My name is Miyoki, or @mila.makeup.artist, I’m from the suburbs of Philly. I’m 28 yrs old and developed cystic acne around 2012 – so after high school and 2 years of college. I have been suffering now with cystic acne and other forms of acne for approximately 8 years.
Living with acne, especially not developing it until I was an adult, was beyond hard for me. I avoided mirrors for years. I became depressed and ate my feelings and went from 130 lbs to 230 lbs. I put on 100 lbs due to acne and some medicine changes to try to help this depression I was going through. Don’t get me wrong, I already was diagnosed with MDD in high school, but this whole new aspect of developing acne as an adult-only added to that depression. I currently own my own house and when I call professionals to work on my house, (window pros, carpet pros, plumbers, etc), almost 100% of the time they see my face and go “Oh I’m sorry we must have the wrong house”. Another frustrating part of having adult acne is that literal strangers will ask if I am a heroin and/or meth addict. I understand addiction is a serious disease that no one chooses to have, but I personally have never touched them so it does hurt my feelings.
For the most part, I have overcome these challenges. I started to teach myself it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks of my skin but me. Regression is a part of the acne journey so I no longer get frustrated when I see that. Now I constantly look in the mirror because I in fact am GORGEOUS!!! I go out without makeup on 95% of the time. If someone gives me a look I just smile back at them and say “have a great day!” and move on.
Social media used to affect my mental state so badly it was actually unreal looking back. That is why I made my page @mila.makeup.artist to follow people and creators that only lift my spirits, and to show real skin, and to show people that those with acne can still rock makeup. I honestly RARELY go on my personal page anymore because it truly does affect my mental health.
I used to avoid social gatherings due to my acne, and weight when I gained 100 lbs due to my acne, but not anymore (pre-pandemic).
I am currently working on my mental health, I see (now zoom) my LCSW weekly, and have appointments with my psychiatrist every 4-6 weeks depending on how I am doing. I also signed a HIPPA so they could communicate about my needs, struggles, etc.
I’ll finish this off with the acne community and those who I have become very close to within it are so encouraging, positive, honest, real, FILTERLESS!, loving, and more. It’s honestly the family/friend group I never knew I needed.
Follow Miyoki’s journey on Instagram.
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