Best acné treatments?

[Holidays27]

Hi,

I know all skins/people are different but could you please tell me what treatments helped your child with acné.

My 11 year old had oily hair and oily face. She is very good at cleaning and treating her face and sort of keep them under control but her forehead is never completely clear of spots. She uses some of the avene products I buy her.

She is still very young and none of her friends have spots yet but she seems to have an hormonal imbalance.

I meant has oily skin and hair; despite being very careful with her hygiene. It is mainly in her forehead, hairline and chin. Maybe she needs to wash her hair every other day instead of every 2 days. She cleans her face 2 per day and uses toner.

I had acne which started at around this age. I spent a long time on the pill, various antibiotics (all the ones ending in -cycline) and eventually ended up on roaccutane in my early twenties which was catastrophic for my mental health. I eventually had nlite laser treatment which was costly but absolutely amazing for my skin. Also, it sounds counterintuitive but skin oils also really helped to balance my skin. The Alpha-h balancing cleanser and glycolic acid toner also were game changers for me. Sorry your child is going through this - it was such a struggle for me growing up with a very oily face, so I empathise!

My DS used Acnecide and had perfect skin after about a year. You can buy it either over the counter or on prescription.

It didn't work that well for my DD though so she's now on Duac gel which has a topical antibiotic in it. It comes in two strengths and she's on the higher one (3% and 5% I think ). Prescription only.

It's slowly working for her but you do really have to be patient and persevere - for ages it seemed Acnecide wasn't having any effect on DS, but then huge improvements happened.

My teen is on a tretinoin cream which has worked brilliantly, although it took 2 months to start to obviously work and we had to work through a few weeks of skin purging to get there. It was worth it though, and her skin is clear now, with the exception of a few small spots when her period comes. They don’t last long though.
It doesn’t sound like your DD’s skin is that bad though?

oral or topical antibiotics

After a lot of trial and error for ds the best product for him were -

la roche posay effaclar micro peeling face and body cleansing gel and la roche posay effaclar duo lotion. These are mild Salicylic Acid products but kept spots at bay and removed the greasy sheen from his t-zone while still moisturising.

As he got older and the spots got worse he then added into his routine Acnecide in the evenings. This is a Benzoyl Peroxide product which is a bit stronger and can lead to dry skin initially. This worked well for a while.

You can read online about how Salicylic Acid and Benzoyl Peroxide work differently on spots and using them together can help.

The next stage for him was a prescription for DUAC which is basically Acnecide with a topical antibiotic and that is currently working well.

I would start as mild as you can with a Salicylic Acid product for a few months (not sure if avene has SA as ds didn't use it), if it doesn't improve things try together with Acnecide/a Benzoyl Peroxide product for a few months and it things still don't improve see a Dr. Bear in mind it can take weeks to see improvements.

We have stayed away from the oral antibiotics so far as have read they can permanently stain teeth.

Try Imim. I bought the anti acne serum off Amazon and as it was starting to work so well I bought the acne spot blemish treatment cream also. My daughter’s acne has reduced a lot. She has been using the serum morning and night for about 2 weeks now and the cream for a few days. Her skin is still quite red but it has really helped control new outbreaks and the skin is clearing up.
I was given acnecide by GP but I actually think it made it worse. She also uses a sulphur soap bar with salicylic acid but I’m not sure if that helps her (although it seems to help me!)