Beauty Tips For Body Care
Hi guys I just wanted to talk about my acne experience and how it has affected my life. This will be a fairly lengthy post as my goal is to really explore every little aspect of my journey for self reflection and also hopefully to give some help, insight or advice to people struggling with their acne. TL:DR – 21 year old male with bad acne through highschool and university, accutane stopped my nasty cysts and has improved my life.Before Images & After Images http://imgur.com/a/jYJQP (6 and 7th picture is after antibiotics I believe and last one is post accutane, the first few is my acne at its worse).My acne began in highschool at around year 8 or 9 (13 years old) and it manifested itself as two or three pimples. I didn't really notice at this time but they seemed to just become inflamed for 1-2 days and then the pus would come out itself. I often popped them and got great enjoyment out of it. At this point I didn't use any products for my acne as it wasn't as serious. Enter year 10, my hormones started raging!!! I started to get many pimples around my cheeks and chin. Luckily they weren't deep cysts and just your regular normal pimples. At this point I started to take minimal notice due to my mum commenting "oh you got pimples, you should wash your face more", the occasional pizza face and my uncle always pointing out to me my hormones are raging. Still at this point I didn't really care for it, however my mum provided some acne washes such as Oxy which provided some relief. Around the middle of the year I went to the doctors with my mum to get antibiotics and cream (erythromycin + epiduo) which "cured" my acne for a short period.Into year 11/12 where my acne was similar to year 10 however it seemed to be more persistent. I started to become more self-aware of myself as a typical teenager would be. However it still didn't bother me that much. I didn't take any pictures in year 11/12 but it was not as bad as the before pictures. I occasionally used epiduo to manage my acne but I can't remember why I stopped it. Around the middle of the year I looked into Dan's Regimen on Acne.org which consist of a cleanser, benzoyl peroxide and moisturizer. I only used his bp and moisturizer and substituted with cetaphil cleanser. I feel like this really helped with my acne for a good 1 or 2 years. A side note is that I started to notice my skin getting oily in year 12 which I think is genetic. A vague memory from year 12 is that I got a close up portrait for my school photo and I absolutely hated it because of my skin, I'm pretty sure I ended up trashing it. Around this time was the end of high school and I was in my holidays. I started using dan's AHA+ with his moisturizer and I felt that it made my skin very vibrant and smooth, I was pretty clear in this period. First year uni was pretty cruisy, meeting new people and making new friends and experiencing a whole new life was very exciting!My acne was ok, up's and downs during year, slightly more self conscious of my skin and oiliness but It didn't stop me hanging out with my friends and going to social outings. I think the only change in my skincare routine was substituting cetaphil for cerave. The main thing I could remember at this point was that my skin was pretty oily. I estimated it would take about 6-7 hours before I look like an oil spill. This kind of restricted my social outings as In I wouldn't like to stay at uni for very long or I wouldn't like to go out for long hours during the day. I started to blot my skin at this point with paper towels and oil cleansing paper. End of first year uni, abit self-conscious of my skin but coping!Second year uni. I think this was when it all went to shit. I clearly remember my skin being so clear for the first month of the year. I was feeling good about this year! However I took a test for something uni unrelated in that month and I failed. I was so devastated, I always achieved fairly high grades in school and I thought I was a pretty smart dude. I started to stress out really badly and second guessed everything about myself. This went for about 1 week, and then the week before university, my acne exploded. Deep cysts on my cheeks, chin and forehead. I looked in the mirror and I hated myself, hated how my year has been ruined. Uni began and I started to develop and hide in a shell. I watched lectures at home, avoided friends, tookthe long paths to uni to just avoid people seeing me, avoided going out, cutting contact from my friends. I say this was a pretty low point in my life. However it got worse!Okay you see in picture 2? The big lump on my nose. That formed into a hypertrophic scar on my nose which I would say, was the majority of depression with "acne". Abit of back story on how it really changed my life. So on this day when I was invited to a dinner, I had a normal pimple on my nose which had puss in it. I decided to pop it in the shower before the dinner outing. It started to bleed so I let it cool down and solidfy. It left a red solid clog which I thought I should scratch off so people wouldn't see it. This wasnt a good idea as weeks later, it turned into a HUGE hypertrophic scar about ½ the size of a jelly bean. Imagine a fucking brown/purply jelly bean on your nose. I had to wear that on my nose for a good 2-3 months before it slowly reduced its size (to this day there remains a small lump which is not too bad).This was the worst point of my life. I started to walk with my head down, I contemplated suicide so many times (but never really planned it out), I started just listening to sad music all day, I didn't even go out with the family to eat lunch and I just played games all day. I found alot of my comfort at home, which in retrospect, I think shaped me to who I am today. In terms of management, I went to the doctor again who prescribed me minocycline. This really cleared my acne only at the end of the year and those effects lasted temporarily. At this point my skin care routine was fairly strict (post antibiotics). it consisted of the cerave cleanser in the morning and cerave moisturizre after. I would then cleanse at night, and apply benzoyl peroxide all over and re-moisturize. On every 2nd day I would apply dan's AHA+ and dan's moisturizre as a mix. I feel like this helped manage my acne but really wasn't strong enough to keep it down. I used this similar routine to my 3rd and 4th year of uni and my acne would look like what it was in the pictures. If you guys are interested in more of my skin care routine just ask in the comments (I did do more stuff previously to try help with my acne).A change of pace! End of my 3rd year of uni I took the plunge for accutane. Six month course @ 40mg a day. This post is getting long already but if you guys want more info just ask me --> 2nd tl:dr it cleared me and I have been clear for a good 3-4 months. I feel like my life has been improving so much lately. I have started to see my friends again and formed closer relationships, attend the gym regularly (I use hate seeing my acne in the mirror so I didn't go as much), started learning musical instruments and just being more active in general. I don't avoid my face in the morning when I shave, I try to keep my head up high, I don't have to worry about my blanket scraping against my face at night which caused some chin pimples.I just don't have to worry about all the little things that might make my face worse which I think many of you can relate to. I can eat my favourite foods, I can lean my face on my hands without worrying it will break me out, I can sleep on my sides without worrying of causing deep cysts. I can just do so much more without feeling like I'm being trapped in a cage which is a very good feeling! I just really want to stay that acne can be a bitch, and many of you may be still struggling with it and that it will get better. My regret is that I never really talked to anyone about it, the main comfort I got was interacting with internet strangers on video games!! Also I'm not trying to outline accutane as a miracle drug but it has worked for me and you just have to find the right treatment for yourself. So yeah.. theres my life in about 1.5k words. Feel free to ask any questions.
Girls Blog 2015
Submitted by 1v1melonga
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