My Experience with Cystic Acne and Dehydrated Skin

People often underestimate the power that acne has over dehydrated skin people and fail to understand its impact over one’s mental health.

For two years of my life, I struggled with severe acne and had no clue how to initially deal with it.

It all started when I started my face laser treatment as I was getting thick hair growth around my sideburns and upper lip. After a few sessions, I started to observe a significant amount of acne around my cheeks and forehead.

At first, I was worried but eventually continued these sessions until it got so severe that I decided to stop my laser treatments after the 5th session. After this, my acne started looking less inflamed and irritated, so I assumed it would eventually clear out in a week or two.

Little did I know that it would only get worse from here.

Within two weeks, my face was covered with clusters of acne all over my cheeks, chin, neck,  back and forehead. It got so bad that they would almost appear to be blisters. My face was so tender that if I opened my mouth, the pimples would pop and bleed out.

When I woke up from my sleep, my pillow cover would be stained with blood. Initially, I tried popping the pimples but it proved to only get worse.

In conclusion, my acne was out of control.

Low self confidence, Credit: Pxfuel

Pimples: How They Affect Your Self Confidence

Throughout this time, I was the most panicked I’ve ever been in my entire life. I dedicated my time to research on acne and tried to figure out what was wrong with my skin. By the end of it, I knew every home treatment that claimed to cure acne and all the possible reasons that cause acne – tea tree treatment, honey, rice face mask, oats mask, salicylic acid spot treatment – you name it, I’d tried it.

I also started to extend my research to diet and even cut down foods like dairy products, spicy food, chocolate, sugar, and even drank gallons of water until my stomach felt like it was going to explode.

Things were not looking good as nothing worked. In time, I stopped leaving my home in order to avoid people, and even when I had to face a person during rare occasions, I always made sure to be a few steps away in the hope that they wouldn’t recognize my acne.

The combination of my frustration and the physical pain and appearance of acne ruined my self-esteem and self-image. I became obsessed and depressed at the same time. I was unable to look at myself in the mirror and eventually became a socially awkward person.

This was when I decided to visit a dermatologist and seek professional help.

Dermatologist, Credit: radar

When I Got Help

I have no idea why it took me so long but I’m so glad I did. My only wish is that I would’ve gone to her sooner.

At the end of the sessions she informed me that I was suffering from cystic acne and although this seems like bad news at first, I was somewhat relieved because I knew what the problem was and I could finally treat it efficiently.

My doctor told me that every time I was putting hundreds of products in the name of treatment, I was merely just dehydrating my skin even more by stripping off the essential oils on my face. As a result, the dry and rough skin triggered over production of oils which eventually clogged my pores with dead skin.

My treatment plan for cystic acne consisted of two parts: Medications and self-care.

I was put on some anti-inflammatory creams, vitamin A derivatives, antibiotics, and topical antiseptics. This followed a low sugar diet and also avoided greasy, dehydrated skin dairy products, and oily foods.

For self-care, I followed and used antibacterial face wash and spot treatment creams that contained Benzoyl peroxide.

What I’ve noticed from this is that the care and treatment plan I was now following was very similar to the ones I had earlier tried. However, they were limited and more concentrated on a few treatments.

Treating cystic acne, Credit: Pexels

Trust the Process and Have Patience!

In addition to that, after seeking professional help, it gave me the confidence to trust the treatment and committed to it.

In a week, I noticed promising results, and by the end of the month, most of my acne cleared up. There was still intense scarring. dehydrated skin Fast forward to two and a half months and my skin was completely cleared out and one could barely spot the scars.

Takeaway

Now every person will have a different recovery period depending on the extent of the problem but it’s important to have faith in yourself and trust your dermatologist and treatment plan. The most important thing to remember is that this is just a phase, with proper help, dehydrated skin treatment and adjustments, it will soon end.

Do not isolate yourself from your loved ones just because of your acne and most importantly do not let it define you.