I feel I am quite the expert on this topic. I have been dealing with "skin issues" since I was in 8th grade. Seeing as I am now 25, that's a heck of a long time.
I say skin issues instead of acne because it didn't start out that way.
Now it's been over a decade since these problems started so I can't remember every detail, but I'll try my best.
From what I do remember, there were extremes. Extreme dryness to the point where I would cry from wanting to tare the skin from my face, dryness that made me question whether or not I was part reptile, dryness that made facial expression painful. This time of my life was also equipped with spells of oil. The kind of oily that no matter how many oil sheets I used you could still fry an egg on my face in the sun, kind of oily.
I tried everything you could think of at the drugstore and I may as well just have lit my cash on fire because nothing worked.
I can remember this being the time I started using makeup to cover what I believed at that time was horrible skin (this would be a good time to take a break and cry over that last statement because let me tell you, it just kept going up from there).
The split personality/hormonal bitch that was my skin continued for the next two years. Which leads me to Junior year of High School where the universe decided, "You know, I just don't think I've given her enough to deal with" and with that I gained what must have been 30 pounds and my face transformed into something out of a proactive ad (That's if they actually used people with acne and not models with perfect airbrushed skin).
I'm not going to lie and say I worked out and ate healthy, because I was a teenager and I live in America. However my lifestyle didn't change from what it was the last 5 years of my life and wouldn't change for the next 5. Yet somehow Junior year was the year my body rebelled; and I've got the pictures to prove it.
By Senior year I had lost the weight and my skin had begun to clear considerably. I know what everyone's thinking so I'll save you the trouble of asking, I did miss my acne, we had been through some great times together and it was hard to watch it go so suddenly, but lucky for me I'm left with about 50 scars as a constant memory, a token if you will.
The point of my life I am at now is the same as it has been since Senior year, majority of my skin is scaring, however there is also the never ending reoccurring acne that just keeps stopping by unannounced and uninvited. I probably get a new guest EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. And the second I notice one is missing I find, that isn't true, he's just relocated somewhere else.
Let us go over the treatment methods I've tried shall we?
First off I have tried everything there is..basically.
- Acne.org
- Acne free
- Murad
- Clean and Clear
- Biore
- Oxy Skin Care
- Mario Badescu
- Neutrogena
- Clinique 3 Step System
- Alba Botanica
- Cerave
- Olay
- Aveeno
- St. Ives
- Simple
I'm not kidding when I say NONE of these worked. I will say some worked less than others.
I have been to a total of 5 dermatologists who do nothing but push medication at you and I have tried most of them, except for Accutane because of two reasons, it works by shutting off oil glands and I don't know how many times I will have to explain this, because every doctor refuses to believe it, It just CAN'T be POSSIBLE there eyes seem to say. But I swear on every star in the sky my skin for the past 6 years is as dry as the Sahara Desert. But this goes against logic that I have acne and dry skin so I must be lying, anyway... second reason is I suffer from depression and this medication causes depression and can lead to suicide so um yea, no thank you. But you know it's weird I say these things and yet Accutane was still a reoccurring topic of discussion, because of this it's been over a year since I seen one of "those doctors".
During my visits I did try things don't get me wrong, this including topical and oral medications. And guess what?! None of them worked. No reaction at all! Oh wait, that's a lie, I had an allergic reaction to Doxycycline which made me look like a beached whale. Awesome.
I tried giving up common food allergies such as Gluten and Dairy, neither helped my skin.
I tried eating nothing but fruit and vegetables and maybe this would have worked except I only lasted a week before I felt constantly faint and overwhelmed with everything.
I could go into more detail about what I ate and how much but people who live by that diet will surely tell me all the things I did wrong without me having to say more than that one run on sentence, so I'll save myself the hassle.
I am currently trying my best to drink an excessive amount of water so there's that.
Well point is I said enough is enough and took the red eye to California to meet up with one of the worlds best plastic surgeons so I could have facial reconstruction surgery. All was going well till her told me the price, so I hauled my ass back onto the plane and came home, having to think of something else.
In all seriousness I decided to see a naturopath doctor.
I seen her for the first time two weeks ago and see her again two weeks from now. She has put me on a bunch of vitamins and I'm going to keep everyone posted on all the goings on of my face and if things get better or worse, what things have helped and so on. I think I'll make this a weekly thing.
<3
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