I am going through a dilemma on how to take care of my face. First I will list some backround information on my face. I have red spots on my cheeks, left from where I use to have pimples. They have been there for about 5 months. A few times they looked like they were fading and going away but everytime they always "come" back. My regimen for 3 months has been taking Zinc 45mg, Vitamin A 8000 IU, Copper 2mg, a multi-vitamin(zinc 15mg, vitamin A 5000IU), and washing my face by hand twice a day(w/ gilette complete skincare soap) and applying lotion afterwards. With this regimen I have not noticed any new breakouts.
Now here are the delimmas I am going through. First dilemma is to put on lotion or not. If I put on lotion does that keep my skin healthy so that it dies and sheds less often? Should I not put on lotion so that my skin will flake off these red marks faster?
Second dilemma is should I exfoliate or not exfoliate, and if exfoliate how-to without irritating. Dead clumps of skin seem to emerge from several red marks where bad pimples use to be. It seems that if I don't exfoliate the dead skin off these redspots then it tends to build up and cause irritation and inflammation. What I currently do is soak my face in water until my skin becomes really soft, and scrape off the dead skin with the edge of a folded paper towel. Sometimes the dead skin comes off easily, but other times they don't come off easily. Is that safe or is that just like picking at my red marks and provoking them to worsen? Is there a safe way to exfoliate skin without irritating these easily irritated red marks? Or should I just leave my face alone and let the dead skin fall off by themselves.
Thanks for the help.