My friend, Diane...

 Well, as mentioned previously, my skin has been on quite an extensive journey over the past 3 decades.

Image from www.luc.edu

Just thought I'd do a brief (I'll try and keep it brief!) post on my journey and where I'm at now.  I do believe that beauty is not just skin deep but also comes from within.  What we eat, drink and how we look after ourselves is all reflected in our skin. The right skin care for our personal skin type also makes a huge difference!  But then there are those little blasted things called hormones that come along to wreak havoc!

Image from www.lifepharmacy.com

So, enter the beginning of the 80's when I had just started high school.  Almost as if as soon as I had begun, my skin got greasy and blackheady.  This got progressively worse throughout my teens when at around age 16 I developed horrible facial acne.  I tried all sorts of skin care that was around then, Quinoderm Cream became my best friend but didn't really do an awful lot.  My mum took me to the doctors and I tried all sorts of tablets/antibiotics, none of which really worked.  I hated my skin and used to pile on the make up to cover it, not realising that I was making it look worse!  My best friend and I would have been 16/17 years when we made our first visit to the Clinique counter in our local department store, suffice to say that we got suckered into buying their 3 step skin care for oily skin, sorry Clinique, but it didn't work, not for us anyway. Me and my friend laughed about it afterwards saying that they must have been rubbing their hands when they saw us coming!

Then to the early 90's and I was in my early 20's, earning money and living in an apartment  in London with a girlfriend.  We ate crap food and drank too much wine, suffice to say my skin was at its worst!  This isn't looking too brief, is it?  Mid 90's, I met my (now) husband and started to take more care of myself, still plagued with terrible skin.  Nothing I tried seemed to work, and believe me I tried a lot. In 1997 I became pregnant with my son, I was 27 at this stage.  I remember my mum optimistically saying to me that the pregnancy might 'sort my skin out'.  No such bloody luck!  My acne was really bad during pregnancy and breast feeding, and continued afterwards.  In 2000 I gave birth to my daughter, same old story with my skin.
Must have been in or around 2002 and I decided that I should visit my doctor again regarding my skin to see what new developments there had been that might be available for me.  He told me about 'Diane', the acne treatment pill that you administer the same way as the OC pill and has the side effect of a contraceptive. 'In for a penny, in for a pound' I thought.  I've tried everything else, may as well give this a go. So I did and the most amazing results followed, my acne cleared up.

Image from www.veja.abril.com.br

I have been taking Diane (Estelle is the Australian equivalent) since 2002.  I don't get greasy skin anymore and I use skin care for normal skin - woo hoo!!!  I still get the odd hormonal breakout on my chin but that is manageable.  Now in my early 40's I still have acne scars that I'm working to refine, and I have started to get a few lines and wrinkles which I'm working on too.

There has been a lot of controversy about 'Diane' of late.  As I have taken Diane for such a long time I paid my doctor a visit to seek advice on whether I should remain on it.  To cut a long story short, we agreed that as I am healthy, don't drink, smoke or eat crap food and I exercise and sleep well, that I will be okay to stay on for a few more years until my mid 40's and then I should think about coming off.  I don't feel hugely comfortable, given the controversy, but I will give it a few more years.  I did have one small break off Diane about 5 years ago just to see whether my skin was 'better', it wasn't.  After 2 weeks of stopping, my skin suddenly resembled a frying pan, reckon I could have scraped the oil off my face!   Then the spots came back with a vengeance.  I was eating good food,  drinking lots of water, bought the appropriate skin care, you know, doing all the right things and I even tried acupuncture.  After months and months I could no longer bear it and went back on Diane, my skin cleared up again.

I simply cannot handle acne, acne scars and wrinkles all at the same time so I have stayed on Diane since that break. Acne is such a horrible thing, especially when you think it will disappear after your teens and it doesn't. On a plus note, I haven't aged as quickly as some of my 'acne free' friends (this is the only positive thing about greasy skin that I cling on to!) I have been doing pretty well on the wrinkle front, but my skin is really starting to loose elasticity now.  

I did think to myself, I can't be the only person out there who has/had acne and now faces ageing?  That was my inspiration to start this blog, as well as being addicted to make up and skin care!

I've discovered some gems recently that have helped even my skin tone/scars, and I will be sharing them with you in another post.

Love to hear from anyone who has been through similar skin issues, or anyone who has any products recommendations.

Take care, peace out xx