Hormonal acne experiences?

[nicoleandbump]

Hi! I'm 8 weeks postpartum with my first, and am still struggling with (what I can only assume is) hormonal acne.

I do not normally have any acne issues whatsoever. Very early in this pregnancy I started noticing red blemishes around my mouth, and only there. It never got better, only worse and worse. And it is ONLY around my mouth area. I have tried so many treatments and nothing works. I even read that a pre-natal may cause this, so I stopped that for 2-3 weeks (pp), but that did not help.

I am religious about washing, toning, exfoliating, moisturizing, and otherwise caring for my skin. I have even tried giving my skin "breaks" from these products to see if that would help, and it doesn't. It just gets dry and flakey and more terrible.

Right now, the blemishes aren't flared up as bad as they were right at the end of my pregnancy, but they are still popping up and I don't see an end in sight, and it's been 2 months. Can anyone else share their experiences with this? When did it stop for you? Did anything help? Was it localized to just one area of your face?

I know it's trivial and vain, but this is really starting to frustrate me. Wah.

 

[MindUtopia]

Are you using a benzoyl peroxide cream on them? As you're in the U.S., there is also a prescription cream that is a topical application of Clindamycin and benzoyl peroxide (Benzaclin) that I found worked really well (I've not found it in the UK, which is why I mention it might be an option since you're in the U.S.). Otherwise, going on the combined pill helped a lot, but that's depending on if you want to be on the pill and if you aren't BF.

 

[amyburton]

Yes I have lots of acne.