Teenage spots- what product actually helps?

[walkingonsand]

Does anyone have any experience with any products which actually help teenage spots?

I think ds was on roaccutane for about a year? We initially said no to having it at hospital when offered because it seemed drastic and bad side effects so carried on with the zineric (?spelling) one but that stopped making a difference. But the roaccutane was so well managed with a hospital visit and blood tests every few weeks. He had no signs of depression ( a big side effect) because, well, to be honest he was happy as making a difference! We did the roaccutane as a last resort and to get honest wished we started earlier as he has a few scars. They have faded a bit though

Be careful with salicylic acid as it can make the problem worse in some people. Bicarb scrub can be better for those whose skin flares up with acid based cleansers and creams.

@Cassimin - thank you. We’ve already had a long journey, it’s been 4 years since her acne started and it only got worse. Nothing has ever worked - differrin gel, long courses (6 months ) of two different antibiotics ( prescriptions by her GP) , cerave, effeclar, all sorts. It was a nightmare to get referred to hospital dermatologist during pandemic but finally we got it. Did all the checks and tests and was prescribed Roaccutane but as I said - 3 months, second course of increased dose and her acne is still awful. Many new breakouts every single day. Red and inflamed. During her last follow up visit the clinician cheerfully observed: “Next time we’ll see you here you’ll have much clearer skin”. I just cannot see that, it’s not improving at all.

Occasional spots or acne? There is a big difference.

Teenage spots (or hormonal chin spots for women)

CeraVe cleanser (Boots sell it)

then you need a BHA so Paula's Choice 2%

"BHAs are primarily used for acne and sun damage. These products go deep into your hair follicles to dry out excess oils and dead skin cells to unclog your pores"

Then they might need a moisturiser so La Roche Posay or something similar.

Acne or severe spots I have no idea.

Thank you @Cassimin @TheBugHouse for your reassurance. It looks like it is going to take longer than 3-6 months to see an improvement. Perhaps even a year. I’m even more torn as I didn’t have acne in my youth and feel terribly sorry for dd. Her friends do not happen to suffer from any skin problems either.

Jacopone
My son was the same, took years for him to get to to point of roaccutane. He has some scarring.
You try everything you can before you go to the dr then they have to try lots before they finally agree to roaccutane then it can take months for an appointment at the hospital.
My daughter was faster, because I knew about roaccutane and it had worked for her brother our dr seemed to push things a bit faster. This and the fact that we accepted a hospital referral to a hospital outside of our area due to long waiting lists helped.
I’m so sorry it’s not working for your daughter so far but I’m sure it will. Now she is in the system they won’t give up on her. The dr will want to see results.
I really hope she gets results soon, it’s so upsetting to see them upset isn’t it.

I know this is only anecdotal but I have finally managed to get clear skin after 30 years (and countless prescriptions) by using skin+me for the past 3 months. I’m guessing it’s the tretinoin in the cream that’s worked as I’ve used the other ingredients (salicylic and niacinamide) previously to little effect. I don’t know if it’s suitable for teens but might be worth looking in to. Skin+me seems expensive (£20 a month) but I don’t use nearly as much as they recommend so make it last twice as long. Just my experience. Hope you find something that works, best of luck

The doctors have to go through the treatments available to them or dermatology will reject the referral and then they’ve paid a ref fee for nothing.

The mistake we make, and I did it too, is to get spots and see it as our fault. That’s the cosmetic industry convincing us it’s our fault and making a medical problem now a self care problem when it’s not.

I took roaccutane, 3 years later little spots started coming back so my dr has me on lymecycline and has ref me back to dermatology as they told me on discharge to go back if it happened again. My skins not as oily as it was pre-roaccutane but I wasn’t waiting around for the bacteria to really get going again.

Thank you @Cassimin for your kind words and apology to the OP for highjacking your post but I hope you can also get some answers from this collective wisdom and experiences.
In hindsight, I believe we were a bit unlucky as various and ever changing GPs dismissed her for long and I wasn’t bold enough to ask for face to face appointment (really a bit silly to elaborate for 30 min about the size, type, colour of face spots on the phone) until the bacteria took a firm hold in the skin. Indeed, my advice would be to act early on. Dd, unfortunately, has already some scarring.

Hijacking, not highjacking!

Agree entirely with Fluffycloudland77. If it’s not occasional few spots, it is a medical condition and needs to be treated accordingly. Avoiding chocolate and keeping one’s face clean won’t solve the problem.

Does your daughter eat enough fat with the roaccutane @Jacopone? It’s fat soluble so fatty meals help it absorb. Is she getting dry lips? A sign it’s not being absorbed is no dry lips.

GP prescribed Duac roll on stuff for DD, worked really well.

I’m 44 and have spots my whole adult life.
Only thing I’ve found improves my skin is Paula’s Choice BHA Liquid Exfoliant, plus a tiny bit of Acnecide directly on each spot (too much dries out the surrounding skin, and makes it sore and red).
La Roche Posay also dried out my skin and made it sore, so go easy on that, if trying it.

@Fluffycloudland77- yes, she is getting dry lips. That appears to be the only side effect of Roaccutane. She has a fairly good diet incl fatty fish, lots of veg and does not eat much sweet things (well, Christmas period had heavier food and more cake than usual…) . She likes milk though and prefers cereal for breakfast over a piece of toast. Not sure if it is potentially unhelpful.

I’ve been allergic to cows milk for 16 years,never helped my skin when I cut it from my diet at all.

So she is absorbing it. You need a certain mg per kg of body weight for it to work and it has a cumulative effect. You can stay on it for up to a year though.

There is a potential link between dairy consumption and acne. For example: www.hmpgloballearningnetwork.com/site/thederm/article/7575
"we have seen consistent outcomes in the work of clinicians who have made similar observations of their acne patients and have found that their patients’ skin improved after they eliminated dairy products from their diets."

Anecdotally, dd2's acne cleared up almost completely over the course of 6-8 weeks when she moved from a vegetarian to a vegan diet. She wasn't even a big dairy consumer before - never liked drinking milk, even as a small child. Not suggesting that you need to go vegan, but I would suggest that cutting out dairy for maybe 2 months might be worth a try? You could still have meat and eggs. Oat milk I find a good substitute for cows milk. You would just need to get used to reading food labels for manufactured food. Helpfully, milk and whey are highlighted in ingredients lists as potential allergens. If no improvement after this time, then cows milk can be ruled out as a contributing factor.

Also, one thing I found when I was looking into possible links between food and IBD when stbxh was very ill is that there is relatively little reseach carried out in this area, presumably because there is little to no profit to be made. Find a drug to cure IBD/acne/artritis: lots of money to be earned. Research into the link between beetroot and any of the above: little to no money to be made and the beetroot industry will attempt to rubbish any findings. (Beetroot here a purely hypothetical example, obviously).

From above (shame I can't edit) "there is relatively little research carried out in this area"
By "this area" I mean the link (if any) between foodstuffs and various illnesses.

@coronabeer, yes, I thought about it. Perhaps we should try it, although it won’t be easy as dd likes her milk and cheese🙂. I will look into it more though as everything is worth a shot and I really want to help her.

Sorry jumping on post, my daughter has been prescribed epiduo gel today as she has really bad acne, anyone used it and has it helped?
Shes 9 so it was the only suitable cream for her age as most is for 12+ she started her periods when she was 8 and her skin has gone awful love her, to the point she's embarrassed as her school friends say things which make her feel self conscious:(
I'm just hoping this will work ... anyone had a good experience with it?
Tyvm

TW SUICIDE

For all those using or considering using Roaccutane I feel I have to tell you about my beautiful daughter. She was prescribed this drug at 14 for acne which had basically been cured by the antibiotics (Lymecycline) and at the stage of seeing the dermatologist she only had greasy skin with the occasional breakouts. Despite monthly “monitoring” which basically was a tick box exercise, my beautiful child took her own life, completely out of the blue, 6 months into her treatment. She was never on more than 40mg.

It has devasted our family. She should never have been put on this drug. Her skin was simply not bad enough but the lazy dermatologist played down the side effects by telling me that the suicide side effect applies to those kids who are depressed about their skin (it doesn’t, it clears skin and those kids who kill themselves do it when their skin is better) and she scared my daughter into agreeing to treatment by telling her she should start before she got any scarring. And like any 14 year old girl the idea of scarring terrified her.

Sadly, my daughter is not the only one to have taken her life on this drug. I am in touch with so many other who have lost their kids in the same way, in this country and abroad.

This drug was developed as a drug for brain cancer and is an anti cancer chemotherapy drug. It became used for acne when drs realised it cleared skin as a side effect. Some people are fine on it but many are not and, in my daughters case, the suicidal impulse which ended her life could not have been foreseen. It is particularly hard for parents and patients to recognise any changes in mood in teenagers as their very age lends them to mood swings. Sometimes the depression which many suffer with this drug never improves, even after treatment has stopped.

I do not wish to alarm those taking this drug but I know from experience that drs and dermatologists play down the dangers of this drug. They put kids on it too easily and the monitoring is ineffective. To take this drug is playing Russian roulette.
I wish, wish, I did not have to be the one who posts this but I owe it to my child, my beautiful sweet, happy child, to let you know the dangers. You do not want to go through what I have gone through nor live the life I have now. Please avoid this drug.

I would not spend anything on miracle products from chemists. I would visit the dr: all their products that are prescribed are more effective for acne and if the worst one doesn't work, they will move on to the next, and to a consultant in the end.

@DevastatedandDistraught- I cannot even begin to think how devastating it is to lose your daughter in such a way. Thank you for this reminder of the dangers of Roaccutane. This is a powerful drug and I indeed feel that consultants are not discussing the side effects fully with patients.