Acne in teens

[bobkate]

Hi all. So I think my dd, who is 14.5, likely has cystic acne. Quite angry spots, mainly forehead and cheeks, not her chin so I don't think hormonal from what I have read.
I really feel for her as she has a great diet, drinks gallons of water and is very healthy and active. My eldest has lovely clear skin but eats terribly. How's that for sod's law 😕
She stopped using a lot of the faddy/popular teen products about 4 /5 months ago and we stripped her 'routine' back to the basics. I bought her some cerave cleanser, we tried some dermologica stuff and recently some bha. It's not clearing so I'm going to call the gp tomorrow.
My first question is would it be better to see an actual GP? My practice often tries to steer patients to PAs/nurse practitioners. I know they can prescribe but I'm worried about the level of knowledge.
Secondly, I have read some scary stories about some acne meds, a few on here. Is there a particularly good one to start with for teens? Trying to go armed with some knowledge but googling is blowing my mind somewhat!
Any advice would be gratefully received.

My DS acne isn't as bad as what you have described but we went to the GP and we saw a nurse practitioner. She was fab, prescribed tablets and a cream and it has made a huge difference. Review in 3 months. Definitely worth contacting them.

My DD went through this. We saw the GP who prescribed some cream and recommended she go on the combined contraceptive pill. Unfortunately it didn't help so we were referred to a dermatologist. As the waiting list was two years we decided to pay for a private appointment.

We were prescribed 6 months lymecyclin antibiotics, treclin gel and were advised to change her combined pill to a skin friendly one as the one the GP had prescribed was the wrong type. The one you need is called Yasmin/Yacella or Dretine depending on the manufacturer.

I asked about the horror stories about acne meds and mental health and was reassured that the type she was prescribed is fine.

The dermatologist wrote to our GP and asked him to take over the issuing of the repeat prescriptions so that we could get them on the NHS.

Her acne cleared up completely in three months. Best £250 ever.

( we finally got our NHS dermatology appointment through after a two year wait - we declined obviously!)

Ah that's so reassuring, thanks. What's the name of the meds you were given if you don't mind sharing?

I don’t think it matters whether you see a GP or Nurse on NHS as they’ll prescribe similar treatments. Stronger medications or ‘off label’ meds require a dermatologist to prescribe anyway (I have history of severe eczema as well as acne so take spironolactone instead of isotretinoin). Also, as someone with multiple chronic skin conditions I found some GP’s were quite ignorant.

If you can afford to go private I’d recommend seeing a Dermatologist as they can prescribe more effective medication straight away. The sooner you can get the acne under control the better, as atrophic scarring can be hard to treat.

Also, British association of dermatologists has a great source here which mentions all the most effective treatments depending on acne severity:
https://bad.org.uk/referrals/acne/

Thanks, she'll be so happy if it clears up! Fingers crossed we have some joy tomorrow then!

Lymecycline is the tablets, I can't remember the name of the cream and don't have it to hand. Their back is so much clearer already and we are a month in. Definitely contact the GP. I guess it depends on surgeries but our nurse practitioners are brilliant,

Thanks, I zonked out before I could read the other reply so they're appreciated. Hopefully we'll have some success today. Good to hear you're noticing change already x

Thanks, apparently the local private nhs dermatologists have a wait list as well so will try the gp first x

we went to the gp and i’ve also been to a dermatologist in my european country (they’re very affordable) and both suggested Duac (cream). it’s a very good cream.

something that also helped my daughter was cleaning her face only once a day, i think she was doing too much.

Go to your GP and get them to prescribe Lymecycline which should clear it within 3 months alongside topical acnecide

If that doesn't work they might try spironolactone

If they don't work she'll need Accutane which is magical at getting rid of acne permanently for most people. Ignore any negative comments online.

My DD was prescribed lymecycline around 14 and it worked really well for her because her acne was getting progressively worse

Thanks all. Got an appt at 10am this morning so will report back. X

Cutting out carbs immediately cleared up my teenagers skin, like a magic wand. Pasta, bread, potatoes, rice etc etc. All out. Weirdly, once carbs were reintroduced gradually, the acne didn't come back.
It just gets expensive as they need to eat more meat, eggs, cheese to fill up (along with huge piles of leafy, low carb greens).

I used to have severe acne growing up. I tried so many different creams and tablets, but nothing worked. I simply had to grow out of it. One thing I did find for the redness is Sudocrem. My old boss actually recommended it to me and I used to put it on every night and it really did help take down the angry spots. Was a really difficult time growing up. My mum used to cry when she took my T-shirt off to put cream on my back as it was so bad. Good luck at the GP. I hope you find something that helps x

It's hormones and whatever

Which no amount of creams or diet or washing will get rid of acne

As for sudocream avoid avoid avoid

My DD kept slapping it on her forehead despite it making it worse because that's what social media said to do

So I made a GP appt, she was prescribed lymecyline immediately which I was delighted about and it started to clear it after a couple of weeks and by 3 months it was near enough clear.

She went on the pill at 16 due to painful heavy periods and then swapped over to a different pill which is better for your skin because her skin started to get a bit worse on the first type of pill

I think you can only get Accutane via a dermatologist and you probably need to go private for that but it's worth it because it's fantastic

Okay, so we're back with 2 bottles of Dalacin T topical lotion. She said try this for 2 mths then if no success we can try oral tablets alongside. I did ask if we cld start those now but she said she'd rather her try this for 2 mths first and see how she gets on.
Now I don't know whether she should use under a moisturiser or over🤷‍♀️

They will cycle you through antibiotics and creams that probably won’t work. Then refer you to dermatology after about a year of messing about and they’ll offer roaccutane which is to be avoided as there’s a suicide risk. A mumsnetter lost her daughter on that drug.
For cystic acne it’s generally hormonal so you need to balance the hormones. The right contraceptive pill can do this but the wrong ones ( which they will prescribe for some reason) can make it significantly worse. Yasmin/ Dianette are good but more expensive so they don’t offer them up usually ask.
I’ve suffered with cystic acne for decades but can’t take the pill. I’ve had success with dim supplements which help your body process oestrogen

Thanks...will bear all this in mind x

@KittenPause as for sudocrem saying "avoid avoid avoid" it is actually licensed for acne. It helped me hugely and a lot of other people I know.
Of course, like anything, if it makes it worse, then don't use it! 😂

I would book to see a dermatologist , we had to wait three months even going private. In the meantime you can try what the GP has prescribed and if it works cancel the appointment. If she is starting to get acne scars it's best to get it sorted. The treclin gel was good at reducing the scars.

It was dairy for dd.she had fairly serious acne on her face and also back and neck.

tbh I didn’t believe it but she’d seen it on SM and wanted to give it a try before seeing a go, and for some reason she really didn’t want to go on the pill. She’d tried all the lotions and potions.

so I agreed to a 2 week trial. Slight Difference in 3 days, clear difference after the two weeks. Pretty much gone in 3 months, and all the residual redness and scarring gone in a year.