Cheer up friends...

Hello and thank you for opening up this post. I was reading a lot of the topics about some of the way people feel about themselves and this inspired me to write a brief story of my acne. I know how you guys are feeling. I started getting acne in 7th grade. In my second year of high school, I started to have extremely bad acne. I mean I had some bad very moderate acne, not cysts, all over my face, back, and torso. My acne began to damage me mentally at about 15 and that’s when it all went to hell. I had the worst self image, in fact every time I saw another person I would imagine being him because he was infinitely times better looking then me.

This is when I started trying all kinds of treatments for my acne and went on Murad. This diabolical treatment caused me to have some of the worst acne ever. My acne was so bad it was painful for me to sleep at night or those little naps I would take in class because of the pain it caused my sensitive acne. I remember a girl randomly saying that I was so shockingly hideous, right out of the blue. I was pretty much a girl’s kryptonite; I mean a bunch of girls once were talking about a cute guy and one of her friends pointed at me and she grinned and said “ewww.” This pretty much summed up my high school days, alone and depressed. I once told my class mates after they cracked a few jokes about my failure with girls that I would be good looking one day, and they all laughed. I also only took one year book picture, my freshman year and after that I grew self-conscious and did not do it for the rest of the three years.

Enter college and I felt a little better. Although there were periods were my acne went bad and I cried scratching my face in anger. I once went out with my parents to eat and I started crying right there because everyone was so beautiful except for me. I was still crazy about my appearance and what not, until I turned 20. This is when my life started turning around and my outlook on life changed completely. I no longer cared about my acne, my appearance or any none trivial matter. What changed it all was I pretty much accepted that I had acne and I had to move on, deal with what life gives you. I have never been happier in my life than I am now and do not regret having acne at all. It has made me humble and I appreciate everyone, including the most precious fact that I respect women as the most beautiful, precious and vulnerable beings instead of lustful objects as so many people seem to think they are. I hope this will make some one cheer up and enjoy life, remember I defeated acne by still having acne! I also don't worry about not having a girlfried, as no girl ever looked twice at me, and I never even kissed a girl.

Today I still have active acne but very little. I pretty much swim everyday and surf every other day and have a positive attitude. I do not use any treatment on my face except for the sun which despite what I have seen here, is absolutely great for my skin. I sometimes stumble with acne and retreat in my shell, but I never let it get me down like I used to.

“Sometimes in my tears I drown, but I never let it get me down. So much negativity surrounds, I know some day it will all turn around.”


Me at 21.

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/4942/dsc09204.jpg

Acne forever?

Hello,

Well I've had Acne for about 9 years and I am almost 20 now. My skin looked good for about half a year with a daily pustule coming up and less red marks, but recently I have had a massive break out with sever pustules and with over thirty active ones on my face, not even counting my chest and back. My question is, am I going to have acne for the rest of my life? I honestly can not see a day when I will not have a single spot on my face, so the question is how much longer must I suffer with this? The current ones are huge and they really hurt more than the usual ones- I would post pics but no camera, sorry-.

I was at the dentist and had to feel both the pain on my tooth as well as the dentist crushing my acne with his hands as he opened my mouth and drilled. I can not believe that I still get acne as I eat healthy, take vitamins, and am sure to drink mostly water. Is it something internally? I have already tossed the white flag of surrender and plan to go unnoticed in life, but my main concern is if this is something that is wrong internally me? Any ideas?

P.S.-I'll be seeing the derm on July 1st, oh how I hope he gives me accutane as I have not seen him in half a year and he thought my face was looking fine, although it is absolutely disgusting to look at. Every millimeter on my face is covered with a red mark or active acne and not a single clear space. My face is an absolute nightmare...

Acne and Facial Hair

I am 19 years old and I do not have full facial hair. I have a couple sprouts around my check-which is marked heavily with red marks- and a sizable amount on my sides. Most of my facial hair is on my chin and a little under with patches all over the place. Is this because of my acne or genetics? I am European and my brother had full facial hair when he was 17. Could the acne have prevented my facial hair from coming out?

I shave two times a week as it is not that it does not grow in the spots I have it, just does not come out on 65% of my face.

Epson Salt and Cubes of Ice

Hello.

I have been using Oxy 10% BP and 2% SA combined with Cetaphil moisturizer. I go off and on; sometimes I feel clear skin is around the corner only to get knocked down.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone tried these methods.

Ice cubes-Sometimes I get ice cubes and rub them on my face, usually numbing the cheeks. I decided one day to try and freeze my face, since I was in Eastern Europe in the winter and it seemed to clear my skin-I come from a warm climate-! I have not started a daily treament yet, but was wondering what others thought.

Epson Salt- I have been reading all over that this stuff works. I use it for my sprained angles, but never thought of using it on my acne. I was wondering if anyone else tired it?

Thank you.

Acne Chuxs!

Hello,

I am 19 years old, struggled with acne since I was 13 and never had a day without acne since then. I am beginning to think I will have acne for all my years. I have had acne for so long, I do not even know if I have scars or not. Derm told me I do not have any scarring, but to me it looks like a spot that has not had acne for a while but continues to appear like it does are scars. I stopped going to derm since $10 a visit plus money for products was not helping me at all. I am trying to eat as many fruits and vegetables in moderation accompanied by benzyle peroxide and salicylic acid by OXY. Anyway, just saying hi.