The beauty in Acne

What is acne?

This has now become a not so very much asked question because of how normalised acne has become. However, for the sake of the article and to all people who are unfamiliar with the term, acne is a skin condition that causes individuals to get spots and usually really oily skin due to hormone imbalances in the body. Acne is very common among all ages but majorly ones teenage periods, when an individual begins puberty. Acne is not necessarily a face-only condition, many people may have body acne on their chest or back.

what are the symptoms of acne?

Acne has many symptoms, first beginning with Whiteheads, which is the clogging up of pores with oil from the glands in the body, this happens when the oil release is at an imbalance due to hormones. Blackheads follow the whiteheads, then comes the small red tender bumps, which is the formulation of a pimple of the spot. finally followed by the appearance of the pimple itself. This is the more simpler route of acne symptoms and development, while some may be more severe than other acne, ALL acne is beautiful.

Anxiety, confidence and other problems around acne:

While acne may seem like a more simpler way to call out the skin condition, the name alone may have a very deeper and heavier meaning to others. Acne usually does NOT come alone. It brings along social anxiety. Social anxiety is not necessarily caused by acne, but speaking from experience, it does. Social anxiety is when one finds it difficult to be around large groups of people or to communicate with new people. Now because acne is a skin condition which majorly appears on the face, the reason for the anxiety is obvious, being self conscious. The HUGE levels of self consciousness which occur with anxiety cause an individual to obsess and overthink their situation, usually because they have the idea that acne isn't ideal or that others may also be obsessing and noticing their acne or 'how bad their skin looks'. However in reality, everyone is actually self conscious and one of the main issues that causes a raise in chances of social anxiety in individuals with acne is because they assume that people are obsessing over their appearance as much as they are. WRONG!

Everyone has insecurities and everyone is self conscious and although they may not be as worried about their appearance compared to someone that does have acne, they still will have an insecurity or their own issues to 'obsess' and worry about. Making someone with acne actually hear you out on this argument is harder than simple chat, but it involves the changing and manipulating of ones entire mindset and self belief.

Confidence:

Confidence is a vital part of an individuals personality which can determine how they are treated by others and how they act around certain people. With acne, confidence can be bumped down hugely because of how the individual views them self. You could say that it works in a positive correlation, the worse the acne the lower the confidence. This is not entirely true! While many people have a better way of accepting and dealing with it, many people do allow it to become a dominating factor in their lives.

Speaking from experience and current situation, acne can be a pain; physically, mentally and emotionally. Physically, spots can be very painful and uncomfortable to deal with. Mentally, acne has caused me to think negatively of myself and has allowed me to obsess over it to a toxic extent where it has lead me to depression and a very self destructive mind cycle,(i will explore this deeper in a moment). Emotionally, i have been upset, frustrated and angry at times when my skin failed to cooperate with me. It gets annoying and irritating constantly feeling like i wasn't 'pretty' or 'good enough'just because i have acne. Which is never the case. Acne puts you in a negative triad where you are thinking bad about having acne in the first place, your current situation, and even have you worrying about the future state of your acne . Will it get bad? Will it just go away? Would it ever get better? Because there isn't an actual cure for acne, people just depend on treatments and dermatologist advice to control and take care of their skin, which can be very hard and occasionally really expensive.

I decided to ask some people who do have acne what they thought of themselves and their state. I only asked females to later be able to compare findings with the male group. Here are some of the responses: "I've had acne for a while now and it has become a part of who i am. I feel consummate with acne and although it took me a long time to get used to it and after putting me through hell, i had to come to a self acceptance point where i just embraced it". For one to actually be in internal happiness with themselves, they have to join the gap between their ideal self and their real self. This leads to self evaluation and acceptance, which is a healthier state of mind.

Unlike the first response, which demonstrated an individuals strength and mental power of acceptance, there are various responses that define that, "I only recently developed acne and i have been very self conscious about my appearance. I occasionally break down after seeing the state of my skin even if it is not the worst. It has got in the way of my personal life, i find myself sometimes cancelling plans with friends because of how bad i think my akin looks, i avoid large groups and have become more quiet at school and work". This here is a prime example of how acne can ruin ones social life, it causes people to create a barrier between themselves and the people they love or talk to. This is not the case with everyone that has acne, but this is a common behavioural trait which occurs in an individual with acne. This response also presents how confidence is affected by acne and how it can mean more to others than just a 'skin condition'.

The females responses were more or less similar to the male responses however there was one response in particular that challenged me. "I have had acne ever since i was a teenager and despite it being a struggle to maintain confidence, i got over the issue quickly. I think that this is because i am a boy and its easier for boys to get over things like this then girls because not everything for us is appearance based." It was very interesting that he thought this because as a female, i am not necessarily disagreeing, but when it comes from a male it holds a heavier principle. This triggers many conversations which stir away from the main topic of acne, one that is rather about feminism. I am also not going to go into too much detail about that argument but the idea that i took from this is that, females tend to have more social and external pressure compared to males about their appearance. While acne can be something normalised on a male, it can be judged heavily on a female, (I might make another story for that topic!). Overall i think that acne, in both males and females is something that should be embraced and equally valued because despite any stereotypes, acne still has impacts all emotionally, physically and mentally. The only difference being that some deal with it better than others, regardless of the gender.

Depression:

Now i think i have already covered most of the reasons for many mental issues that come along with acne, but depression is a major one, one that should be dealt with very seriously. Depression occurs when an individual is constantly unmotivated and occasionally sad and down about themselves and everything around them. This is supported by many theories and an obvious one that we have discussed is Becks negative triad. The negative triad is ones negative view on the world, themselves and the future. With people that have acne, this can become an issue especially around the 'self' stage. The person will begin to feel worthless and insecure and start to assume that everyone around them also views them the same way. They then have negative thoughts about the future such as, the acne never going away or them always having to feel the way they do about themselves. Overtime, there are chances that the candidate will develop depression, for as long as they are confined within this unhealthy cycle.

Many therapists and dermatologists have become aware of the issue regarding the mental side effects of acne. A common method that a therapist or a specialist would approach when dealing with a situation like this is CBT. Cognitive behavioural therapy is developed to aim at individuals who have depression, however because one can never be sure if the depression existed before the acne or developed after the acne, or even caused the acne to develop, this therapy form targets mindsets and aims to manipulate them and better an individual by stirring them into self acceptance. When an individual is able to produce healthy thoughts, they become in control of what they are thinking. This is harder then is sounds because for one to successfully manipulate them self they have to actually believe what they are saying. By the use of unconditional positive regard, the therapist can help the individual feel that they are worthy of love and that they are accepted, unconditionally. The individual would then begin to feel more comfy and open to accepting them selves. They will produce positive thoughts which are healthy and start to be more open to change and acceptance. This can go two ways and the second obviously being that the person fails to change or be open to change. This is another issue which is hard to tackle and is left to discussion between client and therapist.

This section explored the use of cognitive behavioural therapy on treating psychological side effects of acne, depression, and making one feel more comfortable with themselves. I overall think that this is harder done then said speaking from experience and findings. Acne side effects are just as important as the acne itself and should be heard out when an individual is raising awareness on them.

Society, social media and acne:

Being someone who has acne and attempts to consistently represent it, it can be harder if everything around me isn't. Such as societies views on it and what it means to people who don't have it. Well, primarily, in my opinion acne in the beauty industry is underrepresented and it is also treated indirectly as a flaw, pressuring everyone to assume the false definition of beauty being only found in clear skin. An example being adverts; usually on TV mainly when there is any face or skin brand promotion, they always use clear skinned or modify faces so that they are clear. While we understand that a business needs a good cover to promote their skin brands, using clear skinned models is not going to help. As a movement we want to see more acne wearing models on adverts, on the TV, on magazines and faces with acne that promote skin brands. This will make products more direct to us and actually feel like they are representing us rather than the expected norm of 'clear skin'.

On Instagram, i follow a tag #acnepositivity , which is a thread of posts that have people with a common similarity, they all have acne. Unlike all 99% of my social media, when i have going through that specific tag, i feel like i belong, i feel represented and i feel empowered. I think that personally, seeing other people around me that are going through a similar thing makes me feel wanted and reminds me that i am not alone. Now i know that many people may be thinking that acne is not as bad as people that have it make it seem, however throughout society we are underappreciated and underrepresented, which worsens our mental health. 'Why don't you take time of social media' is repetitive advice that i get given when i say that i am feeling insecure. Let me tell you guys- the people that have ever given me this advice and that don't have acne but still give out this advice- something, THIS IS NOT GOOD ADVICE AND IT MAKES US FEEL WORSE. Telling us to delete social media or to take time of social media, as healthy as the outcome would be, it is actually a counter and indirect objection to our belonging on the social media platform. This advice can keep us quiet for a while, maybe we may even give it some thought, but it never actually helps. Its ephemeral. Because eventually we will come back to social media we will want to interact and to keep up to date, but we will also continue to compare ourselves and we will continue to feel the way we do. The reality is, we are all addicted to social media and it is toxic and movements such as #acnepositivity are created to make us feel safe and to give us a place to feel complete.

There was a time where i was on Youtube watching a high school interview where a pupil was going around asking her friends, her male friends, things which stand out to them about a girl and things that make a girl 'less attractive'. I think we can all tell that i was disappointed to hear that almost every male, or the majority said 'clear skin' makes a female attractive and 'acne' is something that stands out which makes them less attractive. Disappointment. Of course everyone to their own preferences but putting it out there so 'raw' is the reason why many females with acne lack confidence. Because the truth is we can not do anything about it. We can not control it and we can not determine the state of our skin. Many of us also criticise ourselves enough the last thing we need is to be criticised or have our criticism validated rather than challenged!

Things to avoid doing- for people with and without acne:

The prime advice i give anyone with acne as i do for myself is , don't pick at your spots ever! No matter how itchy, big or tempting it gets just do not do it. Not only will it hurt but it will cause spreading. And that is the worst nightmare for someone with acne. People without acne, stop telling us to drink water to reach clear skin. We probably drink more water than you lots and speaking for myself, occasionally i do think that when people see me they will assume that i don't take care of myself or just have negative thoughts about me. But really the negative thoughts are within me, because people couldn't see the process and give me credit for it i thought that it was acceptable to not give myself enough appreciation either. Which is a fat NO ! This is what happens when you depend to much on external factors to feel complete, you set yourself up for disappointment. So avoid seeking other peoples constant praise, rather praise yourself no matter how hard it is.

All my clear skinned people, please stop using acne advice and skin care tips as conversation starters. By doing this you instantly alert us to something we are trying to forget about and not fill our heads with. We know that your skin is clear and we admire you, but to put it out there we too are beautiful and although our skin doesn't treat us well, you HAVE to. Exercise is such a good way to keep yourself busy and make yourself feel better. It will make you feel in control of something at least, while knowing that you are unable to control your skin, you can control your body and your mind. Through consistent exercise and meditation, i guarantee that you will find yourself in a better state mentally and physically. Of course exercise also has it's own benefits for the skin so use it as a motivator.

See a dermatologist. This can be a solution you seek as it can have benefits such as finding out the root causes of your acne and ways to treat and prevent it from worsening. A specialist may or may not decide to put you on medication, of course everything is with your own concern. One that i am familiar with is Accutane. This is a very strong form of vitamin A which is very good for oil control in the skin. I am, however, not going to go into to much details. Despite the desirable outcomes of medication for the skin, many have really severe side affects. While some can impact you mentally others can be harmful to other process in your body, you also are usually asked to take pregnancy tests and the duration that you can be put on a medication can also be tiring as you are constantly having to remember to actually take it.

PLEASE please please, do not tell us to wear make up. Personally i am someone that does not use make up. I avoid it and i have never actually used it before, but there have been multiple incidents where an individual has recommended using makeup to 'cover my spots'. This was actually rather painfully and it does hurt us that people think we should cover our spots to feel like we belong. If you have ever advised anyone make up for their acne, you probably at around an 80% assumption have hurt their feelings. All my beauties with acne, don't ever assume that wearing makeup is a must. Of course everyone to their own needs and routines, but for people out there like myself who is yet to familiarise themselves with foundation and concealer, don't feel obligated too. You are beautiful and you sure are not alone. However if you do decide to wear make up, be assured that the products that you are using are suitable for your skin and that they aid your skin or will have no effect. A litter research before purchase is always a safer option.

To all the women and men with acne, you are not alone. Read this article as a love letter, a letter of appreciation and reassurance. You are loved.

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