People tend to be hyper critical of themselves. And the people in your life want to make you feel better. Most likely if it was them it would be 'that bad'. Not saying that there is no possibility of distortion, but in the end we decided what is tolerable.

I certainly suffer BDD, and everyday I'm in the mirror feeling disgusted with myself. I detest it when people say I'm not a bad looking lad, and my acne is hardly noticeable when to myself i'm the ugliest creature alive and every spot feels like a planet is on my face...