The redness and flaking occurs only on the problem areas of my face, not all over. Am on day 5 now. My skin is noticeably smoother and less blemished in my problem areas - though the redness and flaking are still there, today they are much reduced. I know it's early days and I am not expecting this all to go away overnight, but this is definitely progress. Will this get to a point where my problem areas no longer redden and dry out/flake when there are no more mites there to be killed? I'm assuming so, and it feels like I am on my way to getting there. With this dryness, my skin is much less oily too - this must be a major part of how the cream defeats the demodex by eliminating the oily environment in which they breed. As my skin is normally VERY oily, I certainly don't mind a few flakes of dry skin if it means my skin is normalising.
I have two small new spots on my chin area that have come up since yesterday. They're really minor. My spots and blemishes that I have had for the last week are much improved. I know I may still start to experience the bad purge as the demodex die off, but I have read it doesn't happen to everyone so I am hoping it doesnt happen to me - the redness and dry skin/flaking has been enough for me this week. EVERYONE who walks past me in the street has stared at me
Day 9 now. The redness that I had last week has completely lifted. All the blemishes and spots on my face flaked away, and are gone. My complexion is probably about 95% clear. I still get a bit of dryness on my face when I apply the cream, but nothing like last week - as I said in my previous post, the dryness only occurred where I had blemishes/spots, and as these have gone, so has much of the dryness. My skin is much less oily too - on the whole, my whole face feels tighter, but in a good way... kind of lifted? I am still getting crawling sensations on my scalp at night though.
I havent had the initial breakout that lots of people seem to experience - though I guess it's early days and it could still happen. My skin seems to have reacted very positively in a short period of time. I wonder if this is in part due to having used coconut oil as my primary moisturiser for the last 9 months, which is also said to work on mites? Who knows.
Everybody reacts different, some people never have any breakout and just heal, some have many before they become better, why?
nobody knows................
Day 17 now. Still continuing to use the cream in the morning and evening. Still mostly clear, but had some small breakouts in areas of my face where I don't usually get any spots, like my hairline and some areas of my forehead. Had a couple of larger spots on my chin and cheek, where I consistentl get acne, but these are mostly gone now. Overall my skin still much more consistently clear than before I started using the Z cream - and I actually prefer to have these small breakouts as it means I know the cream is working - if that makes sense!
I do have one concern though. I read before how someone had said their skin had gone crinkly, like crimpoline paper or whatever it is called. The cream is indeed very drying, and though I like the fact that all the excess oil is greatly decreased from my t-zone, I've noticed that the areas under my eyes have gone very crinkly. I feel it makes me look old! Has anyone else noticed this?? Obviously I am going to make an effort to avoid this area of my face now when applying the cream, and moisturise there frequently, but I wanted to report it anyway to see what other people think...
Today my skin is so so good - my best day for a long time - no blemishes, no redness in my t zone. I've taken to using emu oil to counter the dryness I experience in the morning when I apply the z cream. I dont apply any moisturiser in the evening though - I dont care what I look like in my own home!
Funny thing - my lips are peeling since I've been using the z cream. Even though I obviously dont apply the cream to my lips, but to the surrounding areas. Is it just me?
Funny thing - my lips are peeling since I've been using the z cream. Even though I obviously dont apply the cream to my lips, but to the surrounding areas. Is it just me?[/quote]
No, It's not just you my lips were very dry too.
See if you can find some Cococare Cocoa Butter lip balm it helps!!
Thanks for the tip - I've been making more of an effort to avoid the mouth area when applying the cream to my chin too, which seems to have helped.
I also avoid the eye areas completely now, as I didnt like the crinkly effect the cream was giving me in that area, plus I apply some aqueous cream there too to keep it moisturised - I don't look old beyond my years anymore!
Nothing to report though in terms of progress, still mostly good with the occasional pimples coming up, and the redness is still less. So, still better than where I was before I started applying the Z cream, but still a ways to go.
Coming up to the end of week 7 now. I had still been using the Z cream morning and night, and at around week 6 onwards my skin started to get quite red, blotchy and irritated again, which was disappointing. I decided to cut back to using the Z cream in the evening only, and over the last week my skin has become progressively much better as a result. So more is less maybe... for me anyway.
Thanks for posting your progress with the ZZ. I too found the area around my eyes became crinkly, plus my eye lids were really dry. I figured that was because I wasn't being really careful with the application of the ZZ and sometimes it got onto the outer areas of my eyes. Since I have made sure no ZZ gets near my eyes, it's been much better. I no longer get that crinkly thing going on.
I hadn't thought about the dry lips until you mentioned it. I too get dry lips. I don't put the ZZ on my lips either.
I'm on week 10 and have only ever used the ZZ at night.
Hope things keep going well for you Mikey. Please do keep up-dating.
At the end of week 11 now... so halfway between the 3 and 4 month mark.
I had a very good response to the Z cream over the first few weeks when I first started using it, as reported in earlier posts. Then I started to get some blemishes/breakouts, and though I was kinda disappointed, i perserved as I considered it might be due to mites being killed off as the Z cream. This continued up until about 2 weeks ago, and once again I am seeing those excellent results that I saw in the first few weeks. My skin is clear of pretty much all blemishes and has been for 2 weeks now, and the redness is reduced to the best levels I can remember for a long long time. The only downside at the moment is that my skin is still a little bit dry, but not like it used to be, and I can live with a few flakes if I have no blemishes and my face isn't red!
The best thing is, it's December so christmas party time and I've allowed myself to partake this yr - and I'm not reacting to anything that used to cause facial redness or blemishes (sugary foods and alcohol). I don't know if this is due to the Z cream, or the lasting effects of the Candida diet I put myself on and followed rigidly for 8.5 months earlier this yr. Probably the latter. But I guess it just goes to show the importance of diet for some people.
Great to hear positive feedback with the ZZ. I'm still going well with it at around 14/15 weeks. I hate counting weeks! LOL I started on 23rd August 2006. I love that the p&p's have been greatly reduced, as that's what I really wanted from the ZZ. So, it's serving it's purpose.
Week 15 ish - practically 4 months. I continue to be clear of any acne, which is great. I still apply the z cream every evening, but occasionally every other evening, and have started to apply slightly less - as my skin is still quite dry, and I'd like to lessen that. Have started moisturising with emu oil, which helps. My chin area is a bit reddened for some reason, and has been for a couple of weeks - similar to when I first started using the cream and my skin went through the regeneration phase. But all in all, my skin is still clear of acne, which is what I wanted most from the cream. I no longer have any sensations of something crawling on my head at night. I do still have some minor itching inside my ears though, which may or may not be mite related. Anyway, that's my current progress report!
Mikey wrote:I do still have some minor itching inside my ears though, which may or may not be mite related.
Glad to hear things are going well for you! I too still have itching inside the ears from time to time. Drives me mad! Kinda glad it's not just me though...if that makes sense!
Okay so I got over the redness that was appearing on my chin, and the dryness, by changing my facial cleanser. Bye bye Clearasil (I started using it like 4 weeks ago), turns out it was just too harsh for my skin for long term use (or maybe it isnt too harsh, my skin is just too sensitive). So am back on a gentle cleanser for sensitive skin, and the redness, excess dryness have gone and the clearness of skin has returned.
Note to self - do not change my routine again, if it aint broke, don't fix it!! Will I ever learn?
