How I Cleared My Skin

Hello everyone!

From the age of around 11 or 12 I have struggled with bad skin. What began as a few 'teenage spots' on my face when I was younger, eventually became bad acne covering my face and back/chest by the time I was 14/15.

This lead to low self-esteem and confidence issues, especially as I was told countless times to 'wash my face more' or 'use Freederm!' by my classmates.
Needless to say, I used countless spot creams and facial washes to no avail before deciding to go and see my GP. At first they prescribed some antibiotics. These didn't work, so they prescribed a different sort, and these didn't work either. I went back again, and they prescribed a strong cream, which, unsurprisingly, didn't work. After prescribing me a third antibiotic that had some effect but soon stopped working, my GP referred me to a dermatologist.

I went to an appointment expecting them to wonder why I was even there, as I was so used to having bad skin that I didn't even realise how bad it was, but they pretty much immediately prescribed me a strong medication called Roaccutane. They explained that the way it worked was to dry out your skin (and everything else too!) to get rid of all the acne, prevent scarring, and hopefully prevent it from coming back as badly, if at all. They told me that the side effects would include dry lips, dry skin, dry and itchy eyes, eczema, and aching muscles amongst other things. They warned me that it would be difficult and that the side effects would be hard to deal with at times, and they definitely weren't wrong.
I found the side effects extremely hard to deal with, especially for the first few months. Imagine your lips being the most dry they've ever been. Now imagine them being like that constantly, only feeling better if you apply a layer of lip balm every 10 minutes, and that it what it was like being on Roaccutane. My personal favourite lip balm was Carmex, and I must have purchased around 20 tubes of it throughout the time on the medication! I also experienced bad sores around my mouth, which led to a lot of anxiety as I hated the way they looked and they were so painful. The dry skin was a nightmare, as no matter how much moisturiser I used, it would always look dry and make-up never looked nice. These side effects combined with aching muscles, eczema on my arms, and fragile skin (I lightly scratched my arm one morning, it bled for an hour and I still have a scar now!), made for a difficult 5 months.

However, I can honestly say that I never imagined the outcome to be this good.

The first, truly awful, photo was taken around a year ago, when I was wearing no makeup, and even this photo doesn't do justice to how bad my skin was, although you can see it here.

The second photo was taken a few weeks ago, and I was wearing a thin layer of foundation.


Having bad skin made me feel awful about the way I looked for such a long time, and it's honestly so refreshing to be able to look at my face in the mirror without hating the way that my skin looks, and to be able to apply make-up not to cover things up, but just because I enjoy doing it.
Taking Roaccutane was extremely difficult and caused a lot of anxiety and upset for me, but it was, without a doubt, worth it because I'm honestly so much happier now.

Thanks for reading!
Menna