Hi, Im new here. I need advice and psychological help in regards to coping with long term acne.
I have tried so many products for the past 16years and I can honestly say all have made my skin worse.
Im in my 30s and Im sick of people thinking its simple and easy to cure. Also people think buying me loads of acne products for Xmas and birthdays will work and none have.
I use use very hot water in the shower and tried almost every acne wash cleanser exfoliate product and I just need facts not more damage to my skin and my mental health.
My my skin is red all the time. Clogged severely and very dehydrated and premature skin aging around chin etc.
My skin kin constantly looks dirty and after showering at least 2x a day my face is full of dead skin and sebum stick out that is impossible to remove and turns brown.
I wash ash my face for about 20minutes in hot water and use things like Paulas choice cleanser and exfoliate wash. If I dont wash my face for this length of time it gets more clogged. I feel everything I use clogs and dehydrates.
All the dead skin looks dirty and Im washing more than anyone I know.
Im mentally sick of it now. I feel every product is clogging and its already severely clogged.
Im really tired of how people treat me because of my congested damaged dehydrated greasy nose horrible skin.
I always look look like my skin is dirty and im very fair skinned and im just sick of all this.
I believe eve that the cosmetic companies are causing more damage by putting crap to clog our pores and Im sick of paying for all these products that dont work and those companies are getting rich and dont care what cheap crap they put in them.
Im honestly really not coping with this constant stress and routines and just sick of it all.
How do you all mentally cope? Because I feel horrible and severely depressed with this.
Theres no no fix is there??
Feeling really shit everyday and IM OBVIOUSLY DOING EVERYTHING ALL WRONG AND FOR THE LAST 16YEARS.
Any advice please?
Thanks
You're saying what many of us acne sufferers feel. It sucks to be dealing with this and it's made worse once you leave the teenage years and enter into adulthood (i'm 34 myself and still dealing with it). In regard to mentally coping, i find that it's best to acknowledge your frustrations and sadness but to do so in the framework of facts vs opinions. In other words, be very mindful of what you tell yourself. Its ok to say "I have acne, it makes me feel uncomfortable and i don't like it." It's however unproductive and somewhat destructive to say, "My acne makes me ugly. I'll never be able to ........Nobody will ever love me." That negative self talk can have us believing that that is fact when in fact it is not.
I've been on and off acne meds since i was 16 and i am still struggling. All i can say is hang in there. Do what you are able to, go into treatments with little to no expectations and every time you feel like hiding, get up and go anyway It may not have an impact on your acne but it'll allow you to develop a mindset that you can get through everything even while you are struggling.
You seriously need to stop showering so often and turn down the temperature of your water. It's not the cause of your acne but it is not helping your skin by stripping it of its natural sebum so often. I know it feels frustrating to be stuck with this persistent nasty painful condition but obsessive cleanliness is obviously not the answer. I cured my acne by researching demodex and realizing they were the cause of my acne.