The fact that it’s 2020 and there are still so many people struggling with acne blows my mind.  Acne is one of the most common diseases in the world and there is no shortage of Dermatologists, Estheticians, Naturopaths, Acupuncturists, Nutritionists, and Coaches that claim to have what it takes to help acne sufferers get clear.  So why are so many people still suffering with acne?  And why are we suffering for such long periods of time even though we spend so much time and money on appointments with acne “professionals”?  There is only one explanation: most professionals don’t know what they are doing.  If they did, I would have gotten clear when I saw the first, second, third or fourth Physician.  If they did, I would not have suffered with acne for as long as I did.  Even though Dermatologists have fancy degrees and years of training to heal skin conditions, they still weren’t able to help me.  Not only did they not help me but they often made my acne worse AND added a whole host of side effects that I had to deal with.  Don’t get me wrong, I would have gladly endured those side effects if my acne was actually improving but having to deal with both was just brutal.  Now that I have made the full circle journey from acne sufferer desperately seeing acne professionals to an acne professional seeing desperate acne sufferers, I want to tell you what I wish I would have known back then when I was choosing the professionals to work with. 

FIND A GOOD LOGISTICAL MATCH

This point is probably an obvious one but before you make an appointment with an acne professional, there are some logistical factors that should be a good fit.  Their prices, location, schedule, and whether or not they have a waitlist are all factors that should be considered before anything.  For example, our prices are not the cheapest in our area so we always encourage people to find another clinic if they feel our prices are more than they want or are able to spend.    We are also quite busy so we often have a waitlist and we have very limited availability on evenings and weekends so we wouldn’t be a good match for someone who wants to get started right away or who can’t come for an appointment during the day.  Ask these practical questions at the very beginning so you don’t waste your time with a professional who isn’t a good logistical fit in the end.  

CHOOSE THEM BASED ON THEIR RESULTS, NOT CREDENTIALS OR MARKETING

When I think about the time and money I wasted seeing useless acne professionals, I wonder WHY?  Why did I keep seeing them even though they weren’t helping me?  I never had proof that they had ever cleared a single case of acne so why did I trust them so blindly?  The answer is that I trusted the Physicians because of their credentials.  Who wouldn’t trust a Dermatologist who went to school for over a decade to learn how to heal skin conditions?  And I chose most of the Estheticians I saw because their websites looked nice and they called themselves acne specialists.  I also tended to trust Estheticians who used marketing buzzwords like “natural” and “organic”.  None of that got me anywhere and what I learned is that there is no educational institution that teaches professionals how to effectively treat acne.  So what you are really looking for is RESULTS and results can only be demonstrated through pictures and reviews.

MAKE SURE THEY HAVE BIG, CLEAR, CLOSE UP PICTURES

Look for someone who has AT LEAST 5 good before and after pictures that are big, clear, and close up like the ones on our results page. You also want to see pictures that demonstrate a professional has not just gotten people clearer but they have gotten people clear.  I have seen a lot of before and after pictures where the person’s skin looks better at first glance but I can tell that there is still some level of congestion that wouldn’t be apparent to the average person’s untrained eye.  There are seven types of acne and lots of acne lesions, especially the non-inflamed types, are impossible to see in pictures unless they are big enough and close enough.  So don’t trust pictures on Instagram because they aren’t big enough to see the tiny bumps that might still be underneath the surface. I also see before and after pictures that are too grainy and dark to see the less noticeable bumps so make sure the pictures are bright and clear enough to be able to see all of the different types of acne.

MAKE SURE THEY HAVE LOTS OF GOOD REVIEWS THAT SHOW LASTING RESULTS

With all of the different rating and ranking websites out there, any professional with enough happy customers will have reviews online and it would be foolish to choose someone without checking their Yelp, Google page, or some other medium.  It’s okay if they have a few negative reviews-there are always a few people who write negative reviews for silly reasons that don’t really have anything to do with how effective a professional is at clearing acne.  And the more positive reviews a business has, the more likely they are to have negative reviews for statistical reasons and it’s actually a sign that their reviews are honest.  But you should check to make sure that they have at least 40 positive reviews and the ratio of negative to positive reviews should be significant.  You should also make sure that they have reviews from past clients that have not just gotten clear but that have stayed clear for a few years like the ones on our Yelp page.  

CHOOSE SOMEONE WHO HAS CLEAR SKIN (MOST OF THE TIME)

This also seems pretty obvious but apparently it isn’t because there are a lot of acne sufferers who listen to acne advice from influencers who still have acne???  It’s natural to feel a bond with people who have experienced the same kind of suffering we have and a lot of my clients choose me because they know I can relate to their acne struggle.  So if you can find an acne professional who knows firsthand what it feels like to have acne, awesome.  But if you want to get clear, you have to choose someone who has also, well, gotten clear.  Because acne is a chronic genetic disease, even those of us that have found a way to get clear will inevitably break out once in a while and I still break out when I am exposed to certain triggers.  But find someone who is clear most of the time and who can manage their own breakouts quickly when they do come up.

DO THEY GIVE A SH*T?

Do you know how many Dermatologists I kept going back to for years even though they clearly couldn’t care less about me or my acne?  Too many.  Most of the Dermatologists I saw didn’t spend more than a few minutes with me, they didn’t even pretend to look at me while they spoke to me, and they barely ever looked at my skin let alone touched it.  Apart from the fact that it’s really unpleasant to have an appointment with a professional who doesn’t even pretend to care about a condition that has such an impact on your life, it’s also a sign that this professional likely won’t be able to help you.  Acne is a multifactorial disease that requires a lot of thought and attention to get under control.  That means that it’s a complex condition that is affected by multiple factors and it’s also a disease that can manifest in many different ways.  So in order to help you get clear, a professional needs lots of information from every appointment by doing a thorough assessment of your skin and asking questions that will help them evaluate your diet, lifestyle, and products.  If a professional isn’t showing you that they care, it’s a sign they are not only rude but they are likely ineffective as well.

DO THEY PERSONALIZE THEIR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES?

My Dermatologist used to prescribe me one medication after another before she even had a chance to look at me.  It felt like she just had a list of medications and she was going down the list one by one rather than taking the time to determine whether or not each treatment plan was actually appropriate for where my acne and skin were at.  The problem is, there are so many variables that need to be considered when it comes to acne because every case of acne is unique.  When I work with a client, I am constantly assessing what type of acne is showing up on that particular day, how much inflammation they have, how dry or oily their skin is, what is triggering them, what type of skin they have, and the list goes on and on. After I assess what is going on which, again, requires giving a sh*t, then I personalize a plan of action or non-action based on my assessment.  There is no one size fits all solution for acne so if you notice that a professional is not taking the time and care into crafting a personalized plan, drop them.

DO THEY HAVE COMMON SENSE?

Another seemingly obvious point that I still feel the need to mention because so many of us ignore common sense when choosing an acne professional.  I remember one of the first Dermatologists I saw telling me that diet has nothing to do with acne.  Even as a clueless teenager, I knew that didn’t make any sense but I completely ignored my intuition about her because I thought she is the professional so she must know better than me.  If I would have listened to my gut telling me that this person wasn’t right because she isn’t even demonstrating common sense, I would have saved a lot of time and money.  If there is anything I learned from my acne journey, it’s that just because someone has a degree and wears a uniform doesn’t mean they know anything about acne so I encourage you to trust your gut above all else.

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