Having acne in your teens is a normal thing right? The hormonal changes, clogged pores and painful pimples that comes with puberty and becoming an adult is what I call a teenagers mid-life crisis. Everywhere I turned most of my peers dealt with some sort of acne. I’m not one to say it was normal because during that time in my life I never really paid too much attention to it. Pimples, white heads, black heads, redness, I mean I slowly begin to have it all and to make matters worse I begin to pick at it. I had a bad nerve issue and it was either bite my nails (which later on I realize is totally disgusting) or pick and pop my bumps/pimples, and sad enough I entertained them both.

I would like to say it started to clear up after having my son when I was 17 years old but it did not. There was scarring and oily skin but no new pimples. As I became this profound young lady I begin to acknowledge my skin and the state is was currently in. As far as scarring I couldn’t get rid of that, I honestly didn’t know how to but I tried a few different things. Creams, oils, facials, and face washes unfortunately I never stayed constant with any of them so I didn’t see any results or take it as serious as I do now.

Began wearing makeup to hide the scarring I had done to myself by age 19 maybe 20. I basically relayed on makeup and unfortunately I kinda still do now. At a point in my life I cared about what people said or thought about me. Beig called names for my slim size growing up had already done things to my confidence and ego, so this was just added jabs to my self criticism. At, times I would cry about it sometimes, not only had I crushed the little confidence I had left but just couldn’t stop hounding the clear skin people I was seeing online. Social media has it’s way of making things seem better than what they really were and I believed it. Although my now husband complimented by beauty and constantly reminds me it will get better, my acne had full control of me and my doubts.

In 2013, pregnancy hormones had hit an all time high and my acne came back with a vengeance! This time it was all over my body. I broke out all over my back, neck and arms. At this time I had to be careful of the products I used so they wouldn’t harm me or the baby, so I was very limited to the things I would normally use to treat this problem.

I’m sure their are people who are reading this and think “girl you have no idea how bad my acne or pimples were” and you would be correct I don’t know. There are people with cyst acne problems way worse then I can even imagine but it still doesn’t repair the lack of confidence I was dealing with. Try wearing makeup on the beach, or just because someone was coming over for a visit. It was a cover up; a secret, I had to hide my insecurities put this wall up and not let anyone see how bad it was. Who wants to be seen with scar-face right?

I finally hit a breaking point and decided to look into a good dermatologist. That’s when I noticed my god sister (who also dealt with acne) face was clearing up and I received her dermatologist information. Earlier this year I begin my visits and I felt okay because this time around I just felt a change was coming. My faith in the process was huge and I just knew I was stepping in the right direction with the right doctor.

Now that I am on the right track I feel more confident, free to be myself more so than ever and honestly at easy. This is still a journey to clearer skin but I’m so happy with my results thus far I am enjoying the process. All I can say is if you suffer from acne or scarring, don’t give up keep looking around for new ways to clear your issue. I almost gave up but so happy I didn’t and truly happy with my results so far.

Thank you for listening.

Let’s chat about acne what are your issues or thoughts?