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Acne research and dairy experiment update
Mar. 14th, 2014 11:01 pmThe last time I really researched acne was probably 10 years ago, and it's nice to see that the field has advanced.
This time around there's a lot of acknowledgement that there are different kinds of non-inflammatory blemishes and different kinds of inflammatory ones, and (shocker!) the idea that different types of trouble might require different treatments. Last time around the prevalent view was still all about blocked pores and topical treatments, and there was nothing about soft closed comedones; so I was like "what are these little non-inflamed things? are they acne at all?" Neither was there anything about papules, which seem to be the more annoying variety of Thing I Get. Deep, biggish ones that are very prone to drying out on top and turning scabby even if I never squeeze them, which, really now face, is that the game we're playing? Their existence is the kind of thing that convinced me to try something other than topicals; whatever is up with them, they're way under the surface.
As for me, on 3/1 I hadn't seen any new blemishes since going no-dairy. That changed, naturally, with quite a whale coming in on 3/9*... and it scabbed quite energetically... but I read the full text of that one study about fish oil and GLAs I keep coming back to, and it reminded me that even a 50% decrease in lesions after 10 weeks is scientifically relevant (and personally desirable, though clearly this is one of those nonlinear things where the biggest payoff is the last 10% going away). Maybe I need to be open to more subtle signs of improvement, I thought to myself (and started taking fish oil, reversing previously stated decision to make just one change at a time). That's when I started to notice... things on my face are healing up, and fast.
At two weeks in, this could be something awesome or it could be a monthly thing, or it could be random, but I am liking it. Now I just hold the course and wait, and see if whale-scab goes away as quickly as everything else, and continue to resist the many delicious cheeses of the world.
* ETA: well shit, I just looked back at my calendar. 3/8, the day before, is the day I was out with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
norwoodbridge and ate both clam chowder -- we didn't realize it probably had dairy until we had the soup already and were starving -- and something with feta in it (thinking, maybe I'm just avoiding cow-milk products). This isn't a counter-example of anything, this is on the side of confirmation.
This time around there's a lot of acknowledgement that there are different kinds of non-inflammatory blemishes and different kinds of inflammatory ones, and (shocker!) the idea that different types of trouble might require different treatments. Last time around the prevalent view was still all about blocked pores and topical treatments, and there was nothing about soft closed comedones; so I was like "what are these little non-inflamed things? are they acne at all?" Neither was there anything about papules, which seem to be the more annoying variety of Thing I Get. Deep, biggish ones that are very prone to drying out on top and turning scabby even if I never squeeze them, which, really now face, is that the game we're playing? Their existence is the kind of thing that convinced me to try something other than topicals; whatever is up with them, they're way under the surface.
As for me, on 3/1 I hadn't seen any new blemishes since going no-dairy. That changed, naturally, with quite a whale coming in on 3/9*... and it scabbed quite energetically... but I read the full text of that one study about fish oil and GLAs I keep coming back to, and it reminded me that even a 50% decrease in lesions after 10 weeks is scientifically relevant (and personally desirable, though clearly this is one of those nonlinear things where the biggest payoff is the last 10% going away). Maybe I need to be open to more subtle signs of improvement, I thought to myself (and started taking fish oil, reversing previously stated decision to make just one change at a time). That's when I started to notice... things on my face are healing up, and fast.
At two weeks in, this could be something awesome or it could be a monthly thing, or it could be random, but I am liking it. Now I just hold the course and wait, and see if whale-scab goes away as quickly as everything else, and continue to resist the many delicious cheeses of the world.
* ETA: well shit, I just looked back at my calendar. 3/8, the day before, is the day I was out with
norwoodbridge and ate both clam chowder -- we didn't realize it probably had dairy until we had the soup already and were starving -- and something with feta in it (thinking, maybe I'm just avoiding cow-milk products). This isn't a counter-example of anything, this is on the side of confirmation.
