Hormonal acne - teenager

[Thingamebobwotsit]

My lovely DD (13) is getting terrible hormonal acne. Between her periods her skin is pretty good but the week before she is due it really flares up.

She has worked really hard at getting a good skin care routine up and running and is now very good at cleansing etc. I suspect this is why her skin is so clear in-between each cycle.

Any ideas on what else we can do? I am loathe to encourage her to go on medication as it has had bad side effects for other people I know. She has tried acnecide products but they seem to dry her skin out too much. Can you recommend any other products? Mid cycle CeraVe seems to work well, so I wonder whether she should continue to use that and the week the spots start to appear something more heavy duty.

Is this something she will grow out of? It isn't something I really struggled with so I don't know how to advise her.

Any suggestions most welcome!

My DD was using Cerave but it stopped being effective. She’s now switched to Nip n Fab - I bought a whole pack with a routine included online. That seems to be having a better result at the moment.

Both of us parents had spots, DP had proper cystic acne though and I’m hoping we can spare her that.

Same happened to my DD in Y9. External treatments didn’t work, so we went with an internal approach—a nutritionist. She put my DD on a diet of No UPFs, no sugar, no wheat, and reduced dairy. It took about 2-3 months to start seeing results (the nutritionist said it could take up to 6 months), and it’s been clear ever since. She does get the odd spot, and can see the difference about 14 days after going off plan, for example, on holidays. The results keep her motivated to stick with it. I had pretty bad skin as a teen and went down the oral medication route, but it never worked 100%. I wish we knew back then about diet!!!

Pore Favour (used to be called Anti Acne Club) herbal supplements really worked for me with adult hormonal acne. I was cynical but they offer your money back if they don’t work so gave it a go and they were life changing.

My daughter had to go on medication, I also tried to delay, but it was the only thing that helped. Not the really strong one though. She took it for 6 months, she nows keep it under control with cerave face wash, the creams the dr sent, she also takes probiotics and vitamins.

she used doxycycline and epiduo. I akways recommend not taking dairy when on antibiotics but the drs dont tell you that in the UK.

Her friend’s acne was very strong and the above didn’t work for her. She had to take roaccutane which is very strong and I will try anything else before. Another friends daughter did two cycles of it as well and her skin is great but it caused her inflamatory bowel problems. I also took it but on my 20s, I think it did caused me candida over growth and thyroid problems which i latee on found put and are I got under control and have been out of medication for a long time.

We use nc skin (you order online and can give the owner pics of the skin to recommend products) . Its.worked well. They're essex based if you're local and can travel for treatments

Agree reg not having dairy or reduce it

Acnecide needs a very very thin layer every night, it’s hard to use because people put too much on.

Her skins clear in between periods because her progesterone spikes before the period and progesterone causes the oil glands to step up production.

Try Effaclar duo from la Roche posay a French pharmacy brand - you can pick up in Boots. Get the cleanser & toner too in same range.

Acnecide is vicious - it took the colour out of one of dd's shirts when she put a thin layer on her chest then went out in the sun for a walk. We used this to some effect: https://www.purau.com.au/?srsltid=AfmBOopeSeRtRlu8JEJnuTO8PdWzX-E0iBdcM6G69kN_MXouQA4uwMkt

Eventually she has 6 months of Lymecycline (antibiotic) though, and it totally cleared it. With hindsight I'd forget faffing with all the gentle woo stuff and just get it sorted with proper medicine asap. If she gets side effects hey can always prescribe an alternative.

I know you don’t want to go down a medication route, but for what it’s worth, accutane has worked brilliantly for my teen daughter. I was reluctant to encourage her to restrict her diet, as I knew from my experience as a teen that that can be unhealthy in itself.

She was on 10mg a day for one month, and 20mg a day for five months. She had minimal side effects and has beautiful clear skin now, and won’t need to worry about her skin going forward. Please don’t let it run so long experimenting with things that don’t work that she runs the risk of scarring on her face.

Duac is excellent, the stronger one. You can order it from online pharmacies. Use a good quality moisturiser on top to help combat the dryness from the duac. I recommend dr Althea 345.