Fear of Acne when transitioning

[MR.MAN]

My mom and I are currently discussing transitioning.
I know of all things it's silly to think that acne would be my biggest fear, but it is.

I am a pretty confident person despite the bit of dysphoria but
Because I am still pre-T I have a female body and hormones, and I have struggled with acne for a while, that is the main thing that has brought my self esteem down for a while.
Albeit, my face is far better now and I don't worry anymore, I now have a fear of breaking out again once I`m on T.

Acne has made my life a living hell through middle school and freshman year (I am a sophomore in high school). I have came home on numerous occurrences and cried to my mother and she brought me to the dermatologist and over a couple YEARS we finally found something that worked. My acne has made me cry so much though and impacted my self esteem deeply (I have been bullied over it). I don't want to go through that again but it's a common side effect on T and I wasn't worried about the side effects until acne came up...

Is it silly to fear the side effect of acne? I just can't get over it.
Do most transguys experience acne?

[supremecatoverlord]

If you have acne, just see a dermatologist. If you never did that throughout your teenager years when acne made your life "a living hell", I hate to say it, but you're also partially responsible for taking no initiative to have your skin properly taken care of.

I've always had acne problems too, but that was never enough of a reason to prevent myself from going through the right puberty. My face looked like a disaster until I got my skin treated, but it was well worth looking like the correct gender.

[MR.MAN]

Sorry if I didn't clarify better, I would never NOT transition because of acne. It's just a big fear of mine.

Also, I did take initiative I tried proactiv and a myriad of soaps and creams. My acne was resistant to most of them and they dried up my face so badly I broke out more. When I went to the dermatologist she prescribed so many different things. It took years for me to find something that worked and that's how I reached the point I am at now with clearer skin.

I am just worried now I will have to go through the painful process of finding another treatment because the experience was so bad for me the first time.

[supremecatoverlord]

Sorry if I didn't clarify better, I would never NOT transition because of acne. It's simply just a big fear of mine.

Also, I did take initiative I tried proactiv and a myriad of soaps and creams. My acne was resistant to most of them and they dried up my face so badly I broke out more. When I went to the dermatologist she prescribed medicines. It took years for me to find something that worked though. That's how I reached the point I am at now with clearer skin.

Self treatment and guessing is not taking initiative. Seeing a doctor that will prescribe you something that's not OTC for severe acne is. When my face got really bad, it was to the point that I was almost immediately put on Accutane. If you have hormonally based acne, it would more than likely help you too.

[Tejas]

Unless I read incorrectly, OP mentions having seen the dermatologist over a couple of years for treatment.

While you can't prevent acne from occurring, you can limit it. If the stuff the doc prescribed works, then cool. I came across something from a different source of someone with very bad acne finding raw honey (applied to face 20min/day) to be the best remedy that they've ever tried and that is comparing to pharmaceutical stuff.

[spacial]

And remember, lots of young people get acne, it passes.

[Tejas]

OP, your fear is not irrational. Acne is one of the side effects on the list that I stared at the longest, because it causes a lot of stress all on its own, not to mention on top of a long list of other things related to dysphoria and transition. I'd say, just figure out a game plan to tackle it and prepare for the worst. 

When I started on T, I was dreading it coming up. I didn't have bad acne through the first round of puberty, but I've also read about people whose faces exploded despite not experiencing it ever in the past. It just depends. So far, I'm good, but my doctor put me on half the dosage of T to start. Recently, she increased the dosage, but stated that if I haven't experienced a lot of acne so far, that my chances of it not occurring is good, but by increasing the dosage, I'm increasing the risk of side effects.  Talk to the endo/derma/doctor if you want to test out the different paths.

While it's not bad, I've stopped shaving my chin as it seems that the razor is irritating that area and causing it to break out more.

[MR.MAN]

Self treatment and guessing is not taking initiative. Seeing a doctor that will prescribe you something that's not OTC for severe acne is. When my face got really bad, it was to the point that I was almost immediately put on Accutane. If you have hormonally based acne, it would more than likely help you too.

Thank you for your help, but I did go to the dermatologist and I still go to my appointments every 6 weeks.

OP, your fear is not irrational. Acne is one of the side effects on the list that I stared at the longest, because it causes a lot of stress all on its own, not to mention on top of a long list of other things related to dysphoria and transition. I'd say, just figure out a game plan to tackle it and prepare for the worst. 

When I started on T, I was dreading it coming up. I didn't have bad acne through the first round of puberty, but I've also read about people whose faces exploded despite not experiencing it ever in the past. It just depends. So far, I'm good, but my doctor put me on half the dosage of T to start. Recently, she increased the dosage, but stated that if I haven't experienced a lot of acne so far, that my chances of it not occurring is good, but by increasing the dosage, I'm increasing the risk of side effects.  Talk to the endo/derma/doctor if you want to test out the different paths.

While it's not bad, I've stopped shaving my chin as it seems that the razor is irritating that area and causing it to break out more.

Thank you! This sounds like a very good option and it makes me a bit more confident. Even though it doesn't stop acne it will surely allow my body to adjust to T better and maybe in turn won't cause an 'explosion' of acne.

And remember, lots of young people get acne, it passes.

And to spacial, thank you. I already knew that, but when coming from someone else it feels better.