Let's start out by stating the obvious, acne sucks. Like, really sucks. It can appear in many different forms on many different people's skin, and no one case of acne is the same. It can hurt, scar, and scab over, leaving permanent damage on one's face.
Putting aside the appearance of it, acne can also have long term effects on a person's mental health. According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association, people with acne can also develop severe cases of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and experience an overall decrease in their quality of life.
The group of people that are most heavily affected by this is women in their teenage years, as acne typically starts to develop when going through puberty. This is a very vulnerable time in a woman's life, and constantly worrying about what you look like can make it all feel like too much.
I am now 22 years old, and I still struggle every day with issues related to my acne. I wake up every morning and look in the mirror and the first thing I do is wonder what I can do throughout the day to hide my face. I wash my face and immediately put makeup on, and I RARELY ever leave my house 'bare-faced'.
I cry very frequently about my acne and the way it makes me feel about my appearance. Even when I have makeup on, I feel like the only thing people see when they look at me is the bumps and scars on my face. Feeling like this makes it hard for me to do simple tasks, and it makes me unmotivated to do a lot of things. When I have a breakout or am having a particularly bad skin day, I don't want to go to class. I don't want to hang out with my friends. I don't want to do anything at all. It makes daily life exhausting when it really shouldn't be.
I have tried countless skin routines, products, serums, vitamins, and even antibiotics, and nothing has seemed to help me. When I was a freshman in high school, I was put on birth control, which is a normal thing dermatologists do for young women with acne. However, birth control affects more than just your skin. It is literally a pill full of hormones your body is not necessarily used to, and it can really take a toll on a woman's body.
Having acne and going through all of the processes to attempt to fix it heavily affected my mental health. I am constantly thinking about my acne, feeling less pretty than everyone around me, and worrying that people are staring at my face and talking about my biggest insecurity. My struggle with acne is where my struggle with anxiety began, and it has leaked over into every part of my life.
I want to challenge all of you, as well as myself, to begin looking at acne how it really is; normal.
It is time we open up the conversation and talk about how normal and okay it is to have acne. Mental health issues related to acne are very serious, and bullying due to acne is also very serious. People are being called names, ridiculed and torn down every single day for something that is so hard to control, and it needs to stop. No one should feel embarrassed about something that can, and does, occur so naturally.Who knows, if we all agree to end the stigma around acne, we could make a lot of people's lives a whole lot better, and that is something worth fighting for.
