My Skin Story

Hello friends :)

It has been a long time.
I've been going through some hard times in my life and I lost motivation.
I know my last post talked about me losing focus too, but I believe I'm on the right track now.

Let me tell you a story.
About two years ago, I felt two of my friend's face. They had baby soft skin. I was instantly filled with jealousy, but I didn't know what to do. Of course, I tried a ton of products. Unfortunately, nothing worked. I started to develop dry patches on my cheeks, a bit of flakiness on my nose; chin and cheeks, and my acne became worse. No matter how mild the acne was, I was always left with some form of discoloration after the pimple went away (and that was if I was lucky). If I was unlucky, the pimple left a deep "ice pick" scar.

I had atrophic and ice pick scars. I was horrified.
My skin looked as though it was constantly bruised.

 


I don't have better pictures of my skin because I was ashamed. Acne shouldn't be something that you're ashamed of having, but I was ashamed. I didn't like the way I looked and I tried to hide my skin from others. I preferred to do the peace sign near my face or to cover my cheeks in pictures (the two outer pictures were taken for an event so I couldn't hide my face).

I had accepted the fact that I was going to live with these scars until my aunt showed me the light. She recommended that I go visit an esthetician. She said I should try microdermabrasion ("a non-chemical, non-invasive procedure that uses a spray of microcrystals to remove the outermost layer of dry, dead skin cells and reveal younger, heathier-looking skin" google's definition).
However, when I went to the esthtician she told me that since I had ice pick scars that it would be better to use the SkinPen. (The skin pen is microneedling).

I have gone in for treatments three times as of right now.
I no longer recognize my skin - in fact I was shocked at how bad my skin was. My parents told me that my skin looked so much better, but because it was a gradual healing process I didn't realize that. It wasn't until I right now (yes, I mean it...RIGHT NOW) when I was looking for pictures to show you guys my before picture that I realized how much my skin has improved.

I have created a skincare routine for myself that I have stuck to for the last three months and my skin loves it. There has been moments of relapse when I am stressed, but I don't let those moments keep me down.
(My skin care routine will be in a different post).

Currently, I no longer have to try and use filters to hide my scars...or use my hands to hide them.
My skin isn't perfect, but they are on the way to being much better.

This is a picture of that cheek as of right now. I have some active acne going on so it looks a bit more inflamed than normal. The picture was taken under a harsher light and with much more focus. I'll be honest...the skin still doesn't look good - it doesn't look like those picture perfect and flawless skin, but I love it. I love it because I fought for this skin. I had to fight a long battle to get my skin to even look like this. 

The scars are not as deep and the skin isn't as red as they were back then. In the before pictures you couldn't see, but my skin was extremely inflamed and it wasn't just red. You could see different shades of red and dark purple - it was bruised from me picking at it (...I know...hands off). 

I'm hoping to keep you guys updated on my little journey to a better skin. 

I'm thankful for the chance the change my skin. I am glad that I hadn't gone so far down the wrong path that it was impossible to come back. 

Onward and forward to better skin we go. 

Until next time lovelies...keep your head up and stay strong.