Acne Dysmorphia II
Acne Dysmorphia represents a rare illness. But although it is rare, it is also very risky and much more annoying than acne itself, because this condition is much severer than the pure skin disorder.
So, first of all you should find out that Acne Dysmorphia however does not represent another type or form of acne, but a debilitating mental illness. It is related to the body dysmorphic disorder and its symptoms are represented by the sufferers’ becoming completely obsessed with the physical condition of their body, and, obviously, mainly of their face skin.
Acne Dysmorphia could be rightfully compared to Anorexia Nervosa, because the both disorders involve the persons’ obsessive complexion; while Anorexia is about weight, Acne Dysmorphia is about the skin’s condition. In the both disorders the sufferers’ perception goes altered by their obsessions and fears. Depression, frustration and all the bad feelings from this range have an important role in Acne Dysmorphia, as well in Anorexia Nervosa’s development.
Furthermore and once again similar to Anorexia Nervosa, Acne Dysmorphia is not strongly related to acne at all! While the anorexic persons are fit, and often even too slim because of their long-time obsessive behavior, the people who are suffering from Acne Dysmorphia might not even suffer from acne at all! Because they are depressed and troubled persons the Acne Dysmorphia sufferers might even pick at an area of their (previously healthy) skin until its starts bleeding and becomes infected. This way, if one does not suffer from real acne, they start “producing” skin harming by their own. On the other hand if these people suffer from a simple, mild form of acne, such as small zits let’s say, they tragically suffer because of it and start also to scratch the area till it is starting to bleed, so that the obsession could get its fuel.
Not matter how normal their skin is in fact, the people who suffer from Acne Dysmorphia believe they have horrible skin or terrible acne, that they are ugly and so on. These people would check their faces in the mirrors for dozens and hundreds of times a day and their skin complexion would affect their social relations and their entire life. The obsession comes always along with depression and frustration, defective social behavior and sometimes eventually leads to suicide.
That is why Acne Dysmorphia should be treated very seriously. Because the sufferers would not go to the doctor and tell them they are maniacs (they would not even realize they might suffer from a mental disorder, simply because they do suffer from it), their relatives, friends and physicians should be the ones to notice the problem. If one pays enough attention to a person’s behavior, Acne Dysmorphia could be easily discovered, just because it involves maniac behavior: the people would complain of their skin very often, they would have scratches on their face, they would even say they suffer from acne although they don’t seem to, they would seek better acne treatments although they don’t seem to need them, they would not simply be able to be calm without checking their faces in the mirror for an exaggerated number of times in a period of time; finally for the ones that know them and spend few hours with them, and for the physicians and dermatologists the Acne Dysmorphia sufferers should be easily discovered. The sufferers will simply become completely fixated on their skin and they will say they look horrible although they are just normal people.
So, Acne Dysmorphia is not about acne or skin disorders; it is a mental illness and it must be treated such as. It is very important that this disorder to be found and treated with the help of specialized medics. It left untreated, Acne Dysmorphia, as well as other mental problems, could get worse and worse and might lead even to suicide. The sufferers’ behaviors are troubled and they get more and more depressed, frustrated and lonely; the vicious circle feeds more and more their mental condition and the persons’ lives get in great danger.
So, try to be aware of yourselves for a minute and check the previous symptoms. If they sound familiar to your daily behavior, you must necessarily see a physician. Or maybe if you have a friend or a relative that seems to have these symptoms, try to do something about it and bring him or her to a doctor. Remember that there is always hope, but people must be willing to get better or, respectively, to help their friends that suffer from a health problem.
March 15th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Over about a period of a year now I have been usffering from acne dismorphia. The condition of my skin is on my mind 24/7, I am frequently in tears and find it very hard to socialise and accept twhen people tell me my skin is not the digusting thing I feel it is. I attempted to take my own life last October and since have continued to battle with my condition I feel as if it is ruining my life and although I am in constant contact with my GP I still feel hopeless and have contemplated taking my own life again. It is thanks to articles such as this that I have been able to identify my condition and will hopefully get better in time.