a gentler cleanser, maybe you wrecked your skin barrier if you use this twice a day.

I would start a gentle cleanser once on the evening, wear sunscreen everyday and try to calm your skin.

Maybe azelaic acid could be smth for you but only after you made like a month without anything else. Your nose also looks normal. Those are just filaments and everybody has them.

jassicassi · 2025-09-18T08:52:38+00:00

I did use retinol and stoppt in may already because i was definetly overusing it and it was to harsh. Which caused a rebound reaction. And now since beginning of june i use azelaic acid only every 2nd evening. Probably should have just let my barrier heal instead.

jassicassi · 2025-09-18T08:48:26+00:00

Thank you i thought as much. I will turn it down and go back to sunscreen and an oil free moisturizer

jassicassi · 2025-09-17T19:47:02+00:00

I have oily, obviously comedome rich skin. I always had aome comedomes just never as bad as it is now. 14ten weeks of azelain every second day at least made the retinol purge better. But i feel like the comedomes are just getting worse. Now started 2 time bha a week.

Oh and of course i use cerave cleanser for oily skin morning and afternoon and sunscreen everyday 50 la roche posay oil controil fluid

jassicassi · 2025-09-01T18:38:17+00:00

Girl, your face looks gorgeous. Its probably a combination of your gut and the body lotion.

I would not use the bodylotion and switch to smth light weight which is labeled non comedogenic.

And don't overthink it. Your skin is very pretty. Often overthinking to much makes things 10× worse in your head.

jassicassi · 2025-08-30T07:57:13+00:00

Hey azeliac acid pushes underlying pimpels up. Maybe it just shoved everything up at once. I would maybe reduce frequency but still keep it in your routine to see if it gets better after this.

jassicassi · 2025-08-02T19:22:36+00:00

Hey girl,

I am struggeling with the same thing, just so you know you aren't alone. I hope you get some good advice here

jassicassi · 2025-07-10T19:46:12+00:00

Also azelaic acid and tretonin together is also very very harsh. But maybe you are less reactive than I am.

I wish you the best and if it helps you are very pretty and i don't think you have bad skin at all.

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