I read a lot of threads about people struggling to deal with acne. No idea what to do or how to approach it.
I am going to do my best to give a no nonsense "how to guide" for lack of a better term.
My personal experience with acne. I have been on acne.ore since 2002. I have had acne for 16 years. I am now 28. It is there, i do what i can to control it, beyond that it is just a simple case of getting on with it.
I have been through the depression, sitting in my house not wanting to go out and socialise. However not is no longer the case.
Acceptance
This is the key to the whole thing. There is no cure for acne fact. So stop thinking that right away. All there is, is ongoing treatment.
How do you accept it? Well that is down to the individual. However my acceptance started when one day i saw a girl on the street with her friends. She was laughing an joking with her friends and didn't have a care in the world. When i looked over i noticed she only had one arm. I started to think that this girl is had a traumatic experience, lost her arm but she is still enjoying life. That put things into perspective for me. Things could have been a lot worse for me but it made me realise what i had in life.
Also i started losing my friends and i lost my girlfriend at the time. Not because of acne but because of my depressive ways. It was only once i lost everything that i was free to do anything. However it took the loss of all that for me to realise i was going nowhere and needed to grow as person. The moral to that is be appreciative of what you have in life. Write a list of that is good in your life and keep it close for those times you feel down.
You're not perfect so stop trying to be
I personally believe our hang ups with acne come from the media. We live in a society that demands perfection but the human race is far from perfect. In that case how can we ever hope to match the demands of society? We can't so stop trying.
Everyone i know has an insecurity about something, ours is acne, others it can be their nose, height, weight, hair, breast size you name it. In that regard we are no different and we have to find ways of dealing with it. All the best looking celebs don't really look like they do on t.v take Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, both have terrible acne scars. Those of you with HD T.V's will know they pick up every imperfection. They are just the same as us
Find a treatment that works for you
This takes a lot of trial and error. Short of accutane i've tried everything out there. However i find people give up to easily with treatments. I use DKR from this site. It's the only thing that keeps me clear, however it took 6 months for it to work and if i want to work even now i still have to treat my face twice a day. You're in for the long haul with treatment so take a seat and get comfortable.
Get a hobby
Find something you enjoy doing that stops you thinking about acne every second of everyday. Yes thinking about it is soul destroying. For me i love training in the gym and am reasonably well educated on nutrition. It stops me thinking about for an hour a day and it is a huge help.
What if?
What if your doctor told you were dying from a terminal illness. You only have 6 months left to live. Would you sit there feeling sorry for yourself or go out and make everyday count? I'd go make everyday count as i do now. Every time i feel down about acne i ask myself that very question. If i had only 6 months left, acne would be the last thing on my mind. Live today like the world will end tomorrow.
Stay away from depressing place and people
Now this will sound cruel. As much as i love this site and as much as i want to help sometimes i have to not come to this site. The reason is, other peoples words, thoughts and feelings can be very contagious. It is important to surround yourself with positive people. Positive attitudes are also contagious and can be a great mental booster.
Sort your diet out
Bad diet is on of the biggest cause of lack of energy and depression. Essentially depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain. When i started taking care of my nutrition and changed my life style i started to feel better even with full blown acne on my face. Also my acne wasn't so aggressive. Nutrition didn't cure my acne but it certainly helps but it did cure my depression. After that i was able to function as a person and was able to deal with my acne which has enabled me to write this thread.
I hope this helps. Good luck and happiness to all.
Brilliant post and couldn't have been better timing in my life. I love this site, I've been coming here periodically for years now. However, I haven't been on the boards for roughly one year (still battling acne for almost 15 years now, i'm 27). I had to take a LONG hiatus as I couldn't cope with the negative energy. I completely empathise with the boards users, but some of the posts were making me severely depressed. I'm trying to adopt a more positive mindset and dedicate my time to things that I have a passion for, as this helps me cope with acne somewhat.
Brilliant post and couldn't have been better timing in my life. I love this site, I've been coming here periodically for years now. However, I haven't been on the boards for roughly one year (still battling acne for almost 15 years now, i'm 27). I had to take a LONG hiatus as I couldn't cope with the negative energy. I completely empathise with the boards users, but some of the posts were making me severely depressed. I'm trying to adopt a more positive mindset and dedicate my time to things that I have a passion for, as this helps me cope with acne somewhat.
That's great to hear.
If you can adopt a positive mindset then that is 80% of the job done.
Keep it up and keep going. Lead by example, lead by being positive.
Really glad to see this, I feel like there is a large amount of people who just don't think realistically enough about their situation but it's very impressive how you have showed yourself and others that we can deal with our situation without constantly resorting to negativity. There is a certain wisdom that we need to get through it alright and that's what you have. Sometimes we are made to feel that we should feel bad about our skin issues and that we are not going to be accepted because of our issues, it's these people that are at fault not us.