The Psychological Damage of Acne

Zits, pimples, whiteheads, blackheads, and boils are just a few of the terms for acne. Most people get to experience the painful and unattractive red bumps that are associated with acne. Not only is acne unpleasant for others to look at, it can be extremely painful on the inside, as well as the outside. Many high schoolers and adults have experienced the psychological damage of acne in addition to the temporary and long term physical effects. There can be extreme personality changes that can happen almost overnight in many people when they wake up to find a red, sore acne spot on their face.

There are two very different types of acne but as anyone will tell you, they both completely suck. Mild acne is just your small whiteheads that vanish within a few days whether you leave them alone, use some sort of cream or acne fighter on them, or pop them. Sever cystic acne is something else entirely. Sure you will still have the mild acne that tons of people you know have but in addition, you can have very large and very deep cysts and boils that are pus pockets and can hurt worse than anything you can think of. When you lance or pop one of these boils or cysts, in addition to having to go through many layers of skin and tissue, not only will you pump out blood and pus, but odds are you will have an ugly and deep scar that may stay with you for the rest of your life.

You might think "It's just acne, it'll go away and it isn't that bad." While many do share that point of view, more than you think are being damaged psychologically and having their very lives ruined and changed forever. That may sound a little drastic but as someone who had bad acne in high school, I can relate to this first hand.

Teasing is especially painful for people with severe cases of acne because many people with acne feel they can't do anything about it. People with glasses can get contacts to avoid teasing and fat people can diet and exercise. Before the discovery of using B5 vitamins for acne treatment the only really effective treatment was prescription Accutane which carries with it an expensive cost and many negative side effects.

When you have severe acne, it can overtake very large portions of your life. Socially, emotionally, and psychologically, terrible things can happen that you might feel are out of your control. People without acne will think they just need some creams or to wash their hands and face more. Those creams and any soap known to man have no effect if you have severe types of acne. If anything, it just seems to piss it off and it calls for backup. Topical treatments for acne are not effect at all despite all of the commercials you may have seen. Those who have suffered from acne know what I am talking about. I tried all of those creams and soaps and the rest while I was in high school and they never did anything!

People with severe acne become less and less social because they are very embarrassed of their appearance and tend to have enormous feelings of guilt about having the acne in the first place. It doesn't matter that it isn't their fault. This lack of being social can lead to a great decline in friends until there may even be none left. This can lead to very extreme mood swings and bouts of depression. In extreme cases, people may even attempt suicide. Severe acne, especially if someone suffers with it year after year can build up to a state of self loathing and hopelessness. This might sound extreme for just a dermatological problem but for many people, this was almost impossible to cure before the discovery of B5 vitamins for acne treatment and the only prescription drug (Accutane) that was effective causes depression as one of the side effects.

The best way to stop the psychological damage of acne is to stop the acne from appearing on the skin in the first place. Over the past 10 years a new very effective acne treatment has been discovered: B5 vitamins for acne treatment. B5 vitamins are a very effective way of stopping acne that I wish had been known about when I was in high school. The best things about B5 vitamins is that they do not require a prescription nor does it have any negative side effects.