I wanted to share my own personal story regarding acne here, as I know how difficult living with this nasty skin condition can be.

I had very clear skin throughout my teen years, but at the age of twenty I started getting spots. It wasn’t much at first but over the next few years it increased in severity until it reached the point that I was getting three or four new pimples everyday and existing spots were taking a long time to heal; leaving terrible marks behind.

To find out more about my skin history and tips to get through it, read on…

When I talked to other people about it they shrugged it off and said it was just a phase, I know that they were trying to put me at ease but it just frustrated me. I wanted help, not to be told to wait it out.

A year ago my skin became unbearably bad. There was nothing I could do to cover the lumps and bumps and, considering my profession in the beauty industry, I was very embarrassed that I couldn’t control it.

One day, I had finally had enough and decided to go to my GP to talk about it. I was really nervous about it and had images of her telling me I was wasting her time, but she was very understanding and talked me through my options.

In the need I decided to go on Yasmin, a contraceptive pill which has been known to lessen acne. Armed with my new weapon against  pimples I went home, but knowing that it can take a few months to work I decided to try benzoyl peroxide cream.

I had heard about BP a lot, but it seemed so strong and scary sounding that I put off using it. What a fool! Within days I noticed a huge improvement, especially to whiteheads, and teamed with my new medicine I was on a role.

Six months on and I’m acne free, I get a spot once a month and it heals very fast.

So what are my words of advice?

• Don’t hang about, get some BP cream straight away
• Build up the mount of BP you use, it can be a shock to skin that hasn’t tried it before. Start with a tiny amount and as your skin adjusts, add a bit more.
• If things are really bad, or your acne is affecting you emotionally go to your doctors and don’t be afraid about it
• Don’t overload your skin with a million different products, it’ll get confused.
• DON’T WORRY. Getting stressed, picking at your skin and thinking about it 24 hours a day will only make things worse. Enjoy life and relax – you will sort it out.