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The general myths about acne didn’t help. My family
members firmly believed that acne was a result of poor (or more
specifically, junk) diet. While it was true that I enjoyed the frequent
dose of junk food that the neighborhood fast food joints dished out, I
wasn’t too sure that eating out was the cause of my acne. I mean, a
number of my friends ate out with me, and what’s more, ate junk food
even more frequently than I did. But they hardly had any acne. Something
had to be wrong with the popular belief right? I had seen the myth being
busted right before my eyes.
Another associated
myth was about chocolate. And since I loved chocolate in any form or
shape, I would have found giving it up, even at the risk of remaining
acne king, an abhorrent idea. But having read up and followed news and
medical reports on the subject, I discovered to me relief that chocolate
consumption had nothing whatsoever to do with acne.
My peers were not much of a help wither. Most of my friends, hinted with obvious
sarcasm, that my acne advertisement face was a result of my frequent and
constant masturbation. For a while, I believed this. Hey! Which
hot-blooded, teenage male doesn’t indulge in masturbation at that point
in life? But then again, observations told me that this too was an acne
myth. For if my acne was linked to my masturbation, was I to conclude
that my male friends who had no acne at all did not masturbate? I would
have more easily believed that they were aliens! So, that was another
acne myth busted.
Another myth that I did believe, and which
sounded genuine and even scientific at that time, related to the
assumption that acne was a result of dirt accumulation on the pores of
my face. I never stopped to consider that if that was the case, why
wasn’t the skin on my arms and legs, which were more in contact with
dirt and grime than any other part of my body, riddled with acne? In any
case, I spent several days, weeks and months assiduously washing my face
with all kinds of soaps and anti acne creams in a bid to eradicate acne.
To no effect. Finally, I also resorted to a fatalistic attitude and
concluded that the more I stressed myself out thinking about my acne,
the more they would continue to remain. It was at that point that I gave
up bothering about my acne filled face. And guess what? A couple of
years later, as I slowly grew out of my adolescence, the acne
disappeared on its own! Although there are still a few tell tale scars
of my acne king days, my face is clear and radiant today!
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