One of the worst things to have happened to me in my young adult life has been, in my opinion, severe cystic acne. Those out there who have experienced it can probably agree that it takes a huge toll on your self-esteem and performance in life.

When I was in my teens, I had perfect skin. I look at photos from back then and my skin seemed buttery smooth and super radiant. I don't remember having any "rituals" or "regimens" - my skin was just absolutely perfect on its own with no special treatment. Then I hit twenty! That's when the problem started. But before I go on, allow me to tell you a few basic facts about me related to this subject.

I'm 24 years old.
I have for the most part very oily skin.
I can't really say I have a healthy diet (I eat a lot of junk food)
I use birth control.

All of the aforementioned things are relevant to this article as you will see. Anyway, at twenty I started to break out mildly. But of course, back then I was freaking out, too! No one wants to see anything abnormal on their face. I immediately ordered the Proactiv Solution kit that is so feverishly advertised on TV in hopes of getting rid of the problem. The kit started to work after having used it for about 2 or 3 months and unfortunately, after about double the time it stopped working.

Let's fastforward to the age of 23. I was going through many stressful situations which included family, relationship and emotional problems. I was under a microscope and felt immense pressure and confusion. When I am stressed, I tend to lose appetite as well. Around that time, I also began using birth control for the very first time. As you can imagine, my body was responding to the sudden change in hormones. A combination of all of those things made my skin have an ugly, ugly outburst of pimples that took what seemed an eternity to go away.

I'm about to share the pictures from that time and it's taking a lot of courage for me to display them publicly. But I hope that other people who have gone through this can see hope for themselves, no matter how much worse (really, can it get any worse than this?) or milder their problem.

Yep. That's me! Look at my forehead in the second picture. It was absolutely disgusting and it felt that way too. My skin got to such a bad state that it didn't feel like skin anymore. I would cry while washing my face because it hurt so much. It was painful to go to sleep and I'd wake up with blood and pus all over my pillow. I was ashamed to let others see me and I made it a habit to keep my hair down and covering my face as much as possible.

I made all of the mistakes I mentioned in my previous article "a guide to clear and healthy skin". I spent I'd say thousands of dollars in all these different skin care kits that promised to help me but failed terribly to do so.

However, I will be forever thankful to Jill Armstrong, my former boss. She was the one who told me about the ONE product that helped me overcome my acne. That product is Dr. Brandt's Poreless Gel. It took a lot of trial and error before I found this product but I'm glad I did.

I used it once in the morning before starting my make-up and once at night before bed. Within a DAY I saw results. And 2 months later my face was almost clear. Now, I enjoy a beautiful complexion with the only imperfections being the red scarring and some dents from picking :(

No matter how hopeless you feel about your skin ever going back to what it used to be, do not give up. Again, check out the guide I wrote and see what small, simple yet very effective steps can do to help you get rid of acne.

If you have any questions about anything I've posted, feel free to contact me. I am happy to answer questions about skincare to anyone who asks :)

* to contact Angie click here or simply leave a comment.