Can anyone recommend spot treatment for teens?

[RedPandaWanda]

Dd is almost 14.
She has started to get quite a few spots which are causing her a bit of distress.
There are so many spot treatments on the market I’m not sure what to try.
She is trying the standard Clearasil stuff but it’s not helping.
I am trying to clean her diet up with less sugar etc but I think now her hormones have truly kicked in the spots are going wild!

Make an appointment at the doctors. They can prescribe various treatments that will clear them up quickly. It's miserable having bad skin...

The best thing you can do you're already doing it, cleaning up her diet. Coming from someone who suffered my whole teen years and early 20s with cystic acne, a healthy diet, plenty of water is by far the best thing you can do.
I went on accutane twice as mine was beyond severe, but it doesn't sound like she needs that which is great because it is an extremely strong drug. Take her to the doctors and they'll refer her to a dermatologist who will know exactly how to treat it. I really feel for her though, it ruined so much of my life for so long!

I bought my DD 'Nip Fab' which is to be dabbed on spots to dry them out. She's looking much clearer skinned.

I'm a Roaccutane graduate myself, so I'm glad DD isn't the same as me.
I would advise you to see GP and seek Dermatology referral if the acne starts to pit or form cysts. This is when scarring occurs

I spoke to a pharmacist who said if you’ve tried one off the shelf eg clearasil then the next step is Acnecide. It worked for my DD.

Clearasil 4hr cleansing pads contain salicylic acid which is basically aspirin and take all the inflammation down.

Clearasil do 2 types of cleeansing pads btw- the others don’t work

Ask at the pharmacy for a first step. Also you can get these brilliant little patches to put over spots overnight or even during the day - we have some called “dots for spots” and I think there are some with salicylic acid in too - they help bring the swelling down, and also stop the idle fiddling around which makes it all much worse.

I am sorry to say that I don’t think diet makes any difference unless you are malnourished or have some sort of intolerance. I would definitely go to see a dermatologist or at least the GP.

Effaclar duo facial wash and gel (La Roche Posay) transformed my dd's skin.
She needs a gentle cleanser, a treatment and possibly a moisturizer (it's a common misconception that oily skin doesn't need hydration)
As others have said, anything with salicylic will help (Nip & Fab teen skin, Clinique, Paula's Choice BHA, Dermalogica- all do ranges with salicylic but my DD found the La Roche Posay the best.
If it develops into acne then benzoyl peroxide.

MY DD12 uses Cerave face wash & acnecide & freederm on individual bad spots.
Roaccutane changed my life 20 yrs ago but hopefully she won't suffer that badly.

I second La Roche Posay. Effaclar facial wash and moisturiser and sometimes toner has made a real difference. She has very sensitive skin and this has been fine on her.

Thank you everyone, I have made a note of all the treatments recommended. I can’t get a GP appointment until next month so will try the off the shelf stuff until then.

Effaclar cleanser is great for oily skin - I would also recommend it. But ultimately nothing really worked well in the long term for my Dd’s mild but persistent acne except medication.

I used to wake up every single day with a new white head on my face from 13-18, I tried so many over the counter products and tbh they did sweet fuck all!
The best thing I ever did was go to the GP and they prescribed an antibiotic topical liquid which i used to put on my skin at night and the spots went away. I wish my mum had taken me when I was younger.

What about trying the spot patches - search on cult beauty.

Cleanse with salysillic acid (cerave or La Roche Posay)

A light moisturiser

Boots pharmacy or any bigger pharmacy will be able to sell you over the counter treatment with benzoyl peroxide or similar in, and advise on good facial cleansing. Worth trying them before you can get to your gp.

I’ve made a GP appointment but will try anything recommended until then, hopefully something will help.

My nearly 14 year olds skin really broke out all of a sudden last year. I felt sorry for her. More like acne than just a few spots.

After various topical stuff from the chemist we were prescribed Tretinoin by a dermatologist which is a topical Retin-A which was a god-send. Her skin is clear now. Sometimes she gets a single small spot or two but it never even forms a head and goes really fast.

It works by increasing cell turnover so, at the beginning, some people “purge” including her. This meant that there was a few weeks where every single spot that was waiting to come out emerged all at once. That was pretty shit although she was warned and coped well. It’s drying at first and needs to be started slowly, and mixed with moisturiser. You need a good sun screen.

All that notwithstanding though, it has been great.

nolongersurprised did she see the dermatologist privately? It’s such a long waiting list to see the NHS one in our area.

Acnecide face wash and cream has worked really well for dd.

She had some on her back which salicylic acid soap helped.

I’d recommend a dermatologist too.

A good cleanser- cera ve salicylic cleanser is great. Niacimide is good for any scarring and squalene can be good to moisturise if her skin is oily.

This might be worth a watch too- hope she finds something that works

Took my 15 y o child to dermatologist privately re acne. Seen v soon ( longer now cos COVID impacting on NHS waits) and got private prescription and immediate referral back into NHS for ongoing treatment on NHS. Well worth it in the time they have at the appt, the lack of wait, the increased self confidence.

You’re unlikely to get an appointment with an NHS dermatologist for a bit of teenage acne.

Dd uses glossier zit stick now but also found the Mario Badesco drying lotion effective too.

nolongersurprised did she see the dermatologist privately? It’s such a long waiting list to see the NHS one in our area

Yes, we live in Australia so it’s not unusual to have a private/public mix. It was worth it though.

She also recommended the Nip+Fab twice/week and some topical spot treatment but it was the Retin-A that worked. It wasn’t overnight though, after the first few weeks of purge hell it took about 8 weeks to actually look better. But her skin is completely clear now, no scars, no pigmentation issues. Around her period she gets a few tiny spots near her jawline but as soon as I see them they’re gone the next day. She swims so has tried out a few different moisturisers but none of them made it better, or worse.

During the worst of it she was trying to cover her face with her hair, the poor thing, but she doesn’t seem to have even remembered. She looked at pics her friends had and said, “My skin was REALLY bad for a while, I’d forgotten” which means that she hasn’t been scarred (literally and figuratively!) for life.

It wasn’t terrible cystic acne but it was the worst in her school year and it happened so suddenly (def hormonal)