Acne, (finally) my story

It was around the 6th grade when my problem with acne started. It was bad--really bad--and I have the photos and scars to prove it. No matter what I tried--acne pads, acne ointment, special facial cleansers, masks--nothing seemed to work. Even my prescription oral medication--you know, those pills that require you to stay out of the sun--seemed to do little in terms of improvement. The worst part was that other kids in my class did not understand. They looked at me and thought it was simply the result of poor hygeine. One of the boys in my class straight-up told me, "Why don't you just wash your face?" It was so ironic and so sad; they actually believed that the solution was something as simple as "just washing my face" and that for some reason, I just hadn't tried that yet. Little did they know that I washed my face compulsively. When you have a problem like that, believe me, it's a lot more difficult to go on living with the social and emotional problems that bad skin causes than to just pick up a washcloth and a bar of soap.

The truth was, for me, it was hereditary, and no matter what I did in terms of keeping my face clean, I was destined to have the problem. Everyone on my father's side had suffered from this family plague: my father, my uncle, and his children had all gone (or were going) through the same thing. It was horrible that people could look at me and think that I was just too lazy to wash my face. Didn't they know that if it was that simple we would have already done it? The truth is, if you don't have an acne problem as an adolescent, you're going to naturally assume that it's the result of your doing something right. Which is not always the case. Yes, cleanliness certainly helps, but sometimes (if the problem is hereditary) there is no amount of cleanliness that is going to solve the problem.

So as I said, I'd tried everything--every method and every product--under the sun. I'd even quit drinking pop and eating certain foods that were rumored to cause acne. Nothing worked, so I just lived with it. Finally, a package came in the e-mail from one of my mother's friends. She had sent me a medication--an ointment--that they sold over-the-counter in Canada, but not in the U.S. The chemical was nothing I hadn't tried before--it was benzoyl peroxide (which is available OTC in lower strengths in the US)--but it was much stronger than anything I had yet been able to get my hands on. Thus, I was hopeful and eager to try it.

It wasn't long before the ointment (in possible combination with the prescription pills that I was on), cleared up my acne (and just in time for high school). Who knows if it was the medication I was on or if it was just timing? I do tend to think that it was too big of a coincidence to have not been the medication, and I am tremendously grateful for my mother's friend's efforts.

My acne problem never went away completely (even now as an adult I have the occasional break-out), but it was a HUGE improvement from the blemish-riddled face that I had worn for three long and agonizing years prior to high school. And finally, those same boys who had teased me and told me to "just wash my face" began to get acne as well. Their hormones finally starting to kick in, they finally developed acne problems as well, despite that they were washing their faces (while in the meantime, my face had cleared up). I'd be lying if I didn't say that I had been secretly waiting for that moment all along. Finally, they would understand that when you're a teenager, the solution isn't as simple as just washing your face. Hormones and heredity are much more powerful than most chemicals and cleansers, and while it would have been nice to turn back to them and say "Why don't you just wash your face?" I bit my tongue, for it was a new-found understanding for them, that went without saying.