Replied by Karen (Cambridge, Mass) on 01/07/2014
Hi, I am sorry you are going through this. Sounds to me like it's a problem in your blood. Look up the spice turmeric as it is the best skin purifier. I would take a quarter to a half teaspoon of turmeric in a glass of warm water twice a day until your skin clears up. You can also find turmeric capsules if you can't tolerate the taste. Make sure you drink a lot of good purified water. I would also focus on looking at and cleaning up your diet and very importantly, eliminating foods baked in oil like tortilla chips, etc. I've found that certain types of chocolate candy bars (usually the cheap ones) cause cystic acne almost immediately. I think it might be the cocoa butter ingredient that causes congestion in the liver. Nuts can also cause cystic acne. Also a liver cleanse might be helpful.Replied by Theresa 
(Mpls., Mn) on 01/07/2014
Theresa
The wonderful Theresa from Minneapolis, MN has been helping pet owners and their beloved pets around the world on Earth Clinic since 2013.
About Theresa
Theresa from Minneapolis was born and raised in the inner city, always wishing she had been raised on a farm.
Her love for creatures great and small began at an early age, starting with caterpillars - which continues to this day, along with an interest in all insects and 'creepy crawlies'.
Theresa's interest in pet health started with a bird keeping hobby at age 14, where she learned from another hobbyist that the simple addition of Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) in a bird's drinking water kept fungal infections away; she was able to share this with her avian vet who in turn prescribed it to her own clients; Theresa was surprised to learn that she could teach her vet a thing or two. This important lesson - that each of us can be a teacher - was a turning point for Theresa, and fueled her quest for the knowledge held in lore, and remedies passed by word of mouth. That quest for knowledge continues to this day, as new and old remedies alike are explored. She may not have experience with a particular issue, but she will research it to the best of her ability and share what she finds freely, in the hopes that you can heal or improve your pet's health.
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Hey NB!
Something about your post made me think of demodicosis, so here goes.
Demodex are mites that normally live on your skin and cause no problems. In times of stress, for some people, the mite population grows out of balance, and can result in really bad acne - deep down in the dermis like cystic acne. My experience is in dogs - not people- but you have some similarities. In dogs, once their immune system recovers, they can fight off the mite overgrowth and then things die down and go back to normal.
Not saying you sound like my dogs, but.. you have two incidences of extreme physical stress and cystic acne, and since your immune system gets jacked with the Accutane, when you get off the Accutane you have no means to fend off the mites and so now huge mite population explosion.
You might try Ted's mange remedy. Its cheap, so certainly worth a shot.
I mix this up by the gallon when I have a mangy dog, and this is what I do:
Take 1 [16 oz] brown bottle of hydrogen peroxide from the grocery store - this is a 3% solution.
Take 1 gallon of distilled water.
Take 1 box of Borax laundry booster, no fragrances, from the laundry aisle from the grocery store - this is way more than you need so plan on trying it on your laundry.
You will also need an empty gallon jug.
METHOD
Take the brown bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide and dump it into the empty gallon jug.
Next fill the empty brown bottle up with distilled water and dump it into the jug with the peroxide - do this twice [so add 32 oz of distilled water]. What you now have is 48 oz of a 1% solution of hydrogen peroxide.
Then - add 1 cup of the borax to the jug of hydrogen peroxide. Shake the dickens out of it. The solution *should* be grainy. If all the borax crystals dissolve, add more - until the crystals STOP dissolving [this is called a 'saturated' solution].
Now the fun part..
Try soaking in this solution. For example - take a wash cloth and get it sopping wet with the solution and lay with that on your back for half an hour, switching it out and getting it soaking wet again every 10 minutes or so. The idea is to sit with the working solution on you for at least half an hour, and then allow the area to air dry - do not towel dry.
I do not know how long the active solution will stay in the jug once it is all mixed up; with a tight lid it may last a few days. I usually use it all in one bath, and so mix up fresh each time.
Try this - you should either feel relief rather immediately, or no difference - in which case you can rule out demodex.
