Acne Support Group

Yeah, it's not nice, but it's so easily forgotten I wouldn't even worry about other people's reactions at all. Literally everybody has "been there" at one point, whether because of acne problems or something else.. trust me.

Something like 80% of teens struggle with their skin, so you're in good company too. It's best to just fughetaboutit and do your thing.

I'm sure you may have heard that stress can make acne worse, and that's totally true. So don't stress ;-) .. More on this via Sharecare.com's Health Reference QA site:

http://www.sharecare.com/question/h...

And here's a great article from RealAge.com too, it's called Teenage Acne Treatments That Work:

http://www.realage.com/blogs/doctor...

Just remember that its a passing thing. Be proactive about treatment if it bothers you, but beyond that there's no reason to trip on your skin or what people think about it. Like I said, everyone goes through it, and life is too short to let to let that kind of stress get into into your mind space and slow you down. :-)

I started getting acne when I was 11/12 and the one thing that I would have done differently is take care of it right away. Which I'm sure you know, because you don't want it to get any more serious then what it is now. By taking care of it I mean if you by one product that is benzoyle peroxide and you realize its not working within one month, then don't try another product that is also benzoyle peroxide (same ingredients basically, if one didn't help the other won't either), give your skin some time off and do not put any "acne treating" products on, then try another ingredient for example sulfur (murad system), if that doesn't work then you can try another one (glycolic acid etc) or be efficient and go to a dermatologist :), explain to them that you have tried everything and if you are eligible they will give you a strong medication (which has many side effects so i cannot reccommend it) [however all prescriptions have side effects, I was fortunate not to have any except for back pain]. Anyway for nodules and cysts this six month treatment (some ppl go on it for 3 months) will most likely cure it. Again, do not go by my word do your own research, and I am not reccommending Accutane at all. Some ppl love it others hate it.

It's up to you how you want to "cure" your acne. Just know that you are not alone, even if it may seem like it at times (trust me i get that feeling). What makes me feel better, is I know about skin through experience and research/school, so talking about it and being an ambassador to help others or even just to talk about ppl about self esteem, actually helps me.

Good luck, and stay strong you're deffinitely not alone :) You can vent all you want on this site.

Oh hun.. i can understand your situation, but self-pity aint gonna help. Look everyone has some time or the other in their life gone through acne. There is no point in cribbing about it, but standing up and dealing with it. When i went through my phase I was so fed up with it. I used to get these ungodly huge zits right on my nose. The entire face had minimal acne, but my nose looked terrible. I did lose some "friends" who earlier just stuck with me for my looks, I realized who my real friends are and they werent there for what i look but for what I am.

I knw it sucks and you must feel like shutting yourself from the world, but understand this, at least you should be thankful that you get to eat a decent meal, have proper clothes to wear, have a good chance that morning you ARE GOING TO WAKE UP. Compare yourself with a Somalian mother of 7 not knowing what to feed her kids, or if she would even be alive by sun break. Hope it helps you realize that the world is better than acne.

Well, renova, you are actually right now that i think about it...

Well my acne problems started when I was about 15, right after I got my period.. so it was caused by hormonal problems.. I can assure you I looked like a monster, I had pimples everywhere.. face, neck, back, chest.. I felt so horrible somedays I didn't want to go to school because people would look at me weirdly and laugh.. I was kinda the only one like that in my class so..

I didnt wear make up at the time, and I tried a lot of things to cure it but nothing really worked.. it is something everyone goes through.. my own brothers used to call me "pimple face" and now they got it worse than I ever had..

I got rid of mine only after I started to take birth control pill.. it cleaned my skin in about a month, even though I still deal with oily skin and ocasional small breakouts..

Honey just don't feel bad about yourself.. this is a normal and very common problem... you should just try to discover its cause and treat it, but dont feel bad about yourself nor mind what others say!

I am new here So i dont have a lot to say. I finally went to the Doctor and she prescribed generic Retin A and 250 mg of Tetracycline twice a day. I must say it has cleared up a lot. BC pils did not help me at all. It just made it worse. So Good Luck and try not to worry so much. One thing I did find over the counter that worked was Burts Bees Peach and Willowbark Scrub. You can get it at any drug store where the facial products are or there is a seller on Amazone that tells 2 tubes for way less than you get at the drug store. Good Luck

I have had bad acne and it got to the point that i was picking at them to reduce stress. Well i payed the price by forming scars on my face so i went on bc pills to control it and saw a dermatologist. He put me on antibiotics and they worked at first but i found out that the bc pills and antibiotics did not mix well as it just made me break out more. So i decided to to toss the antibiotics and stick to the bc pills. But I haven't payed attention to my acne that much anymore and I've noticed that my family or my friends havent either. So I think that if you dont try to pay attention to it that much then neither will your family. And even if your family still does say something then just ignore them because they shouldn't be bothered by your appearance. But everything will be ok and another thing that i have found helpful is drinking lots of water and eating foods with lots of vitamin c and a. Such as greens and oranges:)