Operation Acne.

This post probably won't interest anyone and perhaps it's just a catharsis for myself but today I'll be blogging about my skin. For as long as I can remember I have had horrendous blemishes. Spots, acne, whatever you choose to call it. Whatever the name, the annoyance of them is the same. Nothing I did helped - no products (even chemical-based ones from pharmacies) went anywhere near shifting them and gallons of tea tree oil did nothing of note. I never actually realised how terrible my skin had become until I saw this picture, taken at the age of eighteen (would you even believe it? You're meant to grow out of them by then, right?):

Circa 2009 - my first week at university.

Next to me is Cara- a year older than me - and look at the clarity of her skin. Surely it can't be an age thing? Either way, you can see how bad they got. Chin, cheeks, jawline, forehead... you name it, they were there. And do you know what? It's massively depressing that in the photo above I am actually wearing make-up to cover them... so how bad must they have been to look that bad WITH make-up?

People who don't have bad skin would never understand the anger and embarrassment it causes. I always tried to cover them with make-up (which probably made them worse but it was a necessity) and often wore scarves to cover some of them. There's a unique frustration that arises when nothing seems to work. Even when I thought that my skin was looking good, in retrospect (see the picture below), they were still a sight for sore eyes:

My Dad took this photo of me and Moo having a nap, circa 2010.

The purpose of my post is almost of rejoice for, today, I looked in the bathroom mirror to see not one single spot on my face. Not one. I don't know how I've done it, what I've used or what I've changed... but they're gone. I've not used a specific cream for it or had any treatment or take any medication. But miraculously, my skin has gone from that... to this:

This picture, taken all of an hour ago, makes me squeal with delight. Here's my face, sans make-up with a pretty good camera on macro. The pigmentation is half do to with warmth and half to do with scarring but there's not a single spot on my entire face and I could not be happier. I can't tell you how it's happened or if I've done anything to solve it but if you're plagued with blemishes like the photos above and you can't see an end in sight, this picture should show you that there's hope for everyone. Now I just have to hope that I can maintain this level of clarity until my graduation photos! :)