Ish

Ish had acne for several years between the ages of 13 and 20. Most of the treatments he tried for his acne were in the United States, although he saw a GP in the UK once when he was 21 because he was worried that the acne might be returning. He finds that his skin is now mostly under control but that he sometimes gets an occasional pimple when he is under a lot of stress. Ish has looked online for information about acne before but says that he would now prefer to speak directly with healthcare professionals. He worries that following advice from the Internet about acne could not only waste time and money on shop-bought treatments but also potentially worsen the skin.

Ish finds that some triggers for flaring up his acne are stress, alcohol and some brands of chocolate. He found that his acne was worst in his later teens and that this may have been linked to stress at secondary school but also because he tended to wear his hair across his face a lot. Ish says that his acne changed a great deal from day to day, sometimes clustered in patches on specific parts of his face and at other times spread across his face. Because Ish’s acne affected mostly his face, he found it difficult to shave when he had raised pimples and he stopped doing so because it would make his skin bleed. Ish enjoyed tanning and spending time on the beach when he lived in the United States and this meant that finding suitable sunscreen products could be time-consuming and a matter of trial-and-error. He finds that his skin gets drier in the UK and that he has to use a moisturiser more frequently to avoid an acne outbreak. 

Ish says that the worst part of his experience with acne was the time-consuming nature of repeatedly going back to doctors and trying new treatments. He became very frustrated with having to return to see dermatologists and using different treatments which often only worked briefly or simply didn’t work at all. He found that some of the treatments gave him side effects and additional problems with his skin, such as making it very dry and prone to cracking. For example, he was prescribed a cream most recently containing benzoyl peroxide which worked well but he had to stop because it made his skin very dry and sensitive to sunlight in addition to bleaching some of his clothes. He recalls that one treatment made his skin very itchy and another cream brought him out in a rash. 

Ish found having acne very embarrassing and says that the impact on his appearance was difficult to cope with because it made him feel self-conscious. For this reason, especially as a teenager, he did not speak to his friends about it and disliked when family members made direct comments about his skin. Ish thinks that it is especially important that healthcare professionals make the effort with young people with acne by being welcoming and open to answering their questions. Ish used to find it uncomfortable having doctors examine his skin at appointments and thinks it’s important that doctors recognise that acne can be embarrassing for young people. He says that young people with acne are unlikely to talk to doctors about aspects of their lifestyle that may be relevant to their condition and treatment unless doctors establish good relationships with them. Ish found that the dermatologists he saw whilst living in the United States were very aware of the emotional impacts that acne can have on body image. For example, his dermatologist gave him a moisturiser to counteract the dry skin from the acne treatment and Ish thinks this helped prevent him from having many scars.

Ish now has a skin care routine which he tries to stick to as much as possible. However, this can be difficult if he is dating someone new, especially because he finds it “embarrassing to introduce that [acne prevention and treatment] into a relationship”. Ish manages his skin well with his routine but he is concerned that it may stop being so effective and require him to change products in the future, as has been the case in the past. He encourages other young people concerned about acne recurrence to visit a healthcare professional as soon as their management routine stops working so effectively.