When I was in high school/college, I had horrid acne. It looked like every pore on my face was plugged, and infected. My father was in a union, so we had great medical insurance. So I went to the dermatologist. We first tried benzoyl peroxide. We then tried topical erythromycin. We then tried oral etryhromycin. The Doctor cured about 80% of the problem. He then used liquid nitrogen on my face. That was the final treatment that cleared up my skin. The only draw back was going in once a week for a spray treatment. I was on foot.

I asked my dad about liquid nitrogen, and he said he could get some at work. The guy at work said you need to keep it in the freezer. My dad brought a bottle home, and once a week he would spray my cheeks, forehead, and chin with liquid nitrogen. We didn't know why it worked, and safety was me telling my father how the detmontologist applied the liquid nitrogen.

My father was a good guy when he was younger. I think he felt sorry for a comment he made to me on a side job, one Saturday.

We were going to a side job, a rat job as my father referred to them. It was a cold, foggy morning. My skin was especially inflamed. My father took a drag off his Carleton light cigarette, squinted his eyes, as said, "Son--your face is starting to deform from those pimples. Well, I felt horrid over the comment. I knew my skin was an impediment to my high school social life, but "my father's aporoval?"

Anyways, that comment got me into a dermatologists office. A three year office visit. I think I had the worst case of acne he encountered. He used to mumble, "You know I have some women who come in for one pimple. I wish they could see this--" We would talk while he cleaned out my pores with an oval tool. A tool designed to pop pimples.

Anywho---don't put liquid nitrogen on the skin. I think me, and my father got lucky. I think the liquid nitrogen killed the top layer of skin? My face looked slightly tan after a treatment, and my skin rubbed off easily the next day. We were lucky we were both scared of the magical mist comming from the tank. The only time I didn't see a cigarette dangling from my father's mouth, was when we were applying the mist to my face. Yea, even then he knew it wasen't flammable, but we treated nitrogen with respect. We just knew it looked dangerous. One night my father decided to use it on himself. He had this wart on his index finger. We were watching some show on tv., and they mentioned freezing the wart off. After, a few beers, my father went to the liquid nitrogen. He told me, "Son--don't ever do this!" He literally froze the wart off with the liquid nitrogen. The wart cam off completely a few days later.

Again, only let a dermatologist apply liquid nitrogen. If they are still using it as a treatment modality?

And if you have bad acne, not cystic, I didn't have cystic acne. My acne was a lot of pimples, but most were not that deep. My successful regime was neutrogenia soap, sorry about product endorcement. Generic glycerin soap will work, but I couldn't find generic back then. Wash only 2x/daily. Apply benzoyl peroxide 2x/daily. That's it's! Don't use anything else. Don't massage the skin. Don't use any family special cures. My mother had me rubbing on liquid vitamin E, and wash time included a bleach rub. Yes--ouch!

If all that fails see a dermatologist. The low dose of antibiotics saved my skin, but I image they have better treatments today? They must have made strides in acne treatment? I never see anyone with bad skin anymore.

Good night!