MY CONTINUOUS BATTLE WITH ACNE

By: Tegan

I have been struggling with acne for the past few years. The first time I developed really bad acne was in November 2014 it was mostly on my right cheek and right half of my face with some on the left. It made me feel unattractive and I lost a lot of confidence and didn’t want to leave the house without make-up on – even wearing makeup I felt horribly self-conscious. I just wanted the acne gone and was prepared to do anything.

I first visited the doctor in late November and was prescribed a gel on its own to apply to my face. This irritated my skin further and I decided to return again to the doctor. This time I saw a different doctor and was prescribed the same gel but in a cream form and given 3 months of antibiotics. The doctor also discussed with me that the combined contraceptive pill could be a further option to help my acne. At this moment in time, I was unsure about using something that would change my body in this way and decided to wait. My skin seemed to improve slightly but still I felt unattractive and the spots were painful.

I returned again to the doctor in February and decided that I would give the combined contraceptive pill a try alongside another 3 months of antibiotics and the cream. Within a couple of months, my skin cleared and I maybe got one new spot every month and instead of active acne, I was left with acne marks which at the time felt like they would be permanent and I would have them forever. However, I was happy that my acne seemed to have stopped and began to gain back some confidence.
I bought Clinique's Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector to help with my post acne marks and they did appear to start to fade.

This continued until February 2015, at this point I decided to stop taking the pill as I thought that my skin would be okay and didn’t want to take it for longer than I felt I had to. A couple of months later my acne returned with force this time concentrated on my chin and the lower half of my face. I was thrown right back to the misery I felt when I had acne before and my confidence plummeted. I hoped that given time it would go away on its own and avoided going back to the doctor, believing that my skincare routine may be enough to help me this time. A few weeks later I felt even worse and there were no signs of improvement.

At this stage, I decided to go the chemist and see if there were any products to help. I picked up Freederm gel and began to use this every morning and night. It appeared to help a bit but still the acne would not be budged. Still, I clung to the hope that this time I could clear my acne naturally as I thought that surely acne can be cured naturally and there must be something natural I could do to get rid of it? So I changed my diet cutting out dairy, however, it seems the acne had taken hold and this too did not help.

I have now gone back to the doctor and been re-prescribed the same products as last year – the combined contraceptive pill Lucette, Lymecycline antibiotics and Duac gel. I am yet again faced with fading active acne but dark acne marks and acne scars. I want something natural to help my skin so I can get it back to being unblemished and fade my acne marks and I am hoping that a BANISH kit will help me fade the scars and keep acne at bay.