teenage acne

[follyfoot]

Help! My DD is really struggling with her skin. She is covered in spots just about all the time. She's 17. She has had antibiotic cream, then moved to oral antibiotics and a retinol cream (sorry cant remember the name). No improvement She's now been on Dianette for a bit over 3 weeks and the retinol cream for about 7 or 8. Things are just as bad as ever, with new spots appearing. Are we being impatient hoping for an improvement already? Any other avenues we could explore or should we just keep on with this treatment? Thanks in advance.

the regime

I have had terribele acne since puberty 29 now. This is the only thing that has improved my skin apart from Roaccutane. Which is amazing but needs to be prescribed by a dermotoligist and has horrendous side effects. I would not reccommend this even though i have had 3 course over the last 15 years.
Dianette aslo worked well for me but you can only be on it for 5 years so not a long term solution.

I can't reccomend teh Regime enough it is reletively cheap and works. i actually can go with out make now even with my scars as i am confident the unscarred parts of my skin look and feel good.

I use olay cleasning milk then benzoyl peroxide then olay beauty fluid in the morning.
Olay cleansing milk, then benzoyl peroxide then elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream at night.

The first few weeks are pretty rough your skin really drys out and gets quite flaky but if you keep at it the rewards are worth it.

any questions just ask

36 year old here with acne since the age of about 13 and 2 courses of roacctuane under my belt (interesting to hear it didn't work long term for you either raindroprhyme)

I use benzoyl peroxide gel 2.5% strength. I get it over the counter at boots having seen it on Embarrassing Illnesses (or whatever that programs called) being used on a teenager. It's the only thing that seems to keep the spots at bay. The retinol stuff the Dr prescribed me never seemed to work. Dianette didn't work for me either.

Good luck to your daughter and keep being supportive, spots make you feel so low.

I have teenage acne but am 30. I've tried the 2.5% strength benzoyl peroxide on a few occasions and it has literally burned my skin......it blistered, the blisters burst and I was left with a chin full of unsightly scabs for a fortnight. Just wanted to say that if your daughter decides to try it she should just use a very small amount on a little patch of skin first to check she doesn't react like I did

It's horrible though........I'm absolutely at the end of my tether with my skin.

Thanks for the responses everyone, will pass your experiences and treatments on to her and keep you posted.

I went on dianette age 13 for my acne and stayed on it for a long time (much longer than I should've due to stupid doctors) and it was the only thing that ever worked for me. Initially it took up to a year to make my skin clear but as soon as I came off it my acne returned within weeks :(

I have been on every oral antibiotic and tried every topical soloution over the years and nothing worked like dianette did but obviously it isn;t a long term option.

My best friend had roaccutane and it worked perfectly for her. She has never had a spot since and has beautiful model like skin- this could be an option for your daughter whilst she is still young?
I never tried it as by the time I found out about it we were thinking of TTC so definitely not an option.

The best skincare products I have found are dermalogica- not the medibac range though this made me worse.

I would keep pestering GP for referral to dermatolagist if it doesn't clear up as this can take a very long time (I never got one even after 12 years).

If she can cutting out sugar and dairy from her diet can really make a difference to some people, a bit of a pain though.

I really hope she finds something that works for her.

The peroxide does make your skin really dry and itchy, think flaking off, for a couple of weeks but if you keep going with it it does settle down.
The trick is to follow the regime on the above link religiously and within 4 weeks you should see teh beginings of an improvemnet.
I had my first cousre of Roaccutane at 16 and it was great while i was o it but 3 months after teh course had finished it was worse than it had ever been.
olay products are great and cheap just make sure it says they are on comedgenic

the rule of thumb is to try a new treatment for 3 months before deciding it doesn't work, fustrating I know