Why adult acne sucks & my skin story.

Okay so I know I’m not a middle aged woman who is just getting acne but when I was 19-20 years old I was technically an ‘adult’, believe it or not.

I’ve never had absolutely flawless skin but I’d never specifically had ‘acne’ before; only having hormonal spots and pimples around my time of the month and having a few around the ages of 13-14.

So in my first year of University, aged 19, I went along in September with pretty clear skin but around January time, it seemed almost overnight that my face was covered in massive lumps. The worst thing was, they never reared a head so they simply just stayed as enormous, dark red lumps along my jaw line, cheeks and chin. Ew!

At first I just used ‘spot’ products such as the gels that claim to reduce spot size in 4 hours. What a load of bollocks! I tried switching up my skin routine and to be honest, I changed it around so many times, being impatient waiting for results, that nothing even had the chance of working as I never gave it enough time.

I decided to fork out and buy a ProActiv kit after many people did claim it worked wonders on their skin and cleared up their acne entirely. For some people, I’m sure it did help with their acne, but for me, it did not and as I was unhappy with the results and because I was abiding by the terms and conditions, I was able to send the empty bottles back for a full refund.

I tried drugstore products too  such as ‘Boots’ own brand cucumber moisturiser and the night time treatment gel with witch hazel and tea tree. It seemed like they helped a bit but after a few weeks, my skin just flared up again.

I ordered the Bare Minerals spot rescue remedy which is like a powder formula that comes with a small applicator brush in which you simply cover the spots with, both morning and night. However not only did this not cover my spots like it claimed it would conceal, it also didn’t help them, resulting in me chucking the product in the bin.

I can’t remember when, but I did end up going to the doctors and they gave me a prescription for antibiotics but I was told it could take up to 3 months to start having an obvious effect. Becoming increasingly impatient, I went back to the doctors and they told me to try an over the counter spot treatment called Quinoderm so I nipped into Boots and purchased a tube. After the first week it did seem to minimize my spots and it appeared that I wasn’t gaining any more. I continued to use it morning and night however after a couple of weeks I had to stop using it. My pillows and towels were bleached, my skin was so dry and my face was so sensitive that it stung when I put anything else on my face such as moisturiser or make up, sometimes even just water when I was washing my face.

It annoys me when people say that if you’ve got acne you should just stop wearing make-up and give your skin a break. That’s fine and I agree that you need to allow your skin to breathe but as a girl, if you’ve had acne, you will understand how it seems virtually impossible to want to go outside without at least attempting to conceal the acne spots/scars. I’ve always been self conscious but having acne just doubled this. I couldn’t go to the corner shop without having to put a full face of make-up on.

About 12 months later, I was still getting quite bad acne and it seemed like the antibiotics were stopping anymore lumps from forming but the previous ones just weren’t diminishing. I’d been advised to go onto the Pill as that can help to clear up skin, however again it seemed to do nothing.

At what seemed like breaking point, I went back to the doctors and instantly she stated how she couldn’t understand why the other doctor had prescribed me one specific Pill when that exact type was known to cause acne as a side effect! Instantly, she changed my prescription and put me onto Gedarel which apparently they use a lot for acne treatment with girls. She also wrote me a prescription for a cream called Azelaic Acid which sounds terrifying with the word ‘acid’ in it, but trust me, it’s the best thing I’ve ever used.

Just two months after I began on the other Pill and starting using the cream, morning and night, my skin seemed to be clearing up. Now, as I said, my skin is nowhere near perfect and I still get small breakouts around my chin every month (hormonal acne) but other than that, it’s pretty much as it should be at my age- a few small pimples but virtually clear.

Keep an eye out if you’re interested as I will be posting a blog about my daily skincare routine sometime in the near future.

Obviously everyone’s skin is different so what worked for others, clearly didn’t work for me and what worked for my skin may not work for yours. The one thing I do recommend though is to pay a visit to your GP and if you aren’t happy with the results, go see another GP if you can to get a second opinion. Acne does tend to diminish with age so as hard as it is (trust me, I know!) try not to panic and let it get you down. If it means you have to wear make up to make you feel more confident about going out, do it. No-one’s skin is perfect so don’t’ strive for perfection when such a thing does not exist. Photoshop can be fun for editing your selfies, but it sure is a bitch when it comes to the culture we live in. We’re told that acne and bad skin is disgusting by magazines who constantly edit celebrity pictures when actually if you see the unedited versions, sometimes they have worse skin than you may do! Sure, acne is pretty grim and no-one wants it, but that’s just life and it’s one of the burdens of growing up with hormones going bat crap crazy! Below is a picture of myself now, make-up free, unedited. Also just incase there are some dumb f**ks out there, all those marks on my face are not acne scars or spots, they are freckles! :) It's not glamorous but it's the true me.

Keep smiling; male or female, acne or no acne, you’re beautiful.

The Flawed Blonde. xoxo