I am a fifty-eight-year old male, and I first began to experience acne when I was fifteen years-old and in Grade 11.
The reason that I recall the initial onset of acne so clearly is that I was playing for the Junior basketball team at that time, and we used to practise until 6 or 6:30, and by the time I had showered and walked home it was usually 7:30 or even later and I had missed dinner with my family.
Since my mother insisted that she was not running an all-night diner, at the age of fifteen I was on my own as far as making dinner was concerned, which was fine by me, and invariably my meal would consist of a hamburger or hot dog and french fries, which I could whip up in a matter of minutes.
But that's not the reason that I recall my first experience of acne.
It wasn't the late basketball practices or the hot dogs and french fries for dinner.
It was Fern, the adorable, dark-haired cheerleader.
Fern was a year behind me, in Grade 10, and her brother Michael, was a year ahead of me, and one of the best players on the Senior basketball team.
There was no real reason for Michael to invite me over to his house to watch college basketball games with him and his friends, but he did, on several occasions, and that is why I have such a clear recollection of the time in my life when I first began to suffer from acne.
Michael knew that I had a crush on his sister.
Do I ever remember being invited to come over to Michael (and Fern's) house on Saturday nights to watch the broadcast of the college basketball games on the local Buffalo channel, and worrying myself sick about the pimples on my face, and praying that they would disappear by Saturday, which they never did.
I didn't know anything about the causes of acne back then, or how to treat it, and I thought it had something to do with working up a sweat during basketball practice, and eating french fries every night for dinner.
That was over 40 years ago, and I have learned a lot since then, but guess what? I still have problem skin, and I have to take very good care of it, or I could look just as bad as I did back when I was fifteen.
Well, perhaps, not quite, but I am not about to chance it.
What I have learned is that if you have acne-prone skin, which in most cases means that your skin over-produces oil, there are three essential steps that you need to do every day: 1) You need to keep your skin scrupulously clean to remove dirt, oil and bacteria 2) You need to exfoliate your skin to remove the dead skin cells and promote regeneration 3) You need to hydrate your skin so that it does not over-produce oil And for exiting blemishes, there is an additional essential step: 4) You need to spot treat your existing lesions so that they dry up and heal without causing any scarring Those are the essential steps in any effective acne control system.
Do them consistently and, your acne is virtually guaranteed to dramatically improve.
There are some memories of my teenage years that I wish I could relive.
But acne is not one of them.
Many young men and young women, too, believe that acne is simply an awkward stage of physical development that is outgrown eventually, and not a minute too soon.
For many young people, it is just that.
For others, it is a problem that persists well into adulthood.
I am one of those people, and the best advice I can give anyone else who is, is to be diligent, conscientious and consistent in your daily skin care regimen.
The benefits are well worth it.