Becky

Age at interview: 19

Age at diagnosis: 16

Brief Outline:

(Audio or text only clips) Becky developed acne at the age of 15 and has become increasingly worried about it over time. She has tried different treatments in her home country. She finds that the climate and foods available to her in the UK tend to make her skin worse.

Background:

Becky is 19 years old and an undergraduate university student. She is single and lives alone in university accommodation.

More about me...

Becky first developed acne at the age of 15. She was not worried at first because she saw oily skin and spots as a normal thing for teenagers. However, as time went on, her acne continued and she became more concerned. Becky’s acne has become more severe since she moved to England about a year ago. She thinks that the climate and her changed diet are factors behind this. The doctors she has seen in her home country have encouraged her to cut down on fried foods and to eat more vegetables. However, Becky lives in catered accommodation and doesn’t find the salads available at meal times to be as tasty as the cooked vegetables that she was used to. Another factor for Becky’s acne is stress. She also finds that worrying about her skin and trying to keep it healthy, such as by drinking a lot of water, can interrupt her studies. Becky sometimes struggles with finding suitable skincare products because her skin can be both oily and dry and she is cautious after using an exfoliating product last year which made her skin very sensitive.

Becky has seen three doctors in her home country as well as having been to a private clinic. The first doctor she saw about acne was when she was 16. She was given a cream to apply to her face and a liquid medicine to drink. She saw another doctor a year later who recommended steam treatments at the hospital to clear her pores. Becky says that the process of using the steam machine was good because it felt like it was releasing some “bad things” from the skin but her face would be very red afterwards. About a year and a half ago, Becky had a treatment in a private skin clinic in her home country. A comedone, a tool which is used to squeeze blocked pores, was used on her face. This was very painful and made her skin swell. She has since been very worried that this treatment may have caused scars. She says that she regrets having the treatment done but also that she doesn’t know what other treatments she could have tried at the time. She hopes to see a GP in the UK soon for advice on how to manage her skin with the local climate and weather conditions. She also plans to continue eating healthily, get more sleep, exercise to flush out her skin and hopefully reduce stress levels.

The impact of acne on Becky’s confidence affects her life a lot. She finds it difficult to meet new people and says that acne has changed her personality by making her less out going. She dresses differently and avoids wearing bright colours so that she doesn’t stand out. Becky thinks that males have become less interested in her since she developed acne and that it may affect her chances of marriage in the future. She also worries that acne will affect employment. For example, she finds it difficult to have job interviews face-to-face or over Skype because she worries about employers getting a bad first impression of her. Becky’s parents and friends try to reassure her that her acne does not matter to other people. She thinks this an important message for other young people to hear but she is not sure if she believes it herself because she thinks that others do pass judgement on her for having acne. However, she says that there have been some positives from her experiences with acne. For example, Becky says that her skin condition has broadened her interests and she is considering future careers in designing products, such as make-up, for acne prone skin. 

Becky shares her experiences with food triggers and drinking water.

After I’ve grown acnes on my face I’ve become very cautious. So I pay a lot of attention to what I eat every day and what I drink. So I used to drink some soft drinks but now I completely like forbid that. And I mean so I have to go to bed very early yet. It’s kind of I used to live free, freely. But now because of my skin condition I have to put a lot of restrictions to my habit and, sorry, yes, and to my diet and to everything that might be, affect, like that might affect my skin. And that’s quite stressful because sometimes you can’t control everything. And when, when I feel that I can’t control, control it, I feel really, really anxious and stressful. Like I think I need to drink a lot of water to speed up the metabolism and it will, it will help to, maybe to, yeah, to better my skin. And then in my typical day I don’t really have a lot of time to drink water because there, there wasn’t enough like water if, in library, like if you want to drink hot water. Because doctors said, doctors in [home country] said that it’s better for you to drink hot, like warm water, not cold water, cos yeah. 

Okay.

Yeah. And another thing is if you drink a lot of water you have to go to the toilet. And when you are doing your homework or you prepare for tutorials, you don’t have much time for that. And, yeah, I feel very, very powerless. I, I really want to target this problem, but when I’m facing it I really don’t have a chance to fight it.

Becky found that moving to the UK impacted her acne in terms of climate and diet.

So you find that the temperature and the weather as well as food makes a big difference for your skin?

Yes. Like in very cold weather I think that my skin can-, cannot breathe. So it cannot let out some very oily or, something that, that holds my pores. Yeah, and also the weather. Like sometimes I find there is some white bit on my face and, and it happens when I feel very dry, yeah. So, yeah.

So what is the weather like in [home country] compared to the UK when you’ve been, cos you’ve been living here for about a year and a half?

Yes, I think it’s about two years.

About two years, [mm hm].

I think where I lived is very, not humid, is not as dry as here. There, there’s a lot of rain too as here. But it’s more hu-, hu-, wet, yeah.

Yeah. Okay. And what about the food? Have you found that’s been different since you’ve lived in the UK?

Yes, like in [home country] I can, like I eat a lot of vegetables that’s cooked by my mum. But here I don’t really like the salad. I like cucumber but not other, other salad thing. So I eat a lot of fried food and that’s not good for my skin. And also I eat, I ate a lot of chocolate before. And I’m not sure if it actually affects my skin, but the doctor said it’s better for me not to eat them, so I kind of quit them. But I really miss them. So, so I, o-, occasionally I [laughs] eat some chocolate, yeah.

Becky describes some of the alternative treatments she’s tried.

The first one is to, he suggested me to take some medicine. It’s a liquid in a, it’s a liquid in a, a small bottle and you kind of drink it. And also he suggest to apply some medicine on my face. But I don’t remember the name of the medicine and what’s, yeah, what’s inside it. So that’s the first doctor. The second doctor  suggest me to use a machine that produce steam.

Oh yeah.

Like, yeah, because he thinks that it’s because there’s some thing in my skin. Because I don’t really exercise very, very often, so there will, there will be something in my skin. And he wanted to like, the steam has a like higher temperature than my skin. And it, when it touches my skin it will helped my pore to, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, then after that there will be some medicine like, not medicine, treatment applied to my skin. And the third one is also some treatment like I have on my skin. And he also suggest that because my skin is kind of very seriously damaged underneath and he said that there will be future treatment for it. Like it’s not for the acne. It’s actually for the scars, yeah. I’m really worried.

Becky’s doctor in her home country suggested she drink water, eat more fruit, and get plenty of sleep. Although this helps her skin she also gets anxious about getting her diet right and getting enough sleep.

So you said that you do try and drink more water and sort of vegetables and so on?

Yeah.

Is that something you’ve started doing since the doctor in [home country] said that it could be a cause for your acne?

Yes. Because one thing he mentioned is about food. So I try to eat more vegetables and drink more water and eat more fruit. But it’s better now, but it doesn’t, like it doesn’t completely disappear. So I’m not sure if it’s the main cause of my acne. I think it might be a factor that make my acne worse, but it’s not the main cause of my acne. So I’m still find, trying to find the real cause of my acne, yeah.

After I’ve grown acnes on my face I’ve become very cautious. So I pay a lot of c-, attention to what I eat every day and what I drink. So I used to drink some soft drinks but now I completely like forbid that. And I mean so I have to go to bed very early yet. It’s kind of I used to live free, freely. But now because of my skin condition I have to put a lot of restrictions to my habit and, sorry, yes, and to my diet and to everything that might be, affect, like that might affect my skin. And that’s quite stressful because sometimes you can’t control everything. And when, when I feel that I can’t control, control it, I feel really, really anxious and stressful. Like I think I need to drink a lot of water to speed up the metabolism and it will help to, maybe to, yeah, to better my skin. And then in my typical day I don’t really have a lot of time to drink water because there, there wasn’t enough like water if, in library, like if you want to drink hot water. 

So you think that might be to do with stress from your studies?

It might be. Cos I feel very anxious all the time and I don’t feel that I have enough time for my, for my, for my coursework. And when I sit down, I feel that I’m not very productive. I feel like, “Oh, it’s time for me to drink some more water to make my skin more, yeah, and to have some fruit and vegetables” and something, yeah. So, and sometimes, although I have a lot of work to do, and then I see that it’s about 11 o’clock and I think, “Oh, I’m supposed to go to bed and have a good rest otherwise my skin condition will be worse.” So it kind of makes me very anxious, because of my skin condition. And, and it’s, my skin condition in turn, sorry, the anxious state in turn makes me, like my skin condition worse. 

Okay.

So it’s…

Yeah. So the two interact with each other?

Yeah.

Although she used to be outgoing, Becky is very self-conscious about her acne and says it stops her from seeing friends and making new friends.

Because that previously, like before I have a very good condition and like I don’t grow acnes and my skin looks smooth and it’s just very good. And then I had a very serious like acne condition about one and a half years ago. That’s before I come to UK to read my degree. And it’s just I, when I grow acnes I don’t really want to meet my friends. And another thing is that I don’t really want to make new friends because I don’t want them to see me, the most ugly m-, like to see the most ugly me, yeah. So it kind of hold me back to, yeah, communicate with others. And sometimes I feel quite lonely.

Yes, I used to be very outgoing and I liked to make new friends. I really enjoy chatting to friends and listening to their stories. But after I’ve grown acnes I feel like a barrier between me and others. And I just feel not very confident to talk to them. And I think maybe they will despise me because I’ve grown acnes and because I think acne is related to a hygienic condition. But actually I’ve, I really care about hygiene. And I think it’s, yeah, so I’m, I think that others might think, “Oh, that person is not very, like, like they, they don’t care about cleanliness. So they’ve grown acnes.” But actually it’s not. But I think, yes, sometimes others will be, like s-, very despise about, yeah.

Becky thinks having an interview when you have acne doesn’t leave a good first impression.

Oh, and another thing is about Skype interview. Like I’m looking for internships now and I was looking for internships before, and then, and there, there will be Skype interviews. But I think, I mean I don’t feel very confident talking to them because I’ve grown acnes. And I think, yeah, that might leave a bad first impression on them because, yeah, because they see on screen that you are not, you don’t look perfect.

Yes. So like I think there are three reasons why I think acne would affect my job interview. The first thing is that because of acne I don’t want to wear make-up. And if I don’t wear make-up it would, it would like make me f-, make me not very energetic on a screen. And then also I think if I don’t wear make-up there will be redness, something on my face, and it’s a very distractive effect, yes, in an interview. And the second reason is that I feel not very confident if I have acnes. And that will kind of make my performance in a job interview not good, as good as I would otherwise. The third reason is that I feel like if I have acnes on my face, people, like the interviewers will judge like, “Why, why is she having that acne? Is that something related to her habit? Or is that something related to her personality or something that would affect the, her performance in the, in the intern, sorry, in the internship time?”

Becky wants to work in an area related to skin care research and hopes to make her own brand of make-up suitable for acne-prone skin.

I feel like being involved into a career path that’s related to skin. For example I might want to do research of skin or be involved in companies that have product for make-up, for example L’Oréal and Clinique, something like that. I also want to, maybe in the future, to create a, my, my own brand for skin, a make-up that’s suitable for acne skin and oily or combined skin. So, yeah, I think that acne has really affect my life both negatively and positively in a way, yeah. So, yeah, that’s it.

Could you say about some of those positive impacts it’s had? Is that, for you?

Yeah, because, yeah, like my, my main interest is about programming or more science-y stuff. But since I’ve grown acnes I feel like I should learn more about nutrition, health and skin condition. And that provided me with a new area that I might be interested in. And I really want to like save myself [laughs] about my skin.

For Becky, trying to find the cause of her acne, so that she could prevent it, would have been helpful.

I think they should firstly provide, maybe provide more options, and maybe to, try to find out the, the main cause of the acne. Because sometimes they just suggest a lot of things for me not, to do or not to do. But it really put a lot of restrictions to my life. So maybe I think doctors should find the main cause of the acne and, yeah. So, for example, I don’t think that chocolate is a main reason for causing me acnes. So if I completely quit eating chocolate, which is my favourite, it just reduces a lot of fun in my life [laughs].