When the peels stopped working, my dermatologist recommended something stronger — a laser treatment. It was expensive, but as anyone who suffers from acne knows, anything that promises clear skin seems worth it.

I got the Black Doll carbon blast laser, a non-ablative 1064 nm Nd-YAG laser popular in South Korea and Taiwan and known for its pore-shrinking and dark spot lightening capabilities.

Even though my dermatologist used numbing cream, it still felt like the laser was melting my skin off. The whole process, from cream to zapping, only took about 15 minutes. They put on a cooling mask and sent me on my way.

When my mom picked me up from the dermatologist's office, she took one look at me and freaked out, because my face was so red. My skin looked like it'd been colored in with a permanent red marker, and that I had been trying to wash it off for days.

I was told that all of my current acne would just dry up, fall off and heal very quickly. That wasn't the case. First, I broke out in little red dots around my eyes and the bridge of my nose, which eventually went away. Then I started breaking out with little whiteheads all over my face — I had five the morning after my laser treatment, and 10 more popped up before I went to bed.

One week post-laser, my skin was much, much worse. I was broken out in painful pimples all over my cheeks and whiteheads all over my forehead and I looked like a red bobble head. It was the absolute worst my acne has ever been.

I went back to the dermatologist for my post-laser follow-up visit and she told me that the breakout was very normal (even though she had assured me that I wouldn't "purge" and that the laser was a lunchtime procedure) and that the pimples would go away with another laser procedure. She also suggested that I get a lemon peel to help "dry up" my acne.

Yeah, okay. I was definitely not going to put my skin through another laser procedure when it still so red and broken out. Three weeks after my laser treatment, my face still looked like a ripe tomato covered in acne. You could actually tell where I got the laser on my face because there were rings around my eyes and lips where the laser didn't touch.

My laser experience was really frustrating, and also a little heart-breaking. I had spent so much money on it because I was at the end of my rope, treatment-wise. I trusted the dermatologist when he said it would be good for my skin, and I was so angry that it didn't work. I was also angry with myself, for not doing the research about the procedure beforehand.

Two months after getting the laser, I lost faith in medical solutions for my skin. I figured I was being way too harsh with my skin (my face was still red) and I started looking into at-home remedies.

I tried a honey mask and baking soda scrub, which didn't do anything for me. I also tried oatmeal, avocado, clay and even kitty litter as mask ingredients. Clearly, I was desperate. Since literally NOTHING was working, I decided to get my blood checked and have an allergy test — I thought there must be something wrong with me medically to cause this kind of acne.

My blood test and allergies checked out, which actually kind of disappointed me. I thought if my acne was the result of, say, hyperthyroidism, I'd be able to pinpoint the cause and treat it, or at least know that there was a reason behind my breakouts.

Since everything medical checked out, I decided it was a topical issue, and flipped over all of my products to check the ingredients. After a little detective work, I realized that there are a lot of irritating (read: acne-causing) ingredients in my products.

I used the website cosDNA.com (you can also find specific products on the Environmental Working Group's website) to pinpoint products that won't break me out. I bought only natural products (and spent a lot of time in Whole Foods). But despite my product detective work and ingredient scanning, I was (you guessed it!) still breaking out.

Finally, I was fed up with everything. I decided to give up products of any kind. No makeup, no moisturizer, no spot treatments — nothing.

I have naturally dry skin (proof that you can be non-oily and acne-prone, regardless of what skin care commercials might have you believe), so a couple of days into my newest experiment my skin was dry and flaky. I was actually afraid of using moisturizer because I associated it with breakouts. I figured my natural face oils would do their job.

They didn't, though, and I kept getting new pimples. I tried a makeup and product-free lifestyle for two months, and my skin didn't change. Since my skin felt better (less tight) when I used products, I decided to try a gentle cleanser and moisturizer, but to leave out the acne treatments since they seem to make my skin angry.

With the cleanser and moisturizer, my skin felt calmer, but I still had acne. Since some of my blemishes were of the cystic, lurking-under-the-skin type, I realized (after some research) that my acne might be related to my hormones. Since I didn't want to go to extreme measures yet, like Accutane or birth control, I decided to take a holistic approach.

First, I tried "Acne Free in Three Days," a popular e-book. It claimed that my acne would be eliminated by just eating apple for three days. Sounds crazy, but if you've had acne, you know that you'll try anything to get rid of it. I tried to eat just apples for a few days, but my energy levels were so low I caved and had real food. I also tried cucumbers, since people (i.e., the Internet) said that they're supposed to be cleansing and cooling to the body. I also tried eating chicken butts (seriously), which some people believe help heal the skin due to the hormones. I even rubbed garlic on my acne, since people say it's antimicrobial and claim it helps kill the bacteria.

When that didn't work, I took the opposite tack and started cutting things out. My sister cut dairy out of her diet and noticed an improvement in her skin, so I decided to nix dairy, too, along with sugar and processed foods. However, it didn't really make a difference for me.

A whole lot of weird grocery lists later, I still had acne.

Eventually, I noticed that my picking habit was doing the most harm. I kept a diary of my breakouts, and every time I picked my skin, my notes showed that I got more pimples in that area a week later. I adopted a no-pick policy. Whiteheads were incredibly hard for me to keep my hands off of, but I resisted the urge to pop with a few tactics.

When I decided not to pick, I stopped picking everything. Even if a pimple was nasty, yellow, and about to pop, I would let it pop on its own when I washed my face. I also put little Band-Aids or DuoDerm over my pimples. Out of sight, out of mind was what I was aiming for. So, I also threw away any small mirrors, extractors, tweezers and anything else that could potentially trip me up.. When washing my face or using the restroom, I'd even take off my glasses so I wouldn't see anything to pick. Besides not over-analyzing my skin, I also took a hands-free approach. My hands were no longer allowed to even graze my face.

You won't really see the results of not picking overnight, so it does take willpower and patience. But with the basic skin care routine and my hands-off policy I adopted, I noticed that my skin looked a little better — and that's the best motivation I could ask for.