Hi all!
I just accidently stumbled upon this forum. I have read and re-read every single post in this thread and I wish I could give you all hugs right now!
A small bit about me:
My name is Megan, I'm 15 years old, I'm overweight.
So here we go!
I have Acanthosis Nigricans. The summer of '07, I was at a pool party with my friends, and I was giving my friend a piggy back ride in the pool (yay for playing chicken haha). about a week later, I started noticing some dark spots on the back of my neck. My first thought was that it was a bruise of some sort from my friend.
Over time, it started getting a bit worse. I showed my mom, who wasn't sure what it was. I went to the doctor, who said that it looked like "irritation" of some sort and sent me off to the dermatologist. Well, my dermatologist wasn't a very pleasent person, so I've not been back, but he did tell me that I have AN. and gave me some cream, saything that the only real way to make it go away is to lose weight.
I never really got into the whole "losing weight" thing, and it's since gotten worse. It's under my arms, and on my neck. The arms I can live with, but my neck...I just...GRR. I looked up pictures of it on line and I realized that I don't have it nearly as badly as other people, and for me it's very obvious that it's a rash of some sort, while for others it appears to just be dirt.
My hair is long, I usually wear it down anyway, and it's only on the sides of my neck. But I'm still self concious.
Along with this, I want to be an actor, I go to a high school for Performing arts, I take voice lessons, etc. So far, I've managed to get away without having to put my hair up for anything. a director saw it a few months ago and I explained it away as being an irritation rash. But I can only do this for so long, and a part is going to come along one day where I'm gonna need my hair to be up haha.
I'm darker-skinned (not African American. just darker skiinned) and I've heard that it shows up more with darker skin (for this I curse my genes. =P Just kidding).
Anyway, I've written down every single suggestion from this thread and I intend to try all of them. Make up doesn't cover it - infact it irritates it - which is definitely not fun. So I'm willing to try anything.
Along with that, of course, I'm working on losing weight. It's very hard, my weight is flucuating, but I've dropped some, so I'll continue on that path.
I apologize for the length of this. This is just something that has really affected my life and I'm so greatful that I found you all.