My Battle With Severe Skin Issue - Ini Dima-Okojie Opens Up

Actress Ini Dima-Okojie is talking about her battle with skin problems and how she overcame it. Taking to social media, Ini Dima-Okojie said:

INI DIMA-OKOJIE: I wanna talk about skin, acne—hormonal acne in particular—and my experience with it. Most of you don't know this, but I had a very traumatic experience with my skin last year. I'm gonna show you pictures, so brace yourselves because it was kind of bad.

Yeah, so this is what my face looked like. Yeah, it was pretty bad, and I just remember feeling so, so sad, so downcast. I felt so guilty, even though, I mean, I was eating right, I was going to the gym. I felt like I was doing all the right things, and I didn't know why this was happening to my face.

And you can imagine, as an actor, this is literally, you know, where the money is. And I actually shot two films in that state. For those of you who have seen "A Night in 2005"—yeah, that was what was going on there. But I had to find a way to still perform truly, right? And luckily, the character was, you know, dealing with so many things internally. Well, I drew from what was going on with me.

That was that film. I shot another film—it's not out yet. It's a beautiful film, "The Fire and the Moth." I shot that while going through that experience as well. And this character, she wasn't wearing any makeup. She was using her natural hair. So, yeah. It was pretty tough.

The beauty standards for women are already so high. Like, no one wants to have acne. It hurts your self-confidence. It can hurt work. You know, everyone is wondering, like, "What's happening to your face?" Telling you a million and one things to do.

You know what? Let me take it back and share when it started, when I realized, and how it progressed.

It was November 2023. I was filming a film in Namibia called "Skeleton Coast"—it's not out yet—and I just noticed that I was breaking out more than normal. Like, usually, I would only break out maybe when I was on my period or if I was a little stressed, but nothing serious, like one or two.

Fast forward to 2024, end of January, I literally started having acne. It started on my arm. Like, my entire arm was covered in acne. How strange, right? And then from there, it progressed to my neck, then my face, and my ears. I'm like, what is going on?

Guys, there's nothing I didn't do. I went to so many aestheticians. You know how it is with aestheticians—they will clear your whole skincare routine and replace it. It was very expensive, and nothing was working. My face was getting worse and worse. I almost gave up. Like, I didn't know what to do.

Going out became a chore. I have to work. My work literally has to do with my face. I just got to a point where I was really downcast about it. And then my sister, who also has dealt with acne—and to be fair, she had been telling me this—she was like, "Oh, come and see this her aesthetician."

And at that point, I was just so tired of seeing aestheticians. I'm just like, I've literally been going all over Lagos, and nothing is happening. Nothing is working. But eventually, I'm like, you know what? Okay. Fine. Let's go.

I go and see the aesthetician. Her name is Irene, and she's analyzing my face and all of that. She was like, "Let's do about three sessions, and if after the three sessions you don't see, like, a significant difference, then, you know, you can go wherever you wanna go."

I was like, okay, sure. Let's give it a go.

I think this was around May. I had my first session. There was a significant difference. In fact, I think I may have filmed—I have to check—but I may have filmed the second film I talked about after that first session. So it was still bad, but not as bad as before, if I'm not mistaken.

Yes. And then I did the second session, and it was even better. And then by the third session—oh my God—the difference was huge.

And here we are today. I rarely break out. It might be one or two, but I'm back to, like, normal. Of course, she changed my entire skincare routine, and I've been very consistent with it.

But it was tough. It was tough for a bit, and I just wanted to share and talk about it because, you know, it's something that a lot of us women go through. And I just feel like fibroids, PCOS, hormonal imbalance—they're all just bunched up. And I don't know, I just feel like they're all connected in some way. I don't know. Science will maybe tell us one day.

I think these conversations help, even if it's just for someone else to feel seen. And, yeah, that was my journey with hormonal acne.

Sometimes I wake up and I still kind of fight the fear. I'm like, "Oh my God, I hope I'm not going to go back there." I'm really on it when it comes to my skincare, but I just thank God that it worked.

What do you think about what Ini Dima-Okojie had to say? Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment either below or on my Jide Okonjo Facebook post.

That's All.

I hope you’ve had fun. Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter if you don’t already for more stories like this - collated every week and sent right to your inbox so you don't miss out on anything.

Also, if you want to earn money, I've made a free tutorial called FREE TUTORIAL: How I Earn Daily Side-Income Through Photo Editing (2025). Basically, in addition to blogging, I also make a side income through photo-editing work, so if you want to check out my tutorial on how I do that, click here.

To catch up on other content you might have missed, click here.

Until next time, have a wonderful rest of your day