It is true that acne strikes large numbers of
teenagers but acne is by no means limited to teens.
It can start much earlier and, in many cases, may
extend well past adolescence. As in my case and that
of my two sons, acne can be present at birth, fade
during childhood, and then flare up again as early as age ten or eleven. Other individuals can sail through
their adolescence with clear complexions only to be
hit hard as adults. This is especially true of acneprone
women, many of whom do not flare up seriously until their twenties or thirties. (a
phenomenon we’ll explore in Chapters 8 and 9.) In
fact, 60 percent of my patients are women over
twenty. Older men (some women, too) are sometimes
prone to acne rosacea, which occurs on the nose.
That’s what gave W.C. Fields his trademark bulb.
Not only may acne strike at any age, thereby
disqualifying it as an exclusively adolescent disease
but, to teenage acne sufferer can be assured that his
or her acne will disappear at the end of adolescence.
Many boys’ acne will continue until about age
twenty-three, twenty-four or longer. Girls’ acne may continue considerably longer. Therefore, the myth
that acne will disappear at age eighteen or twenty is a cruel one. Too many people will accept acne
because they believe it is merely a teenage disease, only to feel angry and cheated when it continues
until they are twenty-five or thirty-five.
This is a terrible shame. Thousands upon thousands
of teenagers acquire disfiguring scars and psychological trauma on this “passage to adulthood”
that stay with them and poison their self-images for a
lifetime. Unless doctors, parents, and teenagers
themselves stop “enduring” acne because they believe
the scourge will pass quickly, the damage will
continue.
Parents and doctors are fond of saying that scars will
disappear or grow less noticeable with time.
Unfortunately, that is a bit of “kindness” similar to
the “don’t worry, you’ll outgrow it” line. Scars are
forever. That’s why acne shouldn’t be taken lightly.
The cruel truth is that a scar is permanent. There
are surgery techniques that on some patients can deemphasize
scaring considerably. And it’s also true that scars seem less traumatic with maturity. As
people get older they are often more self-accepting and have a greater capacity for objectivity. For those
individuals, the acne scars acquired years earlier lose
some of their bite. Unfortunately, this is not true for
everyone. Whatever your level of emotional maturity,
the truth is that a scar is forever. It is far better to
start the treatment at age twelve and prevent the
scarring.
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