acne is a nightmare. I suffered badly in my teens, and still get the odd big zit now at 31 years old

. My face was always clear, but my back and chest were like the surface of mars. i didnt go swimming from the age of 12 to 17 because of it. i was given acne treatments by my doctor (acutane and erythromycin if I remember correctly), but cant say that it helped much. I didnt help things by being a 'squeezer' who is also prone to keloid scarring.

I did find switching to a completely natural, unfragranced hypoallergenic soap helped some, as did combining that with gentle exfoliation (using a back scrubber/loofer)
Long and short of it was that i just had to tough it out till my body calmed down and let me off the hook, then when I was left with just scars, I got myself covered in tattoos so you cant see em (I would have got the tats anyway, but its how I justified to my mum

)
If you suffer from adult acne, then your doc should test your hormone levels for imbalances, and then treat accordingly.