Has anyone dealt with or is dealing with acne? What are you doing about it? How does it make you feel? Is it getting better or worse? Post before/after pics if you're comfortable with it.
I think I started getting acne back in 2006-2007. I remember when I first got a few pimples, this girl I played French horn in band with was like, "Hey! Your pimples make a triangle!" She always insults people in the happiest tone; I'm not sure she knows it's rude. Anyway, not exactly a great way to start of my acne adventure.
My acne started to get much, much worse and ended up in cysts - and all those other scientific terms - all over my face. I was depressed and ashamed of myself, because it was much worse than most people's few pimples or minor acne. I thought people thought I was disgusting. I didn't talk to much of anyone for a year or two because I assumed they didn't want to be close enough to talk because of my face.
Besides being emotionally depressed, I was in physical pain. My face hurt constantly and I could do absolutely nothing to make it better. In one ugly and painful situation, I popped every pimple I could one night. It took two hours and I cried for about three more because it hurt so much. My dad let me skip school the next day. Popping them didn't help at all anyway; they just kept coming back.
I saw a dermatologist and got started on all sorts of medication over time. (I had tried all those topical creams, sulfur, proActiv, etc. in the past.) I used specialized, prescription strength acne creams (I can try to get the exact names of these if anyone wants). I used Bactrim and a few others. This went one for about a year, but nothing worked.
My doctor kept saying there was this medicine called Accutane that was supposed to be a last resort for acne. This is because of the novel-length list of side affects, including depressive and suicidal thoughts.
My parents looked up the list of affects online and refused to let me take it. My dad repeated told me it would "get better over time" and I didn't need medicine. I hated him for it. I hated both my parents because they didn't seem to understand what it was doing to me. Maybe that's because I'm so good at hiding my emotions. But in the end, I forced them to let me take it and that was probably the best thing I could have done.
I started in the summer, probably not the best time to do it because you're supposed to avoid sunlight, but I was in marching band. My face was sunburned constantly but I kept taking the medicine. I was extremely uncomfortable the entire course of treatment. My body hurt, my back hurt, my lips were always dry, everything was dry, I had nose bleeds, and other stuff. That went on for six months, but I could see my face getting gradually better.
My acne went away and I thanked God, my doctor, and my family for helping me. I was so much more confident and I actually thought I looked good.
Sadly, my back pain always remained from the treatment. It started immediately after I started the medicine and never went away when I finished. I've had several body scans and all those things to find out if there's a problem, but they just say they don't see any problems and that I probably have a weak back. I know that's not true because I do a lot of things that require back muscles. It hurts chronically but it's less apparent when my mind is on other things. But I would gladly take on back pain in exchange for acne any day.
One maybe negative thing that came out of it was that I think I'm much for self-centered now. I went through hell trying to make my face look good, so I always try to make the rest of myself look good or else I feel like all that work was wasted. That's probably not even logical but it's how I feel.
I've linked to a couple pictures of how I used to look. They're links because I think it's disgusting and I don't want to offend anyone who scrolls down the page and has to see how disgusting my face was.
Before pics:
img201.imageshack.us/img201/5793/oldacne.jpg
img214.imageshack.us/img214/7646/gallery7501979831821.jpg
Here's how I look now:
I think I started getting acne back in 2006-2007. I remember when I first got a few pimples, this girl I played French horn in band with was like, "Hey! Your pimples make a triangle!" She always insults people in the happiest tone; I'm not sure she knows it's rude. Anyway, not exactly a great way to start of my acne adventure.
My acne started to get much, much worse and ended up in cysts - and all those other scientific terms - all over my face. I was depressed and ashamed of myself, because it was much worse than most people's few pimples or minor acne. I thought people thought I was disgusting. I didn't talk to much of anyone for a year or two because I assumed they didn't want to be close enough to talk because of my face.
Besides being emotionally depressed, I was in physical pain. My face hurt constantly and I could do absolutely nothing to make it better. In one ugly and painful situation, I popped every pimple I could one night. It took two hours and I cried for about three more because it hurt so much. My dad let me skip school the next day. Popping them didn't help at all anyway; they just kept coming back.
I saw a dermatologist and got started on all sorts of medication over time. (I had tried all those topical creams, sulfur, proActiv, etc. in the past.) I used specialized, prescription strength acne creams (I can try to get the exact names of these if anyone wants). I used Bactrim and a few others. This went one for about a year, but nothing worked.
My doctor kept saying there was this medicine called Accutane that was supposed to be a last resort for acne. This is because of the novel-length list of side affects, including depressive and suicidal thoughts.
My parents looked up the list of affects online and refused to let me take it. My dad repeated told me it would "get better over time" and I didn't need medicine. I hated him for it. I hated both my parents because they didn't seem to understand what it was doing to me. Maybe that's because I'm so good at hiding my emotions. But in the end, I forced them to let me take it and that was probably the best thing I could have done.
I started in the summer, probably not the best time to do it because you're supposed to avoid sunlight, but I was in marching band. My face was sunburned constantly but I kept taking the medicine. I was extremely uncomfortable the entire course of treatment. My body hurt, my back hurt, my lips were always dry, everything was dry, I had nose bleeds, and other stuff. That went on for six months, but I could see my face getting gradually better.
My acne went away and I thanked God, my doctor, and my family for helping me. I was so much more confident and I actually thought I looked good.
Sadly, my back pain always remained from the treatment. It started immediately after I started the medicine and never went away when I finished. I've had several body scans and all those things to find out if there's a problem, but they just say they don't see any problems and that I probably have a weak back. I know that's not true because I do a lot of things that require back muscles. It hurts chronically but it's less apparent when my mind is on other things. But I would gladly take on back pain in exchange for acne any day.
One maybe negative thing that came out of it was that I think I'm much for self-centered now. I went through hell trying to make my face look good, so I always try to make the rest of myself look good or else I feel like all that work was wasted. That's probably not even logical but it's how I feel.
I've linked to a couple pictures of how I used to look. They're links because I think it's disgusting and I don't want to offend anyone who scrolls down the page and has to see how disgusting my face was.
Before pics:
img201.imageshack.us/img201/5793/oldacne.jpg
img214.imageshack.us/img214/7646/gallery7501979831821.jpg
Here's how I look now:
Golden Enterprises, Inc. - CEO
Iconiplex, LLC - Managing Member
Emerald Summit Capital Group, LLC - President
Iconiplex, LLC - Managing Member
Emerald Summit Capital Group, LLC - President
I'm glad to hear that.
