Emotionally Dealing with the Social Stigma of Acne

Nearly 17 million people in the United States currently have acne, and most of this 17 million are attempting to cure only the symptoms of the pimple, blackhead and scars. Acne is the most common skin disease in the world. However, if so many people are afflicted with this skin disease then why is there such a horribly negative social stigma against acne? There is ever increasing social and media pressure to become as beautiful as impossible and acne can be a devastating blow for this image. If acne is untreated then it leads to disfiguration of the skin and permanent scarring which affects self esteem for years.

Acne must be treated physically and emotionally, and, treating both is essential to true acne cure. Since acne predominantly affects teens during puberty and women during pregnancy, post partum pregnancy and menopause acne can cause deep emotional scars as well. How does a teen who is constantly bombarded by media influences to look perfect accept acne as a common problem that should have no effect on their personal worth? How can the woman who is feeling like a fat blimp at 8 months pregnant supposed to accept that acne is normal, especially since she cannot use any of those over the counter creams to help get rid of pimples?

There are several tips that these people can try to help overcome acne emotionally:

Attend summer camps where other kids may be suffering from such afflictions as well. Alcoholics Anonymous members know that being among a group of people with the same problem helps to deal with the problem better. Buddy up and talk about how your acne makes you feel, and how other people make you feel. Compare treatment notes and successes and failures in treatment.

Join clubs at school that don't put the focus on looking good. Sometimes just getting your mind off your acne is all it takes to improve self esteem. Also, finding a club that helps show off what you are good at will help you to feel better about yourself. Discovering what your talents are is way more important than getting rid of that pimple.

Participate in sports. This allows you to work out and keep your body healthy which helps promote healthy skin which helps keep acne breakouts to a minimum. Sports also allows you to find talents that make you feel good about yourself, and to show off those talents to other people to gain praise and improve your self esteem.

Work at a part time job that allows you to show off your skills. While flinging a newspaper may not be as glamorous as that top executive job, it does allow you to get glowing reviews by being on time, taking on extra routes and work when needed, and show off how good you are with customer service and teamwork. This increases self esteem as a young person and carries on through the rest of your life.