u/Batkitto

I've been struggling with acne this year, mostly around my mouth and chin area. My upper lip has never been as bad as it is currently though and I have no idea why or what's causing it. I am on spironolactone and have been for almost 3 months now, and this last week, my face has broken out horrifically especially in the upper lip region. Lots of small bumps and whiteheads on the center of my chin and around my mouth, and one large inflamed bump on the inner cheek next to my mouth. I'm really depressed, I have an event coming up at the weekend and need to see people and I feel ill bc of this, and I can't get an appointment with my doctor, I don't know what to do, it's never been this bad before. All I can think of is I tried a new moisturiser last weekend, used it twice, the Simple Repair+ Rich Moisturiser. I don't know if it would cause this though or if this is hormonal? It's the only thing I changed. I feel like it looks so much worse in person, but every time I wake up it's much worse and more has been added to the upper lip.

Routine:

Skin and Me Cream cleanser

(sometimes, I stopped for a few weeks) Finacea Gel

Skin and me gel moisturiser

I feel like I've tried everything and this acne won't budge. I had chest acne as a teenager, and it went away from memory and came back again when I got off of the birth control pill. I tried so many creams and I reacted horrifically to all of them, eventually I went back on the pill for about a year and a bit and it didn't really get rid of it just made it less of a worry, but even still I've been insecure about this. I'm on the implant now and my chest is really bad, I feel awful about it all the time.

I'm currently using Acnecide Face Wash (Benzoyl Peroxide 5%) nightly for about 2 months. I'm also on spironolactone 50mg for 2 months. Most of the large inflamed bumps have calmed down but I still have lots of little bumps everywhere, some of them are skin coloured and some slightly pink or red.

I'm just looking to see if anyone has experienced this as well and has advice or knows what this might be? I can't afford a dermatologist and my GP hasn't referred me, and it'll take a long time to get to see one bc the waiting lists are long.

Does this look like regular acne, folliculitis or fungal acne, or even keratosis pilaris?

I have had a rough year with breakouts and my old routine using tretinoin stopped working and was giving me inflamed bumps on my cheeks where I don't usually break out, and they took a long time to go away and have left marks behind. I even tried to stop the tret and use 15% azaelic acid, I thought it was working for a month but then my skin freaked out again after incorporating vitamin c oil cleanser into my routine for a few days.

I've tried to treat it with tret and azaelic acid but more inflamed bumps were appearing around my mouth and chin area. I've stopped using all actives for about 3-4 days now and I swear I just keep seeing more and more bumps, is this expected? I'm not sure if this is perioral dermatitis, but my GP prescribed me metronidazole so I'm just waiting to be able to pick that up and try it.

Note: The photo shows bumps on the side of my chin and smile lines, I have this on both sides. Bumps are slightly red and look a lot worse after washing. They don't itch but they can sting. The ones on the opposite side have been coming to a head but don't seem to be stopping even though I'm not using actives.

I've had a rough year with my acne, I never used to have any and suddenly this year I've been going through it. I had relatively good skin again recently for about a month and then it all came crashing down again ): I'm on spironolactone and have been for 2 months, but around my mouth and chin have just broken out horrifically this last week and I swear it gets worse every day. I'm honestly not sure if this is hormonal, broken skin barrier or perioral dermatitis.

My gp suspected perioral dermatitis bc the rest of my face is relatively okay like I have some pimples on my forehead and nose bridge where my glasses sit but other than that I think the rest of my face is fine. He prescribed me metronidazole so I'm hoping to pick it up over the week but I've been trying to use Finacea gel (15% azaelic acid) which was working for me those 4 weeks of nice skin (or so I thought) and it's no use, I also tried my old tretinoin (0.006%) but I swear every morning I wake up with a new bump in this area. Some feel sore and under the skin, others are tiny whiteheads or tiny red bumps that have a lot of redness around them! My entire chin and mouth area is covered.

My skin has stung once or twice with moisturiser but doesn't do that often, it was relatively dry and I notice it the few times I've applied makeup, but I have oily skin or and oily t-zone so I assume dehydration (I swear I had this issue when on tret before though and never broke out this badly...). Honestly not sure what to do, I'm scared to stop using actives in case it somehow gets even worse but I'm scared to continue in case it's what's actually causing it. Can this be irritation/compromised skin barrier? Does it look/seem like perioral dermatitis? I have also been given a suspected rosecea diagnosis from the Boots Online Doctor recently but idk if that is causing these bumps.

Advice appreciated. I have my engagement party coming up in a few weeks and I feel really depressed ):

Been dealing with more acne this year particularly on my chin/around my mouth and nose. I sent a photo into the boots online doctor and they said it looked like perioral dermatitis, and I've also contacted my GP now but looking for advice from people who have experienced it themselves. I get a lot of very tiny bump around my mouth and chin, tiny whiteheads that are persistent even when popping and such. Sometimes clear liquid is all that comes out of them. My tretinoin seems to make it look so much worse even though it's worked for me for years, so I had to switch to azaelic acid and after a month the inflammation was a bit calmer but there were still lots of tiny bumps around my smile lines etc. I tried to double cleanse with a vitamin c cleanser and my chin was just inflamed and horrific, now I'm left like this. Been using azaelic acid for about 4 days again with a regular cleanser and moisturiser. I feel so insecure! I do also have tiny clogs at the sides/bridge of my nose unsure if that's the same thing and if it can extend up to there