I have combination skin, really oily in some places but dry in others. Unlike some people with oily skin, my skin is very, very sensitive and can't tolerate a lot of the strong acne lotions with peels and acids and such in them. But yet I do have an acne problem and always have. (I am in my 40s and I don't think it much different now than in my early 20s.) A godsend for me was 8 years ago finding a dermatologist who understood all this. Previous to that, dermatologists would prescribe topical antibiotics for my acne and they just didn't work as my acne grew deep inside to painful "underground" cysts. My current dermatologist saw the problem immediately and said those topical anti-biotics would only help about 10% of my acne and he gave me oral antibiotics. These have worked miracles, as they work systemically and get those underground cysts. These antibiotics are very old and no longer used for treating infections, so their longterm use does not contribute to bacterial resistance. He says one of their main uses in acne is to keep the inflammation down (which makes the cysts so big and painful) rather than necessarily killing the bacteria (although that helps too). It is our body's immune response to the bacteria that creates the acne problem, rather than the infection itself. I don't have to take the antibiotics every day. I can sense when a cyst is starting and then take the pills for a day or two to knock it dead in its tracks. I also have a topical antibiotic that I sometimes use too. I use the original Sulfacet, which is in a clay-like solution. Works great. (The cream formulation, however, is useless to me.) I also sometimes use a topical cleomycin. Good to have several drugs in your arsenal.

I wash my face with liquid Clinique soap and use Clinique astringent and moisturizer, the gentlest ones possible. I am very prone to sunburn so always wear sunscreen if I go in the sun. Luckily, I live in a very cloudy and overcast part of the world so don't feel I have to wear sunscreen routinely every day.

There ya go. I hate acne, but it can be controlled.