Acne.

So, Edda, like most teenagers, has suffered from acne and it comes and goes with her monthly cycle as per normal. I don’t think much of it as I don’t think it bothers her too much and I know it will go away as she ages. I know that teenagers now generally take Accutane to clear their skin, but I didn’t want to (or it really didn’t occur to me) to put Edda on Accutane because 1) she didn’t seem to mind her pimples and 2) I hate giving her more medication. Everything you put into yourself is asking your kidneys and liver to filter out more stuff which is why I also dislike medications for myself and I also dislike supplements. If I decide that I want more vitamin C or more magnesium or calcium, I try to take it in food form. But I’m not against medication, I’ll take it if I need to. I take my antidepressants regularly. I’m anticipating taking high blood pressure medication in the future and I’ll take that when I need to (I measure my blood pressure every morning and I’m watching it slowly go up over the years as I creep into middle-agedom). I’m hoping to outrun it (literally), but I’m not sure how much longer I can be ahead of my genetics.

Anyways, I bring this up because I’ve had two medical professionals (neurologist and dentist) kind of gesture to her forehead and say – so what’s up with this? And I’m like what do you mean what’s up with this? It’s regular teenage acne and they look at me like I’m a crazy person. Like teenage acne shouldn’t exist anymore in the land of regular suburbia. I also want to say that if Edda was a typical teenager and was bothered by her teenage acne, I would not deny her access to Accutane – I would take her to the dermatologist and follow through with their recommendation. But I also would imagine that she wouldn’t be on two types on anticonvulsants and have trouble drinking enough water to help her kidneys process all that through her system.