A young woman has spoken of the horror of suffering acne so severe she felt like a 'monster'.
Keeve Angline, 27, from Dublin, felt so unattractive she was too terrified to speak to men, let alone go on a date.
The only time ever she plucked up the courage to talk to a man, he mistakenly asked if she had been in an accident, leaving her in tears.
'The night before, in a fit of anger that my acne would not go no matter what I did, I had scrubbed my face viciously with one of those cleansing mitts ,' she told MailOnline.
'The scrubbing meant I had removed several top layers of skin and the next day my skin looked burned with infected acne on top.'
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Keeve Angline, 27, developed severe acne at age 24, which left her feeling like a 'monster' and too shy to talk to men, let alone go on a date. She would wake up two hours early every day in order to put on make up and pluck up the courage to go to work. She would go to the gym at 2am in case anyone saw her bare faced
After discovering a cream made of anti-microbial silver, which acts as an anti-bacterial agent, Miss Angline claims her skin cleared up dramatically. This has changed her life and given her more confidence, she says
For years, she tried different medications and antibiotics, which left her skin dry, flaky and sensitive to sunburn.
Desperately unhappy, once she tried to scrub off her acne with a wire exfoliating mitt and ended up removing half the skin on the side of her face.
She had also tried traditional methods of clearing her skin, such as going on the Pill, or taking antibiotics.
But, despite years of medication, nothing had worked.
The antibiotics left her feeling ill and one of the topical treatments, benzoyle peroxide left her skin hypersensitive to sunlight.
After reaching the point of despair, her mother saw an advert for silver serum, a cream containing the anti-bacterial agent anti-microbial silver.
Dubious at first, within a few months of applying the cream her skin had cleared, and she is now confident enough to go to the pub with friends – some of whom are male – after work.
While she still feels nervous around men, she now feels confident enough to approach and talk to them, and hopes to find love.
Miss Angline, who works as a make-up artist, told MailOnline: 'Since becoming an adult I have never had a relationship.
'The problem was when I began working my acne got even worse. It was probably the stress but by the time I was 24 my acne was horrific.
'As a result, my confidence about dating men completely disappeared.
'I became too insecure to even get beyond that initial conversation with a man.
Now she is able to wear make up without being in pain, and even goes to the pub with friends after work on a Friday nigh
Despite trying years of treatments including the contraceptive pill and oral and topical antibiotics, nothing had worked to clear Miss Angline's skin (left). She had reached the point of despair when she discovered the Silver Serum cream that worked (right)
What is the best skin care regimen to prevent acne
'I found it too painful to try and start the whole process of going on a date, I was too worried that he'd be looking at my skin.
'When I looked in the mirror at myself all I saw was a monster, I assumed men saw the same thing.'
Her friends would point out men who were approaching, but she would stare at the ground, too nervous to talk to them.
'I always thought to myself that there were so many beautiful women around with perfect skin, why would any guy ever want to talk to me?' she said.
And the few experiences she had of trying to talk to men did not go well.
'Earlier this year I plucked up the courage to try and get chatting to a guy at work.
I was so desperate, I tried to scrub off my acne with a wire exfoliating mitt and ended up removing half the skin on my face
'We chatted for about ten minutes and it was going well and then he asked me if I had been in an accident as he said my face was all swollen and raw on one side.
'I hadn't been in an accident of course, it was my acne. I was so mortified that I made an excuse to leave work and went home and cried.'
It wasn't only her love life that was affected by her skin.
She couldn't go to the gym during normal hours for fear of her make up running off.
She went at strange times like 2am in the morning so there was no-one there to see her bare face.
Last summer she was going to a festival with friends where they planned on camping for three days.
Before they left, her friends excitedly mentioned they knew some guys who they might be meeting to camp with.
But this caused Miss Angline to panic.
'As soon as they mentioned this, I freaked out,' she said.
Miss Angline's skin was once so bad she cancelled a holiday to Berlin as she couldn't face the trip. She also paid for a hotel while her friends camped at a festival, as she was terrified of waking up without make up on and boys seeing her face
'The thought of guys seeing me without make up scared me so much that I ended up forking out and stayed in a hotel.
'My friends camped and had a wonderful time, and each day, I made the long trek back and forth to the hotel. It cost me a fortune in taxis - and everyone just thought I was weird.'
Another time, she even cancelled a holiday to Berlin that she had already paid for.
'My skin was so bad I just couldn't face the trip,' she said.
If she went on holiday with friends, she would sit under a blanked for fear of getting burnt.
'One time on St Patricks Day in 2012 I went out in the sun for half an hour and when I got home my skin was blistered due to the sun burn,' she recalls.
'Even water burned my face it was so sensitive and sore.
Now her skin is clear, Miss Angline has tried surfing, something she always wanted to do but couldn't before as the sea would have washed away her make up.
'I also couldn't wear contact lenses, my lips were constantly chapped. Acne isn't just skin deep. It affects you at every level, inside and out.'
Wearing make-up was agony, as her skin was so sensitive, but she didn't feel confident enough to leave the house without it, waking up two hours early every day to slather it on.
'I simply learnt to bear the pain,' she said.
'As a makeup artist I specialise in covering up people's flaws but no matter how much make up I put on myself I always see my flaws poking through.'
I also couldn't wear contact lenses, my lips were constantly chapped. Acne isn't just skin deep. It affects you at every level, inside and out
The crunch point came when her dermatologist suggested she tried RoAccutane, a treatment for severe acne that is highly effective but has been linked with a number of side-effects, including mental health issues.
She said: 'I had been prescribed so many pills and drugs over the years that this was the final straw.
'I knew the effects of RoAccutane and I was shocked that I was being recommended to take it, especially as my self-esteem was already very low.
'Instead of feeling helpless I suddenly felt angry that I was being fobbed off with stronger and stronger medications.'
'I took the very hard decision to stop seeing my dermatologist and decided to begin finding my own solution to beating my acne.'
However, as soon as she stopped taking the medication her skin broke out in the worst acne flare up she had ever experienced.
She took a holiday from work, stopped putting products oN her skin and stayed in her house researching acne on the internet.
For a week, she didn't see friends or leave the house.
While she is still single, she doesn't feel like a monster anymore, and is building up her confidence, hoping to start dating and eventually have a boyfriend. She is pictured (left and right) after her skin cleared
'I was in complete despair and I didn't know how I was going to face the world,' she said.
Just as she began to wonder how she would cope, her mother called and said she'd seen an article on a product called Silver Serum.
Silver Serum contains anti-microbial silver, an anti-bacterial agent used in the NHS in medical dressings to treat infected skin ulcers.
Its manufacturers claim it works on acne by destroying bad skin bacteria that causes acne - while crucially preserving good skin bacteria that helps keep skin strong and fights infection.
Worried about her daughter, Miss Angline's mother had already ordered it and it arrived the next day.
She claims her skin felt calmer initially, and the product didn't sting her skin as others did. After a month of using the product, her spots began to clear.
She said: 'The deep cysts that never cleared up started receding.
'I was able to return to work after a week and face people as my skin had improved enough for me to feel just about confident enough to leave the house.
'I was also able to wear makeup without it stinging if I put the Silver Serum on first.
'Within two months my skin was completely clear.
She says her skin becoming clear has changed her life.
Silver Serum contains anti-microbial silver, an anti-bacterial agent used in the NHS in medical dressings to treat infected skin ulcers. Its manufacturers claim it works on acne by destroying bad skin bacteria that causes acne - while crucially preserving good skin bacteria. Miss Angline is pictured after using the cream
She said: 'I can now go to the gym in normal hours, instead of at weird early hours of the morning.
'I don't have to wake up two hours in advance to make up my face and coach myself to pluck up the courage to leave for work in the morning.
'I never used to swim in the sea or in the pool on summer holidays as I was so worried about my makeup coming off
'Since my skin has cleared I recently started surfing lesson as I have always wanted to learn how to surf.'
While she is still single, she doesn't feel like a monster anymore, and is building up her confidence, hoping to start dating and eventually have a boyfriend.
She said: 'I now actually go to pub on a Friday night with friends (some of them men) from work. I would never have done that six months ago.
'I now speak to guys and I've even managed to flirt a bit.
'Its early days but I feel confident that I'll meet someone soon.
'I'm planning to go all the parties this year. I have my fingers crossed that maybe I'll meet someone.'
WHAT IS ANTI-MICROBIAL SILVER AND HOW DOES IT HELP ACNE?
Silver is a well known anti-bacterial agent
Silver Serum contains anti-microbial silver, a well known anti-bacterial agent.
Silver is used in by the NHS in some medical dressing for treating infected skin ulcers.
It is also used by NASA for keeping water supplies for crew members free from bacteria while in space.
Manufacturers claim Silver Serum works on acne by destroying ‘bad’ acne-causing bacteria.
However it also preserves ‘good’ skin bacteria that helps keep skin strong and fights infection, they say.
Normal anti-bacterial agents for acne penetrate all levels of the epidermis killing all skin bacteria, both good and bad.
This is much in the same way that antibiotics kill all bacteria in the body, both good and bad.
This leaves the skin stripped of all protection and makes it much more vulnerable to future infections, according to Silver Serum's manufacturers.
It is claimed the anti-microbial silver in the product kills the ‘bad’ bacteria that enters the skin via the open skin pore immediately.
The the good skin bacteria breeding at the base of the hair shaft remains intact and multiplies, making the skin stronger and better prepared to fight off infection on the next acne outbreak, they say.
