The author in the hospital room as "Case Study 6."I was 19 years old when I noticed a large lump forming in the centre of my chest. My teenage face had always been scattered with pimples, and on my shoulders I had what was referred to at the time as “bacne.” But this felt ― and looked ― different.At first I thought it was one of those under-the-skin pimples that had led to a diagnosis of cystic acne and prescription of Lymecycline when I was 15, but the red, raised lump on my chest was much firmer and didn’t have a “head.”The lumps gradually spread across my shoulders and neck, hardening like small red stones on my body. It took me years to admit something was wrong. Instead, I avoided the mirror when I undressed so that I didn’t have to notice the growing number of large, protruding bumps. It wasn’t until they started to become irritated and itchy that I finally visited my doctor, who referred me to a dermatologist immediately.At the dermatology clinic, the doctor examined me with the kind of squint that suggested my skin was a medical mystery she might enjoy unraveling. “You have a form of keloid scarring that develops from acne called keloid acne vulgaris,” she announced. It sounded to me like a rare disease that people in