Teen Acne & Bad Products

Teen Acne : My Story of Ineffective Treatments

Life as a teenager is never easy. There’s the struggle with self image, self esteem, self doubt and finding you own identity. Not to mention there was the ever present cruelty and judging of other adolescents if you happen to look or act a little different than the status quo of high school kids.

That’s what made growing up with acne so hard for me, and I’m sure for the countless other teens afflicted with persistent acne.

My lifelong battle (hence far) started at the ripe young age of fourteen. Up until my teens I had enjoyed the even toned, glowing and blemish free skin of youth. No wrinkles and no zits – ah, life was grand. Just when my physical appearance mattered to me and all of my teen peers, I experienced my very first acne breakout.

How cruel could nature be at this critical juncture of socializing and boy- craziness? Wasn’t it enough punishment that I was starting to grow breasts and get curves that I never knew a woman would get at an earlier age?

Adding to my hormonally charged physical changes seemed like more than I could handle at that sensitive time in my life. Oh yeah, and that first breakout never went away, and consistently got worse no matter what I used on my face or what dermatologist my parents and I consulted with.

Back then, there was no internet, I didn’t have a place to look for hours at all the cool new natural acne treatments (see our acne product reviews) that were out there – many of which were kicking the butts of traditional medications for acne.

Instead, the common thing for teens with acne back then was to put them on antibiotics – most notably tetracycline. We know today that long term antibiotic use can really mess up your digestive system. Wish I would have known that back then…..

What started as a few zits centrally located on my chin began to spread in more cyst-like pustules that were actually painful at times, and began to be seen on my nose, forehead and cheeks seemingly overnight. This was the type of acne I was later basically cured from by using a natural acne remedy which cleared me up better than any other poorly engineered, medical and non-medical acne product I had used in my teens.

I completely withdrew myself from socialization in most cases, making my high school years barely tolerable. I’m not blaming all of my teenaged angst on acne, but it certainly added to my already negative perception of myself. It made me feel outwardly ugly and ashamed of who I was.

I do feel that acne had a profound impact on my self esteem during high school, and prevented me from enjoying my youth time and time again. Silly? Maybe, but I think we all know how rough adolescence can be already. Something like acne can really exacerbate any self esteem and socialization issues during this awkward period of adjustment.

The Acne Treatments Available “Back Then”

I tried all of the over the counter acne creams, cleansers and cleansing pads, but to no avail. None of them worked on my skin to clear the acne. In fact, back in the late eighties and early nineties, most over the counter teen-geared acne products were very harsh and drying.

Needless to say, many times I ended up with dry, red peeling skin on top of acne bumps. Couple that with awkward teenage makeup application and the heavy powders and foundations that were available back then (when a matte finish was the makeup style), and what you have is not a pretty sight.

I could get into my vicious cycle of dermatologist administered treatments starting at the age of sixteen, but that is just whole different article all together. The bottom line is, many of the treatments and products available only address the problem of teen acne temporarily, and become worthless once treatment is stopped. They also have side effects.