11-yr old dd with bad spots

[itsanewday]

Not sure which topic this should go in, as she's not a teen, and while it is a teen problem, I'm not sure the solution is the same (if there is one). My dd is still 11 but has terrible acne. It comes and goes, but varies from a few spots to being covered. She keeps her skin clean, but of course this is hormones (although she hasn't had a period yet) and not external factors. I really don't want her to be prescribed anything at this age, nor to use vicious face washes which will strip her lovely skin of all its natural oils. She takes a multivit, for what it's worth. Does anyone have any experience of anything that could help her? Supplements, dietary tips, anything?

I would take her to a dermatologist. I suffered this myself at her age and am eternally grateful to my mother for taking my suffering seriously and getting good treatment for me. I think we started by going to a G.P. and were prescribed various mostly ineffective treatments, including antibiotics (don't know if they do that now). In the end my mother read about a leading dermatologist in this field, he treated me for a long time also trying various different things but in the end I took some quite radical medicine with some potentially bad side effects, but I was fine and it virtually totally cleared up my acne permanently. I was delighted. I was older than your daughter at the end of my treatment and well into the teenage years but I would already seek medical help. I think each case is different and there may already be treatments which could help her, also I don't know how medicine in this area has evolved now.

Many people think acne is just something you should live with but it can be very distressing and have a negative effect on confidence. If she has this severely no amount of attention to her diet, cleansing carefully etc will make any difference.

My daughters are only 4 and 7 but if this happens to them as they grow up O will certainly seek medical treatment for them.

Take her to GP, 10yo DD got antibiotic cream for a single chronic and ugly spot. I really hate using antibiotics, but at least it's topical & not internal antiBs, and may only need using for a few months. She had literally had this spot for years on/off. I am glad we went.

One thing GP told me is that the otc anti-acne creams are all meant to be used for months before they might be effective.

I personally suspect that keeping cool helps, it's sweat the bacteria feed off of so the less sweaty someone is, the last acne they get (ime).

I would agree with taking her to GP if it is unusually bad, but a top tip after having three teens is to go to sleep having massaged Sudocrem into the skin. Takes about a week but my spot prone sons have used it for the the last few years and rarely suffer an outbreak. Obviously no need to use it when skin is clear. HTH

you're not supposed to use Sudocreme on broken skin, though, I think? I wonder how it works with acne so bad that one is always popping.
We also tried witch hazel & tea tree oil to no effect.

Have used Sudocrem on broken skin (bad eczema, teen spots and nappy rash) for twenty years and they're all still here