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Sensitive! Feel this story, about how I got to battle Acne.

dearfave

Updated: Nov 10, 2021


Today, I will be sharing with you, on a felt story, of how I battled through a series of acne attacks as have most of the youths minority and majorly teenagers (around puberty ages 12 -and above 12 years) are battling with at the moment.

BTW it is my BIRTHDAY! today (shoutout to all my pisces mate).


Dear fave,


This is my diary of a Battle story, battle with ACNE!

I think such topic treads as being Sensitive and it is. So, Let me tell you a short story about my face fight.

I know, I am a beauty no doubts, but when faced with intrusive triggers that try to suppress a pretty damsels' self confidence, you bet she's gonna fight.

After the age of puberty, I like many other teenagers as studies have shown, under the physiology of nature and other factors develop acne amongst other developmental things.

Hormones,

As a woman with cyclically periods accompanied by break-outs as others like to call it. PMS (PreMenstrual Syndromes)

Oohh! do not get me started on that.

I study medicine so I know the pathophysiology and the risk factors from which they all occur, obstetrics and gynecology understands female hormones and all...others like endocrinology, dermatology. My point- The hormones estrogen and progesterone are female hormones, which are prevalent during the average menstrual cycle of about 28days but decrease to their lowest levels as the bleeding approaches, it leaves a constant level of testosterone, a male hormone (which is also produced in females but in smaller amounts than in males) .

Progesterone -stimulates the production of sebum (a thick, oily substance that acts as a natural skin lubricant). With a higher amount of testosterones level around the menstrual flow it further activates the sebaceous glands causing more sebum production.

a bacterium named P. acnes (propionibacterium acnes), feeds on the oil and causes excessive break-outs and inflammation during the time of a woman periods.

Treatment in this case, is to reduce the effects of testosterone by raising the estrogen levels.

How is that done? prescribing birth control pills, Spironolactone, Weight loss in obese

This oil provides food for the bacterium P. acnes Propionibacterium acnes. This bacterium causes increased breakouts and inflammation around the time of women's periods.

If it is severe, birth control pills, spironolactone, in obese people lose of weight helps -

What is my point?, anything that raises the estrogen level will reduce the effects of testosterone because we do not want a male hormone driving a female body, now do we? No good or bad faves here. Make sure to rule out medical conditions associated with high androgen (testosterone) level.


Enough medicine back to my story, my mum HATE! hates acne with a passion, partly if not mostly due to her suffering from it, way past puberty age. It is very embarrassing.

Accessing my family, I can say genetics can play another important role, maybe due to oily skin (not for me personally or at-lease in my case though), but genetics play a really high leading role.

This story is of how I kind of escaped it genetically or not,

So what are the other triggers?

Before I let you in on the other triggers,

let us first gist about those silly money wasters.

I call this - the story of 3-in-1

Certain complex mixtures called 3-in-1 (containing anti-inflammatory agents, antibacterial agents, and anti-fungal agents), hmm! nawa for wonder creams and they are circulated by you know(awon) ___self re-known (clears throat) pharmacists with claims of effect, in some parts of Africa and America, it is illegal in Europe (I would not mention the names, but you already know if you have tried it)

I will say it has a placebo effect, because it initially evens the skin tone by lightening it, probably reducing some acne, then poww you begin to experience really gigantic, hard, fat, Inflammations which feel more like a boil than an acne. You do not need to be told to stop, though I know effects depend on the individuals.

the story in it, is that me too I tried it (covers eyes) and the results were just so terrible.

If that is what you are doing stop it, the side effects are over the top, It causes more harm than good, it is not meant for acne treatments and should not be used for up to two weeks. Please!


Still on my story

as the story goes, Face cleansers, scrubs, exfoliants, creams e.t.c are just harsh chemicals if it is not organic and proved.

Eventually leading to skin thinning and sensitivity, causing the skin to lose its elasticity and moisture rather than the claim to help. Do you feel the frustrations yet?

If you do not believe me then why has it not treated it completely up till now, rather it is eating deep into your pockets!

Spa treatments,

The first time I got a facial treatment was a terrible experience.

The skin is properly cleansed, then prepared with honey to steam the face (most times burnt the face) once the skin is soft enough, the professional begins by extracting the acnes, pimples or blackheads she can see under her magnifying glass with the assistance of an artificial light.

When done with the ones she can, she scrubs the entire face, exfoliating and ridding of dead skin cells then a face mask is applied and allowed to dry depending on the type - peel off or clean up, then some astringents in most cases due to already tender skin on face stings a lot (containing salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide -acne treatment) .Then it is sealed off with a pea-sized treatment cream containing same treatment or just a moisturizer in some cases.

Now my face has gone through a beautiful process, it feels good, really smooth after a long period, I am temporarily happy and ignorant of the stupid decision I just made to expose my delicate skin-cells to such fragility, ridding my immune system most of the protective layer powers.

In due time, after several treatments, the facial nerves starts to get used to the pain, I became more numb/rather my pain threshold increased.

I followed the treatment up with daily cleansers, wash, and exfoliation, best believe it worked my beautiful skin came back normal after a series and cycle of roundabouts,

After about two years into my skin becoming normal I faced another challenging break-outs which I would say was affected mostly by Stress ( in some peoples case Occasional drinking) and a Terrible diet with no Physical fitness plan whatsoever.

I thought, I have done this before I can do it again, but to my dismay it was totally different this time, it was like it had a mind of its own ( but yes, the body responds to how it is being treated and with my lifestyle what did I expect?)

It was after this I decided to do the 3-in-1 shortcut procedure, which only escalated more harm than good, with a really light-toned rough face, now make-up came in.

Laser facial cleansing experience in a short term, I will just tell you my face had really tiny pinkish reactions shortly after and I never went back.

Make-up

Make-up loves to cover-up as one of its Pros.

It is so funny how people think covering an uneven surface can hide the actual surface underneath.

Cons

-maybe cover for awhile yes, but what happens when you wash it off at night and look into the mirror,

-do you still feel the beauty the make-up made you feel?


Do not misquote me, my ideology is more of 'Is the natural, better than the enhanced? and it should be'.

Isn't make-up for Self- Confidence boost?, so who are you boosting? when what is underneath is not so confident.

I am being harsh because I do not want anybody getting comfortable with the idea makeup rather than a beautiful healthy skin underneath is okay.

I love makeup, I love my face looking fleeked and all to special occasions, church, social gatherings, meetings. Yes it is an important factor as a beauty regime for most humans.

Cryotherapy - was recommended to me by a friend after she got her face badly burnt by laser trying to treat acne. One of my favorites I will say, I still love it even though it is not readily available in all spas and I do not understand why, anyway cryotherapy is the process in which frozen or liquid nitrogen at a very low temperature mixed with surrounding air is used to massage the face, it usually is used to treat tissue damage in medicine, the effects are felt almost immediately,

so basically it improves metabolism, improves blood flow, and skin elasticity, decreases inflammation or pain, you do not need any skin problems to go for this. I give it a 100% hehe!

Drugs

I visited a dermatologist nope two, the first suggested we do a skin test, after that was done the causative bacteria was known then she made an antibacterial paste mixture for asked me to apply it on my face all day, it was really thick and looked terrible under make-up but would have looked even worse without trying to cover it with makeup finally, then she taught me to prepare a face mask concoction with natural food like cucumber, eggs, vitamins, I would wash my face with only water which was hard imagining the consistency of the paste, after shower my cleanser was the use of prepared green tea which stayed to cool with sterile cotton wool, that treatment was done.

As the story goes, the diagnosis given by the dermatologist was a chronic one (doctors like such terms) a case of multiple bacteria strains which explains why I was placed on antibiotics for months. (Liver protector drugs are always given alongside to protect the liver from the toxigenicity that accompanies such treatment)

Not so much for the face, what could it be?, also interesting how everybody taught they knew home-made ways to treat acne, what do i mean?

Different suggestions some 'use lemon', no hunny not on a really thin skin, it burns, 'egg protein' - okay.

I got so tired went to meet the second dermatologist, we started with drugs one for as long as three months, another six just to re-balance the metabolism of oil in my system (during my early facial treatments my mother already made sure I was not allowed to eat food like butter/margarine, groundnuts e.t.c) I religiously used the drugs appropriately

After the completion of that therapy, yea!!! acne was gone, but my skin was left badly damaged from the stress of all the very many treatments it did not rest from.

acnes didn't stay long on my face again, but mostly left a blackhead(spot), and I knew I was meant to avoid infections which came mostly (scratch that) greatly from the hands.

I was this time prescribed an asian day and night cream which was to help reduce the appearance of blackheads, which worked for awhile until i tried to stop using it. (I was not going to be a slave to any medication, not acne cream) so i stopped.

Then my beauty regimen had improved, I updated it - washed my face regularly with honey, cinnamon, lemon. (mostly honey) Applied tea-tree oil when needed but I was not satisfied, I needed my beautiful skin back, after a while i ordered a set of body lightening products online, it worked perfectly well for face oh yea actually beautifully well, until the effects went bad again, now my face was fine, but my body skin started experiencing hyper-pigmentation and made my skin look bad, hehe!!! what did I expect, it contained hydroquinone and all the earlier treatment had already made my skin more sensitive and thin, less prone to heal properly.

I immediately stopped the use of the cream a-least for my body, I was not ready to go back to square one with my face, it was actually good for the face and i used it just when i needed it (not anymore now, I am all pro-organic/natural)

Understand the battle is inside (more Internal and less External).

Now you know, what started out as simple `battle I fought and how I finally got rid of acne for good, obviously with prayers more (glory to my God!) educate yourself on the things to avoid

*laugh at me, but I say it is okay to let your skin breathe without moisturizing, I had to learn it the hard way, when at a friends sleepover I mistakenly applied massage oil on my face in the place of tea-tree oil, are you asking what I was thinking or you just bet it did hurt a lot.

-If you have a routine on scrubbing, thumbs up, ( do you steam before the process and how often)?

If you do not, why don't you start this week and do not forget to moisturize, drink lots of water (as much as 2 liters)

*No-no rules

  • Oily, fatty, junk, high cholesterol foods,

  • Just cos everyone does it, does not make it right for you.

  • Avoid Stress.

  • Visit a trained dermatologist.

  • Fight it internally more.

  • Sleep well, rest is KEY!

  • Hydrate often - drink fluids WATER!!!

  • Take your multivitamins.

  • Balance those hormones

  • Be Patient.

  • Practice a clean skin hygiene;

  • I read somewhere that your hand contains more bacteria than germs from a public toilet seat, avoid introducing bacteria and dirts to your face. Wash your hand regularly

  • Do not forget to moisturize too.

  • Cell phones are a bigger culprit, try to make it a habit to clean your cell phones or any other devices that comes in contact with your body regularly.

  • Same for some hairstyles.

  • My fitness clique, Hello, yes gym rats, use your personal clean towels, do not play with other peoples germs that is just so gross!

  • Cover all mats with a towel;

  • Hello junky community, wa-gwan, my news ain't gospel to you smoking contributes to all kinds of skin acne. Love your skin, then quit smoking.


Balance Your Hormones, Balance Your Life Physician's Advice- IT GETS WORSE BEFORE IT GETS BETTER. (blows kisses), happy birthday to me. Love, Your Favorite Physician.

Be sure to check out the video-link at https://youtu.be/7gxu27Jrscc

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