skin problems - advice please!

[rhondajean]

Looking for a wee bit of advice.

DD1 is 11, 12 soon. She has quite bad skin; its not infected, not big pussy spots, lots of small ones on t zone, some are slightly larger and redder.

Ive beenn buying her tea tree skin care products which she is using. What I am wondering is, should I take her to the GP or will they just say its something she will get over?

I have always had bad skin; had a horrible experience when my mother took me to the GP at around the same age and he told her it was acne. She ranted at me for ages about how noone else in our family had ever had it and it was because I was dirty and to do with all the second hand books I had (which she then took me home and made me throw away). Because of that I am overly sensitive on this matter.

I dont want DD to have a bad experience. Does anyone know if the GP can give her anything that will help at this stage? Dont want her to feel its something bad we had to go to the docs for unless they can actually help; neither do I want her to have to suffer with spots when it can be avoided/alleviated.

from your description it sounds like something your GP would be unwilling to treat

have you tried asking the pharmacist, they can be really helpful

there are quite a few skin care treatments -washes etc, for preteens if you look in the supermarket
I find tea tree too harsh to use and actually makes it worse (my DD's experience was it's good for the odd big spot but those little bumpy spots just look redder)

not sure you can ever avoid spots in this age group but I would try not to make a big deal about it unless she is particularly bothered as you may be more sensitive to it than she is

Thanks workshy, Im not making a big deal of it after my own experiences - I just dont want to deprive her of something that might help that I am not aware of, which is why I thought Id ask on here. I think treatments have moved on in the years since I was there!

The pharmacist sounds like a good idea - does anyone know if Id need to take her with me or if I could just have a chat with them and describe it, which Id prefer to do, and bring her home a new skincare regime to try?

they are used to mums describing spots I'm sure -can you imagine dragging a 14 year old boy to look at skin care???

why not sneak a pic on your phone so you can show them?

hope you manage to find something that suits her skin :-)

Thanks very much and thanks for the advice - its really appreciated!

I work with teenagers. Most of them have got this type of skin. A regular, twice daily cleansing routine is the best thing to go for. Look for products that contain sacilyic acid. Neutrogena is a decent high street option. The face washes are easy to use and effective I've found.