So the good news is that pretty much I am 17 and I have gone through a a horizon full of stuff through puberty. My hormones have changed, My voice, and etc. Also, my acne has pretty much all gone away!! I have gone through 6 years of my life going through hell dealing with ACNE. This has effected me emotionally as a person and my self-esteem. Now that my hormones reached somewhat a balance and I don't get as much Acne (Unless i'm really stressed), my face is somewhat getting clear everyday.
The bad news is, the scars. I had somewhat Moderate to severe acne throughout the years and the continuous breakouts led up to a lot of scarring. I mean, I have all sorts of scarring (The volcano looking ones, Ice picks, The ones that look smooth and but look like someone has digged a hole, etc.)… This has effected me very much and i'm willing to even go to the doctor without any insurance, HOWEVER, If they are any ways to cure it by products, I am willing to try. I was looking through a site and I came across a process known as, "Glycol Pealing" where it removes acne scars running at about 140 bucks. Here is the site:
http://www.30glycolic.com/acne_scar_treatment_kit.shtml
Should this be a try? or a pass?
Please, anyone with some sort of experience. Please don't give me that vitamin E crap, or take oatmeal and mix it with playdough and stick on your face for 15 minutes. I call that a massage, not a cure.
Thanks so much!
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I am a licensed esthetician and this is a common issue we can help to treat. I would wait on any severe peels until you try a few other options first. Your acne and/or scarring may not go as deep as you think so if you feel that interested in peels, perhaps look into more superficial peels before taking on a deep peel.
Though I have not actually looked at your skin and been able to assess it, I would perhaps try UltraSonic (A machine that uses sound waves to exfoliate the skin as well as penetrate products into the skin. Some estheticians may not use this machine and might not recommend it for you if your case is as severe as you think), LED Photorejuvenation (Research done by NASA and the Mayo Clinic have proven the positive effects that LED can have on skin. Again, depending on your area, it may be hard to find this treatment), and maybe Microcurrent (I find that this has helped my clients with pock marks and deep pores and alleviates, sometimes eliminates, those markings on their skin. This machine stimulates nerves and lifts the "lazy" portions of your skin at its smallest point). Again, as I have not examined your skin, I cannot say for sure that any of these routes would truly work for you but since it looks like you are willing to do the work, I would call a few estheticians in your area and ask them for a consultation. See if there's anything they can do for you before you start peeling off many layers of your skin. Any esthetician worth their salt will be able to direct you to a dermatologist if they truly can't do anything to treat you.
The good news? You have young skin that doesn't know what to do with itself except to create TONS of new, healthy skin cells over and over and over and over… Think rabbits, yeah? Also, it sounds to me like you may have oily skin which does make it a little tougher on you but a great and envious side effect? Your skin will age slower which means you'll probably get carded well into your 40's. Yay! But seriously, several things you can do to help your skin be as perfect as possible:
- DRINK WATER! Seriously the coolest miracle cure out there, water helps to clear your skin by keeping it hydrated (Thereby not letting your oil glands get tricked into thinking your skin is dry and then overproducing oil which triggers a breakout), diluting toxins, and nourishing your new skin cells.
- Use non-comedogenic products, which is just a fancy way of saying they won't clog your pores because they don't have oil in them.
- Exfoliate! No need to abuse your skin or anything, simply using a gentle cleanser with a wet washcloth and working in small circles around your face will be perfectly effective.
- And finally: moisturize! Remember that thing I said about glands overproducing oil, therefore triggering a breakout? Even with oily skin, you need to moisturize after cleansing because your skin is dry, it may just not feel that way. Look for an oil controlling moisturizer to eliminate any shine.
Many other factors can contribute to treatments you should seek such as race, health, medications, and skin sensitivity so make sure you share any information your esthetician or doctor may need.
AND DON'T PICK YOUR ZITS!! Leave that to us professionals so that you don't damage the capillaries or your good skin or spread the infection. =)
Good luck and I truly hope this helps you in some way. If I can be of any more assistance, please let me know!
Don't worry about it.
If you don't have insurance you're not going to be able to pay for any of the actual effective methods of acne scar reduction. The good news is, you're young, and scars fade over time.
A few more pieces of advice:
If you're 17, you're probably still in high school. Don't think that acne is why high school sucks for you. High School sucks for everybody. Nobody really enjoys High School.
Also, chances are your scarring isn't as bad as you think. 99% of the time, nobody'll care. That last 1% of the time it's just some jerk looking to give you a hard time.
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