Hey everyone. I am making this post so that we can help each other cope with the challenges that we face everyday due to acne. I for example miss out on a lot of things because of acne, because I am embarrassed and choose to hibernate in my room. I've read many peoples forums and we can all relate; acne is really really really depressing.
But I realize that I am giving up on life, and I don't want acne to control my life anymore

SO INSTEAD OF POSTING NEGATIVE FEELINGS TOWARDS ACNE, I WANT FOR A CHANGE TO SEE SOME POSITIVE POSTS ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING TO MAKE YOURSELF FEEL BETTER ABOUT YOUR ACNE.


what are some challenges/fears from acne that you have overcome? How did it make you feel? Is it something that you were able to continue to overcome?

For example: I went out with a large cyst today. I woke up in the morning. depressed, didnt want to look in the mirror sat there examining my face. Normally i would not go out at all, just hibernate in my room, or go out wearing a hat (which in the end makes my forehead break out more). I got the courage to just say screw it, im going out to face the public and took a walk on a main street. It felt good just to walk and not care what other people might think. Im just starting to make little changes like this. cuz in the end, i think we really do analyze our skin more than other people. we are our worst critic.

I wanna challenge myself to not look in the mirror all the time, or to distract my attention away from my acne; or to go out with friends etc. I will keep you updated to let you know how i do.

this guy said to me the other day, its not what happens in life that important, its what you make of it. so true.

In the last few days, the mods have had to close several threads in which the OP was threatening suicide. This has caused some resentment and hard feelings, which was not our intention at all. So we'd like to explain a bit more about the way we handle suicide threats -- which is to close the thread and direct the poster to other, more appropriate, resources.

Yes, Acne.org is a support board. But it's an acne support board. We simply aren't able to offer suicidal people the sort of help and attention they need in a time of crisis.

The mods on this board aren't trained in suicide intervention. Also, we can't always be around when such threads are posted ....... and while most members here are warm, kind and encouraging in their responses, there always seems to be that special someone ready to flame you when you're down.

When we close these threads, it's not because we don't care. It's because we want people who are truly suicidal to get help from the experts.

And if someone is threatening suicide primarily to get attention (which does happen!), we really don't think that's fair to the other members of the board. Suicide threats are deeply distressing, and we do not feel that Acne.org is an appropriate forum in which to deal with them.

Thank you for your understanding.

This messageboard is not a substitute for professional help if you need it. Please see below for some good resources. Thanks to Sparty who first posted this in the Lounge.

Nowadays, we all live in a very busy and stressful world even during the holiday! Here are some useful information that might help you and your friends deal with stress, anxiety, depression, eating disorder...etc.

UK phone directory:
http://www.ne-mh.nhs.uk/services_directory...lm_national.htm Collection of 29 different organization in UK; for example Depression Alliance, Anxiety Care, SANELINE -(Schizophrenia A National Emergency)...

Australia phone directory:
http://www.relationships.com.au/utilities/links.asp several important phone number: kid helpline, parents helpline...etc

http://www.kidshelp.com.au/INFO7/contents.htm Info on bullying.

USA and Canada links and information: Several useful links full of information for everyone.
http://www.kidshealth.org/index.html has separate areas for kids, teens, and parents - each with its own design, age-appropriate content, and tone. There are literally thousands of in-depth features, articles, animations, games, and resources - all original and all developed by experts in the health of children and teens.

http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/ One section from kidshealth.org This link just talk about teen related issues.

http://teenadvice.about.com/library/weekly...y/aa070500a.htm Helpline phone number for Canada and United States.

http://hopeline.com/ National hopeline network for suicide prevention in teens.

http://suicidehotlines.com/newyork.html Crisis and suicide helpline for NY. (both NYC and upstate)

http://www.edmontonandareacfsa.gov.ab.ca/t...m?pg=Depression Useful info about depression and how to deal with it. (canadian website)

http://www.youthsource.cc/links/ Tons of useful links so you can get additional help through various organizations and people.

http://www.christians-in-recovery.com/reso...s/hotlines.html The largest collection of Telephone hotline from several countries: US, UK, Australia, Canada, Norway, Finland, Israel and South Africa.

My best friend showed me this video and it may be from 1999, but the advice is priceless. Just remember that your life is a collection of tiny moments. Are you living the moments the way you wish?

Aside from the obvious (doing social things and talking to people)


I don't wear my hair in a ponytail (which makes it hard to workout sometimes)
I hate it when the curtains are open letting the natural night in (no one else seems to understand this!!)
Talking about skin or appearance with others, if someone brings it up I get really annoying

Well ive been told by a few people that I am not confident and have lost my confidence...and yes this is true because of acne/scars I feel less confident and very shy.

What are the steps I can take to gain some confidence back and loose my shyness?

*taking a deep breathe*

This is my first time typing into this section of the forum. *sigh* Since two years ago, I've been trying many products, doctors concoctions, and treatments. My mom worries about my face and has invested and searched for many products for me to use. When I say doctor concoctions I mean like herbal medicine. There has been herbal medicine that resulted in diareha to clean out my stomach and intestines. MOST those herbal doctors always say that my body has too much heat and they all stem to my face and cause pimples. I've also tried facials and all those squeeze to my face hasn't shown much improvement either. I've even tried acupucture for around 1-2months, with no results. I try all these from my mom. My mom has this new product called Renaskin, I suppose to eat and apply it to my face. She always says that "her friend's friend cleared up doing this" I always answer with "is there proof" We end up in a heated debate. I know I am being skeptical, but this product is not cheap it is like 80 bucks a bottle.

What you guys think? I'm ranting but ****..... -_-

this is stress, cause I dont want to argue but ****.... Is being skeptical that bad....

My biggest mistake happened just this month. For the first half of August I had perfect skin, not a single pimple in sight and I loved it. Then, I went on vacation and was so busy having a good time that I didn't think about my skin and ate basically nothing but junk food. I had corn dogs, ice cream, pizza, all of that junk. And after all that, at the end of the vacation I come back with a terribly broken out face. I have like 10 big red bumps on my face now and some smaller whiteheads as well. Now I'm back from my vacation all depressed and regret what I did. My biggest concern is that I hope my skin goes back to the way it was by the time school starts if I go and eat nothing but organic foods for the next couple weeks.

That is all.

with acne

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhM0N7C_XUY

Just wondering who was other things wrong apart from acne or things that just make you look and feel worse.

For me I cant put on weight, I eat like a horse and just dont gain weight...Ive been to the doctors/dietitian and they have no clue, just ended up saying its genetics. I'm a 5`10/11 guy and weight only 8 stones (112 lbs)....Not a good look, even my face looks skinny which only make the whole acne situation look worse!

What a nightmare!

So i felt the need to post these photos seeing as though i'm very depressed and never leave my house. This is me unedited in all my glory, I can assure you that it looks worse in real life. This lighting is very good.

I see so many here with such mild acne it annoys me when they let it effect they're life, theres probably someone out there with it worse then me, but I want to show you how bad it can get as I don't think you know.

So laugh away.

I don't want people to feel sorry about having acne, I am just having A bad periode again.

I have been having acne since six years now, I alway thought it would just go over one day and then my selfesteem would be fine again. I would feel like me again. Now I am 22 and the acne has cleared up a lot, but it has been replaced with scares overwhole my body and my face. It killes my self esteem en it feels almost as if my life and my plannes of who I want to be have all gone down the drain. When I get a new scar now I go mentally crazy and have to take something to calm me down. My main and only plan is to get rid of the scars as much as possible.

I alway was A happy person, content with my body and face, then when I hit sixteen my brother became mentaly sick and my mother got mutiple scerliose. This drived my family apart and I had to live with frends. My father left the scene for a while. On top of that I had back pain problems, and skin issues. I got insecure and unhappy when I was seventien, but I consedired acne the worst thing, because I was feeling unsafe even with freinds around me. I started hiding away.
Now I got my own house, I am doing a social study which I m very happy with this.

I got A lot of things done nd I dont feel A victem ofproblems in my family.
But I stil have social anxiety, panic attacks when I go to public places, anger and anxiety when looking in the mirror. On top of that I am to self aware to go sporting, manly swimming which is my favourite sport. It also stoppes my going to the gym because this causes new outbreaks.

People around me don't understand and never have understood, this causes a new devlopment in my,since four months, in which I get really angry at people who dont show any understanding. The combination of social study, work, social anxiety, acne, acne scars and backproblems are driving my crazy and I have to fix it all myself. I believe this counts for al lot of people here, that you dont feel understood and things just linger on.

Now I am going to lend some money, I am getting TCA and fruit acid peels, which the insurence pays, and A dermaroller and red light. The money I am lending for my back acne and the scarring there which are going to be treated with dermabrassion and TCA. The rest of the money I am going to use to get nice clothing, to take care of myself and the way I look to compensate for the scarring. My last objective is to go sportng again and get rid of my back pain. I whill continu my studie although it is somethimes hell tot go to school and follow A session on social anxiety.

I dont espect all of the scarres to go away, and I dont need them all to go away, I think a baby face isn't nessecary a nice face, I like it being a little rough.

I am not the best example of how to deal with the situation, but I think acne is a skin condition that can get really hard on a person, expecially in combination ofother problems. People who never had bad acne, or who don't really care about having acne wouldn't understand this. I have tried to live with it but it isn't working. My advice to you is to try and cope with it, ánd in the mean while get it treated as soon as posible, and stand up for yourself. Dont start A war with loved ones around you but make sure they understand that this is a big isseu for you and try to explain why. A skin condition that causes scarring on you,isn't just some period an adolencence has to go true. It can creat a great social problem later in live. Make sure people around you understand this, the best of luck with wathever plan you have. Feeling sorry for yourself isn't my goal, once again I a not the best example, but I think it is importent not to blame yourself for having psychological problems because of having acne, dealing with it and not giving up is importent though.

wtf. my poll didn't come up.

I just need some reassurance. i am seeing a guy who is 15 years my senior. i am 22 so it is not illegal or anything; i am an adult, capable of making good decisions and am mature enough to know what i want...but i just can't bring myself to tell my family about him. any advice on how to deal with this. i really want him in my life, but i just don't know how others will react.

So last night, I was watching the videos that DK has on the site and my boyfriend started laughing at me. He said he thought it was stupid that I let my skin affect the way I feel. The only thing I said to him was "It's not funny and please don't laugh at me." And get this...HE GOT MAD AT ME!! He told me that it's making HIM angry that I'm always worrying about my skin and how I look. I can understand him being concerned about my low self-esteem, but he was ANGRY?! He pretty much told me that all the effort I use to take care of my skin is pointless and people who have low self-esteem problems should just say "Fuck it."

It just made me even more down on myself. GRRRRRRRR

Just a couple weeks ago I was certain I was going to kill myself. I had broken out the worst in a very long time after eating some binging for a week, eating whatever I wanted and not washing my face, and when I came out I couldn't recognize myself in the mirror. I looked like a monster and I wanted to scream. I had been through this same shit, this same cycle, over and over, an endless number of times and I realize that I couldn't take it anymore. Well, I was so close to killing myself. I was going to crash my car. Or take some pills. But thankfully it's cleared up after stopping bp and really cleaning up my diet and washing habits. There is hope once again. That was a dark time in my life. I don't want to ever go back to that. But you never know what the future holds...

hahah fa real though lookin at all ya sexy people on here I'm beginning to think acne is the new sexay! what if you were only really sexy if you had acne? hahah the worse..the sexier. that would be koo. Newayz I meant what I said ya'll are sexay.. I know how it feels to feel incredible and then you look in the mirror..and yea..ruined..but today I want to just forget about my skin (pretend) and just be sexay..and you should tooo!!!
hahahahaahah

Hello,

everywhere I'm reading that I shouldn't touch my skin. But I thought it was ok when you just pop the whiteheads. Isn't it so that when you don't pop whiteheads they can get infected? Sometimes I have these huge ones and I can't walk on the street when they are on my face. So I just woud lake to know, definitely, what I need to do.

- Do not touch your skin at all (even whiteheads)?
or
- Pop whiteheads, leave the rest untouched?

Thanks

if u could tell urself one thing before u got acne, what would it be?

Guys this is horrible.. thought i would share haha...

youtube.com/watch?v=LJ_99ADNVXo

..and which gets the least?

Sorry if I posted this on the wrong board. I didn't know where else to post this.

I had very severe acne and im not talking about those 1-2 zits nobody notices My face was a volcano, heck even the dermatologist told me i wasnt a normal acne type patient i had pretty bad acne ppl. On top of that i had a very OILY face. I used everything proactiv, cleansers, tca peels, all the stupid home remedys u guys posted, ate zinc pills (forgot name) too reduce oil. Nothing worked i even went on a diet consisting only of salad,fruits,nuts,etc... So i basically gave up around about 9 months ago? I just washed my face with water and got on with my life, but now i have NO Acne (still have little bit of red marks left over and scar marks). My face isnt oily which is one of the things that pissed me off alot. Its super dry now why is that?? Is their any scientific reason behind this? im 21 years old now with NO ACNE.. Without doing anything o.O?? i havent changed my lifestyle or anything. My conclusion is that acne products are scams and rip offs!!!

Btw sorry for my poor english this isnt my first language and im kinda tired its like 4 AM o.o

Whenever my face is at it's worst, although I try not to, I become depressed. I believe there's a link there. How many of you would say you have been or are in a depression, because of your acne, or is acne related?

How ever did Dan get such shiny and clear skin? Didn't he say that he suffered from bad acne when he was young? So how come his face appears so perfect with no scars? Wish I could have that..

Hi there guys, I haven't posted for a while, but I'm so unbelievably frustrated today so I needed somewhere to vent.

Today, I had my long awaited (13 weeks) appointment with a dermatologist on the NHS. I was so happy that finally someone would do something about my acne.

So I went to the hospital, and I waited.... and a student doctor came and started asking me loads of questions about my acne, when it started (9 years ago) what treatments I'd had (just about everything under the sun) and all the usual questions. He was about my age, and I don't know if anyone else would feel this way, but divulging all the information about a condition which I find somewhat embarassing to a reasonably attractive student doctor who was my age felt so humiliating. But more than that, it was quite obvious that I made HIM feel uncomfortable because he was shaking! But anyway, my beef was not really with the student doctor, but more with what happened after the dermatologist came in....

I study a long way from home, and my appointment was at home, so to get there I'd had to spend 4 hours travelling on the train, miss lectures, and pay out about £50, which is no small sum for a student! When I got there she said that she wanted to give me the maximum dosage, but I'd need to be closely monitered, so I'd have to go in every month. I said that wasn't exactly convenient for me, living so far away most of the time for my studies. She said that I'd have to start up at university then! Which means - more waiting. Additionally, she said I'd HAVE to go on the pill AND use a condom. The pill has messed up my body SO much. Why can she not credit me with the sense not to get pregnant? My bf isn't even in the country, and I'm not about to start sleeping with anyone else. The LAST thing I want to do is get pregnant, so why does she have to control it??? ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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That was me mashing my keyboard.

So annoyed! All I want is for this to be over with!

Well,

I had my acne beat to about 3-4 major cyst blemishes and inflammation all congregated in the nose area, but one night of complacent and unfaithful food partaking sparked a heart-wrenching, gut ripping breakout. I mean, this was the worst breakout I've had since being on doxycycline (3-5 months ago)and it's hitting me hard honestly. I'm trying to remain strong and push on through this, hoping it'll clear. It's so hard when you've been treating your acne for so long, experiencing so much success and just over one night, you have a breakout that pushes you back 3-4 weeks on your recovery schedule. mean, my face never looked this bad in a long time. Sure, I've had some ugly look cysts, pustules, zits etc.. but never where it's all over my face. I mean, it's almost like Hs all over again, when my face was incredibly inflamed and oily.

I just want it to be all over. I've learned and taken so much from this experience but it gets to a point when enough is enough!! My face is severely scarred now but I have come to grips with that cruel fact but I just want the "moodyness" of acne to end. i really hate typing a self-pity rant but this is a good and constructive place to do it in.