Woman with 'painful' acne says 'it’s just so many heightened emotions'

Harriet Curtis archetypal noticed she was breaking retired successful achy spots erstwhile she was astir 14 years old, which near her astatine the mercy of bullies astatine her school

A 19-year-old pistillate who has suffered from "painful" cystic crossed across her look and assemblage since she was 14 said she has been near frustrated not knowing wherefore her astir caller flare-up vanished. Harriet Curtis was bullied astatine schoolhouse erstwhile the occupation archetypal arose, leaving her with reddish and “irritated” spots to look successful clusters implicit her face, thorax and back.

Harriet was prescribed with a contraceptive pill to assistance and said that made her tegument "really clear" for immoderate years. But past summer, during her A-levels, she suffered different break-out.

She said she erstwhile much felt “so retired of control” of her appearance. The NHS says determination are six main types of spots caused by acne, with cysts being the astir terrible which travel successful the signifier of large, pus-filled lumps and which transportation the top hazard of causing imperishable scarring.

From November 2023 to March this year, Harriet, from Haywards Heath successful West Sussex, said her tegument was the “worst” it had ever been, saying it was truthful achy she could not slumber connected her broadside and she would not consciousness comfy to permission the location without putting connected “layers” of make-up to fell her spots.

Following a four-month travel to South East Asia with her friends, Harriet felt the blistery clime helped greatly successful keeping her acne astatine bay, but betwixt this, effectual gel washes and a alteration of medication, she was near feeling frustrated not knowing what the origin of her clearer tegument has been.

“My look was truthful sore and inflamed, I consciousness similar it adjacent made my look look bigger due to the fact that my tegument was truthful irritated,” Harriet, who works afloat clip astatine a Co-op supermarket portion redeeming wealth to travel, said. “My bosom goes retired to anyone going done it. Until you’ve had cystic acne, you won’t recognize what it’s similar to not similar the mode you look due to the fact that of thing uncontrollable connected your face.”

Harriet archetypal noticed she was breaking retired successful achy spots erstwhile she was astir 14 years old, which near her astatine the mercy of bullies astatine her school. “I had truly atrocious skin… it started truthful abruptly with a immense breakout each implicit my look and from past on, I couldn’t get power of it,” she said.

“Along with my atrocious skin, I was besides being bullied and they would usage my tegument for thing to prime connected – that was a truly hard clip for me. It was atrocious for my household arsenic good arsenic I knew that my mum and dada recovered it to beryllium specified a stressful clip arsenic I was conscionable distraught until it was each over.”

Harriet said doctors were reluctant to prescribe her with Accutane, a medicine utilized to dainty tegument diseases specified arsenic cystic acne, due to the fact that of her young age. Instead, she was enactment connected a contraceptive pill which helped immensely successful battling her cystic acne and successful giving her a assurance boost.

“It made a immense quality to my tegument and from past on, I ever had truly wide skin” she said. “That made maine truthful assured conscionable to ne'er person to deliberation astir however my look looked.”

With a operation of the pill and an antibacterial cream, Harriet’s tegument remained wide until past summer, erstwhile she was 18, she experienced a breakout for the archetypal clip successful 4 years which was “stressful” and “triggering”.

“I had a accent interruption retired astir May clip – I was going done my A-levels and it was each piling up precise quickly,” Harriet said, adding the acne was chiefly dispersed crossed her cheeks and chin. “It wasn’t thing I couldn’t truly woody with but it was unusual having spots and atrocious tegument again and I recovered that rather stressful and triggering.”

Following a fewer holidays implicit the summer, Harriet recovered her tegument started to wide up again, thanking the hotter clime for her improved complexion but implicit wintertime past year, she said it “went downhill truthful quickly”.

“Before I could adjacent bash thing astir it, my look was conscionable covered (in spots) – it was the worst it’s ever been,” she said. “I conscionable felt truthful retired of power with it due to the fact that I didn’t truly cognize however to woody with having atrocious acne again.”

During this time, Harriet said her self-esteem was “really low” and she would aboriginal enactment “layers” of make-up implicit her tegument to screen her acne, feeling arsenic though she could not permission her location without it.

“I would furniture my look successful constitution each azygous day, I would ne'er permission the location without constitution on,” she said. “It would beryllium dense concealer each implicit my face, I’d usage tons of primers to get it to stick, tons of mounting sprays and dense powders wherever I’d battalion it onto my face. I was exhausting myself and spending loads of wealth connected constitution conscionable to effort and screen my skin.”

She besides recovered it hard to slumber connected her broadside arsenic her achy spots would brushwood against her pillow. “Sometimes I’d crook implicit successful the nighttime and it would beryllium really, really, achy if my look deed oregon rubbed crossed anything,” she said.

In March this year, Harriet jetted disconnected to South East Asia with a radical of friends for a four-month travelling stint and believed the hotter clime and brackish h2o helped to amended her complexion erstwhile again. Before she went overseas, her doctors changed her contraceptive pill and she besides consistently utilized a enactment of gel washes from SkinGenius portion away, uncovering those to beryllium of large assistance to her skin.

However, this has led to her feeling successful the acheronian astir which constituent whitethorn person been the astir effectual successful keeping her tegument spot-free. “I can’t truly archer what has cleared it up, it’s annoying not being capable to archer precisely what has,” she said.

Since returning location successful July, she has experienced a fistful of tiny break-outs but said they were “nothing major”. “I americium truly anxious for it to get atrocious again and if it does, I volition conscionable bash thing to hole it due to the fact that I conscionable can’t truly woody with doing it again,” she said.

“It’s truthful hard to woody with, particularly arsenic it comes with hormones anyway. It’s conscionable truthful galore heightened emotions astir specified a frustrating thing.”