skinzar

Well, this is a difficult question. Why should we care about the way our skin looks, should we even care at all? In short, the answer is personal and complex.

Six years ago I was diagnosed with acne. I was 15 at the time, and it really affected me. I’d been struggling with my skin since I was 12 and was constantly self-conscious because all my friends had clear skin. It almost became an obsession, and was the first thing I would notice about someone when I met new people, and I would spend hours looking at myself in the mirror and it really got me down.

This is still somewhat true today – Some days, I wake up and my skin is riddled with spots. Does that stop me from going outside? Honestly, sometimes it used to. Generally now though, I pop a bit of concealer on my spots and I leave the house and try not to look at myself in the mirror too often incase I cannot resist the urge of squeezing it. It’s a general rule that squeezing spots is not a good idea, why is that? Is it true that when you squeeze a spot it can leave a mark or a scar?

The real question that I want to explore is why we care about the way our skin looks. One answer to this seems relatively simple; it’s one of the first things people notice! Skin is the largest organ by surface area, and it forms 98% of our exterior, so naturally, we care. This being said, looking back on myself at 15, I should have been having fun and concentrating on other things instead of worrying about what other people thought of me and my skin.

Achieving good skin is notoriously difficult, and a lot of it is down to genetics. There’s a stigma about having smooth spot-free skin, in that it is associated with being more clean and this is simply untrue. Being healthy, happy and confident is what really matters, and that’s what I want to inspire others to find within themselves. By raising awareness of other skin conditions and other people’s stories about their skin, hopefully I can help those that suffer from a skin condition to be more confident and realise that they are not alone.

Having opened this blog today, I aim to simply to start a conversation on skin. On this blog, I will be talking about skin conditions ranging from psoriasis to Kaposi’s sarcoma, and educating you all on what these skin conditions are in a way that’s easy to understand. I’ll be encouraging people to visit a dermatologist and to stay safe throughout the blog, because expert advice is irreplaceable, and I’ll also be posting good skin products that I personally use, linking useful textbooks and resources and campaigning for skin awareness! Happy reading