Guys, this is the kind of issue you might just want to deal with for awhile, but not for more than a yr. Other issue may come up that are not covered, or, you may start getting scratches and nicks, etc. If you can wait till the 1 yr warranty is about to expire, THEN, go get your new phone and get everything looking brand new again. Better phone, better re-sale. Replace it now, and you'll have a 2 yr old crappy phone when you need to sell it.
And yes, I have the same issue. One reason you might not want to follow my advice above is if you are about to put on a very expensive screen/body protection that you cannot reuse and don't want to have to buy again. But, even the tempered glass protectors are going for reasonable prices now. (Armor Tech Ballistic for example). Just don't let it get SO banged up that apple doesn't cover it because it looks like it was dropped or abused, which will not be covered.
Mark