This is the worst my skin has ever been. Combination skin with irregular breakouts and hormonal acne. Does anyone have advice or skin similar to mine? [Products/routine currently used in comments]

we have very similar skin, mine only improved in the last couple of years. you are so far ahead of the game though, at your age I was destroying my skin with harsh products haha...I'm 23 now and dear lord, I wish I had known about a sub like this when I was 16...

your routine looks really good. what I recommend above all else though, and what helped me most with my acne was a BHA, I use Paula's Choice (not saying that is the one you should go for, there are different products you could use, definitely research BHAs if you're interested, I like using makeupalley for reviews)...I recently began using an AHA as well, but BHA definitely made the most difference, I think my skin has difficulty turning over (probably a pseudoscientific theory, I don't know) so exfoliation (but not overexfoliation) is my number one focus.

my routine is very similar to yours except the cerave lotion was breaking me out a bit...

due to my dry skin...it is very very important to adequately moisturize, and be careful adding in new exfoliants...I would suggest very gradually adding a BHA or...what has helped my PIE a lot was a mandelic acid peel every four days (I started once a week...I use the peel from MUAC)

using those peels...my skin is only happy if I use OCM with either albolene or pure mineral oil (or an oil of your choice), have you tried oil cleansing? it is excellent for dry acne-prone skin, not always, but for me it definitely helped.

also..this might be weird to say here but I only wash my face and do everything at night, never in morning. my skin is dry and sensitive and likes to be left alone more than anything, I realized that doing too much to it was irritating it most of all, I know most people here do the morning-night thing religiously, but I've found that some skin is healthier without that, especially if you have dry skin...

I still use my cerave foaming cleanser, especially to remove sunscreen (do you use sunscreen?), or to 'double cleanse' after I oil cleanse

anyway, regardless of the advice you get here and what you decide on, introduce things gradually, take it easy on your skin, I realize it can be frustrating...but the more patient you are the more your skin will thank you

tl;dr: mandelic acid for scarring (also helps acne-prone skin in general), maybe experiment with OCM. and maybe add a BHA or AHA or both

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