Childhood acne and other skin problems. Any experts (by experience or otherwise)?

[FatnessEverdeen]

DD isn't quite 10 yet, and is getting quite bad, angry acne. She hates it.
She also has possible psoriasis (mild, as yet, and GP isn't sure), and can't seem to shift her molloscum which she's had for over 2 years now.

All in all, I think she needs a dermatologist and have found a private one to see, as the waiting lists where we are are horrendous.

If possible, I'd like to avoid long courses of antibiotics - they never worked on my acne as a teen, and they seem a bad idea all round. What I'd really like to look into, having read about it, is probiotic treatment. It looks like there's decent evidence that bacterial balance may be key. Does anyone know anything about this?

Any general thoughts or experience would be most helpful.

TIA

[Pleasedontdothat]

My daughter started getting spots when she was 9 - it was utterly miserable because all her friends had perfectly clear skin and it made her feel very self conscious. It didn’t seem to be related to hormones as she didn’t start her periods until she was 14 and they didn’t become anything like regular until she was 16. After a few years of trying topical stuff from the chemist we went to the GP and tried everything on offer, starting with topical antibiotics, the contraceptive pill, oral antibiotics etc.. the only thing which worked was roaccutane, which cleared everything up completely, leaving only a few scars. Unfortunately, a couple of months after she finished the course the acne started coming back and she’s recently started a second course of roaccutane.

We didn’t come across any proper evidence that probiotics made the slightest bit of difference I’m afraid.

Unfortunately, GPs have a very strict pathway to follow when prescribing for acne especially with children - your private dermatologist may have a bit more leeway though

Good luck - I hope your daughter gets good results

[FatnessEverdeen]

Many thanks for your advice and sorry your DD has had bad skin too, @Pleasedontdothat.
Sorry also you've had to go back to roaccutane again. Hope it sorts things this time.

Has your DD ever accessed any support groups, etc.? Wondering whether it's worth normalising things, since all the other younger kids seem to have such good skin.

And what about make-up? At what age, if any, did your DD use any to take the redness away?

Many thanks again and all the best to your DD and you.

[Pleasedontdothat]

We’ve not accessed any support groups - dd is extremely private and hates talking about herself so I don’t think it would have helped her

What did help was getting her a make up lesson at Bobbi Brown when she was 13 - they taught her how to do really lovely, subtle make up which gave her confidence a good boost - plus her teachers at school were very sensitive and even though they weren’t supposed to wear make up in the lower school, she never got told off for it

[FatnessEverdeen]

@pleasedontdothat my DD is also very reserved and self conscious, so not sure support groups would work. I'd just read that for skin conditions they can be useful.

When you say "lower school", do you mean primary? Or a middle school (pre-13)?
The make up lesson sounds good. Will look into that when DD is a bit older.