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Super Sis
Dear Super Sis
I am a 14-year-old girl. I have acne all over my face. I also went to a doctor and he gave me an acne soap to use. But my spots are increasing every day. Please help me. They look horrible. Please don't ask me to visit websites because I don't have a computer at home.
Sara
Sara, it is indeed traumatic to have acne. Unfortunately, acne is most widespread during our teenage years since our bodies are undergoing so many hormonal changes. While certain soaps are recommended to control acne, it is also necessary to take oral medications as well as external skin medicines including special ointments/lotions recommended by the doctor that help reduce or cure the problem.
A word of caution though: acne treatment can take as long as up to eight months and often requires you to take antibiotics for a long period of time. The best thing to do, therefore, would be to visit a trusted skin doctor and discuss your problem thoroughly. Tell him that the soap alone is not working. Depending upon your age and severity of the problem, your doctor will recommend the best possible solution. Try to stay away from creams/lotions that contain steroids though, as they usually tend to reduce the problem temporarily, after which the problem recurs with the same ferocity.
At home, keep your skin clean by washing your face three times a day with a good acne face wash. While going out, always wear a high SPF, good quality sun block, and never ever poke, squeeze or scratch acne as it will leave permanent scarring. Also, drink at least eight tall glasses of water daily.
Treatment will reduce the problem for you now; but you can definitely cheer up as you grow older because by the time most of us have reached our early 20s, acne does significantly go down on its own.
Dear Super Sis,
I am a 17-year-old boy. I fell in love with a girl who is 14 years of age. All my friends have been telling me to forget her, and I have tried to do that but in vain. I just can’t. What should I do? And please don’t ask me to forget her. Give me some other suitable advice.
Lunatic Boy
Now now, Lunatic, why would I ever tell you to forget her? Forgetting someone or something is not easy, especially if people keep bringing it up frequently. And our minds hardly work like the characters in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
I’m not patronising you and I’m not going to guide you either. I’m just going to present your situation to you from a third-person perspective. You are very evidently smitten by this girl and that’s natural. You can’t help it as it’s all part of growing up. However, you CAN change your approach to this situation.
You see, you’ve intoxicated yourself with the idea of being in love with this girl, and that’s making your miserable. Do you even know her properly? Is she a friend of yours? Is she approachable at all, or have you elevated her to a goddess status from a distance? Think along these lines and try to find answers to these questions.
Going insane over someone from a distance always makes matters worse. If you feel that just thinking about her has been disrupting your routine of things, you should try to find normal routes of getting in touch with her. Remember, I’m saying it explicitly: NORMAL routes. If that’s not possible and you have to resort to silly stuff like writing secret letters or calling her place up unexpectedly or the likes, then please refrain from doing so. She’ll run away for sure.
Secondly, stop taking everything that your friends say to heart. It is only normal for them to tease you, so laugh with them, and when they tell you not to do anything stupid, listen to them. Finally, the best way to keep troubling thoughts at bay is to keep oneself preoccupied: indulge more in your favourite sport/ pastime et al instead of moping around all day thinking about how perfect this girl is. It is quite natural to feel attracted to girls at your age, but you really can’t do much about it except becoming friends with her and taking things slowly and lightly for the time being.
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