Makeup. Everyone seems to hold some opinion on it, as makeup is now in the media and all around us more than ever. Beauty gurus and makeup artists are becoming incredibly prevalent on YouTube and all social media. The word itself conveys its intent: to make up or fill what may be missing or needs to be enhanced. As someone who has gone through phases of wearing more heavy makeup and barely any at all, I understand the bad rap. Even the seemingly best of things can very easily be used in an unhealthy way.

I’ve had pretty mild acne since I was around eleven. It has since gotten much much worse. It seemed to me that I was one of the only people my age that had any kind blemishes. My acne only progressed to get more and more intense as I got older, and while one may argue that acne and pimples are something many people struggle with, something so common that it really isn’t a big deal, this is not the case.

Struggling to cover my acne for years with makeup became a part of life. I felt I wasn’t complete with makeup, without this mask to conceal the real me. I never went a day without spending over an hour trying to change my appearance. This routine took quite a toll on my mental health. I became depressed. The more I felt I needed to change and hide, the more I felt I could never really be myself.

It has taken years to get my acne under control. I tried so many products on my own, finally to learn that I have hormonal acne, something solved for me by a prescription. No amount of scrubs and lotions had ever made any difference for this reason.

Within the last six months I finally visited a dermatologist as a last resort and I cannot express how thankful I am that I made this decision. My dermatologist has not only solved this physical ailment, cleared my skin, but has given me so much more confidence. I began to finally feel okay with how I looked. It took time to remedy and is something I’m still working on improving, but it is still so incredible and there is not a day that goes by that I am not in awe of the difference.