Advice on ds acne treatment please.

[MissyB1]

Sorry if this is long!

Ds is nearly 15 he’s had acne for about 18 months now. We started out on just benzoyl peroxide creams and Cerave face wash, worked for about 6 months,then constant flare ups. Saw a dermatologist who prescribed Epiduo which is adaplene/benzoyl peroxide, and switched to body shop tea tree face wash. Worked (well sort of) for about 6 months. Now almost constant flare ups, plus the Epiduo dries his skin out to the point of peeling, if we use it less it doesn’t work at all. It’s a rock and a hard place issue!

He has another appointment with the dermatologist next week who has requested blood tests first as he’s going to recommend Roaccutane. Neither Dh, ds or I are keen on Roaccutane, is there anything else anyone has used?

What are your concerns about Roaccutane ?

DS was on it about that age and it was a game changer .

Yes skin and lips did get dry , but he always had a pot of vaseline for lips , a small tin of Nivea cream for his arms and small suncream always in his school bag.

He was well monitored by the dermatologist with bloods every 2 months .

I think this age is an easier age to start it as alcohol hadn't featured yet in his life style !

Dermatologist tried increasing his dose at on point which he couldn't cope with ,so they reduced it back down and it just increased the time he was on it by about 4/6 months.

I know they talk about low moods and depression with but I think if you are aware of this it can be kept an eye on

Dermatologist said it was never clear cut in reaserch if Roaccutane caused low moods or if it was the acne that could cause low moods.

DS was fine on it .

It was lovely to see how his skin was improving .

If you do go for it ...take photos to chart the improvement!

Good luck .

yes maybe a lower dose might be worth a try, I suppose I just find it odd that there doesnt seem to be anything in between offered. Roaccutane feels like the "big guns" and the side effects do have to be seriously considered. So I'm not sure why its automatically considered the next "go to".

Have they just been topical creams he has been using ?
Not familiar with the name as ,for us it was a while ago .
Has he had a course or 2 of antibiotics?

That is what ds was on before the Roaccutane.
Think it began with an "L"

Yes just topically creams/ gels. I do want to ask the dermatologist about antibiotics.

@bizzey was is Lymecycline? My dd 13 is on this at the moment, with epiduo as a topical as well

Yes @Ivyy that was the one.
He was on a different one as well poss starting with "d" .
Doxy...

They were used poss for 8 months , 4 months of each give or take when our appointments were.

Then he went onto the Roaccutane as we were told they were not working.

It had always been said it would most likely end up with Roaccutane so, it was not sprung on us.