Okay, so this is something that I actually talked about on my personal blog, but when I came across this site I knew I had to share it with all of you. I struggled with acne for eight years and during that time I got advice from EVERYONE....even people who had never had a pimple in their life! I mean, what would they know about acne? NOTHING! That's what. Out of my frustration I came up with a list of things that only people with acne can understand and relate to...feel free to add to this list, we're all in this together after all! Oh, and if you're interested in checking out my blog feel free to do so, it's [Edited link out]
- Waking up every morning scared to look in the mirror because you know that new pimples have appeared overnight
- Spending an hour (or more) in front of the mirror popping pimples just so you can face the world
- Being paranoid about everything that touches your face
- Avoiding having your picture taken like it's the plague...I swear the camera adds 20 zits!
- Avoiding social interaction when you're having a bad breakout
- Wanting to punch people in the face when they give you advice on how to get rid of your pimples...especially people who have never had a pimple in their life!
- Spending your entire paycheck on acne products (that NEVER actually work!)
- Going to the dermatologist and STILL having acne after months of treatment
- Being on antibiotics for an unnatural amount of time (that can't be good for your body...seriously!)
- Being told that you'll grow out of it someday (because in the meantime you are just going to have to be completely miserable!)
- Trying to change your diet to get clear skin (vegetarian, fruitarian, gluten free, dairy free...I've tried them all!)
- Getting angry when your family members act like your acne is YOUR fault and that you're doing something wrong to cause it
- Trying what worked for other people only to find that it doesn't work for you
- Acne commercials. LIARS!
- Scrubbing your face in the hopes that you'll scrub off all the pimples
- ALWAYS being paranoid that people are looking at your zits when you're talking to them
- Avoiding eye contact
- Spending hours researching acne, treatments, remedies, and products
- Feeling like you're the only person in the world with acne...I swear I was constantly surrounded by people with clear skin and I always found myself wondering....WHY ME?
- Extremely low self-esteem
- Constant embarrassment
- Spending hours applying cover up and makeup...which doesn't do much help at all!
So there you have it. My list of things that only someone with acne can relate to. I know that all of you have more to add, so by all means share your thoughts! It's nice to feel like you're not in it alone, despite feeling that way all the time.
Oh my gosh, YES yes yes to everything here!
It's like therapy to hear from people who actually get it. I'm always looking but can never find people in person who have so much as one zit.
I'll add a few:
*the sleepover issue, when you were a teen. Having to run to the bathroom to desperately trying to hide your zits before your friends wake up
*the exciting feeling you get when you're about to try some new medicine or pill for it, and the disappointment when it doesn't work yet again
*no makeup, concealer or foundation EVER being able to hide it all.
*going out to lunch with friends/coworkers and wherever you sit, the sun is shining on your face
*getting older and having normal pimples turn into cystic acne
*people without acne giving you advice to wash your face to avoid acne. uhhh, ok let me try that. duh.
*others don't have to wash their faces and still have spotless skin. this is probably my #1. drives me insane.
Oh, I can so relate to all of these!
I'll add some:
- Keeping your face above the water when you swim in the summertime so your makeup doesn't wash off
- Thinking you're clear and then all of a sudden BAM! another bad breakout to ruin whatever hope you had
- Waiting for your significant other to go to sleep so you can finally wash off your makeup.
- Being afraid to eat something, work out, or touch your face wrong just in case any of those might break you out
I'm sure I have more, but those are my contribution! haha....goes to show you, though. We have lots of things to be worried about all the time! Good news is, we're not alone!
I agree to every single one! So nice to know I am not crazy..
I'll add a few..
- having all the lights dim so noone will see your skin
- wearing sunglasses and it making you have a little more confidence because it's covering a small portion of your bumps
- constantly checking your mini mirror to see if any whiteheads popped up in the three hours you haven't been home
- washing all your makeup off as soon as you walk in the door at home for fear your skin is mad at you
- acting like you don't feel well so you won't have to lift your head from underneath the covers when your wearing no makeup
- your family telling you to try Proactiv (for the FIFTH time) because the results on the TV look like they work
- putting your hand up to block your face at a red light for the horror of the car next to you seeing through your tinted windows at horrible acne
ahhh feels like therapy
Wow this is so trueee. I can relate to a lot of them as well. This post really made me realize I worry a lot. Especially about the food. Sometimes I am really afraid to eat anything that might cause more acne. However, maybe it's just the stress of eating something that is the trigger instead of the food itself.
* when you cant look people in the eye when you talk
* getting tons of advice from your family on how to cure it but only to discover as you get older , all of them were bad advice that led to where you are now ( my most regret )
* when you were young and lack knowledge on acne
"- your family telling you to try Proactiv (for the FIFTH time) because the results on the TV look like they work"
LOL I want to slap every person that recommends this to me
These threads are nice because they make me laugh in a good way, kind of takes a little bit of the daily stress from acne everyday.
Ooh! I have another one:
-Hating going to the dentist because of the bright light they shine at your face and all the face touching they do during the visit...
ooh I JUST went through a dentist appointment like this! I was a little worried beforehand about my face under the lights but it was awful actually during the moment. Both the dentist and the assistant hovering over me and I just wanted to scream inside! Then for most of the procedure the dentist's glove was resting on my cheek while she was working and I'm constantly repeating in my head "oh man this isn't good, this is NOT regimen friendly, I'm so gonna break out more there."
Man, it's NOT fun laying down under that light. Then at the end, they want to show you what they did and they hold up a mirror for you to look in your mouth! Torture! All I can see is them watching me stare at my acne. UGH!
Kinda go through the same thing during haircuts! They lean in so close and you're usually under a bright light. And I don't know about you, but it's even worse having the mirror there!
I love being able to relate to people on these everyday insecurities we go through. I usually feel like they're something I have to suffer alone.
On 1/12/2014 at 10:43 AM, TezzAllen313 said:I agree with everything all of you have said! Wow! I thought I was the only one that felt like this!
What about keeping the dimmest light on in your bathroom so you won't be too disgusted at looking at your face?
LMFAO... I thought I was the only one LOL
I wonder if I'll ever live to the point where I can look at my face in a public mirror without disgust
When people say "Well, the more stressed you are about it, the worse it will get- so stop worrying!" Sage advice...I'll just pretend I don't have a painful pulsing planetoid pushing its way through my face-skin. I'm not worried! I'm not worried at all!
It's on par with "well, you're very good about washing your face...right?" No, actually! I like to dip my face in mud and wipe it off with a mixture of motor oil and crisco. Grrrr
Also add to the list:
Always turning your face to show the less broken out side when you talk to someone
Covering up your cheeks with your hair
Washing your hands every 30 minutes in case you accidentally touch your face
megtree, I've done 2 out of 3 of those ^ within the last 24 hours. LOL
How about when you finally start to get a little clear to where you can cover your scars and look good, confidence shoots through the roof... then you make plans with a friend you haven't seen in a while and you break out again. And the plans are outside in the burning sun and the whole time you feel them staring at the zits. WHEN will we not have to deal with this?!
Same with family, I live far from most of my family and whenever we see each other, once every year or so, I'm hideously broken out. Then when I get back home it calms down. It's so embarrassing and old.
^^ARGH! Or when you happen to see someone on a good skin day, and they say something like "Wow, your skin is clearing up!", you cross yourself and spit and throw salt over your shoulder and knock on wood and anything else you can think of to dispel bad juju because you know you will inevitably break out within 1-3 days of a skin compliment. And it will be BAD.
I consider myself a skeptic on most things, but NOTHING in this world makes me more superstitious and paranoid than acne. Every time someone suggests my skin is improving (usually a change in makeup routine rather than true improvement) I feel like it's right before the most monsterous monster-cyst of my life shows up in a place IMPOSSIBLE to cover up, with 3-7 of its meanest Hench-men close behind. Could it be a hoodoo curse? Anything is possible... (le sigh).
I consider myself a skeptic on most things, but NOTHING in this world makes me more superstitious and paranoid than acne. Every time someone suggests my skin is improving (usually a change in makeup routine rather than true improvement) I feel like it's right before the most monsterous monster-cyst of my life shows up in a place IMPOSSIBLE to cover up, with 3-7 of its meanest Hench-men close behind. Could it be a hoodoo curse? Anything is possible... (le sigh).
Haha I can't believe how alike we sound!
I've started to clear up and then reversed so many times that I'm scared to tell anyone anything now. I was two weeks into the regimen before I even had the nerve to tell anyone, and even now I'm almost a month in and still wary to talk about it. As soon as I say I'm good and almost clear I'm scared I'll doom myself. I feel like my whole life, all I've had to do is LOOK at my face and it'll break out!! I understand that feeling!! And it's always the worst breakouts too!
I consider myself a skeptic on most things, but NOTHING in this world makes me more superstitious and paranoid than acne. Every time someone suggests my skin is improving (usually a change in makeup routine rather than true improvement) I feel like it's right before the most monsterous monster-cyst of my life shows up in a place IMPOSSIBLE to cover up, with 3-7 of its meanest Hench-men close behind. Could it be a hoodoo curse? Anything is possible... (le sigh).
Haha I can't believe how alike we sound!
I've started to clear up and then reversed so many times that I'm scared to tell anyone anything now. I was two weeks into the regimen before I even had the nerve to tell anyone, and even now I'm almost a month in and still wary to talk about it. As soon as I say I'm good and almost clear I'm scared I'll doom myself. I feel like my whole life, all I've had to do is LOOK at my face and it'll break out!! I understand that feeling!! And it's always the worst breakouts too!
I'm glad I'm not the only one with this strange superstition! I have been on isotretinoin for about 3 weeks and every time I see my family they keep saying, wow - the medicine is already working (it just so happens that I started during my clear stage) I consistently reminded them that I will probably break out soon...but it never happened. 3 days ago, I finally said to my mom "hmm...it really does seem to be working, maybe I'm on of the lucky ones!" and what did I wake up with yesterday? You guessed it... A FLIPPING BREAKOUT!
Late to the party, but:
-having acne incorporated into your dreams as just a normal thing (despite my skin being clear for months, now... because I had it so long)
-wearing foundation to the beach
-going to the dentist is a singularly torturous event
-wanting to go camping, but worried that people will see your zits (also anything outdoorsy)
-sleeping over at friends houses as a kid
-people with clear skin giving you advice (lolwut?)
I've cleared my skin completely with a combination OCM, BP, glycolic acid peels and (probably most importantly) a completely altered diet which includes zero sugar and zero dairy (and minimal other carbohydrates). What nobody told me to expect was the psychological scarring. My skin looks great, but I'm still ultra-conscious and weird about my face. I am also very superstitious about it, and I feel as if the acne gods will smite me if I step out of line or something... like paranoid acne karma. I still feel that I have acne even though it's been gone for a while. Anyone with me, there?