LOL I love your name. At times when i would suddenly get a new pimple, the first thing i would say is dieacnedie! Haha, i swear its like a favourite line about acne. OKay back on topic...

Beginning acne at a really young age is really heartbreaking, i first had acne when i was 10. It was akward, and kids of that age are really mean about what they say. Now i realize that im pretty much stuck with it forever, and sorry to say it but you are probably as well.

You need to find an effective reginm that works for you and stick to it forever. Sounds painful and tedious, but its the only way out. It is also the way to save our self-esteem and bring it up a notch. Being a girl, i dont find it hard to apply products on my face, but many men with acne find it akward to admit that they use moistizers, toners, etc. So i can understand what you mean by, being exhausted of using the products.

Plus i only use acne medications at night, not in the day because of the sheen it leaves behind.

On JUly 1st, my parents wanted the whole family to go out for canada day, but obliviously i did not want to do out. First of all, it was really sunny, and i did not want to stay in the sun for so long, and most importantly the ACNE. When i told my parents that i didnt want to go, they took it the wrong way and thought that i didnt like to spend time with the family, which is totally not true. We broke into a fight, and because i got so emotional, i couldnt even talk to express my acne problems, and yeah.... Happens every year.

Sometimes i think that we are the less unfortuante ones, but honestly i think everyone is both unfortunate and lucky. Acne may be our downfall, but there also maybe so many great things in our lives that other people do not have. I think in a way it balances us out, eventhough it is very painful. But then again, even if we had another downfall (like a broken leg) it would be just as painful.

Thinking like that, helps to keep me postitive and brings up my self esteem. I hope i helped make you feel a little better. Take care and good luck

Heh glad you like my username. I was feeling angry at my acne when I made this account haha. I sort of feel like I am at war with my acne sometimes, so the nickname felt appropriate.

"Now i realize that im pretty much stuck with it forever, and sorry to say it but you are probably as well."

Yea I am starting to believe that I will be dealing with this all of my life. That is really depressing. I've been trying to find an effective acne regimen for years, but nothing seems to help enough. I usually see small improvements, but anything really drying to the acne also irritates my skin so I either have to cut back on the frequency I apply it, which also means it will not help the acne as much, or sometimes I even have to switch to something else. Also,there are adults who have told me they used to have horrible acne when they were younger and they have none anymore. So I still have a small sliver of hope that maybe my acne is hormonal and will die down in a few years.

I've tried not using acne products in the morning to avoid the residue and stuff, but my acne is so bad that when I do that, it looks worse then when I do apply the medication in the morning too. I also find that moisturizers make my face really oily and shiny looking, but then if I don't apply them the acne medication makes my skin get red and irritated. So lose lose situation haha.

Your Canada day situation sounds so familiar to my own experiences with my family and others. I never really told my parents why I said no so often to going out and doing things with them and I bet they felt a little hurt or like I didn't enjoy being around them. A few weeks ago when I was visiting them I sort of broke down and let it all out a bit and told my mom the reason why I always say no to doing things with them was because I didn't want to show my face full of acne. It would probably help you too if you just admitted this to your parents so they don't feel hurt or angry at you. Seems like my mom is a little more understanding after I admitted this to her.

I know lots of people have bad things to deal with in their lives, and that acne can seem trivial when compared to life-threatening problems, but when it affects my life so much I think it matters still. I think the thing that annoys me the most is that it's not a problem that stays the same. If I had a broken leg, at least the condition doesn't flucutate. Your leg is broken or it's not, it doesn't heal then get worse depending on the day. Like I wish I just had scars or something on my face instead of acne. At least it would be something unchanging that I could grow to accept. Acne is just so draining because its unpredictable and you have to deal with it every day.

Well thanks for replying to me. Is nice to talk about this at least. I try to think positive, but it's hard. I tend to think pretty realistically/logically about things, so I find it hard to get over this since I know my acne really does look bad and it is not just me imagining it haha.

I can relate to feeling like you have to avoid social situations and so on, and about planning ahead so you can try and prepare yourself or try and improve your skin as much as possible before the event. The one thing I used to hate, and indeed it still gets the better of me sometimes, is when spur-of-the-moment things would come up and I wouldn't feel like I could go out. Seemed like everyone was happy to go out and do whatever, whenever they liked, and I realised I had a problem I had to deal with. I naturally do prefer to plan and organise things, but I started using it as an excuse. It's a slippery slope and, as far as my social circle is concerned, I'm certainly paying for those mistakes now. But, I can turn it around. Just as you can turn your current situation with your skin and how you respond to it around as well.

I've come to realise that most of the time, most people don't even care what our skin is like because they're busy going about their own daily routines. The only reason we think people see it and it stands out a mile is because we look at it close up and focus on it. People simply don't view you in that way, it's not human nature. I could walk around with clear skin or a bad breakout and I don't suppose people will treat me differently either way. I wouldn't have said that in my teens, as I was bullied about my skin through school, but most adults seem to keep their thoughts to themselves, assuming they actually bother to think anything of it of course.

Whether my skin is bad or clear, the one thing which brings me down is the approach I take to myself and how I feel about my own image. Even with clear skin sometimes, I can still look in the mirror and not really like myself. That's just my lack of self esteem and me being stupid. I should just go about my business and hold my head up high. That's what gets us through, that's where the confidence comes from. People perceive that as confidence and it appeals to them, and they've no reason to think that we're trying to fake our way through until we get to where we want to be.

No matter what your skin is like, you are who you are and you should try and learn to accept it in order to find peace and be happy and comfortable being you. Just as we all need to. It takes time, but it can be done. And as long as you're working on fixing your skin problems, that's a huge part of the battle that you're tackling right there. The next part is to improve your mentality. It's hard to break the habits but you can do it one step at a time. Don't hang around and wait to fix your skin first because it doesn't that way. I fell into the trap of thinking, 'If I clear my skin, all my other issues will go', but that's not the case. For the most part, I've solved a lot of my skin problems, but the other issues are still there. That proves to me that they don't go hand in hand and that they are separate issues. But they can all be fixed, you just have to address them and beat them with a positive attitude. Sometimes easier said than done - my skin was bad this time last week and it really freaked me out, for example - and the odd setback is to be expected, but you can get there eventually.

hey! ok so I'm still in my teens and going through puberty and all that fun stuff so my skin is not really at it's finest! I do struggle with it and will not leave the house without my foundation on, and I don't go outside very much because I feel like my acne is obvious under the sun, despite being an extremely athletic person!

I have found a few tips that have made my acne appear much better and far less irritated that I will share with you:

1. You should wash your face at least once a day, but don't fall into product scams! whatever cleanser u use it will only really be on your face for 30 seconds, so just choose something that will get the job! a cleanser isn't going to clear your acne, it's just a crucial step to have a clean face! I love cetaphil, but I've been using a Korean brand recently called The Face Shop and their stuff is amazing!

2. next, give your skin time to breathe and get sleep! this may not apply to u as much but I wear makeup and it's important to take it off and put nothing on your face (no treatments or anything) from time to time. I do this on weekends! your face needs a chance to heal and become resilient! we bombard our faces in so many products and honestly our skin loses it's ability to care for itself!

3. get a retinoid! I got a prescription for one and everything on my face heals so fast!!!

4. don't let it get to you! I get so hurt by acne and I don't talk to people because of it, which is silly! it's just everyone else seems to have perfect skin, but we should still be confident in who we are! it's not easy at all I still sometimes skip school cuz of my skin. who knows how long we will have acne and I DONT WANT TO LOOK BACK AT MY LIFE AND KNOW THAT I NEVER TOOK OPPORTUNITIES BECAUSE OF SOME STUPID LOUSY SKIN CONDITION! I don't want to remember myself of someone who hid from life cuz of acne, because then that's all people see!

I know it's hard, but there is more to you than acne and focus on the positive!

hope everything works out for you

I know exactly how you feel! Back in high school when I had severe cystic acne, I used to cry my eyes out whenever a huge social even was planned. Such as a trip to disneyland and my graduation. I decided against going to disneyland with my classmates BECAUSE of acne. I didn't want to sleep in a hotel room full of my pretty classmates while sitting there with my nekkid ugly face.

Around my graduation I started Retin-A, so I broke out A LOT. I sobbed for days because my graduation photos would end up being ugly. And guess what? They were. I still cry when I look at those photos. They're disgusting.

People are always so quick to judge those with acne and its not fair. It is also no reason to hide at home either. If that's a current photo of you as your display, you're pretty handsome! Acne isn't forever, I hope. I'm still battling with it after 7 years. My biggest fear is people judging me. I have moderate acne and I still get rude comments. Don't let those around you bring you down. You're a good looking dude, don't let acne ruin your fun. You may not want to hang out with family for Fourth of July, but do something fun! Go out!

Don't let acne bring you down. Its the worst thing in the world, I know, but don't let it get to you. You're not alone in this, you have this entire community of people who feel just like you.

Well, you could keep living your life the way you are now...or you could do something about it.