Help with teenage acne

[Stay23]

My 17 year old daughter has suffered for years with acne. She was due to take accutane but due to coronavirus and the need for regular blood tests, the dermatologist cancelled. My daughter has seen on one that taking high doses of Pantothenic Acid 500mg x 3 times a day does this same thing and is less risk than Accutane. Does anyone have any experience of taking this as on line some people are taking 500mg x 9 tablets a day. Would love to hear from you if you or your teenager has taken these high doses. We did ask the dermatologist at the time but they don't prescribe it and go for the hard stuff straight off!

Dianette and Retin-a gel really helped me.

Never heard of Pantothenic Acid, but I was on roaccutane in my early twenties and was given Differin (genetic name Adepalene) to prevent relapses. Luckily I’ve not had a spot since (about 8 years) but I still order it occasionally from online pharmacies for its anti ageing benefits, so I know it’s available.

It’s Vitamin A/retinoid based like roaccutane. It’s very effective for acne, but it’s topical so it’s gentler. The cream formulation is gentler than the gel. She could try this perhaps?

NOTE: Just like when taking roaccutane, she must make sure she isn’t pregnant and must use SPF 30+ during the day.

Generic name *

Accutanes not that bad to take. Yes your a bit tired and you need to apply lanolin to your lips but it’s 4 months out of a hopefully long life and you don’t get any more acne again.

I took it at 41, had one spot since in the first few weeks after stopping it which is normal.

It’s a miracle drug.

Also pantothenic acid isn’t stored so any excess is excreted in urine. That’s why it’s safe in high doses, your not storing it.

@Fluffycloudland77 I was lucky like you and only really suffered from dry lips, but many people do suffer joint pain, fatigue, excessively dry skin, dry eyes, mental health issues, liver issues etc.

I know you didn’t say this wasnt the case - I just want to make sure anyone reading the thread understands the implications of taking accutane. I’ve heard too many horror stories about people not being warned by their dermatologists properly or buying it rogue offline.

Roaccutane is a miracle drug - my teen boys took it for 3 months, and it sorted out their severe acne completely - but yes, it does need proper supervision, blood tests etc.

When I was 18 I was given Dianette for acne - it also works as a contraceptive pill - and that also worked like magic over a couple of months. I would see if she can try that.

Yes I had the fatigue the joint pain, my eyes were too dry for lenses etc but it’s 4 months for lifetime results and so much better than waking up every morning and checking your skin to see how many new spots came up overnight.

Dianettes not a cure, I took it for a few years, and they won’t keep you in it long now because it’s a high dose of hormones v normal contraceptive pills. It gave me migraines and now I’m contraindicated for all combined pills for life. I had the implant after and it was probably that which caused the cystic acne because it made my skin too oily and it was oily and to start with.

Fwiw my nurse said they hadn’t had any mh problems reported by patients.

A lot of these articles are written by journos who haven’t taken it themselves and have no idea how distressing acne is. I’ve still got scars now at 43.

It is a big regret of mine that as a teenager my parents didn’t let me take roaccutane. Even now in my mid-30s I still get spots and I hate it.

However, I have had big improvements since discovering The Ordinary products. Never thought such inexpensive off the shelf skincare would have the impact on my skin these have but they really have worked well for me - for the first time in my adult life I have actual clear skin. I’d especially recommend Niacinamide 10% + zinc 2%, retinol in squalene & azelaic Acid suspension 10%.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply. I will check out The Ordinary products. Particularly wanted to find anyone who had experience of Pantothenic acid and dosages as this is the only option open to us during lockdown as nothing being prescribed as dermatologist department is closed for the duration. My daughter had come off all the previous creams and tablets as she had to be off them for a month to try accutane so she is keen to try something in the meantime as her skin has got so much worse. Good to know about the success stories of accutane though for when the dermatologist is back! Thank you

@Floobydoodoo you can still take it. It’s just for cystic acne it’s for persistent drug resistant acne too. My Gp said she wouldn’t put up with acne herself so why should we.

I was offered it at 29/30 after they had to take me off dianette because nothing else was working but I’d read all the articles saying it was an awful drug. So I refused.

Fast forward to 41 and I’d have taken dog poo capsules if they’d prescribed them. Peri-menopause on its own made my skin oilier.

I'm so sorry your DD is going through this. It is so hard.

I've had 2 rounds of accutane and would prefer never to do it again, though very effective. 7 years apart. Don't regret them but side effects are a lot to cope with. Had great skin in between. I'd not bother with pantothentic acid if you are at roaccutane stage personallly. A good multivitamin though with vitamin d. I take prenatal vitamins all the time because of how much more they have in them for skin issues.

Are you in the UK? GP can prescribe adapalene - which is retin A. Use this every 3rd day then every 2nd then every day at night and wear high factor sunscreen! It'll take about 2 months to see the full affect but honestly it does work! Worse before better as it brings everything to a head. It is a topical form of accutane in a smaller dose so not the same side effects.

To wash face use aveeno cream (not the lotion) rub all over face in circular motions then use a warm/wet clean cloth to remove what's left - circular motions. Nothing else!

Spot prone skin is sensitive skin. A blocked pore is a blocked lore but an irritated blocked pore becomes a spot. Don't irritate it by picking, poking, gels and creams.

I've had years of acne hell then someone eventually said to me, oil and water don't mix. Oil breaks down oil. Oil is your problem, use oil to break it down. Aveeno does this gently.

My skin is fantastic on this regimen and wish I'd done this before I did second round of roaccutane. That said, hopefully this will get you through until you can start roaccutane at least.

Also. Stress hormones ramp all this up even more. Daily exercise / movement really helped me too. Good luck 😉

Thank you for all your good advice. Seems like a minor thing I know compared to what is going on the world but for my daughter it is important. Will try and get some topical retin A

Watch Dr Sam Bunting online

Please don't get topical Retin A ( Tretinoin ) without a prescription .

Look up boots acne clinic online / Dermatica

Also Retin A is a brand name . Adapalene is NOT tretinoin , it's a third generation retinoid created specifically to target acne . Sold under the brand name Differin in the US

@eatanazurecrayon do you use Aveeno body cream?

@chocolatespiders yeah. The cream not the lotion.

Actually think it is called differin in UK as well. You'll need a prescription! Good stuff.

@chocolatespider second part of previous comment was about adapalene / differin not the aveeno 😊

Thankyou @eatanazurecrayon I will give it a try.
The aveeno skin relief hand cream has saved my hands over the last few months. (Front line NHS obsessed with handwashing!)

Also Retin A is a brand name . Adapalene is NOT tretinoin , it's a third generation retinoid created specifically to target acne . Sold under the brand name Differin in the US

This. Please, please, please put correct info on medical based threads!

Differin is the brand name . It's sold under just adapalene to .

Points of call ;

• Dermatica
• boots online acne clinic ( think Superdrug and Lloyd's have one too )

Watch on YouTube ;

Dr Sam Bunting
Dr Dray

Join "Dr Sam Buntings skincare club" on facebook .

Ignore anyone pushing beauty bloggers / facial facialist advice . They often recommend products full of frangrance and essential oils which are a huge no no for acne .

The La Roche Posay Toleriane range and also Cerave are great for acne prone skin :)

Also free free to PM me . Not qualified but a LOT of life experience in this domain and spent thousands on private derms for my own face 🤣

Thank you all for your advice and comments and taking the time to reply. Daughter started the pantothenic acid 4 days ago and is already seeing some improvement but we will look at all the advice you have given.

DD has tried loads, but when Zynerit was hard to come by at the end of last year the doctor said to try Duac - literally cleared up really angry acne in a couple of months. Still lots of scarring left, but we've been told by dermatology (waited a year for an appointment and finally had a video call last week) that there are other options, but to continue with Duac if it's working.

Even though it's cleared up massively, the key we were told was to try and stop any new spots, as every new spot is a potential new scar.