The things that I've really noticed a difference from were all topical. With topicals, I will usually apply it to half my face for a while to see if I see a difference. Topicals that I think have helped are daily sunscreen, retinoids, niacinamide, and Juvess. I'm trialing Strivectin at the moment. (Only because I got it at a deep discount.) It might be doing something, but it's not major. Where skin is concerned, people are pretty different, so YMMV.
I have yet to find a sunscreen that doesn't break me out. Retinoids and niacinamide are incredibly drying for me at any concdntration. TBH, Strvectin always looked like an overly hyped gimmick to me and I am always suspect of those do-it-all products that contain a thousand ingredients. I'll look into Juvess, thanks.
Over in the C60health forum (under nanotech, for some reason) there are a number of reports of UV photoprotection from C60 in olive oil, taken orally. I'm not advising that random people try that just yet; it needs more study, but I'm going to be using it as soon as I get some. Meanwhile, if you can't use any sort of sunscreen whatsoever, then I hope you are practicing sun avoidance. Everyone finds retinoids drying; that's a problem with them. I've never used retinoic acid, which is the most potent of the retinoids. I'm afraid that would be too much for me, at least initially. I've instead used retinaldehyde, which is somewhere between retinol and retinoic acid in potency. The product I used is called Retrinal, by Avene. Retinoids take some commitment; they need to be used correctly (must wait 20-30 min after washing skin) and the effects build gradually. They also photosensitize the skin, so you have to use sunscreen or sun avoidance. Although I saw a distinct improvement from it, I eventually fell away from it simply because of the hassle. I like low maintenance / easy skin care...
Strivectin IS overly hyped, and overpriced. I never would have paid full price for it. I used to think that it was just a gimmick, but then I learned about myristyl nicotinate, which has solid data behind it, and is the main ingredient of strivectin. That's what got me to try it. That said, the results are pretty subtle. It might be a lot more impressive if I wasn't already using Juvess, but when combined with that, it's only a very small improvement for me.
I'm surprised that you find niacinamide drying; I don't think it's known for that, but skin varies a lot, so you never know. It might be that something else in the product you used was a problem. I'm using it in SebaMed liquid face and body wash, which gets rinsed off rather than staying on the skin. I love it; it has a lot of rave reviews on skin care sites, although as always, some people aren't impressed. It has an insanely misguided fragrance that's horrible when you first open it, but it seems to have evaporated over time, since my large bottle doesn't smell at all any more.
Finally, have you brought a dermatologist into the picture? Sometimes they can be very helpful.
Mustardseed made a very good point about the effect of oral products on skin; it's really hard to see the difference day to day. That's even true with topicals. That's why when scientists evaluate the effect of skin interventions, there are careful before and after pictures and various instrumental analysis techniques used to quantify the changes. Things may be helping, but you might not realize it.
LongeCity
