Fatima
Fatima has had acne since she was aged 12/13. She attended a skin clinic and was prescribed a cream which helped clear her skin. Acne does not affect her life much and Fatima says she feels no need to try and conceal it.
Fatima is 21 and an undergraduate university student. She is single and lives in university accommodation. Her ethnic background is Chinese.
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Fatima is 21 and an undergraduate university student. She developed acne when she was about 12 or 13 but says she was not bothered about it at first. Fatima felt it was a normal part of puberty and many of her friends had skin problems too. By the age of 16, it was getting much worse and Fatima went to a walk-in skin clinic recommended to her by her friends. She was prescribed a cream which helped clear her skin. Fatima says the clinic appointments and the cream are really expensive and in the future is looking into finding cheaper alternatives. She is sceptical about the need to have such expensive treatment and thinks it benefits more the people running the clinic.
When Fatima moved to the UK to study, she found that the colder and less humid British climate is better for her skin. Over here, her skin does not get as oily which used to make her acne worse. She has also noticed that stress can have a negative impact on her skin. She is still using the cream prescribed to her back at home and a 6-step process which takes her half an hour daily. Fatima does not find this too much hard work and says that acne does not really have a negative impact on her life in any way. Fatima does not usually wear any make-up and sees no need to conceal acne. The only time she felt the need to do this was when working in customer service in a hotel. She is not “fashion-conscious” but says that many young people can feel pressure by the ideal of “flawless skin” portrayed by the media. She points out that there are no models with acne in magazines.
Fatima says she does not know that much about acne or its causes and has not felt the need to search for information about it either. She shares experiences and tips about different treatments with her friends.
Fatima explains the 6 step treatment she uses every other night.
Fatima explains the 6 step treatment she uses every other night.
I think the first one is to like dry your skin like thingy. It’s called glycol I think? Yeah it’s to make your skin dry so that your skin can peel and then like you won’t have scars. And then the second one it’s something to, wait let me think what I read about it, oh it’s to reduce inflamed acne. So like when you have acne and it’s usually like red and stuff so when you put the second one it won’t be too inflamed. The third one it’s to remove the bacteria I think, like to prevent the spread of acne. The fourth one is the moisturiser. The fifth one is. I’m not too sure what the fifth one is but I think it’s like, it’s to. I think it is also like to make your skin dry and then it will peel sort of thing. Yeah and then to make your skin look like more smooth like not shiny but like more nice I think. And then, oh there is also sun block…
Fatima talks about going to a private skin clinic with friends.
Fatima talks about going to a private skin clinic with friends.
Yeah I think, yeah I did. When I was 16. Yeah ‘cos it, it got really bad and then, yeah then we went to the skin clinic. Then they gave like, I don’t know some sort of procedures, I don’t know what. Yeah basically you had to put lots of different layers of stuff every night. Yeah so that like you can remove the scar and stuff. Yeah, yeah.
So could you tell me a bit about how you ended up going to the skin clinic?
It was just like it got worse and then like my friends around me were saying like, “Oh yeah, that that skin clinic is like good”. So and my friends like go there so yeah. So we just go together to the skin clinic, yeah.
So did you have to get a referral from your GP or could you directly go to the skin clinic?
Anybody could. Yeah anybody can go there, yeah. I mean it’s quite, it’s quite popular actually, the skin clinic. Like we wake up at 6:00 am and to queue and it opens at 9:00 yeah. And it’s really, it’s crazy ‘cos like me and my friends had to go like, about like, at what time of year, day, we went. We went at 7 something. Yeah so we were a bit late and then we couldn’t get the queue number. Yeah so, yeah that’s. Yeah so many people back there have, actually have skin problems [laugh] so yeah. Yeah and it’s yeah the doctor is really good.
Fatima doesn’t always wear make-up but felt she had to conceal her acne when she was working in a hotel.
Fatima doesn’t always wear make-up but felt she had to conceal her acne when she was working in a hotel.
Has that been an experience for you going for an interview for work?
Not really but there was. I worked for, I mean no like I had an internship at [hotel], Mauritius. Yeah and then like the hotel is quite a prestigious hotel and then I think during I had like acne at some point in time. And then really had to like conceal it because of like, yeah I didn’t want to ‘cos I am like as a service line you have to like sort of have a good image yeah but it didn’t affect me much just in terms of put more effort in like concealing the pimple.
Fatima uses a 6 step skincare regime prescribed by a private clinic in her home country but swaps their sun block and face wash for a cheaper brand.
Fatima uses a 6 step skincare regime prescribed by a private clinic in her home country but swaps their sun block and face wash for a cheaper brand.
Ok
[uh huh]
So you feel like those are the things that aren’t quite so important to follow?
No I just feel like I don’t have to pay the price for those stuff. I mean like sun block. I mean I know what sun block is. I know what facial but for the rest I’m not too sure about it. Like what components there are and then I really need to like. I’m not too confident if I use another product but like face wash and sun block they are just like face wash and sun block [laugh].
Fatima and her friends all shared information about squeezing acne spots.
Fatima and her friends all shared information about squeezing acne spots.
Oh yeah. Because like my friend told me that like yeah because like basically like when we were teenagers we usually talked about this stuff ‘cos like people experience the same thing and then like we all share information about it. And yeah my friends told me that you’re not able to squeeze out the spots because they leave scars on it. And then your, like your skin will be like, like dented or something like that. Yeah and they also say like there’s like laser treatment for acne and stuff. Yeah. I don’t know much about it but I have heard of it and I have heard that my friend wants to go there so.