Everyone has trouble with acne. First of all, it is hard to accept; secondly, you have to fight against both this skin condition and social standards of beauty. But when a young boy or girl has acne, it makes things worse because their classmates are careless and don't check themselves.
Chelsea Fahey, a young woman who had been praised for her appearance since she was a child model and had won over ten beauty pageant titles before going on to win the Miss Teen America 2004 title, experienced something similar.
She had embarrassingly terrible acne in seventh grade, which was the beginning of her nightmare. The now 18-year-old Chelsea recalls, "I used to cover my face with my hair and look down to avoid seeing people's reactions and the hurt of seeing people wince."
People's emotions and personalities are impacted by acne.
Despite being a widespread issue, it destroys even the strongest people. The majority of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 will experience acne of some kind, but 40% of them will experience severe acne, according to the Academy of Dermatology. They won't have pimples; instead, they'll develop cysts that might leave them emotionally and physically scarred.
I didn't want to date anyone, so I didn't make many friends. I refused to have anyone touch my face and to look in mirrors. It was quite depressing," Chelsea says.
In order to prevent herself from seeing herself, she even covered every mirror in her home. Chelsea attempted every kind of medication and treatment available, including pills, lotions, medicated cosmetics, and various face washes, but nothing seemed to help.
Chelsea would not discuss the issue, not even with her mother.
She believed that discussing it would be the equivalent of acknowledging that she had a problem. She also didn't want to experience any more issues than a typical adolescent would.
From her mother's perspective, Chelsea appeared to be losing the war and was retreating even more into herself, but the first and most important step Chelsea took was to acknowledge that she had a problem.