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While all this is true and lovely, and while i am really happy to see all the kind words of this community:
I personaly am not going to stop trying to get rid of acne. it hurts. If i can find a way to get rid of the sores that crop up day after day then i will never have to accept my skin condition.
I plan to grow above this illness, because if i accept that i am going to have it for the rest of my life then i would prob see no point in using pills that cause urinary tract infections, eye infections, and birth defects.
I struggle so i can fix a medical condition, not accept a cosmetic deformation.
Also: i see plenty of happy people around without acne who look great: i want to be one of those people!
Sometimes when I have a really inflamed breakout and don't feel like going out of the house, I think to myself that I will go out and represent the minority of people who do suffer from breakouts. Then you realize it's not that big of a deal. Having a full-time job where you have to work with the public helped me out in this department a lot.
Also, for the people who do notice it and do have a problem with it are the people I wouldn't want to know anyway.
I think having acne also makes me more "human." Not everyone is perfect. Not everyone wears make-up or is airbrushed. Even when I do have perfect skin I am still insecure. So I just might as well tackle my insecurity and realize obsessing over skin is a symptom not the problem.
I think acne is also a true blessing in disguise. A lot of the times you can make it better by taking better care of yourself. I gave up smoking and my skin improved. Also when I work out and eat right, drink water and take vitamins and do the DKR, my skin dramatically improves and I feel better mentally as well.
You are your own worst enemy 99.9% of the time.
I just read through this post and I can see that everyone has their opinion, but truth is, most everyone suffers from acne at some point in their life. I for one can't accept acne and if you have bad acne then you understand. I have moderate acne in my opinion, but I feel less confident everytime I walk out of my house. If you have had acne for any amount of time you understand what it does to you. Yes, we can say that we would rather have someone with acne over a bad personality, but to what extreme? We feel so low and beaten by acne that most our personalities suffer anyway. I do everything I can to fight my breakouts and I want it gone. I never want to suffer again. Mentally we beat ourselves up about it and we feel that we can't get anywhere in life, depression and so on. We stay in our homes, call in sick to work, avoid talking to people and everything else under the sun. Never accept ACNE but LOVE yourself. I know this kind of sounds corny but if you don't love yourselves and accept yourselves for who you are then no one will. Be you, but never stop fighting acne, staying clear is like buying a new car or getting something you've been wanting or saving up for. Its so great looking in the mirror and not have red or white dots on your face. Bottom line accecpt who you are, but always be the best you can, your not perfect, no one is. If I had the cure I'd gladly give it to you all.
ok I'll tell you something fellas. Since I never had horrible acne, I have learned to live with it. I was just avoiding mirrors etc. "accepting" acne was the biggest mistake of my life. It started to leave scars. Recently i started taking accutane and im pimple-free, but i have lots of indents and they look 100x worse than acne.
My advice- never accept fucking acne, do everything you can to stop those fucking pimples because it can ruin your face and life, just like it has ruined mine.
Thanks
Then why is it I've seen plenty of attractive men and women who have acne? Sure, extremely severe acne can look unattractive, but it doesn't mean that someone with severe acne is forced to be alone or that someoen will not view them as attractive.
idk and i dun really care coz I wannna be attractive person without acne and not attractive person with acne!
i doncare about alone stuff or who the fck would find or find me not attractive, i know the best whats attractive and whats not, and teh fck ACNE IS UGLY, no matter the yadda yadda
and lolol u would rather date someone with acne than bad personality..ish like whatever? and la la la how looks dosnt matter but personality thing, is kinda getting old by now and im def not buying this stuff anymore..
The purpose of this thread is to get people to realize that acne does NOT control your life, and that while no one wants it, it does not stop you from doing things you want to do in your life. YOU are stopping you based on your mindset. And this thread is promoting having a healthy outlook on yourself and on things that you cannot always control. And no, people do not care about your face. I did not have anyone come up to me today and go "JESUS CHRIST, look at those three pustules on your chin and all your scarring! That's fucking nasty!" and no one gave me any look as though they were completely focused on my skin. Even those that I saw with bad acne, I really didn't look at their skin all that much. Sure, I noticed it, but it didn't make me think any less of them.
for your information, NO, it DOES control your life, and does on many levels actually
alzo it does stop from doing alot of things (like fe i wanna do looking without acne in my life, but somehow I cant?)
and people do not care about my face? well duh, lol its not like any stranger guy will come at me and be like- hey kid, u wanna this clean and clear i randomly have? or somebody randomly run at me with cotton pad to wipe away some of my acne shiz straightly like that. but people do stare, girlies do give ew looks, not that i care for girlies opinions (well duh ahahah) but it pisses me that some monkey is actually right for giving those ew looks, I mean id give myself 100 of ew looks any time of da day.
And to the other poster, you will NEVER be perfect. Even if you think you are perfect, eventually you will see something new that is now a flaw. YOu think that people with clear skin view themselves as being perfect? They could hate their nose, their weight, their body shape, their lips, their teeth, and even mental and emotional aspects of themselves. There is no perfection, and once you learn to realize and accept that you can never truly be perfect, then you will be able to be happy.
if id be that other person id say- hey, dont u never on me here! all the frikkin flawz must be elimenated! u can go and accept, adapt, be grateful, be happy about sun shining on your face and little butterfly flying past and what not etc all u want (might as well go back to cave and adapt there then lol) its not like we dont know about perfection thing, but there just IS things (LIKE ACNE FE DUH) that just wont be tolerated evar, like nuh uuuh!! and must be like MOOORDERED from this earth away!
..duh
I have to wonder if some of these posts are from trolls. 
It's a great post and it goes beyond acne- this type of thinking is essential to happiness IMO. To all the people that think "accepting yourself" means never trying to improve things- it's not! it's about getting on with your life even while you're trying to improve things.
lol i dont choose to let acne control my life, its acne that chooses that and controls it, not me, duh
its not like u are one and only person or that all ppl are of a one kind of thinking, besides its not like this ew look thing is only example of possible shit situations with acne available, and no matter how proudly u got through it and handled it, it still happened and sucked and acne sucks and that is a fact and u know it
yea whatev
also for like 137th time im not gonna accept acne, its like wow noway evar! 
so just for u all hypers about accepting acne:
accepting acne is no different than accepting someone punching u in a face.
its destroying ur face (confidence, life etc etcz) but u are like...erm accepting it? 
Hey guys!
I actually commented on another post about a month ago about something similar to this topic. I talked about my father who outgrew his acne. My dad has beautiful, extremely low maintenance skin today, but he has tonnes of pitted scarring from the acne he had suffered from when he was younger.
I feel as if all I do is share the stories of acne-proned people in my life. But I feel the need to do it, because in all honesty, they are the ones who have left the most lasting impression on not just me, but the people around them as well.
I have an aunt who at 40, STILL has acne. She is one of the most INCREDIBLE women in the world, and I'm not just saying that to pompously "glorify" or like Nicky said, "glamourise" her.
Despite having acne and very oily skin, she is so unbelievably beautiful. What makes her extremely attractive (yes, she's had her share of boys chasing after her) is her attitude towards life.
She's never met her dad, she had to live with her relatives when she was younger (due to their financial situation), and she also lost her mother when she was only in her 30s.
Yet, when you talk to her, NEVER and I mean NEVER will you feel any form of insecurity or discomfort radiating from her personality. She has always said that life is beautiful, and it's meant to be lived with gratitude. Every single week, she does an extensive prayer of ONLY thanksgiving. No requests, no complaints, just PURE thanksgiving to what she has.
She has never let acne stop her from living her life. She's now a very successful worker in her field (I'd like to keep her profession private), and has 2 beautiful children. She loves to eat, so she'll eat whatever she wants. Life is absolutely WAYYYY too short to deprive yourself of the joys that it brings to you.
I know for a fact that if/when my aunt clears her acne, it would NEVER change her personality. Her state of happiness is not reliant on any external circumstances. She is quite lucky that she's one of those people who considers herself lucky, and sees all of life's events as miracles.
I will also add that despite what we see and what we're meant to believe in television, my aunt has NEVER been taunted by her acne. If anything, almost everyone agrees that she's a very beautiful woman.
Anyway, to go back to Nicky's topic about learning to accept acne. To me, each of us reach a certain level of clarity, which may be the clearest we can be. Some can go to 100%, others 80%, etc. It's kind of like our natural body shape. I think we all have a natural "clear skin" shape at certain points of our lives. Maybe one day it'll get clearer, but we should never get stagnant and wait for that day to come, because we're not gonna be here for very long. Our time will come eventually, and you don't want to look back on these years and realize how much you've missed out on the beauty of our world.
Do what you can to get it clear. Surely, with all those efforts that you've put into, at least one of them is bound to work. To those that work, stick to it and forget the rest. Enjoy life. Seriously, you deserve it.
And remember, don't let ANYONE ever make you feel ashamed about yourself and your decisions in life.
If you choose to go on Accutane, then no one SHOULD ever stop/scare you from your decision to do it. Same thing for birth control, diet changes, topicals, etc. But don't obsess! This holds especially true for the younger members out there, who are around my age (20s). Historical observations have revealed that the brain is at its most "agile" around the 20s age. Wouldn't you want to use all of that brain power to good use? Learn a language. Master an instrument. Provide education to children who don't have the means to it.
Because one day, we will all perish.
Okay, I think this post has been going on for too long now. Sorry if it got a little dramatic towards the end, but I wanted to add my 2 cents, because there doesn't seem to be a lot of spiritually overcoming acne topics on here.
Nicky, your story is SOOOO moving. I will honestly hold you near and dear to my heart for the rest of my life.
I agree with the OP. He's a smart guy.
There is a difference between accepting the acne, and doing nothing to get rid of your acne. You can still treat your acne, but the problem is that people get so wrapped up in the spots and the final outcome of being clear that they don't live. We think we'll live when we get rid of it, and that life isn't worth living without clear skin, but there is a small chance we'll never get clear and then what? Would you be happy having wasted your life worrying about acne? If so, good. Do what you want, it's your life. But the OP chose to be happy and that's awesome.
This thread is about accepting how things are now, even though they are less than optimal, and still enjoying life WHILE you're searching for the cure, because you never know how long that will take.
You never know, self acceptance may be your cure.
^^^ well what if self acceptance WAS the cure? And that the only way you're going to get rid of acne is if you just let it go? What would you do then?
Personally, I think for a lot of people, their poor self esteem and emotions are coming out on their face. Skin is an organ, and it's connected to your mind... there are nerve endings all over it. You'll notice tons of people saying on here that once they stop thinking about their acne so much, it totally settles down.
So what's it gonna be then? You want so desperately to be clear that you refuse to accept that life can be lived with acne, but what if that is the paradox?? What if it was the ONLY way to get clear? What would you do??
^^^ well what if self acceptance WAS the cure? And that the only way you're going to get rid of acne is if you just let it go? What would you do then?
Personally, I think for a lot of people, their poor self esteem and emotions are coming out on their face. Skin is an organ, and it's connected to your mind... there are nerve endings all over it. You'll notice tons of people saying on here that once they stop thinking about their acne so much, it totally settles down.
So what's it gonna be then? You want so desperately to be clear that you refuse to accept that life can be lived with acne, but what if that is the paradox?? What if it was the ONLY way to get clear? What would you do??
It's definitely a long road though, especially if you've had that sort of mindset for years. Surprisingly, I did not worry about my acne until just two years ago (I had worse acne before that), but it feels like I've been worrying about it since high school. I think that I had just accepted it before as a natural part of myself, rather than something to be scrutinized in the mirror.
A friend once told me that certain things are just bound to happen, and all that you can do at that point is to move on. Not sure if he meant it for something as darn persistent as acne, but I think that it is still applicable. I guess that I'm trying to working on just telling myself that all of that constantly worrying about it will not make the pimples or the leftover scars heal any quicker.
^^^ well what if self acceptance WAS the cure? And that the only way you're going to get rid of acne is if you just let it go? What would you do then?
Personally, I think for a lot of people, their poor self esteem and emotions are coming out on their face. Skin is an organ, and it's connected to your mind... there are nerve endings all over it. You'll notice tons of people saying on here that once they stop thinking about their acne so much, it totally settles down.
So what's it gonna be then? You want so desperately to be clear that you refuse to accept that life can be lived with acne, but what if that is the paradox?? What if it was the ONLY way to get clear? What would you do??
wow, idk to whom ur saying this but ill say my opinionz 
if self acceptance was the cure then it would be just..ughhh 
it would be like idk the hardest possible thing to do for a treatment? o__0 bcz wut if u hate yoself with or without acne, regardless? well anywayz if this would be the cure then damn it would be soo crazy hard to do 8/ ofc id try to do so (id do anything? :/), in fact im trying n trying to work on self acceptance blah thing already but ykno..u ppl just think its easy as that! but for some ppl n personally me too, i rly see no way for me to ever accept myself, no. 
bcz im not even me 
maybe/i hope its diff for u every1 else?..but i simply refuse live with acne like its nothing, i have bunch ass of other probz to deal with too 
n i just have no time n amount of tolerance for this shit aat all 
and acne just sucks ass, there is absolutely nothing appealing about it, other disorders at least get somekind of support, compassion or even sometimes respect from other ppl, but acne is just laaame, its not taken srsly n by peers ur just being viewed like walking ewwness, lol wuts there to accept? well im sorry maybe i rly have too much pride for fugly person lawl (u g l y u aint got no alibi! u uglee! hey hey! u ugleeee! 
) but i rly refuse to lose to others n just accept fact im lamer than others just bcz some shit ass fuking genes decided so, dam! im making rules not some biological chemical reaction compound shiz! n i dont remember ordering myself to have fugleeeh acne face evr, thats y fuk this, not gonna accept anything 
no but its rly simple gee
u look at someone with clear skin who looks fine n normal..then think what first comes to your mind, do u like how it looks?...yes. check. (instant acceptance)
now take yo mirror, look at it..think, do u like it?..if its a lol naw man. its a duh no then, no acceptance can be there >_>
Well the support structure for acne sufferers is not as well defined - there really aren't any official acne counselling groups in hospitals or acne-specific psychologists. Seems like acne is one of those hush hush or taboo topics to bring out in a conversation.
Sucks to be us.
Still though, I have to say that people with some other conditions have it worse than us, even with all their support groups. Take drug addicts, for example. Not only are they physically addicted to these, but the drugs are illegal, which leads them to jail, and are expensive. Being labelled as a former drug addict is a huge turnoff for getting good jobs anywhere.
Something that a co-worker brought to my attention that might help with all of this coping is logotherapy, which is universally used by psychologists. The guy who devised it, Viktor Frankl, is a freakin genius. I don't mean to shamelessly promote it, but at least for me, it gave me a different perspective on things. Just google it.
i agree with you man, you see there are tons of people who are in a worst place than us. but keep this in mind that you shouldnAt feel good about yourself just because you see somebody who is in a worst place than you, thatAs not how life works, if you are going to feel good about yourself than do it, but do it because life is good not because you see someone in a worst place than you.
i remember a girl from my school she had severe acne and one time she took a look at one of cameron diazAs pictures when she didnAt have no makeup and you could see her acne and my friend said now i feel much better about myself cause she is a celebrity and she still has acne. and i was like you shouldnAt feel good about yourself just because someone is in the same place as you or in a worst place.
what i mean by this is, that what would have happened if you didnAt see that girl with one arm, you will still now feel depressed? you need to learn how to feel good about yourself without the need on looking someone in a wheel chair, disfigurated, with one arm, one leg etc. i 99% agree with you in everything you said, but the thing that i didnAt like was that you felt good about yoursel when you saw that girl with one arm. that tells me that you donAt really have confident in yourself and that you need to see someone in a worst place than you so you would feel good about yourself. thatAs not right man, i know that is a good example to see people with disabilities so we would accept more who we are and we wouldnAt complain about our looks, but sometimes we shouldnAt feel good about ourselves just because we see someone in a worst place than us. is just how it is.
Hey guys.
For those of you who don't know me I am a long term member of the org. I've been here since 2002.
The aim of this thread here is to share some knowledge on how to deal with acne and the psychological effects. I want everyone to know that you can beat it and be happy.
Brief history on me. I've had acne since i was 13. I am now 26, i still have acne but i have it under control. I use the DKR which keeps me clear. Now days i do it when i can be bothered as i'm not that bothered about acne anymore. It's more physically painful when i shave if i let it get out of control as opposed to it damaging me mentally.
I've read a lot of people's stories on here, infact i remember posting a few "help me" threads when i was 18 trying to deal with it.
One thing that sticks above all else is how everyone allows acne to control them. I've been there as well. It kept me in my house for 2 years and i was depressed as hell. I spent so much time online that my online life felt more real than my actual life. However this lead to a downward spiral. I got so comfortable with my online life i started lying to people and making stuff up, albeit i would use real aspects of my life and just glamourised it.
Spending your life inside your house and on the net is not the answer. It is the worst thing you can actually do.
So why does acne destroy us mentally? Well i've come to the conclusion it's laregely down to the world we live in where we see actors on t.v who look perfect and are beatiful. We see adverts advertising beauty products and we are conditioned to believe this how we have to be. However i would say 10% of is our own ego as well. Real people don't look like this. Real people are not photoshopped to look good. No one is perfect, everyone has inperfections on their body.
The day i started to accept my acne was a day that changed my life. It was just a normal day. Everyone was out working or having a good time and the world was passing me by. I had a bad breakout that day and was feeling very low. I was coming back from my local shop and across the street i saw a group of friends laughing and joking and having fun. One girl in this group caught my eye. She only had one arm but she couldn't be any happier. I thought to myself this girl has got it a lot worse than me and look how she is enjoying her life. She had lost an arm and didn't have a care in the world.
From that day i started putting things into perspective. It took me about a year to get fully back on my feer but i got my life back. After a while breakouts just didnt bother me anymore, i just refuse to let it stop me.
We have to keep in mind that there is always someone worse off than us. Most of us have a family, a roof over our heads, we know where our next meal is coming from. I make this assumption because everyone who can read this has computer and internet access so things can't be that bad. You have to take stock of what you have in life and make the most of it.
Life is too short to let is pass you by. You have to accept that you might have acne the rest of your life. If someone told you that you only had 6 months left to live would you sit there and feel sorry for yourself or go and make everyday count? Acne is a horrible thing but it will not kill you and i for one refuse to let it stop from living. I will not be hostage to it ever again.
You are the only one who can help you. Websites like this can support you but you have to walk through that door, you have to make yourself better. The more you sit there and do nothing the harder it will be.
I was in the pits of depression 5 years ago. Now i have great friends, good family, a good job, a nice car. i go to the gym, I go out most weekends and i just bought my first house. I'm not boasting i'm just letting you know what can be done in 5 years and that you can do this to.
I'm not saying i'm anyone special, i'm not saying i'm anyone's saviour. I'm just a guy who chose to change the way things were. I may lose and lose big but atleast i can say that i tried.
thank u 
i agree with you man, you see there are tons of people who are in a worst place than us. but keep this in mind that you shouldnt feel good about yourself just because you see somebody who is in a worst place than you, thats not how life works, if you are going to feel good about yourself than do it, but do it because life is good not because you see someone in a worst place than you.
i remember a girl from my school she had severe acne and one time she took a look at one of cameron diazs pictures when she didnt have no makeup and you could see her acne and my friend said now i feel much better about myself cause she is a celebrity and she still has acne. and i was like you shouldnt feel good about yourself just because someone is in the same place as you or in a worst place.
what i mean by this is, that what would have happened if you didnt see that girl with one arm, you will still now feel depressed? you need to learn how to feel good about yourself without the need on looking someone in a wheel chair, disfigurated, with one arm, one leg etc. i 99% agree with you in everything you said, but the thing that i didnt like was that you felt good about yoursel when you saw that girl with one arm. that tells me that you dont really have confident in yourself and that you need to see someone in a worst place than you so you would feel good about yourself. thats not right man, i know that is a good example to see people with disabilities so we would accept more who we are and we wouldnt complain about our looks, but sometimes we shouldnt feel good about ourselves just because we see someone in a worst place than us. is just how it is.
I don't think it's so bad to use these things to gain a little perspective ... not to feel like you are better than this other person, but just that although we aren't that blessed to be acne prone, we have a lot of beautiful abundance blessings in our lives that we tend to ignore or forget.
I agree w/ the above poster
I will never accept acne or bad skin
I must be perfect
Only then will I be truly happy
You'll never be happy then. I have yet to come across the perfect human being and highly doubt I ever will. Nor will anyone else as they don't exist.
And good post Nicky. I remember you from back in the day and you were a good poster back then too. Staying inside and online really is unhealthy and I agree that one can live through an Internet persona and lose touch with reality. I've been down that road myself when I was younger. Anyways, nice to hear things are going so well for you and hopefully more people follow your advice. Acne is devastating but it doesn't mean your life is over because of it.
I don't think it's so bad to use these things to gain a little perspective ... not to feel like you are better than this other person, but just that although we aren't that blessed to be acne prone, we have a lot of beautiful abundance blessings in our lives that we tend to ignore or forget.