I'm going pretty good with ZZ cream. Whenever I breakout, it's only 1 or 2 pimples which usually go away in a day or two, however, I think I have the brandy nose now..
The sides of my nose are itchy most of the time and usually red. When I apply ZZ cream, the ZZ cream doesn't really get absorbed into the skin and it makes it appear as though there are cracks on the sides of my nose.. I really don't like the appearance of them so I wet them with water and rub them off.. but that then makes it red and sore.. the redness and soreness however goes away in less than a day.
What would you recommend me doing? I need your help yet again.
I'm going pretty good with ZZ cream. Whenever I breakout, it's only 1 or 2 pimples which usually go away in a day or two, however, I think I have the brandy nose now..
The sides of my nose are itchy most of the time and usually red. When I apply ZZ cream, the ZZ cream doesn't really get absorbed into the skin and it makes it appear as though there are cracks on the sides of my nose.. I really don't like the appearance of them so I wet them with water and rub them off.. but that then makes it red and sore.. the redness and soreness however goes away in less than a day.
What would you recommend me doing? I need your help yet again.
First of all, use less ZZ cream on the nose. You only need a light dusting, not like a big white blob sitting there.
Second, instead of rubbing at your nose, use packing tape to lift off the dead skin. I think that's what you're trying to do, right?
Third, if you're only getting one or two pimples every now and then, you should go on the maintenance dosage. That means you'll only use ZZ on your face once every 2 nights, and stop using XFML at that point. If you're still seeing a problem after a month of that, then only apply ZZ on your nose once every 4 nights, whereas the rest of your face gets it once every 2 nights.
See how that goes and write back when you've done that.
E-Man wrote:Any recommendations on what foods I should/should not eat to help keep new pimples from popping up?
I'm a big fan of taking a multivitamin daily. That's it. If you're doing that, it's fine.
I've not heard any reliable evidence showing a causal (or even non-causal) link between diet and skin problems *except* when your diet doesn't include enough vitamins and minerals and your immune system is affected. Solution is to take a multi everyday, and that should take care of that.
If you're really concerned about nutrition, start reading up about it. It couldn't hurt. Key advice: Eat plenty of whole fruits, veggies, grains, nuts, and seeds (in no particular order) while limiting consumption of sugars, refined foods, fats, and meats except for perhaps a relatively smaller quantity of lean meats compared to the other foods you eat. Limit salt. Drink water instead of sugary soft-drinks. And you don't need gallons and gallons of water everyday like naturopathic "doctors" keep telling you. Just drink enough water so that you don't feel thirsty. Might be a good idea to start taking up tea drinking, especially decaf green tea. Do that stuff even half-way, and you'll be okay. Nevermind the fad diets - they're all nonsense. But all of that has little to do with skin problems (again, except in rare cases where your diet is so poor to begin with that your immune system is affected).
My opinion anyway. Based on the scientific evidence thus far.
Ok, I tried packing tape, but it doesn't really help much. And I don't want to rub it anymore, I hate it when it goes red.. Is there anything I can apply before / after ZZ cream to get rid of these dry cracks?
Ok, I tried putting cocoa butter on my nose for two days and its helped greatly.
Would it be ok if I could use cocoa butter and ZZ cream at the same time. I would put some cocoa butter on my nose and ZZ cream on my forehead and chin. Would that be ok?
No, packing tape won't cause scarring. It just lifts the dead skin off. It's not typically strong enough to lift live skin off. But you should try it on a small area first just to see what will happen.
I'm not sure why you think adding cocoa butter will help?
Combining ZZ and anything else will reduce the effectiveness of ZZ. That includes adding a moisturizer or some sort of oil or lotion. Bad idea.
I'm not sure what your issue really is. Could you redescribe it? It just sounds like when you apply ZZ, it makes your nose red? If so, then don't apply it on your nose, period. Look into applying some other cream (XFML or Fulio) there. And for all other places on your face use ZZ.
Are you trying to wear ZZ during the day? I'm puzzled. You said you used ZZ on your nose, and it "wasn't absorbed" and showed cracks or something. Do you mean that you're trying to wear it during the day, and you don't like the fact that it shows up visibly so you apply water to try to get it to fade into the skin? Hmmm. I have heard of people doing that, but you know it's better to use XFML during the day and ZZ at night. XFML goes on invisibly. ZZ is much more visible. Applying water to it could help, but then you may be just diluting it. At least one other person here thinks it's okay to use water.
Anyway, if that's the issue, then what I said about using packing tape was wrong. See, when you said you have "cracking" on your nose, I thought you meant that the skin on your nose was dead and showed cracks in it. In that case, the packing tape would lift off the dead skin. It will also lift off the ZZ cream along with it, so it's of no use to you if you're just trying to conceal ZZ during the day.
Basically, I have just recently started having a bit of problems with my nose where it would get dry and itchy when waking up in the morning the night after I applied the ZZ cream. I tried not applying ZZ cream to the nose for like 3-4 days, but that just made it even more itchy, the dryness didn't go away, so I just wet my nose and started rubbing at it like crazy to get rid of all the dry flakes, some of the flakes are attached to the skin and take a bit of scratching to get rid of.
So, by then, you might've guessed it, my nose was as red as a tomato, but the flakes were gone. Oh and I don't use anything in the day, I only use ZZ in the night, as Walter advised. I doubt the dryness is leftover ZZ cream on my nose, it certainly doesn't look and feel like it, but what I do know is, it itches like crap.
Only recently my mum suggested cocoa butter as it's supposed to help with redness and dryness. Before even thinking about applying cocoa butter, I did my research, I searched for some topics on acne.org which relate to cocoa butter and it seems that it works well for fading scars, getting rid of redness, aswell as the dryness.
Two nights ago, I decided to give it a go. It smelt really nice and I applied quite a bit on the areas that were affected around my nose. I found that when I applied the cocoa butter, the flakes were easier to remove and started coming off very easily. The next day I woke up, checked the mirror, half the redness was gone and my nose didn't look as dry.
To this day, MOST of the dryness is gone, it's just the redness that needs to be taken care of and I'm hoping that cocoa butter will do the job before school commences, which is this coming monday.
I think I don't really need to apply ZZ cream anymore. I haven't applied it in 2 days and haven't broken out or anything, it's just my nose that I need to worry about right now.. and cocoa butter is supposed to be oily, but amazingly enough, I have not broken out or anything.
Okay, yeah I'd say go to the maintenance dosage of ZZ once every other night. And continue not applying it to your nose. Keep using the cocoa butter if that's helping.
If you're sure the redness on your nose occurs because of the ZZ applied to your face, then what's likely happening is a kind of allergic reaction. That happens to me sometimes when I use ZZ below my chin. If I use ZZ on the underside of my chin, my lower neck begins to itch a little even though I never applied ZZ there. It's just a reaction of some sort. Weird. But that's how the body works sometimes.
If you're still getting a red nose on the maintenance dosage after a few weeks, and it's not getting better, then I'd suggest either applying a much smaller amount of ZZ or just try using Fulio or medicated XFML instead, and use that for your maintenance dosage one night every 2 nights.
You could try going off ZZ and any other medication for a few weeks, but I think you'll find that your acne will return eventually. I tried that once after I got clear. It just comes back. It's nearly impossible preventing recontamination. So you do need to continue on the maintenance dosage pretty much forever I think.
