Are you plagued with continuous acne attacks that never seem to go away? Calm down and stop blaming yourself or those facial acne cleaners. Let me tell you a story. My story.

When I was 15, I was traumatized by my acne. I tried all kinds of acne cleansers, as well as other topical treatments, and even some internal junk, but nothing seemed to work. It was a terrible time in my life. I was just starting to try to talk to girls, and looking for a girlfriend, but my terrible complexion made me feel afraid to even approach them.

Whether it was my imagination or not, looking back on it, it seemed that none of them were really all that interested, and no one wanted to speak to me. It might have been adolescent insecurity, but all of the acne creams and cleansers that I used seemed useless and ineffective at best, and so my self-esteem continued to go down hill at an accelerating speed.

Finally I came to the realization that acne cleansers would never solve the problem, and that I would have to resolve it myself. My father sat me down and told me that, at my age, he had the same problem. There was the paralyzing insecurity, the acne cleansers, the various concoctions and treatments, the female infatuation and all. He said he finally found something that really worked. It wasn't the acne cleansers; no acne cleanser can really do anything to completely halt teenage insecurity. It was a matter of taking himself in hand, and realizing that he could do anything that he set his mind to, and that he was good enough just as he was.

At the time I thought this was just another empty pep-talk, and I decided to keep using the acne cleansers. Well, eventually I did find one that worked ok, and did help me out a little, but not enough to really cure all of my pains. Then I realized that, by themselves acne cleansers weren't really enough. My dad had been right about that part! I needed something else.

The answer, of course, was proper diet. Once I started to exercise regularly and eat less greasy food, my acne began to really clear up. I can not say that it went away completely right away. That would be ridiculous. But it did get steadily better, until it was really not that bad.

And you know what, self-esteem is great, but a good complexion and a manly physique is even better. I've been grateful to my dad for many things, but his advice about acne cleansers was never one of those things.