The Experience That Changed My Life by Teodora Todorova

Life. A true adventure, ain’t it? Many of us tend to romanticize our life experiences, the people we’ve met, the places we’ve been to. It’s all wonderful, but considering the fact that I am still a teenager, I can’t say that I have had many life changing experiences. While I am on the look out for new adventures, there are still stories worth sharing.

It happened exactly two and a half years ago, on a very sunny and normal day, I got a pimple on my face. It was red like a cherry and it hurt a bunch. I played with it a little and had a complete mental breakdown about it. A few days had gone by and these little red dots kept appearing all over my face. Not long after my whole face was covered by my cherry – like friends, I was completely horrified. That’s how my journey with acne began. The first thing that happened after my face got new residents was that I went to a cosmetic specialist hoping that she can sand out my rough ,,edges”. I went to a few treatments where they steamed my face to the point I thought that it would melt off, they pinched it with needles and put about a dozen masks on. No results, other than the fact that I started looking red like the crab from the little mermaid.

Frustrated with the situation I was in, I started analyzing my day to day life, what I ate, what I put on my face how I felt.. Everything that could have an effect on my acne problem. Then the youtube remedies came in, I watched a million videos on homemade facemasks and products I can buy that will help me. From honeys to turmeric and cucumbers nothing helped. In essence, it was finally time to visit my first dermatologist. She was a nice old lady that truly thought she could help with only giving me one cream when my face looked like it would need construction workers more than some cream.

The second dermatologist was the one that opened my eyes to the fact that many people will only say they want to help you, but in reality that may not be true. She did a bunch of chemical peels which felt like acid was slowly burning my face off. Clearly, all these procedures weren’t meant for me. I felt like nothing except alone and insecure. I tried not to think about it, but sadly in reality I felt totally and utterly defeated. After many tries and errors,  I finally researched everything that I can change about  my lifestyle. I switched up to eating only healthy foods like fruits and veggies, no sugar, no gluten and no lactose. Yes, that’s exactly how I started to live. I avoided any sort of fast food and I focused on my physical activity and studying. I felt more alive with this new lifestyle, even tho my face was still in awful condition.

Everything was the same, until one day. My mom and I finally agreed and went to see the third dermatologist. One of the best humans I have ever met, she guided me through my journey with Roacutanne. And by the time I ended my course on this drug, my face was spotless and I was filled with many positive affirmations. 

The key thing in this whole journey is not that I want to be defined by the fact that I had an acne problem, but the positive outcome and the things that I have changed, like my lifestyle and the faith and consistency of pushing through. I realized that I had many true friends who did not even care about my looks and encouraged me through it all. I have understood that many people go through this same problem and I will always encourage them and applaud them for their persistence. I am aware that this does not sound like some once in a lifetime experience, but in my heart this will always, truly be something that I went through and came out stronger and better than ever.

And what about you reader? What is stopping you for achieving your goals?