As a boy, a friends older brother had severe acne. At seventeen his face looked like the surface of the moon, and now years later when I meet him, his face still shows the scars from his teenage years. I never spoke to him about it, but it must have been a very traumatic time for him.

Apart from his pronounced face, acne never entered my consciousness until a few years later when I just turned fourteen and my face broke out in spots. Immediately the image of my friends brother fixed itself in my mind. Thats how I imagined I would be for the rest of my life.

Oh boy, was I upset! It consumed every waking moment. The fear, the dread, the feeling of being a social outcast, of what people would be saying behind my back. Who would want to talk to a Pizza Face?

Every time I passed a mirror, Id glance in and turn away in embarrassment at what I saw. In my bedroom Id spend hours in front of the mirror, trying to figure out if any of the spots were diminishing, even getting out a ruler and measuring the spots in millimetres. Fighting the almost uncontrollable urge to squeeze the spots to help them on their way, regardless of the fact that I knew that would only make them worse.

Id also just started noticing girls, and one in particular. But my self-doubt wouldnt let me make any approach. I tried a cleanser but it made my skin red and dry. It started to peel and even made the smooth parts of my face look puffy and irritated.

Now, when the promised cure the cleanser had an adverse effect, I was totally desolate. I felt Id be in this prison for the rest of my life, isolated by my own imagined ugliness.

My mother could see the change in me and took me to a dermatologist. I thought he would have spent more time examining me, but no, he just took a quick look and prescribed a cream. It had a marginal effect for a few days and then it was back to square one.

Incidentally, now that I know a bit more about treating patients, I believe if that dermatologist had spent a few moments making a fuss of examining me, explained acne to me, that it was very common in teenagers, and at least given me some hope that it would recede in time, it would have improved my self-confidence enormously and made me feel a lot better about myself.

Shortly afterwards I made friends with a new boy in school. Turns out his mother was a nutritionist and had dealt with and overcome her own acne in her teenage years. She explained to me the importance of diet and asked me in detail what I ate. She made a list on no-nos and yesyess. The nos meant Id have to eliminate all greasy foods and oily foods from my diet, along with soda. The yeses meant eating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Now, you must understand that Id never had anyone speak to me like that before. But she encouraged me, and even phoned my mom to explain what shed suggested.

I agreed to try it. What could I lose? Well, after three weeks there was a marked improvement and after eight weeks it was hardly noticeable at all. A couple of months after that and it cleared up completely.

That was such a relief that two this day, I always make sure to eat plenty of vegetables and fresh fruit.

So, will this work for everybody? I dont know. But it is an easy and cheap way to start and you will, at least be the healthier for it.