Adult-onset acne is the kind that starts after a person's school friends have had and outgrown really ugly adolescent-type acne. Adult-onset acne almost never looks as bad as adolescent-type acne does. On the other hand it never really goes away...it slows down a bit after age 70, but it doesn't go away.
I have this condition. I don't usually think about it. Usually the pores that get clogged and enlarged are on my back and shoulders where nobody has to look at them. People who felt disfigured by adolescent-type acne will never know how many of their smooth-faced school friends now have skin blemishes that don't show, at predictable intervals, and will probably have at least one every month when they're 95 years old.
Sex hormones are usually blamed for the overactivity of our sebaceous glands, and it's true that senior citizens who still get Horrid Youth Spots (blackheads) tend to be active, perky, well-preserved...yes, sexy senior citizens. A.k.a. terrible, disgraceful older people who embarrass their young relatives.
They flirt. Sometimes they flirt with people younger than their children. Sometimes these relationships get serious. Sometimes the older person even tells the younger person, "You shouldn't be interested in me; you should be interested in my son/daughter." Aaack. About the worst recommendation I've ever heard for a potential blind date is that the guy is embarrassing people by having a crush on my mother. Yes, it's happened.
They dress "younger" than seems appropriate. They look better in the styles young people wear than seems appropriate. Imagine being a 25-year-old man, following a sleek body with long pale blonde hair down the street, then seeing the woman turn around and reveal a nice healthy well-preserved 75-year-old face. She is not a natural blonde. She is not a bleached blonde. She used to have dark auburn hair, and now it's a yellowish shade of white.
They have more energy than seems appropriate. They make people their own age feel inadequate. Sometimes they make younger people feel tired. Sometimes after age 60 or 70 they manage to slow down enough to be good home nurses for geriatric patients...who may be a few years younger than they are.
Sometimes these terrible old people still feel sexy. Worse, sometimes they mention the fact to their children. How nice that an 80-year-old still keeps those personal supplies in the medicine cabinet in case a visiting relative needs them. "Hands off, son/daughter! That's my stash." "But you don't still use them...do you?" "I did last year, and I might this year! You never know!"
This is the terrible, embarrassing fate that lies ahead of many young people with adult-onset acne. Unless we work hard at abusing and neglecting our bodies and developing preventable disabilities, we could grow up to be just like those shocking old relatives of ours!
Actually, I'm looking forward to it.
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