Thursday, August 21, 2008

you're staring at my zit, aren't you?

See, that’s the trouble with zits. No matter what you say, no matter what deep thoughts you express, people can’t stop staring at it. "I'm sorry--what did you say? I was distracted by the growth on your face."

Yeah, I have a zit. It’s right there, you can’t miss it, in the middle of my left cheek.

This is actually an unusual zit location for me. Chin, yes. Nose, yes. Middle of my cheek? Not since I was a zit-riddled teenager.

Ugh, I had horrible skin. My father used to reassure me that it would pass. He would tell me that you never see adults with acne, but that’s not really true, is it?

I went to a dermatologist for a while. He injected things into my face. I don’t know what he injected but I can bear witness to the unpleasantness of having a needle in the cheek. Especially a pizza cheek, which hurt already.

He also used dry ice on me, which hurt like a mofo. Do they still do that?

I can’t say any of this torture made the least bit of difference. My face was always red and raw and painful. I had acne until I didn’t have it anymore, although I’ve never stopped getting zits. Now they tend to be isolated embarrassments, though, rather than humiliating colonies.

The week of my wedding I got the mother of all zits on my chin. It required a trip to the dermatologist and even he was impressed.

I still have scars from the worst of it all. If I had lots of money, I’d do whatever it takes to have those suckers sandpapered away. But I don’t, so not only do I have a brand new zit, I also have memories of zits past.

Life is so unfair.

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7 comments:

Unknown said...

Yes, it's unfair. My brother had hell with acne in high school. I always hurt for him but knew there was nothing I could do or say to make it better. I guess it's just part of learning the bigger lesson that life is unfair.

Cynthia

Rachel said...

I always had okay skin and for that I'm eternally thankful but I did get a full-blown eruption on my nose once when I was flown to NY to meet the trustees of an organization that had just hired me. We were at the Harvard Club and I *knew* they were all staring directly at my nose the entire time and thinking, "how unfortunate for her/us."

Rachel

Sophie said...

It's like the zits KNOW! They lie in wait to spring out (up?) at the worst possible moments.

They're probably still talking about it, Rachel.

Jenna said...

I hear ya. I sympathize with ya. I resemble your blog post.

Rachel said...

I think my zit eruption gave those stuffy trustees something to talk about. I still laugh and simultaneously get embarassed when I think back on that weekend.

Anonymous said...

I've always had acne issues! It was worse in high school - I have never heard of doing dry ice treatments but I took a nasty antibiotic (Tetracycline) for a couple years and used a very-drying wash... I even remember using straight vinegar around 16. It goes through cycles now - I still use Ance clenser and taken another medication that helps it but it still has it's moments. Quitting smoking helped a lot though, but... I still can't go anywhere without extra conealer and foundation in tow. It's been so much a part of my life that it's hard to imagine NOT having it!

Jenna said...

Um, do you have some sort of magical power to send zits to friends via email or, ack, Facebook? Because, today, I woke up to an eruption just above the center of my right cheek (on my face, thank you very much). And I've never had one there before. So not only do you have superb idiot radar, I think you're the zit witch.