Besides the well known, undesired and very-hard-to-get-rid-of physical effects of acne, naturally there’s a lot more. A great deal more all these people must survive and cope with on a daily basis: the emotional side of the story, the so called ‘silent’ or ‘hidden’ effect of acne. During our whole life we own a unique personal ‘visit card’ – our face, appearance or look.

But Why?

Those who suffer with acne usually blame nobody else or nothing else but themselves, because they just don’t understand their problem. Busting the myths about acne may help you realize the causes of the disorder and take precautious measures to control it. Acne has an important effect on how people perceive ‘life’: they know that they need to step aside from any social environment, by isolating themselves just as much and often as they could, their self-esteem and self-respect get very low, they’re depressed, angry, nervous.

Most times these feelings of anger and worthlessness lead to suicidal tendencies. When a therapy is given to them, they feel frustrated and confused, they believe their social life is being restricted by force, and they tend to find themselves to create awkward and difficult relationships with the rest of their loved ones. These effects are often associated with one another and form a powerful influence on the patients, discouraging them when they attempt to pursuit some social opportunities, either it’s at work or in school.

An article written by Sulzberger and Zaidems in 1984 stated the following: ‘there’s no other disease that could cause more psychical pain, more misunderstandings between parents and children, more general insecurity and more feelings of inferiority and more psychical sufferance than acne vulgaris is inducing’. The implication is very obvious; acne hurts more from the interior than on the outside. It’s vital that patients understand it is not their fault.

Good to know

Contrary to the popular belief, acne isn’t caused by what a person does, eats, washes his/her face, but with plenty of combined things that have their roots in the epidermis. Many times people who should consider themselves lucky they don’t need to confront with acne often wrongfully underestimate the psychological and social effects of acne. It’s a serious issue and we should all have more consideration for those suffering.

Sometimes the psychological stress of those affected by acne is higher than the stress associated with other chronic diseases, such as asthma, back pains, hearts diabetes or diseases. The results of a research have proven that 18 percent of acne patients reported acute depression and 44 percent reported stress. These people reside in a real’depth of grief’, correctly illustrated by another study reporting that 6% of patients thought about putting an end to their own lives. The societal impacts of acne are also quite likely to influence one’s ability to make their living.

Conclusion

There are studies that point to that individuals who suffer with this skin condition are vulnerable to unemployment greater than those who do have to manage this black disease, and also there’s a Canadian research that shows that individuals with more severe acne are more likely to be unemployed than those with lesser participation; nevertheless, the specific cause of these findings is quite uncertain: we don’t know if those are due to the fact that the employer may find it hard to employ someone whose face is covered in pimples, or because of that individual’s psychosocial impairment.