Not to be bleak, but 22 was only the 2nd time in my life I'd do battle with acne. There's be 1-3 yrs of clarity, and then out of nowhere, each breakout worst than the last.

For too many of us, it's a lifelong war. Today's quick fix will fail down the road, as they all do.

The one positive thing is that you learn in time what not to do and hopefully gain other knowledge from the experience. Staying informed is our best weapon.

I'll never be done dealing with this.

With this mentality you probably won't, no matter what you try. Cure requires a certain level of self belief and I realize that it's difficult to stay positive sometimes, but you're doing yourself no favours with this sort of mentality, stress is a great contributor to acne...

When you're done dealing with this shit you'll be a completely different person thanks to acne. Theres a 99% chance you'll be very nice, not vain, judgmental, empathetic, the list goes on.

My acne has finally cleared at the age of TWENTY TWO.. it was well worth it for the person I became.

I could deal with the hell I went through since I like the person I turned out to be.

We're all gonna make it

Thankyou, I agree positivity is certainly needed all over this board. You should share what you did to cure it in this thread for others to see!

Dealing with acne for 15 years quite literally changed the entire course of my life, for the absolute better. You couldn't have told me back then that it was a good thing though. In fact, if I could travel back in time and tell myself that, tell the 24 year old woman bawling on the bathroom floor, that your life will transform for the better because of what you're going through with your skin right now, I'm quite certain 24 year old me would have responded with a resounding "Bullshit. FUCK YOU!" (24 year old me was bitter and had a foul mouth)

I know why that is though, so I don't blame her. It's brain chemistry. Your brain cannot hold two entirely opposing points of view at the same time. That's why I try to help people breakdown the worst of the crappy thoughts first, instead of just telling them to replace them with positive ones. Just telling people to think positive, or to get over it, doesn't work in the long run. Not because the person is weak, but for physiological reasons. The brain is invested in keeping things status quo. If it's settled on negative thoughts, it's going to keep you there.

To change your point of view 180, it requires either a drastic inciting incident, or gradual deliberate movement away from destructive thoughts, which begins with the desire to change what you're thinking.

Well, although I have nothing against positivity, I think it's important not to generalize the effects of acne. For many, there's no hope for a day when they're "finally clear," as they've already been left with scarring (which can be quite severe).

So, while I agree that most people will be different post-acne, I don't think the positive-to-negative change ratio is always in their favor.