Let's Talk About Acne

I grew up feeling as though I was not normal, that I had parts of me that weren’t acceptable. I was called ‘pizza face’, often locked myself in the toilet cubicles at school so that I didn’t have to see people at lunchtimes and would spend hours upon hours in front of the mirror, washing and re-applying make up to try and hide my imperfections.

This blogpost is all about my skin and yes, I am going to show you before and afters. My whole life I have had two different feelings when it comes to seeing posts like these. One part of me has been inspired in knowing that change is possible, that someone has been in my shoes and that maybe one day I will be the ‘after’. But there was also the part of me that felt frustrated because I was still in the ‘before’ stage, with a face covered in red bumps and scars just wishing and waiting for the change to come. Above anything I want this blog post to speak to you - to tell you that you are normal, that your feelings are valid, and that you, as you are now, are accepted. I strongly believe that the conversation around acne (and other skin disorders) needs to change. Acne is often portrayed in the media as being something that is ugly, undesirable and abnormal and that we need to cover it up - but the reality is, there are thousands upon thousands of us who have had or currently have it. We are normal and I think it’s time we see normal people like us in adverts, on runways and on social media.

My story of acne is one that has not been predictable or consistent in the slightest. The first imperfections that graced my face happened when I was about 16. Up until this point I had had clear skin, never wore make up and also never bothered with a skincare routine. To be honest I don’t have a super clear memory of this time (it was 13 years ago now, yikes!) but I do remember my skin largely dictated how social I was. If it was a “good skin day” I would say yes to going to the movies with my friends, and if it was a “bad skin day” I would find an excuse to say no. I remember moments like going to the pharmacy with Mum for the first time to buy foundation (I was a bit of tomboy and never wore make-up so this was new territory), texting Mum from the school bathrooms begging her to come and pick me up and lying in bed at night just praying that the small sections of smooth skin would miraculously spread to cover my entire face. I was always very aware of the way I looked and constantly scanned the room to see if I was the odd one out - relieved when I saw someone with skin similar to mine.

Change first came for me in the form of medication when I was about 18. By this point I had tried different skincare products (didn’t work) and other prescribed topical antibiotics and retinoids (also didn’t work) so finally my GP put me on Ginet-84, also known as ‘the pill’ (contraceptive). Fast forward 6-12 months and I was so relieved to see the bumps were beginning to disappear and for the next 5-6 years I kind of forgot what it was like to have bad skin. The trouble with contraceptive pills, however, is that they often just mask what is really going and as soon as those little hormone changing pills went away, everything flared back up. Why did I come off ‘the pill’ when I knew it was working? Because I had started to read articles on the dangers of taking contraceptives likes these and decided that until I had further education about what was actually going into my body it was no longer right for me.

At 24 years old, coming off the pill, I was apprehensive but also felt hopeful as I had been told time and time again “surely you would have grown out of acne by now”. For about 6 months everything was okay… and then it wasn’t. Adult-acne can suck my big fat toe! It was awful. My skin was raw, sore, red and I cried what felt like every day. The option was there to go back on a contraceptive but at this point I had decided messing around with my hormones in this way wasn’t best for me. It wasn’t long before I started to get really desperate and regretfully begged my doctor to put me on a strong medication I knew had worked for many others - Isotretinoin, also known as Roaccutane.

This drug worked a treat for me but the side-effects weren’t fun. Picture the flakiest, driest lips and skin you’ve ever seen and someone whose quite moody and slightly depressed and that was me. It was recommended I stay on two courses of this drug at a fairly low dosage and once again I was happy to see my skin clear up. This time I was sure coming off medication that my acne would be cured. But no, 6 months later it came back with a vengeance. I was now 26 and felt like the only one of my friends who still had “bad skin” - it felt incredibly unfair and I hated it.

At this stage of my life things had changed drastically for me - I was now dating Alex, my current boyfriend and he was constantly reminding me that I was beautiful just the way I was - no make-up and imperfect skin. I think his reassurance helped me make what I can hand on heart say is the best thing I ever did for my skin.

Before we go into this part of this blog post I need to preface by saying - I am not a doctor and I don’t have any qualification or training in this area so what I am sharing is only from my experience. I’ve also been working alongside both businesses I’ll mention and received gifted treatments and product in exchange for promotion (but if you know me, I definitely would not recommend something I do not believe in).

This is the first time of my life where I decided to take it slow, to not get a “quick fix” and to not just put a band-aid on what was really going on. I started to realise that to fix my skin long term I needed to really figure out why my skin was behaving in the way it was. So I went to see a naturopath (long story short I actually booked to pay and go see one but they had to reschedule my appointment so I ended up just talking to one in-store at The Herb Centre). The naturopath talked to me about internal supplements and suggested a few that were good for hormonal issues. I ended up purchasing fish oil tablets, evening primrose oil and zinc - and although it seemed pricey at the time - I took those bad boys consistently for 6 months (I paid for this myself - not gifted). This was not a quick fix in the slightest, and it took time and patience and many nights of me wondering when things were going to kick-in but I am so glad I took the advice to address what was going on inside my body because slowly and surely the acne started to disappear.

At this time I also started working with Tessa from Beauty Assets. Tessa is what I call a skin angel. She has been working in the beauty industry for years and has a special interest in helping people who have different skin difficulties. Tessa isn’t magic, and she fully supports her clients addressing what is happening internally as well as externally and will always refer on to other professionals if she feels someone with different experience is needed, but I swear her hands have a bit of sparkle in them. Tessa has been working with me to primarily address my pigmentation (all the redness) and scarring and I have been in to see her approximately once every 6-8 weeks for the past 9 months.

Tessa first started by giving me skin peels (sounds horrific I know but I promise it’s safe and although a tiny bit sore, totally okay!) and regular microdermabrasion. Then, once my acne had settled right down, (from all the great internal supplements I was taking) she started on skin needling treatments (which I still get regularly to this day). I’ve included a little explanation of each of these treatments at the end of this blogpost with a little about how I found them (including pain levels).

Alongside treatments from Tessa I have also been using a range of the Dermaviduals bespoke dermatology skincare products. Dermaviduals is a prescription based skincare range that can only be given to you by one of their skin consultants (Tessa is one of them) and the range I have been using has been fully tailored to meet my particular skin needs - changing as my skin has got better. A key thing to note here, and something I have been proud of myself for doing – is that consistency is really important. It’s also really helpful to talk to someone who understands skin and can recommend certain products over others.

I’ll admit - healing your skin from the inside out and in the way I have can get pricey, however, I do believe that approaching your skin by looking at the bigger picture is really important. I think it’s important you talk to a doctor to discuss your options, but also don’t be afraid of talking to a naturopath about what supplements you could take internally. Naturopaths are also great at looking at things like your diet and lifestyle and the way those things could be impacting your skin. Sound kinda kooky? Yeah, I thought so too, but I am so glad I took the time to at least go and ask. And as for treatments and skincare - ask around, get advice and don’t just take the word of an influencer about what you should be doing (including me!).

I now feel incredibly confident that my skin has healed, because I know I haven’t just slapped a plaster over the real issues. This is the first time in my life where I really do feel like I don’t have acne. The odd pimple pops up here and there, and my scarring is still slowly disappearing thanks to my skin angel, but I am feeling so much happier in myself. There’s also this small part of me that is sad though - because I wish that ALL skin was seen as normal, as desirable and accepted. I know that someone reading this right now has acne, I know that someone right now doesn’t like the way they look and I know that someone right now is wishing they could be the ‘after’. I don’t have an answer for you but I do want to encourage you that there are others who have walked in your shoes and you are not alone (even though it may feel like you are the only one). My hope is that one day we will see people with acne everywhere - on social media, in magazines, on TV and in our everyday lives - living confidently with the skin they currently have. Maybe that might be you? I chose to start sharing my skin story of adult-acne from when my acne was at its worse (on my Instagram) and I can honestly say it helped take away some of the power it had over me. Sure I still cried heaps, and felt embarrassed with days when I just wanted to hide - but I also felt proud that I was able to say ‘hey this is me’ and it was okay.

All my love, be kind to yourself,

xx Danni

*All treatments from Beauty Assets and skincare from Dermaviduals are gifted in exchange for the work I do to promote them

MARCH 2019

AUGUST 2019

SKIN PEEL:

This one sounds horrific, I know, and while I’ll admit it does sting a bit, you can be reassured, when done by a trained professional, it is safe! The peel uses exfoliants to remove all the gross bits from your skin and reduce the appearance of rough skin texture, acne and age spots.

LED TREATMENT:

Light emitting diode (LED) light therapy uses varying LED wavelengths to treat acne, reduce inflammation and promote anti-aging effects. It’s pretty much just this fancy as mask that sits on top of your face while you lie there blissfully in no pain. You should expect to have something popped over your eyes to protect them (it’s quite bright) and sometimes it can get slightly uncomfortable if the mask is resting in the wrong place. Oh, and it’s completely safe - they’ve even created at-home LED masks now.

MICRODERMABRASION:

This is a tool, kind of like a vacuum cleaner for the face that is used to remove the dead surface cells and stimulates collagen production. It doesn’t hurt, and actually, I personally found it really soothing.

SKIN NEEDLING:

Micro-needling/skin needling is used to help firm and smooth your skin. A group of very small needles are used to make teeny tiny pricks into your skin which stimulated deeper later of your skin to help promote collagen production that rejuvenated the skin. It reduces scarring, black heads, open pores, fine lines and pigmentation. At Beauty Assets Tessa always uses a topical anesthetic to make the procedure comfortable as it can get quite sore otherwise (and it does tend to get a little painful when the depth of the needle is increased) But hey, no pain no gain! Afterwards you can expect your skin to be quite red and blotchy, but don’t worry that goes away quickly. It’s also recommended that you don’t wear makeup for at least 12 hours to give your skin time to breathe. Also, once again - this treatment when done by a trained professional is safe!