Maedeh Samimi:

Hi, Fanta! Welcome to the show, it's so good to see you.

Fanta:

Good to see you too Maedeh.

Maedeh Samimi:

Wonderful. So you did the acne bootcamp program a while ago and you're kind of graduated from it now but let's start from where it all began. Tell us how your journey with acne started.

Fanta:

I've been struggling with acne for a very long time. It started when I hit puberty. The pimples just came, and I thought they would go away maybe after a few years, but they just ended up staying there. It seemed like anything I tried didn't work. I felt like I went through all of the acne products of the time, like the proactive new Giardina, and honestly, nothing really seemed to work. So I started wearing makeup. I kind of started covering it up and just saying "Okay, well, that's all I can do for now", but still, I felt very self-conscious about it because makeup is really just a bandaid for a larger problem.

So eventually, I started seeing a dermatologist and taking some products they recommended. They would prescribe me not just the acne medications for the face, but also oral supplements and oral medications. The issue with those is that they had side effects. I'd have really bad stomach pain as a result of that, and I stopped taking them. When I started relying only on the face products they gave me, I felt it helped a little bit but I still felt like it wasn't something that could last long term. Also, I felt like it increased the sensitivity of my skin. So my skin was just having other issues because of that.

I did see an improvement before this after I started taking birth control pills. Birth control was another method I used to help me, I literally took it just because I heard it can help with hormonal acne, and it did. It suppressed it for the three years I took it. But the issue is that this was also temporary. When I got off the birth control, everything that was underneath my skin just came up to the surface. From being hormonal acne, it worsen and became cystic acne where it was painful just to wash my face.

It was so bad that I was crying from the pain caused by just washing my face. So finally, that's when I started searching on Google to find something that is more long term. The treatments I went through before were just a quick chemical peel but it wasn't like a whole program to really help my skin long-term. It was just sort of "okay, let's get this chemical peel and it will help for maybe a few months", but then the problem would come back. So I wanted something more that targets my specific skin and problem. Then, Urban Skin Care Clinic came up in the search results.

I was really happy to have found it because as soon as I came in for my first consultation, there was a video playing about a lifestyle approach to treating acne that's not just doing treatments. Even though treatments do help, it's also about everything else. It's a diet, it's maybe taking care of taking some vitamins, it's the skin products you use, being aware about the ingredients that are in it... There are so many different factors and that's what really helped me, ultimately.

Maedeh Samimi:

Wonderful! Thank you for sharing your backstory. How has your life been affected now that you're acne-free? I wish our readers could see your beautiful glowing skin now, it makes me so happy.

You mentioned you came in and you were happy with the way we did the consultation, but I am so proud of you for committing to the program. It's not for the faint of heart because it takes commitment and consistency. Midway, one will probably feel like "is all this even doing anything?" because acne is so complex. But then you go through the program, then your skin clears, then you work at it again, then it clears. So it's like this roller coaster of emotions and your skin just going through changes but you stuck with it. I am so proud of you. That's what it takes. Do you remember the timeframe? How long do you remember it taking from the day you came in and started with the program until you were clear of active breakouts?

Fanta: 

You're completely right, it's a journey and not an easy journey, especially with the chemical peels, and then the purging after getting chemical peels. But for me, what kept me going is knowing that my skin was feeling better over time. So not focusing on just how it's looking all the time, but how it's feeling. That's definitely what I feel kept me going through that process. The whole process took about, I would say three to four months before my acne cleared completely. Then, throughout those months, it was an up and down roller-coaster... Like, it would be great maybe a few weeks after the chemical peel, but then I'll purge again. Then, I'd get my next treatment done.

But I just knew it was part of the process and making all of these lifestyle changes. At the end, when my active acne did start going away, my skin felt smooth, tighter, brighter, and I did have a lot of unevenness in my skin before. All of that basically went away, and that just made me very happy. It made me feel like "okay, as long as I stick with it through these three months, this is the result". I knew how my skin could look because of when I was on the birth control, but this is actually a whole other level. It feels healthy, like completely healthy, and I'm just very, very glad that I went through that program with you.

Maedeh Samimi:

Oh my goodness, just life-changing. Honestly, acne can really dismantle one's self-esteem. In my professional experience, some people do decide to go the antibiotics and Accutane route but guess what, if you don't make these lifestyle changes, it can come back. Because once you have acne, you have acne for life. I mean, there are so many things that can trigger breakouts in the skin so if you're not aware and not making those changes, it can definitely come back.

But now, do you feel like you have the tools and the knowledge to keep your breakouts under control? What would you say to someone who feels hopeless and helpless because they think they've tried everything?

Fanta:

I would say that, first of all, everybody has their own different experiences and different triggers and factors behind acne.There's honestly, in most cases, multiple factors and they can be pretty complex. I would say that, in my experience, I definitely was there and I've been dealing with this for over 10 years. I felt like there was no solution for me.

But what really helped was finding something that will work long-term, something that I can do in my daily life to make sure I'm not relying on one specific thing. So for me, it's really a lifestyle approach and being mindful of what's in my diet. I would say taking vitamins and making sure I'm healthy and putting good things in my body, paying attention to even the little things that I didn't even know I had to change, like changing my pillowcase every other day or a few times a week using a certain type of detergent. Those little factors can really make a big difference.

So I would say to people that you don't necessarily have to spend crazy amounts of money on dermatologists or going to get very highly specialized chemical-specific treatments. There's really a lot of different things you can do that could help long-term. And with the Urban Skin Care program, this is something that really supports that, especially with people who have hormonal acne. Because it may seem like you can't change your hormones, but you can change other factors around it. So I would tell people that there are solutions out there.

Maedeh Samimi:

Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. Wonderful. Thank you again for your time and coming on to the podcast. I can't wait to see you in person next hopefully soon. Take care and have a great day!

Fanta:

You too, and thank you for having me.