Hey, sometimes I think its just so unfair. I had acne during my teenage years (now 22 years), and the big influence on my self-esteem, so I suffer from feeling un-cool, ugly and inadequate during the years when all the other girls went out and making good friends, and when they bloom, I was hiding and avoidance of social life.
I can now say that I had been clear for 3 months and doing very well for say a month. I dont even greater Wear Foundation and when I look in the mirror, I honestly can not realistically find anything wrong with my skin. I mean, its very good compared to the average population.
Yet I still feel ugly sometimes. I have nice features and often people look at me street
for example. Well I am very shy and look down, because everything I think is that they look at my blemished skin. This is absolutely insane, because my skin is blemished even look! I know Im free and I am often told, but my self-esteem is so deeply wounded by years of acne, which I dont believe it and Im afraid I never will!
I feel better since my acne is gone, about 10 times better! But I wish I could just about people without sense of shame. You know when you people and you know they are sorry for you because of your acne? Well I still feel that sometimes, for no reason!
Doesnt anyone else feel that?
Reply:Scooter, I know exactly what you mean. In high school a lot of people used to tell me I looked like a model and I had guys always wanting to go out with me. Then senior year hit and it was a disaster. I never had any guy talk to me except when I had some makeup on, which was not often. I went out not knowing all those hideous scars and pimples on my face and till this day I feel the embarrasment. Sometimes mirrors and lighting lies cause I didnt know how bad my scars were until I saw a picture of myself. I had so many scars etc, it was awful. I laugh about it now. With what I have been doing, I know my scars got so much better. That was like 4 years ago when my problems started. I still plan on getting a more profound peel or peels done soon. I just found this lousy pic of me and my forehead, you could not believe all of the scars and red marks. It practically covers my whole forehead like I am Frankenstein or something. Soon I plan on getting a few pictures of my forehead and show how I improved with before and after pics. I still dont trust mirrors. I also have red marks on other places on my face.
The things that screwed me up making my face worse in high school was picking on my skin when it was in terribly dry condition due to dermatologist products. Skin does not heal well when there is no moisture on your skin and your skin is unhealthy, at least no in my case. Plus I was smoking senior year. Scars also do not heal well when smoking.
Now, I drink a lot of water, do not smoke, do not use irritating or drying products on my skin, take my vitamins, and do enzyme treatments a few times a week to get rid of dead skin cells which I think helped my scars a lot!
I still gots spots on my skin that I plan on getting a peel to try to moreso diminish them, but it is no way near the hideous red marks, dark spots, and redness I had all over my face a few years ago.
Reply::wave:
<sigh>…
I forgotten what its like to be clear 
you lucky people, but u deserve it!! 
~*Kashy*~ :wave:
——————
~*ooBaBi FaCeoo*~
~*oWhatever happens, happens for a reason.o*~
[This message has been edited by guy (edited 04-16-2003).]
Reply:but… at least your gettin there. some people (me) still gotta long way to go. i guess we're in similar but different situations. anyway best of luck maintaining your skin.
[This message has been edited by guy (edited 04-16-2003).]
Reply:Well, as possibly one of those "clearer" people out there, I still have a severe oil problem, a few breakouts, and blackheads. I have had to battle bad skin my whole life and we're talking years and years in this case. I am still far from victorious.
Reply:i know how ya feel scooter highschool was awful for me. i never thought i was "hot stuff" but i think im a decent lookin guy if it wasn't for this sh%t on my face. its especially bad when your friends get chicks talk about them and your just there and cant get in on the conversation. even though girls i don't know talk to me (once in awhile) i feel too down to ask em out. sorry i couldn't be more helpful but i understand.
[This message has been edited by guy (edited 04-15-2003).]
[This message has been edited by guy (edited 04-16-2003).]
Reply:Well for me acne has robbed me of all that high school has to offer so far.
When I was in 7th grade, I was incredibly popular, and within the first week of school I had gotten notes from 6 girls. My skin was perfect – tan, glowing, and clear of all blemishes (and when I say clear I mean CLEAR).
One girl even told me that I was the best looking guy in the entire school. I've pretty much known for my entire life that I'm good looking and stuff and it instills a sense of pride in me, I guess. I don't want to sound conceited but I LIKED it when girls told me I was hot or "a perfect 10" as one put it.
Then high school came around and I started breaking out and my face started looking like crap. Red and blotchy, red marks all over, huge pores, blackheads, you name it. Girls stopped noticing me. The old girls that used to have crushes on me stopped calling. My old friends that used to get overlooked were now getting the hot girls and I wasn't.
This all started when I was a freshman in high school at 14 and I'm a sophomore now and 16. Yesterday was just utter confirmation that my appearance has taken a turn for the worst recently. Me and some friends were having a discussion about how most people's appearance improves in high school and then somebody said that some people get worse looking. He started naming some people off and then my other friend looked at me and said "You definitely went down". Agh. That hurt so bad…..
The thing that REALLY hurts though is when I think about what I might be doing at this exact moment had I never had a single pimple. It's almost too painful to think about….
Reply:Hangman, dont get me wrong..clearing up my face actually turned my life around! As I said I feel 10 X better. However I feel like if I do the tiniest mistake with my skin pimples will come back. So dont think it is like we are all carefree now and acne is smtg from the past. I'm clear now, but I have to maintain it, so there is not one day that I dont think about my skin. I have come to believe that because my acne occured in the period when I was tring to find myself, define who I am, etc, it has had that huge impact on my personnality, so much so that it amounts to a trauma. I know some people out there who have had more acne than me yet never suffered from it nearly as much as I did. Well everybody is different. thats just the way I feel!
Reply:yeah these peeps have won the physical battle nows the easy part. now its all in your mind.
Reply:Hangman-
I'm with you. Wouldn't it be nice to only have a couple to worry about instead of a whole bunch!? I wish I could say I only had ONE active one.
The rest of you guys are so lucky! Just remember it could always be worse. Let's all think happy thoughts!
:bouncing:
Reply:The first post was exactly how I have felt!! i can't belive it…and often i also pick out that tiniest things wrong with me, like if my skin is oily or I have one little zit i just sit and compare myself with everyone else who has perfect skin.
Reply:Unfortunately, physical beauty has been valued and an advantage to the possessor in all societies throughout history. There's no getting around it whether we like it or not.
Reply:I agree with everyone… I didn't start even thinking about my looks until this acne popped up but now it's depressing.
Reply:i don't mean to get down on u guys but all of you say ur pretty clear u should be happy with that and just start to live like u should have done. sorry to get down on people but im still afflicted and pissed about it. anyway u peeps should just have a good time now that u can.
[This message has been edited by guy (edited 04-15-2003).]
Reply:A bit off the topic, but I wonder what life with acne was like before this modern obsession with perfection, which society generates and which most people (me included) buy in to. Before fluorescent lights showed every bump and blemish, before mass media bombarded people with images of unattainable perfection, before the drug companies existed to capitalize on people's insecurities and push chemicals and drugs that might do more harm than good.
Don't know. Maybe people were just like, "Oh yeah, you have pimples, so what?" Maybe there was a lot less pressure to be "beautiful." Must have been nice.
Sorry just felt like ranting.
Reply:I might add that it also teaches humility. It sure worked to temper my more exalted moments when I thought I was really looking like "hot stuff" as a teenager when my makeup looked good and my skin was on a "good day."
Reply:Yup, Being a by-stander will never understand our feelings. I'm pretty much clear, BUT I still can't forget "acne" that word(shlt!!!). Perhaps , it's going to stick in my heart for the rest of line , that's cruel & painful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reply:you r rite! i rememeber when i had bad acne, and i was so ashamed. now that i'm pretty clear, i still feel bad. like i don't know, i still feel insecure. but i don't really care that mcuh now
but acne taught me alot about people. when i notice people other have problems, whether it is weight problem or speech problem or scar problem, eating problem.. i don't really judge them, but instead i understand how they feel now. for i have been in the similar position.
so acne isn't all that bad. it teaches compassion
Reply:I agree with you all. I'm somewhat older (30-something) than most people who've posted here, but still have those same feelings. I can go long stretches with my face being clear or almost clear with the mino, but I still stress over it. I panic over ever little whitehead or red spot that comes up–like, oh no this is the next big one. Whenever I look in the mirror I feel as if I'm just seconds away from a major eruption. My face can be flawless to the outside world but inside I feel like it's all about to fall apart.
Reply:This is a very good topic to bring up. I was thinking the same thing yesterday. Even now that my face is much clearer, despite all that oil, I still find myself, at times, slipping into that same insecurity I had when my skin was really bad. I try to bring myself back to reality, however, and remind myself that I am not just a face. There is far more to who I am.
I have also been told all my life that I am attractive, and I think that is even harder. I have at the same time had to live with one conditional aspect–you would be SO beautiful if only you had better skin. I was told this when I was younger. The doubts about whether my skin is at that stage or ever will be can be a hindrance to feeling fully confident about my looks. The ghost of that "if you had better skin" still pops up to haunt me from time to time, but I think that having put it in perspective about who I really am, in totality, has greatly lessened how much value I put on statements like that. I am a beautiful person both inside and out, AND I have some flaws JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. We all have them. No one is perfect. We have to work at letting go of that false notion that we have to be perfect in order to accept ourselves and gain acceptance from others. We should be working at perfection from the inside out–while continuing to try new skin products in the meantime, ha, ha (for those of us who still have some work to do in that area).
Reply:As a fellow acne sufferer of almost 10 years (now 24), I have very deep emotional scars from my experiences. I am kinda like you in a way, but feel that people don't want to be with me b/c of my acne and are still making fun of me(eventhough my face has cleared up).
But you gotta remember that you're a new person now. That what happened in the past stays in the past. Trust me, even when I look back on my life I still cry my self to sleep at times. I just gotta remind my self that I am a new person and that the world waits for no one. You can't turn back the hands of time but you can move forward and change your future. All that self negativity and doubt is just going bury you. I'm glad you feel 10x better than before, its a good start. All you need to do now is BELIEVE that you are beautiful.
Reply:Definately!
I am also 22 and my skin is finally clearing, with some minor red marks, but I hope I stay this way.
Anyway, after all these years of torment and feeling ugly has really impacted me. I am not Ugly but I always feel ugly. its really hard to get back to normal life after acne when your face clears up. I am happier but I will never forget what happened to me and if it ever comes back then well that would suck.
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- how long does it take to clear up acne? [severe acne] [acne]
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August 30th, 2010 
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