When I was in fifth grade, I experienced the dreaded moment of getting my first pimple. At this time, I was only 11 years old, and my acne was not very noticeable, so I didn’t think much about its development.
As I began to grow older, I noticed that my acne had rapidly increased and become more prominent on my face. By seventh grade, I had hormonal, cystic acne all over my face.
However, I still didn’t give much thought to its development. I dedicated more time and thought to find ways to mitigate its growth as much as possible.
Around this time, others began to notice the copious amounts of pimples on my face. Many often made rude remarks about how the acne looked on my face.
Suddenly, I began to care more about how my face looked. I felt insecure about my acne, a problem that I had little to none control over. Over time, this insecurity grew stronger and stronger and reached its peak in the ninth grade.
Looking back, I realized that I shouldn’t have let other’s remarks affect how I view myself. Acne is a problem that almost every teenager will experience because it is a normal part of puberty and growing up. For this reason, it is unjustifiable for people to make others feel insecure for having acne.
During ninth grade, I experienced the worst acne I had seen yet. My face constantly looked red and irritated.
Whenever relatives came over to my house, they often commented on my acne. I tried to not let it affect me but their remarks slowly always crept into my head at the wrong times, making me more insecure than ever.
I never truly reflected back on that recurring experience until this year. As I’ve matured throughout the last three years, I’ve learned that I shouldn’t be insecure over something that is natural.
High school and middle school students are constantly growing and stressed over all aspects of life, so they are bound to develop some form of acne.
In fact, according to Oxford Academic, research found that around 75% to 90% of adolescents experience acne and 60% reported mild cases while 15% experienced severe acne.
It needs to be made known that acne is a normal part of puberty. Adolescents’ bodies are constantly growing and changing because of hormonal changes and other factors that occur during adolescence. These factors can have different effects on a person’s body, like the development of pimples.
Before people begin to judge others for having acne, they should not neglect the fact that it is a normal part of growing up and being a teenager.
Now, as I progress through my senior year and continue to work on my acne, I will never allow myself to feel upset or insecure about it like I did before. No matter what anyone says, my acne is a normal part of my current stage in life.
