Hi everyone,

First, I wish you a great holiday season and best of luck for 2009

Ok, so here's my loooong question:...I have oily, pigmented (sunspots) skin. I use salycilic acid (Neutrogena cleansing pads) to exfoliate and cleanse every morning, and hydratating lotions such as L'oreal or Boscia oil-free and the like. I use Retin acid at night on the pigmented areas (cheeks and some parts of my forehead). I tend to peel a lot especially in cold winter and, unfortunately, I also tend to scratch my face and neck when the blemishes itch (sometimes unconsciously, I can't help it...)...so I end up with little scars..
In order to mitigate this peeling and help heal the self-inflicted damage I apply some extra hydratation (Boscia for oliy skin, for example will NOT do in these cases)...but then...my pores are clogged... so more blackheads and whiteheads, more noticeable pores and more blemishes and the cycle starts again. I'm in my 30s and have tried lots of treatments since I was a teen. The problem seems to be that I never had acne severe enough for the very strong medicine like Accutane to be effective (I even tried that b/c my derm suggested it..and did nothing for my skin...would you believe it?) So, at this point I would like to stop or reduce thise problems once and for all.
What do you apply when you get such irritation from treatments for oily-acne-prone skin or retinoids?. I have recently used Aveeno Ultra-calming It was not bad...but perhaps a little too thick...and felt like burning on the very sensitive areas
Also, are there any scar treatments that are mild (I'm afraid of the very aggressive ones...no more massive peelings....

Thanks and Best wishes to everyone!