I took the CLEARSTEM supplement for my acne now I cry every time I see my skin

I spent most of my twenties locked in an all-out war with my skin, and I lost every battle.You name an acne treatment, and I’ve slathered it on my face with reckless optimism and abandon.

Retinoids, benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid — I layered them like a chemist, convinced I was one product away from finally having the poreless, glowing skin everyone around me seemed to have.Instead, I got perioral dermatitis: a cruel, red, flaky rash around my mouth that pleaded, Quit attacking your face, you dip.After many frantic Google searches and an emergency dermatologist visit (where I was gently but explicitly told to “calm down”), I realized my skin barrier was holding on by a thread, and my hormonal acne wasn’t going to be bullied into submission with another round of spot treatments.

I needed a different approach — one that didn’t involve me staring into the mirror every morning, whispering, What fresh hell is this? That’s when I stumbled across CLEARSTEM MINDBODYSKIN, a supplement designed to tackle hormonal acne from the inside out.I was skeptical.I’ve taken enough “acne-fighting” supplements in my day to know that most of them just give you expensive pee.

But the CLEARSTEM reviews were great, the founder story felt genuinely skin-nerd passionate, and there weren’t any toxic fillers or mystery ingredients in sight.Plus, my skin was already at rock bottom, so I figured since it’s not a topical chemical, what did I have to lose? Here’s how it went.I started taking MINDBODYSKIN with the cautious optimism of a woman who has quite literally been burned before.

My hormonal acne tends to flare up around my jawline, and after years of wrecking my skin barrier with topical, over-the-counter treatments, I needed something that would get to the root of the issue without sending me into another perioral dermatitis flare-up.Within two weeks, my skin was noticeably calmer.No new cystic breakouts, no dramatic flare-ups, just steady skin.

By week four...