# Appearance **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 15, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282 "2012-06-15T21:13:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/21 "2012-06-16T00:14:16Z")
I wouldn’t think either; severe acne (which I’m assuming you mean, if they have noticeable scarring) is the result of a combination of factors that aren’t in the person’s control. “OMG! I can’t _believe_ you just sit there and allow your skin to produce excess sebum! And you don’t even care enough to regulate your hormones, so androgens just run roughshod all over. Shame on you!” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/22 "2012-06-16T04:11:18Z")
Like a lot of other conditions . . . empathy. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/23 "2012-06-16T07:11:55Z")
I feel sorry for them. Good skin is pretty much the luck of the gene pool. ETA Hygiene wouldn’t really occur to me. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/24 "2012-06-16T08:29:18Z")
Other. Acne and hygiene are unrelated. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/25 "2012-06-16T11:01:59Z")
Other. I don’t think about it at all other than to register it as a part of that person’s appearance, in the same way that I’d idly note that they have very shiny hair, or a big nose, or long fingered hands or something. It certainly wouldn’t make me judge them. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/26 "2012-06-16T19:54:46Z")
“Ugh, poor guy/gal…” ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/27 "2012-06-16T20:04:56Z")
> [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > Other. I don’t consider their previous hygiene at all unless they are demonstrating some serious lack of it currently. Concur. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/28 "2012-06-16T20:05:23Z")
I feel sympathy for the person usually. The correlation between hygiene and acne is difficult to understand. I suppose that failing to wash your face regularly might cause worse acne, but I know that merely washing my face regularly didn’t prevent me from having acne. I wonder if scarring usually comes from cystic acne. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/29 "2012-06-17T01:39:28Z")
Meh, scars happen. Some people scar worse than others - it all depends on skin type and scar formation. I got lucky in the skin lottery, I don’t scar easily. mrAru scars from a tiny kitten scritch. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/30 "2012-06-17T01:44:25Z")
There’s a woman in my office building whom I see on the elevator sometimes–pleasant, well-groomed, with \*terrible \*facial scarring. Acne, or disease, or from birth, I have no idea. I think, “oh, that poor woman, I wonder how she deals with that, socially, mentally, emotionally?” And I remember how comparatively lucky I am just to be just plain old homely. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/31 "2012-06-17T01:46:05Z")
When I see a person with acne scars, I think they used to have acne. Not a single reason to infer anything else. Either you get acne or you don’t; I’m lucky in that I don’t get zits, never did, never will. I do, however, have full-body, constantly mutating scarring from psoriasis. It means…I have psoriasis. And nothing else. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/32 "2012-06-17T01:49:05Z")
I have a lot of acne scars on my shoulders and back. So I would feel sympathy. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/33 "2012-06-17T01:55:09Z")
Also, I apparantly have a thing for guys with acne scarring. Rather, it’s not a turn-off for me. Maybe you recognize [this guy](http://www.rateadrug.com/Images/SlideShow/Edward_James_Olmos_Sept_06_crop_face.jpg) and [this one](http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Jackie-Earle-Haley-Human-Target.jpg)? 'cause they have been considered ‘hot’ by an abnormally large percentage of women, if acne scars are supposed to matter. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/34 "2012-06-17T01:58:48Z")
I don’t think anything at all with regards to hygiene. I would probably feel sorry for what they went through when they had the acne. ---
**Author:** ![oreally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ab992/32.png) [@oreally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oreally)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/35 "2012-06-17T02:03:22Z")
Looks like the OP needs a clue about acne. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/36 "2012-06-17T02:06:59Z")
I voted “other,” for all the reasons previously given. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/37 "2012-06-17T02:19:13Z")
Kill it with fire! ---
**Author:** ![Waxwinged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@Waxwinged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waxwinged)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/38 "2012-06-17T07:52:03Z")
Other. It’s the gene pool issue. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/39 "2012-06-17T12:24:30Z")
I would make no assumption at all as there would be not enough information to form an opinion. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282/40 "2012-06-17T13:24:11Z")
If they’re bad enough, I’m usually sympathetic, as in, “Man, that must suck.” Of course, that’s my internal monologue - I’d never say that out loud. One of my friends has terrible acne because his face is just greasy as all hell. He actually smells of face grease, which is extremely off-putting when you get close enough to him to smell. I feel bad for him, but am not a fan of hugging him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appearance/625282.md?page=3)