The Bane of Adult Acne, or a Nit about my Zit

After spending a blemish-free adolescence and young adulthood, I have been struck, in my 40's and now almost my 50's, with adult-onset acne. For the past 5 years I have struggled to reconcile my mental image of my zit-free face with the reality of an almost persistent blemish on the lower right or lower left of my jaw (depending upon where in my hormonal cycle I am at the moment).

For so many men and women, who were afflicted by acne in their teens, they experience renewed acne in their middle years. They relive the memories of their youth, of Clearasil, and face wipes and alcohol and hydrogen peroxide and plunge into the myriad of new products now available for adult acne.

For me...I'm just so disappointed. I guess I was really lucky to have had good skin as a young person and now I experience constant frustration. Stressful day? Zit at night. Painful ovulation? Immediate eruption. Paying a big bill? I feel that pustule forming under the skin as I'm worrying.

Gross talk? Probably. But, I'm sure at least SOME of you have experienced your body's betrayal, just when you thought you had just a wee bit of control. Never thought I'd look forward to menopause and the end of hormonal surges. Never.

The only GOOD thing is that my near vision has gotten very blurry and I now wear reading glasses...so when I look in the mirror first thing in the morning "sans lunettes", I actually look fantastic (to ME anyway!)...kind of soft-focus, hair-tousled, vaseline on the camera lens gorgeous.