Greetings fellow acne sufferer,

I've also been a long-time lurker who never decided to interact with fellow community members. In fact, this constitutes my second post.

Your post really hit home with me on various levels. Most importantly, I'm inclined to agree with your assessment on acne potentially being a symptom of lackluster health. I'm currently suffering one of my worst outbreaks at age 37. At first I was puzzled and tried to deduce what prompted this unfortunate episode. With the help of my family members and friends (and reading Dan's blogs), I identified several self-defeating behaviors that preceeded my acne flare-up. In the last two weeks I tried Darque Tan sunbooth, slept 3 hours a night, went to McDonald's four times, ate an inadequate amount of vegetables, and stopped taking my flax seed oil and vitamins.

Now I'm reaping the harvest I've sown. Of course, sometimes acne appears for no particular reason. But, I think it's important to look at health from a holistic perspective. As somebody who studies psychology and addictive medicine, I'm acutely aware of how psychological factors and stressors impact our physical well-being.

Sometimes I wonder why I allow myself to become so stressed and neurotic about skin imperfections. It's wise to seek out health care professionals and be proactive about our health, but is it really necessary to let our well-being hinge on whether or not we're having a bad skin day?

I think we both would be better off acknowledging, as you have, that there are worse things in this world than skin damage. The great philospher and psychologist, Albert Ellis, used to cite Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. One of my favorite quotes goes something like this: "People and things cannot disturb us; we disturb ourselves by BELIEVING than can upset us." So quite literally, acne cannot make us angry and depressed unless we tell ourself something nutty. Instead of engaging in rational self talk, we catastrophize. A rational statement would be, "I feel healthfully disappointed about my acne but it won't kill me; it's merely an inconvenience." Unfortunately, it's quite easy to fall into the trap of telling ourselves something irrational and self-defeating such as "Because I have pimples on my face my life is quite unliveable and I'll only be happy when my face is clearer."

True self-acceptance is accepting the proposition that you might never get a clear face, and even if that's the case you'll love yourself and find ways to make yourself happy. Of course, it's wise to do your best to take care of your health and appearance. But in the interim period we needlessly harm ourselves by criticizing our flaws and imperfections. We probably don't do our skin any favors by becoming panicked or depressed over the condition of our skin.

Anyway, I wish you the best success in your quest to become clear. I'm on the same journey - although I'm currently on the downswing. I would have thought my acne days would be over 15 years ago. My plan is to be proactive and obtain the best advice and healtcare I can find (or afford) so I can maximize my chances of a clear face. I've been cycling for the last two decades and I hope to experiment with new natural and conventional treatments.

Best of luck,

Jeffrey