From Cystic Acne to Clear Skin

Long before I felt comfortable with a camera this close to my face, I struggled with acne. Here I am now, fresh-faced and unedited (I didn’t even adjust lighting!) to tell my story.

My family has great skin. Mom, dad, sisters, brother, all of them have soft looking skin. I did too for sometime but I played games with my diet and screwed myself over.

I’m embarrassed to admit that my main foods were maruchan ramen, totino’s frozen pizzas, and frozen birds eye pastas. Don’t get me wrong, I’d be pretty happy if I had a frozen pizza right about now, but multiple times per week? Come on, Vivian.

You learn a thing or two about getting in shape after competing in pageants a couple times per year. Overnight I would change my diet to chicken, yogurt, eggs, almonds, and bananas. Then eight weeks later I’d show up on stage in a swimsuit and ten pounds lighter. After the competition was over I’d go back to my ramen and pizza diet.

The trade off for looking like this:

Was skin that looked like this a couple months later:

Year after year of yoyo dieting made me a sad person between pageant seasons when my skin would breakout. Two off seasons in a row I saw a dermatologist. I applied all the topical stuff you can think of, and then was prescribed pill after pill to help clear my skin. I wish I could be more useful here and tell you what I took, but my mom was in charge of prescriptions and this was a long time ago!

When nothing worked I was prescribed accutane. I knew the drug was scary and could have horrible side effects, so I stayed blissful and ignorant. I blindly took accutane and waited for my skin to look better, which it did – after three rounds over two years.

Between 2016-2018 I did a lot of growing up. I stopped competing in pageants, started working full-time, and started graduate school. My diet changed to that of the average twenty-something to include some meals at home and some fast food. My skin didn’t look like the photos above any longer, but there was always at least one painful blemish on my face and hyperpigmentation from one pimple going away and one coming in.

In 2018 I made a huge lifestyle change to something between vegan and vegetarian. Specifics as to how and why are HERE. My diet has changed and my skin has healed over the past two years. No bad breakouts, no yoyo dieting, just a real lifestyle change.

For anyone going through hard times with their skin, I know how it feels. Work with a dermatologist to find the best way to care for your skin and begin healing. Change your diet to limit meat and dairy for lasting changes reflected on your skin.

Thank you for reading through my story! It was a long one over a long period of time but I hope it’s a light for someone going through the same.

XO,

Vivian

P.s. I will work on creating a separate blog post for my top skincare products!