10 year old DD with spots and dry skin, advice on how to treat

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My 10 year old DD is suffering with really quite bad spots on her face, It looks like acne to me but round her nose she has really dry skin which is red and sore. She has hit puberty so I presume it's her hormones that are causing this problem.

She currently uses Simple face wash and an oil free Simple moisturiser but they don't seem to be helping. I don't want to use anything too harsh on her young skin.

I'm considering taking her to the doctors, as she is getting teased at school as she appears to be the only child in her class with this problem, she's been like this about 6 months now.

Never having had spots, even as a teenager I don't really know how to help her.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

this is a difficult one isn't it because you don't want to give her a complex about her skin. I have heard that if the skin is dry that the body will compensate by producing more oil which causes spots and so although it sounds strange moisturising is the key. I think if you are really worried then your GP is the best bet. They deal quite tactfully with skin complaints and may prescribe something to help. Good luck......

You need two things -

A good exfoliator

A balancing moisturiser

Please dont be conned into buying any of those strip your skin dry acne face washes they are a con.

I had the same as your daughter - puberty early, only one with spots. Spots and blackheads are blockages of sebum and dead skin basically, so you need to exfoliate her skin and it will help, I wish it hadnt took years for me to discover this fact!! If the spots continue it may be worth asking GP for medicine to go with it.

Dont know what kind of price you could spend by the way, but a good idea would be liz earle clease and polish, using the cloth exfoliates a little every day. Elemis now do a young persons range which is much cheaper than their other stuff, the day moisturiser is good.

Take her along to the GP. There are lots of things they can prescribe. They will refer to a dermatologist if things don't improve - but I think they need to try topical lotions and/or antibiotics for a year before they can do that, so best not to delay a trip to the GP. DD2 had a miserable couple of years due to spots. With hindsight, I should have taken her sooner.