Liz - Chronic cystic acne
Episode description
Meet Liz, AKA @prettyprogress23. A shining light who openly and honestly spoke to me about her experience with chronic cystic acne. At at 12, she started seeing pimples pop up onto her face, which got her really fixated on how she looked. She went to the GP, and they prescribed her antibiotics, which cleared not only her skin, but the good and bad bacteria from her gut.
Acne affects 85% of Australians 15-24 year olds and occurs when a hair follicle and its oil gland become blocked and inflamed. This provides an ideal environment for bacteria to grow and cause the skin to become irritated, red and tender. Cystic acne is a severe type of acne where pores in the skin become blocked, leading to infection and inflammation. The skin reaction causes swelling deep in the skin’s middle layer (the dermis). This infected, red, swollen lump is an acne cyst. You can experience this on your back, bum, chest, neck, shoulders and upper arms, where they are usually painful and tender to touch.
Liz is super educated, and talks from experience of going through it all, so other people don’t have to. For some informative links:
https://www.zilchacne.com/
https://www.skinhealthinstitute.org.au/page/89/acne