Acne

[Cori21]

Can anyone reccomend a cream for teenage acne? I got some Cetaphil serum, which doesn't seem to be making any difference for my son.
Thanks in advance.

What is his skincare routine like on a whole?

When I was a teenager I had really bad acne and got stronger creams prescribed by the GP. Might be worth a try. They worked well for a while, but being a female with fluctuating hormones, it didn't help long term.

I ended up needing accutane medication which was a last resort after trying everything else, but it can be quite brutal. It did work, though, and never got acne again.

Salicylic Acid and Benzoyl Peroxide are good for mild acne. We used La Roche Possay Duo in the mornings and Acnecide at night and it kepts ds's acne mostly at bay for about a year. Both work in different ways. Acnecide is harsh so start with every other day to see how his skin copes (it will also bleach towels, bedding).

If they don't work or it is severe, then go to GP. They will likely prescribe antibiotic cream and/or antibiotics. DUAC was very good for ds (essentially acnecide with an added antibiotic), this again helped ds for about a year.

If those don't work or if it starts getting out of control look into Roaccutane before it starts scarring.

He uses simple face wash in the shower and Simple face wipes any other time.

Here is my routine that I follow:
Morning:
Using water to wash your face,
Sebamed clear face gel,
la roche posay spf
Evening:
la roche posay moisturizer,
Tretinoin (0.1) from skinorac
Sebamed clear facial gel

Yes if its bad go to gp and get some antibiotics and creams there are loads of options.dont think the skin care routine makes a massive difference.

Thanks everyone. He got some cream from the doctors that cleared it up in a couple of weeks and it hasn't dried his skin up or anything. He also got a buzz cut, which probably helped as he doesn't have his hair touching his foehead.

My 16 yr old is on Epiduo from GP. Quite harsh; only been using for about 3 weeks but is strong and he’s having trouble getting correct amount. Is either doing not much and there are still angry spots or it’s burning the skin. Tricky to get right. But I’d avoid antibiotics for obvious reasons.

Good to know that

ds started initially on DUAC which has topical antibiotics and it worked very well, no worse than acnecide, very quickly the inflammation reduced, and it cleared up 90% of his spots within 8-10 weeks.

After a year his Dr changed him from DUAC to EpiDuo and oral antibiotics saying he couldn't be on DUAC for so long (pharmacist said there is no reason he could not stay on it as it was working and Drs change due to costs).

EpiDuo was very harsh, his face was constantly pink, his face seemed to react to it and his acne quickly got out of control. When the Dr did switch him back to DUAC I think because it was so inflamed and extreme it just didn't work anymore. At that stage the Dr referred him to dermatology so we went private instead.

When he went private the consultant was surprised at the lack of oral and type of antibiotics that had been tried as he said in most cases they are very effective at keeping it at bay before it gets out of control and much less invasive than having to resort to roaccutane which was the route we ended up on as it was so bad at that point.

If antibiotics are indicated I would absolutely use them as the alternative, Roaccutane, can have some very nasty side effects.

Acnecide face was and cream/gel
Has worked wonders for my teenagers

Second for acneside too

Nothing over the counter ever worked for me. Antibiotics from the GP worked for a lot of people I knew as a teen but only Roaccutane worked for me.

Oddly, DD's seems to be diet and sleep related. Cutting dairy and sugar helps her.

Same for me, only the prescription things work which I manage to get online

I think it varies for each person and there's a bit of trial and error to it.

DS used ancecide and salicylic acid facial wash (cerave). It worked for a while. Then he was prescribed oral antibiotics and epiduo (retinol and acnecide). He uses epiduo every three days because it is quite harsh.

Anyway his acne again improved for a while but is back to normal. He is starting to get scarring and has been referred to the dermatologist, who will see him in mid October. Looking like it's roccutane for him. In the meantime he's continuing with the cerave, a different set of antibiotics and the epiduo.

Roccutane seems brutal and I wonder how he will cope as he has autism and everything that has entails. I feel so soft for him.

*sorry

You have build up to Epiduo. With trial and error, we found that DS can tolerate it every 3 days.

Don't put it on every day until your DS builds up tolerance.

If the acne doesn't improve then antibiotics may be the way to go. It depends how bad the acne is and how your DS is coping with having acne.

I agree, the effect varies from person to person so what works for me may not work for others but just can give suggestions