Hey ladies,
For as long I've known her, my former girlfriend has had pretty bad acne on her face and on her back. When I first met her, I immediately thought, "Wow, she is gorgeous," despite her having a pretty bad case of acne. But because she had acne, however, I initially thought she was unhappy and/or insecure with how she looked because I always associated it with feelings of anger, hopelessness, depression, fear, etc. I honestly thought she probably felt the same way I did when I had acne (hopeless, angry), so I was a little skeptical about getting to know her at first.
She did end up proving me wrong, however, which I can't be more grateful for. Our relationship was initially a friendship, and as I spent more time around her, I realized she smiled and laughed a lot - a lot more than any other person I had ever known. I don't think I've ever met somebody who loved life more than her, either. She was kind, selfless, and caring, and she always seemed to put others' well beings before her own.
I can't lie, she was quickly becoming more and more gorgeous to me as time went on. In fact, I remember thinking, "This girl is the most beatiful friend I've ever had." Lol. Acne wasn't even in the equation, anymore. Then again, it never really was. I remember being so irrevocably attracted to her on so many more levels than on just her physicality - the latter having already been gorgeous. So, as you can imagine, it was becoming increasingly difficult composing myself around her due to the overwhelming urge to tell her how I really felt. I eventually did, of course, admitting my love for her and that she was the most beautiful entity in the universe. To my surprise, she felt the same way and had been waiting for me all along. Oh, good times.
Anyway, the point is that we're our own worst critics and that acne cannot render a person "not beautiful." You may think that you're not pretty or beautiful or good enough, but I'm telling you, it's not freaking true. I can't emphasize the last statement enough. Your minds deem those negative thoughts to be true, but reality says otherwise. Like I said, my former girlfriend had what acne.org would rate as moderate-severe acne, and she was still freaking gorgeous - raised to the googolplex power.
I really hope my saying this helps you in some way, or that you take what I'm saying into consideration. Also, please don't think that I'm saying this ONLY for the reason to make you feel better, because that's not my intention at all. I'm telling you this because it's the honest-to-God truth. And I truly care about you, even though I don't know you. Yah I know, weird guy on the internet cares about me, right? Anyway, I really hope you girls out there find peace. Guys, same applies.
What a great post! Really, thank you for this, this will undoubtedly help those girls (and boys) out there with low self esteem and low self-worth because of the impact acne has had on them. Thank you for helping to restore some positivity and hope! (Also your girlfriend sounds really sweet, as do you 
)
...The point is that we're our own worst critics and that acne cannot render a person "not beautiful." You may think that you're not pretty or beautiful or good enough, but I'm telling you, it's not freaking true. I can't emphasize the last statement enough. Your minds deem those negative thoughts to be true, but reality says otherwise. Like I said, my former girlfriend had what acne.org would rate as moderate-severe acne, and she was still freaking gorgeous - raised to the googolplex power.I really hope my saying this helps you in some way, or that you take what I'm saying into consideration. Also, please don't think that I'm saying this ONLY for the reason to make you feel better, because that's not my intention at all. I'm telling you this because it's the honest-to-God truth. And I truly care about you, even though I don't know you. Yah I know, weird guy on the internet cares about me, right?
severity,
Thank you so much for this most important reminder. We truly ought silence the dreaded inner critic and realize that others do not view us as harshly as we view ourselves. And if they do, they've no business being in our lives. Just my $0.02. 
Every guy I'd ever dated had perfect skin, which made me feel rather freakish. After all, aren't we females "supposed" to have a glowing, dewy complexion? I'd dated one guy for 2 years, 4 months and only ever saw one--ONE!--small pimple on his face. Yes, life felt rather unfair at times. And, yet, the young men I'd dated never seemed to judge me for my skin imperfections. That fact, in and of itself, kind of weirded me out at times. I'd wonder, Why can't So-And-So seem to see what I see in the mirror? Perhaps the guys were seeing what I could not, blinded as I was by my obsession with my skin.
I've been married for 10 years now and can still feel insecure about my appearence around my husband. And I could swear that, most days, he can't tell when I'm wearing foundation or not--hard to believe, but seemingly true. LOL
P.I.
I think it's something we all relate to, in terms of feeling like acne could be a deal-breaker as far as relationships are concerned or whether people would find us attractive. And I don't know about anyone else, but I never really felt like people would take the time to look beyond my acne or search for my good qualities which essentially cancel it out. Ironically. I know I could do exactly that where others are concerned, with total ease, and that all the little things I might come to love about a person as I got to know them would certainly cancel out something comparatively trivial such as acne. In fact, I often wonder about and hope that I'm lucky enough to one day meet the person I feel that way about.
Perhaps it's just a self-esteem thing, whereby we have to work hard to believe in our good qualities and the things that make us who we are, build on them and let them be the things people notice first and focus on the most. After all, maybe in those times when we're struggling or even just feeling down or insecure, we would do well to remember that acne or physical appearance in general don't even remotely deserve to be the things that define us.
This is so lovely, but I cant grasp it. Everyone tells me its really not that noticeable and people dont notice it, but whenever I get a breakout I womt leave the house.
Co-sign; what people say may or may not be true, but it won't be true to me unless I believe it to be. But to the OP, your gal seems to be pretty lucky to have someone like you, thanks for the post.
I really like this post! Thank you for sharing. It's always good to share with people that not only can you love and find someone beautiful with acne, but you can love them WITH their acne...it's not always a matter of looking past it. It is more a matter of accepting that person for everything they are, flaws and all. Because we all know, physical flaws are sometimes the parts of someone we find the most endearing. =)
Cheers for posting this, you're totally right! At my lowest I couldn't go out of the house without six layers of foundation on. Now I don't care as much. You have to look in the mirror and realize that you're still the same person, with the same facial features, and if you think you're 'ugly' well then sir that's not your acne's fault, that's self induced through low self esteem. You're always you no matter what's on your face, and anybody that judges you quite frankly isn't worth losing sleep over. Forget about them. Reality is what we chose to accept and think about.
that was such an awesome post and it made me feel so much better today! thank you! i always cry to my hubby over my skin and he always tells me he thinks i am beautiful and its not a big deal but sometimes i feel like such an embarrassment to him. i wish i could just accept it and get past it but i cant for some reason. i will try and remain positive though and remind myself that i have such a great life besides this acne crap.
