I’m known as the House MD of Skincare because I specialize in hard cases. This brings a lot of acne into my office. But not the easy to fix acne, the weird, obscure, and just plain nasty to fix stuff that is often on the edge of ruining a person’s psyche.

The thing many people don’t realize, is acne is physically, emotionally, and mentally scarring. This is where a well crafted skin journey is vital. The power of seeing someone else get clear, someone with skin like yours or worse than yours, clear up give you hope! The more positive the message and story the better.

It takes courage to share an acne story which is why so many people don’t want to. In my office I clear about 30 cases of acne a year, but very few of my clients are comfortable sharing those images online. It’s hard to show yourself at your most vulnerable and unflattering pictures that remind you of the worst moments of your life are just that. Remember what I said about acne being physically, emotionally, and psychologically scarring? Well sharing all this. Reliving it all can be really triggering for the storyteller.

All Yellow Josh is a perfect example of what a great acne journey is all about. He mixes bravery, humor, and creativity with a strong message to his viewers. His acne journey has me sobbing over how vulnerable he was with everyone.

I also appreciated how clear and strong Josh’s message of love and support was while expressing that there is no magic cure to acne. He was adamant that acne is controlled not cured. He got help to get it under control. He continues to take care of his skin and knows that his acne can flare up, but feels in control of his skin now because he’s educated and knows what to do if he has an acne breakout again in the future. He sought help from those more skilled and educated than he was, listened to their advice, and the plans to continue with his routines to keep clear. We love you Josh!!!💛 💛 💛

Another way acne stories can help is by showing real pictures with dates. Acne is a twisty bitch and getting clear isn’t a straight line. For the hard cases especially it gets better, it gets worse, it gets better, then it gets THE WORST IT’S EVER BEEN right before it gets better in nearly all the cases I work on. I’m not going into the why’s in this post, but there are reasons for sure why!

Showing images of how long the process takes and what the clearing process is like gives you a realistic expectation of what getting clear skin from having years of breakout will be like. I’ll be honest, I’m amazing at my job. I’m one of the top estheticians in the country but getting someone clear and controlling a hard case can takes about a year. YES you heard right, A YEAR. That’s just reality.

I follow Madison on Instagram (she’s very talented!) and when I saw her acne journey photos in her Story I reached out to talk to her for this post. Like me she was called to aesthetics because she struggled with her own skin. Her journey is beautiful to watch because she was so diligent about her photos. In them you can see the clearing and purging cycles that come with any true deep acne healing instead of acne suppression. As I always tell my clients – “That craps gotta come out!”

Since Madison is an esthetician she is honest about her feelings, what crazy stuff she’s tried (and OMG as esty’s we try crazy stuff!!), and finally what worked for her. She discussed her ongoing struggle to stay on track and keep clear because controlling acne is a lifelong endeavor!

My favorite part about speaking with Madison was talking to her professional to professional about how diligent you have to be to control acne. “You can’t give up. I got lazy and my skin wasn’t looking right. I finally forced myself to keep to a better routine.”

Madison’s acne journey is the perfect example of setting realistic expectations for people. I get so mad when I see stories of people who washed their face for a week and cleared up. If you started from nothing and did something, then yeah you’re going to get great results. The reality of most clients who see me, and who are reading about acne are that they’ve lived with it for a long time. It’s going to take some time to heal that up.

I encourage you to go look up some acne journey’s for yourself. If you have one write it! Be brave and share. Know that your acne story could change someone’s life.