Hello everyone!

My name is Amelia and I am 16 years old. Ive struggled with acne since I was 12 years old. Im posting my story in hopes that I can get some advice/help from someone and maybe remind some of you out there that are struggling with acne that you are not alone.

((Before I begin this I have considered using the Acne.org regimen but as of right now I would like to explore slightly cheaper and easier to get options. I may revisit it in the future.))

Like I said, my struggle with acne began when I was 12. I had never before had skin problems before this. My skin had always been clear and clean looking. Because of this, I never saw any reason to stay diligent with a facial cleanser of any sort, so the most washing my face would see was water in the shower.

It came out of nowhere. I found one pimple on my cheek, then two on my forehead, and then my face was suddenly made out of acne. I dont think there was even a spot that wasnt covered in pimples. It was so bad. It was the worst my skin has ever been. The acne I had was red, angry, oily, super swollen, and deeply rooted into my pores. Back then it was mainly concentrated on my forehead, but it was bad basically anywhere you looked on my face, really. My mother didnt help anything. Shes the type of mom who sees a pimple on her child and immediately has to pop it in hopes that it will go away. Looking back at that, that is probably why I have so much scarring today.

Anyways, after my face exploded, I really cracked down on washing and moisturizing it. I found a good routine, actually. It made my skin so much better. However, since my skin was so severe to start with, the best it got was to moderate acne, and then the cleansers and moisturizers I was using suddenly stopped clearing and now only maintained the state my skin was in.

My skin stayed at the moderate acne level for 3 years after that, until I was 15. In those 3 years my acne had gone from mostly on my forehead to all over my cheeks and nose. It was around this time that my mother and I decided to visit a dermatologist. This dermatologist tried a lot. She tried adding and cutting things from my diet, she tried getting me to drink more water, she tried telling me to go buy a million different face washes to try (the most prominent being Cetaphil cleansers), but none of these did anything for me. After trying the easy stuff, she finally prescribed me two topical gels and a pill. I forget the name of the morning gel, but it had benzoyl peroxide in it. The other one was a night gel called Differin. And the pill was called doxycycline hyclate, and she had me take it once a day. The pill didnt really do much, so I was weened off of it, but the gels very nearly cleared my skin of my active acne (not the scarring I had). However, about 1.5 to 2 months in, my acne flared up again and wouldnt budge. I stayed on the gels for another month before finally calling it quits after seeing absolutely 0 results out of them. We went back to the dermatologist, who suggested Accutane or birth control, both of which I really wasnt interested in taking due to the possible side effects one could suffer from taking them and/or coming off of them. I know some people are willing to do it but I just wasnt, and that was my choice, which the dermatologist respected. There were many other natural remedies, drugstore remedies, and more high end remedies the dermatologist suggested, but none of them actually cleared my skin, only maintained the acne.

I am now 16 and I still have acne. My skin is oily/combination. I would say its still on the moderate level. It is mostly bad on my cheeks. My forehead is mostly clear but still has slight scarring and occasional pimples. My nose is mostly clear but oily. My chin and cupids bow area are clear, but do experience occasional pimples. I do still have pretty bad scarring. It isnt raised or textured, but there is dull red spots covering my cheeks, part of my forehead, and my nose from my past with acne.

My current facewash routine: wake up and use Neutrogena spinny thing with spin pads meant for softening skin and shrinking pores. Throughout the day and at night I use a Clean and Clear deep cleaning astringent, then apply Neutrogena Rapid Clear Stubborn Acne Leave-On Mask and a Clean and Clear moisturizer. In the shower I use Neutrogena Rapid Clear All in 1 cleanser. All of this seems to prevent future severe breakouts but does nothing to clear my existing acne and acne scarring.

Any help and advice you could offer would mean the world to me. Acne is so frustrating and depressing to have, and it has done so much damage to my self esteem. I hate waking up in the morning only to have my first thought be about looking in the mirror and crying because its still there. Thank you for reading and thank you in advance to any help offered.

Have a lovely day,

Amelia