Easter for me has now become a little more significant than chocolate Easter eggs and bunnies. This time of year for me marks the beginning of my acne struggle, the time that I first developed a severe case of acne.
It’s amazing to think that I’ve now been researching and studying acne and its treatments for a little over a year now! That seems like ages 
And not surprisingly, I now have an unbelievable amount of knowledge in comparison to what I had in the beginning.
One thing I get really frustrated with (and I’m sure you do too) is the amount of incorrect information about acne that is published on the Internet, in books and posted in forums.
I think some of these acne related websites on the Internet are genuinely trying to help people, but some are also just trying to make a quick buck, or perhaps they’ve just somehow been lured into the dark side and stumbled into converting their passion into a fortune. Why is this so terrible? Because as a former severe acne sufferer, I KNOW how desperate you can get trying to find a cure or even better - a ‘quick fix’ for acne. Many, MANY times I’ve been wooed by these sites into believing that their product, book or regimen is THE answer to curing my acne. And many times these methods have failed or made my skin worse.
I’m having a bit of a rant about this for a few reasons.
1. I think it’s just plain mean!
Moderate to severe acne, Acne Dysmorphia and the emotional side of dealing with acne is a huge and very serious problem that affects the well being of many people of varying ages. It is often heartbreaking for an acne sufferer to try a new treatment with so much hope and the promise that it is guaranteed to work, only to find that it actually doesn’t work at all.
I don’t understand how any product, company or regimen can GUARANTEE their treatment will work. What I’ve discovered during my research is that there is no one acne treatment that will work for everyone. I can’t state enough how true this is. Not even the most powerful acne treatment prescribed by dermatologists (roaccutane) will work for everyone.
This is why I spent a lot of time when constructing my own acne treatment plan to make it as holistic as possible and to cover all treatment possibilities both inside and out. It is sometimes not enough to just use prescription medications, or just topicals, or to just eat well and do yoga. Often a plan needs to be tailored according to the needs of the individual, the type of acne they have, why they’re getting acne in the first place, and what treatments they’ve tried using in the past.
It is so incredibly important to keep all of these factors into consideration.
2. It makes it difficult to trust the legitimacy of acne treatments
The more treatments I tried that didn’t work, the more critical I found myself becoming. I also developed an anger for some of the big brands and the faces behind acne treatments that have saturated the market. It made me think that it was all just a scam and they weren’t really trying to help me, they were just trying to get my money.
Well, nothing is free and I know that. I know that products, treatments and even websites need to make money just to survive …but I wish they would tell me if I have the skin type or acne type that will not work with their treatment. I’d really appreciate that! If a product or regimen warned me that my skin was too adult and too dry to work with their system, then I’d thank them, move onto the next product, and probably even recommend their system to someone who it would be more suitable for. Instead, I use their product or system, fail miserably, and from then on only hold negative thoughts and feelings towards them.
This also makes is extremely difficult for those few out there that are genuinely trying to help people. Acne sufferers have been burned so many times already that often they have difficulty trusting or believing anyone again, even if that person is genuinely trying to help them.
This is always in the back of my mind when I blog and video about acne, and when I help people with their skin condition. I don’t know how I can reassure people that I do not have any ties with products, my information is not at all biased, and I know what it’s like because I’ve been there so I genuinely do want to help. It is getting to the point where I may need to start thinking how I can support myself so that I can maintain blogging and helping people about this topic, but it worries me that as soon as I start requesting a fee for services people may start wondering how legitimate I am.
Honestly, I couple of times it’s even made me consider giving the whole thing up and getting a job in a cafe or something.
3. It makes it difficult for me to do my job
I’ve had a bit of an acne treatment learning curve, and thankfully now I have a good idea as to what information is and isn’t correct when it comes to acne and its treatments. Most acne sufferers however are still at the beginning of their journey and all you need to do is type ‘acne treatment’ into Google to get hit by a TON of websites that may or may not hold correct information.
The articles and videos that I publish may therefore contradict some of the information that is available on other sites. So who is an acne sufferer to believe?? It bothers me when I read stuff that is just so untrue because it makes acne sufferers confused and frustrated when trying to figure out what is the best treatment plan for their skin.
I’ve had plenty of Emails already from confused readers who have read contradictory information from what I say. This makes my job difficult because I have to explain and source everything in detail (which is fair enough though). Really, I wish other sites would get their facts right before they published their information. Just because it’s on the web doesn’t mean you can just make stuff up. It would make my job a lot easier, and cause a lot less confusing, frustration and distress for acne sufferers.
Giant acne product companies, dominating treatment plans and incorrect information about acne unfortunately will always exist. Some of these treatments genuinely do help people which is great, but let’s just hope that for the rest of us who have a lot of trouble stumbling around trying to find something that actually works, we find it.
Fran
Fran Kerr is the founding editor of High on Health. To cure your acne, sign up to Fran's FREE acne cure mini-course or download her latest how to guide, Eat Away Your Acne.
2 responses ↓
The problem with scams is the whole “everyone is different” thing. Because with that, if it doesn’t work for you then your just one of those people it doesn’t work for. So then the scam then doesn’t look like a scam as we all are different and what helps one may not help another and may even hurt them as well.
The plus side I will say to dealing with things like this is that it makes you become more informed about what you use and what you want to use. So rather than just jump the gun and purchase something, you will do a bit of research. And while yes research may get you contradictory information as you say, if you do enough then most of the time you should have a higher rate of success when choosing good products than if you did none.
In the end, dealing with acne ultimately I find ends up being very simple in how you deal with it. However, it took many years of using products that don’t work to discover the best ways to combat it. Because of this I am glad your blog does exist as you have acne, really want to help people and generally know what your talking about..I say generally only because as you say, getting correct info on the net and in general is a fight unto itself. Even personal experience can tend to not be helpful because we are all different. Course as your a very sensitive to things, I would say your perspective can’t hurt anyone because if it doesn’t mess you up, its doubtful it mess anyone else up as they have to be more sensitive than you for it to in most cases.
I have thought about posting some sort of guide on your forums or something that generally work for anyone due to it being a general basic and simply way of taking caring of your acne and yourself. But before I do that, there are some steps I must try out myself such as going organic/natural and if in the end I get rid of my acne with all this, I have to say the guide be helpful for everyone to at least knock there acne down a peg or two, if not get rid of it entirely or at least mostly.
Either way, I have to say THANKS for making this blog as it has put the necessary drive into me to finally change my life for the better and it has been very informative to help me make the right decisions when changing things up. I mean whoever think chocolate could be really good for you lol.
I just want to say thanks for your website, it is really refreshing to have someone that actually cares about other people. Your blog is my no1. favorite thing to read! I’m so amazed at the time and energy you put into it, and for free. You give me the incentive to be healthy and you are so helpful when I have a question.
Thanks so much
Tegen x
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