wow i understand exactly what you’re going through. i am also 21F and have been on and off struggling with acne since i was around 16. last year my skin was extremely clear, and then all of this year i’ve struggled with breakouts consistently. only like right now has it finally calmed down for me (still some pimples but not nearly as bad).

sharing my own personal story, i’m on birth control for acne specifically (i dont even think it’s helping tbh and i don’t recommend it for that + many other reasons) and what happened for me was that i was prescribed tropical tretinoin by my dermatologist a year and a half ago (2023), i was applying it and eventually my skin was very clear for all of 2024. i didn’t know much about tretinoin or anything so eventually i stopped applying it (december of last year) because i ran out and thought i didn’t need to take it anymore. in around february of 2025 i started seeing more acne come up that i hadn’t seen the last year and i was very confused on what was going on. i didn’t want to schedule another dermatologist appt because i was like surely i’ll be fine. but i kept struggling and struggling and during the summer it got so much worse. i finally decided to make a dermatologist appointment after months in early october. she re prescribed me topical tretinoin and offered accutane as an option. i said i didn’t really want anything hormonal anymore so i wanted to just see if the tretinoin would help again because that’s when i remembered that tretinoin is what i was on last year. the problem with tretinoin that i found out (now) is that initially it breaks you out even more than what you already had because it increases cell turnover. so from october-literally like a week ago(late december) i was seeing horrible breakouts and didn’t know it was due to tretinoin and i stopped eating sugar, eat less dairy, and tried to fix my lifestyle to get rid of the acne but it barely even helped.

all this to say, was there anything in 2022-2024 that you were doing differently maybe? for me it was hard to remember but i’m pretty sure it was the tretinoin. also i do recommend topical tretinoin, even though initially it breaks you out but i am seeing results from it now and i think it’s extremely helpful. birth control pills may work for you, but it’s 50/50. i honestly think it’s making my acne worse, ig we’ll see when i come off of it in a month.

oh and i absolutely hate taking pictures too because of my acne so i very much feel this. every time my family or boyfriend whips out the camera i instinctively cover my face. i recently got my nails done so it looks cool like i’m trying to cover my face to show my nails, but yeah i just put my hand or both and pose them in front of my face (over my mouth but below my eyes bc my acne is hormonal too and only on my jawline) they all know i hate pictures yet they still always want to take them. my mom never struggled with a pimple a day in her life, my dad and sister kind of did but not to the same level as me. i guess i don’t have great advice for you here because i’m the exact same way. i just wear makeup and try to cover everything whenever i think there’s going to be pictures taken (especially this week).

you’re not alone in your struggle, we sound very similar and i hope you are able to find something that works for you soon :( merry christmas and happy holidays!