To ask if you have a teen with acne, what has helped?

[OriginalGeordie]

My 13 yr DD is really suffering with her skin at present and it’s making her so miserable. I feel it is hormonal and we should probably wait a while longer before we go to see the doctor. So if you have encountered this issue which products have helped? Somebody suggested rosehip oil the other day so interested to hear from people who’ve tried that.

The best tip I heard was to change the pillow case everyday so oils/bacteria are not spreading round the face.

See a dermatologist pronto. If it's severe then t's a medical condition and needs medical treatment

Have you heard of Caroline Hirons? She's a skin care specialist, has a web page/social media etc and following her tips has really helped my skin, I would recommend going on her website and have a good read around. She has a load of 'cheat sheets' pages to help with specific skin concerns, I'm pretty sure I've seen teen skin being mentioned. I know I'm a different age bracket but the thing that's really helped make a difference with my skin has been using acids to exfoliate my skin, glycolic and salicylic acid wipes, and just using a proper cleansing routine, I buy the cheaper products recommended (nip and fab I really like for acids and are usually on offer in boots or Superdrug) hope it gets better for her, it's really horrible to deal with, really knocks ur confidence!

Sometimes cutting out dairy is helpful.

I'd also suggest ensuring that she washes her face no more than twice a day (any more than that and her skin will get too dry and start secreting MORE oil), use a mild astringent to dry her skin out a bit, and use benzoyl peroxide for breakouts.

She should also keep her hands off her face - they'll just add more oil.

If it's "proper" acne I think she should see a doctor. For teenage pimples, which made me miserable and continued well into adulthood, I found cutting out refined sugar made a huge difference.

The Neutrogena grapefruit face wash has really helped DS, but again he was suffering from what I'd call pimples rather than full blown acne.

Lush fresh face masks are absolutely amazing for clearing and cleansing. I used one on my 15 year old neighbour and she was astonished at the difference it made; she has acne.
Brazened Honey and there’s one with fresh lettuce; possibly called Love Lettuce. I use them myself and they’re fantastic. Very effective but gentle.
Anything with salicylic acid will also help, ditto benzoyl peroxide. They sort of “peel away” layers of skin; I use them for stubborn ingrown hairs
Clearasil products are good; look for a high concentration of either.
I give thanks to benzoyl peroxide for clearing up my teenage forehead acne which blighted my life!
These two ingredients can be quite strong so go easy with them at first, use them at night initially. They DO work and cleared up an ingrown hair that I’d had for MONTHS. I’d tried tea tree oil, savlon, scrubbing; everything you could imagine. The only thing that worked was clearasil.

Take her to the Doctor op. No skincare you can buy will cure acne.

Yasmin - the contraceptive pill

Accutane

Not together - two different dds

Yasmin has been great but took 3 months to work. All spots on back and chest have gone and just a couple on chin left.

Dd finds that too much sugar makes her skin break out but apart from that all the dietary advice is bollocks or dairy

Acnecide gel from. Chemist is also good but very drying and strong do use a moisturiset as well

Take her to the doctors...kids don't need to put up with it just at the time when appearance matters most.
Two of mine had treatment... a once daily antibiotic and a face gel with peroxide in. Both improved rapidly, stayed on the antibiotics for a year or so then didn't need them anymore.

Antibiotics from gp

It depends on whether it is just a few small spots or actual acne. My DD at 10 had a few small spots at 11 loads more at 12 completely covered in acne face, chest and back.

I took her to the GP from 11, we tried face washes, over the counter spot cream, antibiotic spot cream and actual antibiotics for over a year. None of it made any difference.

The GP was suggesting dermatologist appointments for accutane for her at 12. She started her periods and it was even more terrible so the GP put her on the pill, it is a miracle cure (for her, also for me, as I have had the exact same experience). 1 year later you wouldn't know she had had such terrible acne. I asked for her to have the pill before she ended up with terrible scarring. It did take 6 months for the spots to go, a year later she gets one or two a month (and you should hear the fuss ).

The pill is co-cyprindiol, similar to dianette, there are risks on this pill but only slightly higher than other pills.

Cleanser with salicylic acid, and benzoyl peroxide for breakouts. Look up Paula Begoun (paula's choice), it was her advice that finally got me clear of acne after 20 years.

Your poor DD, i know how miserable it is. Went to the GP a couple of times but nothing they prescribed ever helped.

Using Sudocrem on spots clears them up quickly

Oh and my DS at 14, I took him to the GP to have a look at mole on his face and the GP said its fine, but he could have antibiotics to clear his spots. He did have a quite a few but they were small teenage hormonal spots not big acne spots like I had had and he wasn't really bothered by them. He had the antibiotics for 6 months the spots went and never came back.

Erythromycin is a godsend for acne! I know, first hand as my sister was given it and her skin became amazing very fast!

I My 14 year old son got terrible acne on face, chest and back almost overnight. I didn't wait, and took hi straight to the GP and ASKED for him to be given Tetracycline antibiotics. I would hate him to get acne scarring and said so. The Doctor agreed wholeheartedly and put him straight on them. They cleared up after 3 weeks and sometimes when he's a bit lax about taking them they come back.

Cutting out dairy

If either of you are on facebook search out Caroline Hirons skincare freaks and Dr Sams skincare club. Both were recomended to me on here and my skin is amazing 2 weeks in.

duac on prescription from the doctors. Cleared it up quickly and only comes back when he starts to get lax about using it.

If it’s making her miserable why not take her to the doctors?

isn't going on antibiotics a disaster for your immune system?

I'd suggest checking her diet. Sugar/carb high diets cause hormonal changes - going more high protein / fat will help regulate hormones

www.acneeinstein.com/low-carb-diet-acne/

'd suggest checking her diet. Sugar/carb high diets cause hormonal changes - going more high protein / fat will help regulate hormones

Sorry but this is not proven. Don't start fucking around with her diet unless it's truly crap. Of course less sugar is going to help all round. It's almost certainly hormonal which is why antibiotics are also a waste of time (certainly made no difference to either dd despite taking them for literal years)

When I was a teenager I had bad spots. I’m not sure where the cut off is for acne but they spread over back and chest.
I found that exfoliating with a tea tree wash and loofah really helped my back and chest and a mild facial exfoliant such as st ives helped my face.
Then an oil controlling moisturiser for teenage skin.
You sound like a nice mum taking the time to make this better for her.

My parents sort of took the view that it was just something teenagers should put up with but it dented my confidence for a while.

Just take her to the Dr - if it is hormonal then the pill will probably sort it out. I suffered for years, my mum tried all sorts of alternative options but eventually I just took myself to the gp and it cleared up straight away on dianette. Wish I'd gone earlier, would have saved me some scars.

Watching to follow up