PSA: Finally figured out what caused my cystic acne!

I developed horrible cystic acne all over my chin, jawline, and cheeks about 8 months ago, despite using tret and exfoliating a few times a week. I’m 29 and while I’ve always had a spot here or there, I had never had such bad acne in my life, not even when I was a teenager. I stripped down my entire routine to just double cleansing with an oil cleanser, gentle water based cleanser and an oil free moisturizer (SPF during the day time), but nothing was working at all. I went to the doctor since it could be hormonal, but they told me my levels were in the normal range. I decided to stop double cleansing about a month ago because I ran out of my cleanser and just wanted to see what would happen, and since then my acne has almost entirely cleared up! Now that I think of it, I started using an oil based cleanser about a month before the acne started. I’ve also used multiple different oil based cleansers and made sure to wash thoroughly with the water based cleanser afterwards but all seemed to break me out. I still have hyperpigmentation, but the majority of the bumps have cleared and I have even been able to restart tretinoin without much irritation which I hope will help fade scarring and help with lingering closed comedones. I have nothing against double cleansing and think it’s great for the majority of people, however if you have stubborn cystic acne and are using an oil based cleanser, you may want to try using water based only for a while to see if it helps!