Teenagers with acne

[wishondarling]

My sons all suffer with terrible acne. We've gone down the route of doctors to get creams and antibiotics but I wondered if there were any great recommendations out there?

Part of the difficulty is getting boys to follow a good routine and actually used the prescribed treatment of course!

[Bearcat]

My lovely 16yr old niece has just gone through a course of roaccutane.
She had obviously tried other medication that had not worked and when I saw her at the weekend after not seeing her for a few months, her skin was totally clear from looking very spotty previously.
I know roaccutane is pretty heavy duty stuff and can only be prescribed by a dermatologist (I think) but it was so nice to see her skin so clear and I speak as one who suffered very badly from acne, but no roaccutane when I was younger!

[sick0fants]

I second roaccutane. You will need to get a dermatology referral though.
Long term antibiotic use can have some really unpleasant side effects and ime they weren't very helpful anyway.
Quinoderm (non prescription) is good, but only available online now I think.

[Sugarice]

I've got ds1 -17 who suffers.

He is on Adapelene at the moment and he has cut down on his sugar consumption which has helped but been hard for him.

He has been rubbish at following a strict cleansing routine but seems more interested now about actually washing his face properly then applying the cream afterwards!.

Duac worked well for the first year then stopped working, the same with oral AB's.

It's more scarring at the moment rather than actual acne, I've bought him Heal Gel to try and remedy it, it might look better when that kicks in.