Around the time I started high school, the tiny bumps on my forehead came back but it was nothing I couldn't deal with. I switched to the Exposed Skin Care regimen and bought myself a Clarisonic. Everything was under control until I turned 14. The acne on my forehead became bigger and redder so I went back to the GP and was prescribed Differin. It took about two months to clear up the bulk of it. However, a few months later the cystic acne returned over my face and I felt extremely insecure about it. They were painful red bumps that were really noticeable and it even with makeup it looked terrible. This time, I begged my mom to take me to see the GP again. The GP prescribed me with tetracycline which I took for about 6 months and by the end my skin was the clearest it had been in 4 years.

I definitely took this for granted. My skin had stayed clear for a solid period of time and I got used to having only the occasional pimple. When the acne came back in full force after only a few months of stopping the antibiotics it hit me harder than ever. I became extremely depressed. I hid in my room, cried a lot and lashed out at my parents constantly. In complete honesty, I felt the way I did partly because I had credited an easier life to having clear skin. I don't believe acne can prevent you from accomplishing something but because I am not a strong person, it took away my confidence and prevented me from doing a lot of things.

Anyway, I booked an appointment with my GP and spent a month in my room just counting down the days until I could receive some sort of treatment. I cried every single day. When the day finally came, my GP gave me epiduo (or tactupump depending on where youre from). I used it religiously, praying that it would work. It made my skin raw and painful to the touch. The pain made me even more frustrated and I would just cry and cry. Eventually, my skin got used to the epiduo and it would only become slightly irritated when I applied it. But still, the acne was as bad as ever. By this time my senior year had started and I spent the days hiding away and never looking anyone in the eye. I honestly felt so ugly all of the time. When I went for my follow-up the next month, my GP switched my birth control and put me back on antibiotics with a low dose for a shortened 3 months and told me to continue using the epiduo. When I ran out of the pills I would cry worrying that it would come back. I read peoples horror stories saying the acne always came back since antibiotics are never a permanent solution. I eventually realized I was wasting my time and stressing myself out for no reason. And funny enough, my acne hasnt come back since.