Facial? Or Frantic? Part II.

So last night marks the day I indulged in my second facial. Wait. Let me rephrase that. Yesterday I endured the poking and prodding, circular massaging motions, and after-the-fact redness and swelling that was, in fact, a "SkinBella Particle-Free Dermabrasion" facial rejuvenation. Sometimes I am amazed by what I am willing to put myself through in attempts to have a clear complexion. Five years of a toxic (in my opinion) topical prescription, though, still seems worse than the painful poking and prodding. Let me explain.

Since my last facial a month ago, my skin became noticeably worse. It's always hard to pinpoint one reason why my

acne gets so bad in one particular area of my face (my chin), probably because there isn't, well, one reason. There are many (cat, boyfriend's hair products, my hair products, fingers touching my face, my phone, etc). So this time around during my facial, my esthetician had quite the extracting job to do. It was the first time I had to literally fight back tears during a beauty treatment. Extracting the bacteria from my face was, yes, that painful. But is it as bad as the potential side effects of my previous treatments? No. I'd rather deal with the extracting than with icky, birth defect-causing chemicals wandering my bloodstream.

That said, my esthetician was fabulous. She provided me with some insight and another perspective about combating acne. Plus, I left with cleanser and lotion samples. I want to do everything I can to combat my acne naturally, for now, and stay away from the prescriptions that I know a dermatologist will recommend (plus, I swear, I have tried them all at this point). As long as I can prevent scarring and make some headway, I shall continue down this road to (hopefully) clearer skin. I know it's under there. I've had it before!