“I dread Christmas as my skin erupts just at the thought. The change in diet, the alcohol, the parties and the stress always give me my worse acne outbreaks of the year.

Its very upsetting because I love the festive season and there are always loads of parties with old friends when I go back home to see my parents. I hate going home and looking so awful You are supposed to get more glamorous as you get older but I go to parties in my mid 20’s still feeling like the spotty teenager I was back in high school.

I got acne when I was a teenager like many other girls and it made me very socially shy and insecure.

But unlike most of my friends, my spots didn’t go. They carried on and even got slightly worse as I entered my 20’s. I started getting really bumpy red and uneven skin as well as pussy spots.

If I do any sort of partying, like drinking or staying out too late or eating junk food, my skin just freaks out afterwards. I also do a lot of sport ad that also makes my skin really bad, either due to the sweating or the hormones changes, I’m not sure but I always get outbreaks after I have done a lot of sport.

I work on the front desk of a busy doctor’s surgery so it’s not helpful having such bad skin as people stare and it obviously looks unhealthy even though I’m a very healthy person.

When I go home at Christmas I always want to arrive back looking like a well-groomed grown up, but I still feel like the spotty kid I was when I left. I can see everyone looking at me and thinking ‘oh she still looks exactly the same as she did at school.”

My mum usually greets me by telling me I look stressed, what she really means is that my skin looks dreadful.

I feel like I have never ‘bloomed’ as my skin is always looking so awful.

I spend large quantities of my spare time researching and trying various anti-acne treatment to try and improve my skin. Patients at work are always giving me tips on treatments. I have a problem as I have dry skin but with spots and so most anti-acne treatments make my skin extremely flaky and dry.

It was through a patient recommendation that I eventually found Silver Serum. I didn’t want to use another acne treatment that would dry my skin out even more as the flaking is almost as bad as the spots.

However Silver Serum from The Skin Shop (on-line) claimed to keep healthy skin nourished by preserving the ‘good skin bacteria’ while only attacking the bad acne bacteria. I didn’t even know the skin had good and bad bacteria but the more I read the more it seem dot make sense as I had experienced all the adverse effects of using standard anti-acne treatments that simply kill all skin bacteria and leave your skin dry and very sensitive.

After a few days of using the Silver Serum I was disappointed to see no improvement, if anything my skin was slightly worse. But my friend told me the same thing had happened to her and to persevere. SO I did what she said and sure enough by day five I started to see an improvement. By day seven I was getting excited, by day 14 I was delighted. My skin had improved dramatically. I had no pussy spots at all, but what was amazing was that the bumpy red spots beneath my skin had gone and my complexion was smooth and much more even and less red than it had been since I could remember.

I was able to actually go out one day without make up, which for me is a first. I was very pleased with this product as I didn’t feel any discomfort using it, which at first made me think it was not working as most anti-acne treatments really sting. But in just five days I started to see the effects and after two weeks my skin feels like the skin of a different person. My skin feels like it actually ‘loves’ this product.

I can’t wait for Christmas this year as I’ve been invited to loads of parties and this year I’m going to look like I’ve finally ‘bloomed’.I just want to hear the words ‘wow you look amazing’ instead of ‘oh you haven’t changed a bit”.

With kind thanks to guest blogger: Melissa Davies,  from Bristol