Anxiety About Breaking Out?

[laurenmontgom]

I’ve had various levels of acne on and off since middle school (I’m in my early 30’s now). My breakouts are highly linked to my diet, so last year I cut out sugar and dairy, which helped. But when COVID-19 hit, my anxiety went through the roof and I started eating badly again. For a few months nothing really happened with my skin, and I cut out dairy and sugar about a week ago, but in the last week or so my skin has gotten much worse. It just makes me feel so ugly and uncomfortable and ashamed. My anxious, OCD brain keeps telling me that I ruined my skin forever and I’ll never be able to correct the damage I caused. Anyone else have breakout-anxiety like this? Where you convince yourself you’ve ruined everything when you go off your regimen for a while, or you get scared that your old regimen wont work if you take a break from it? I feel so alone in this worry and I’d love any comments or stories or support. Thanks 🧡🧡

[Biffy1212]

I have found it tends to be a vicious circle. Skin is bad, you get anxious and stressed about it and skins gets worse. Skin gets better eventually, you are less anxious and skin remains at a decent level. What I have found is that I will always view my skin as a lot more worse than it actually is. I am mid 40”s and have finally accepted that I will never have clear skin and have accepted that this is the person I am. My acne has totally moulded me into the person I am. I will never repair some of the damage both mentally and physically and still at 44 years old, the mirror is the first thing I look at in the morning. You don’t need to suffer though, acne is treatable and you need to making an appt at the doctors to explain how you feel. No one should have to suffer.