I can't answer, since I've never been to doctor/assessed. I don't know what you call those individual pieces of "acne", but I get 5-10 new every day still at this age. Some really painful. But even severe acne is better than my whole package. Because you can treat it with isotretinoin and have whiteness back in your face (craters will remain, but you will get your colour and good skin back). I don't even know the condition/name that I have (had). It started quite suddenly when I was about 7-8 y.o. My parents never took me to doctor, because I was so ugly anyway that it did not matter and my looks has always been a taboo subject in my family and for my parents. When I was old enough that I could myself go to doctor, the damage was already done years ago (and I don't know whether or to what degree it could have been cured). I have permanent ugly, uneven redness, rough skin surface everywhere in the face, lots of nevi (there will be different thread about this, competition who has the most nevi in their head (and body)), nose (and nostril still with active blackheads) full of blackheads (or the grey spots that remain forever), blackheads also in other parts, 4 big cherry angiomas in my face (lots of small ones so new ones coming, my chest, arms, back etc. have a lot of cherry angiomas)... cherry angiomas in the forehead I hate, because they actually only appeared in my early 20s. New one makes me cry every time.
When I went to mandatory health check because of mandatory military service, the nurse offered to book a time with a doctor because of my acne without me broughting up the subject. I declined because it would have costed money and I did not even have a bank account then to pay the bills and possible meds. And most of all because the situation was beyond repair. That was over 12 years ago.
(I can't describe how I want these things because my lack of knowledge of English language, writing these takes very long time and I have to use a dictionary extensively because of lots of new words)
You wrote in some thread that your face is 1/10. Really?
More specific?
How do you cope?
I don't know what those are. I have permanent dark circles?
"I haven't been able to find an image or an irl example of someone who has it worse than me"
Same!
Why haven't you researched this?
I've of course read all there is about this subject the first moment it was possible. There is a very expensive laser treatment that is not effective and worth the money and risks.