Acne - Recommendations

[atalost]

My 17 yr old son suffers badly with facial acne and wondered if anyone has any tips, recommendations, etc. I’m trying to get him to ditch his sugar intake and I have bought the odd lotion for acne, but his face just looks so angry and I know he’s conscious of it. Thanks in advance.

My 14 yr old daughter has been using Acnecide gel for a few months now. Honestly I wish I’d done before and after photos because it’s been a miracle worker for her.

47 skin is really good for my child but it is expensive:(

Take him to the GP who can advise and prescribe a topical treatment to start with. A significant proportion of people with acne end up with scarring so it needs to be taken seriously.

Use a gentle salicylic cleanser twice daily and then Acnecide gel once a day.

If no improvement after 2 months (it takes about 6 weeks for a new skincare regime to work) then make a GP appt for antibiotics.

Accutane.

Roaccutane wouldn’t be prescribed in the UK unless other treatments/antibiotics have been tried and failed.

My son is 13 and is getting spots but not bad at all. I had bad acne as a teen. I attend a dermatologist for moles on my back and while there 2 months ago told her about him starting to get spots. I'm so paranoid about what I went through as a teen I didn't want that for him anyway. We were in america and i told her I bought differin gel ( adapalene ) . She advised applying it 1-2 times a week. I said to her I feel bad going straight to prescription meds and she said you can't wait for scarring. Get in early. My whole point of this post is to say don't wait book him a dermatology apt.because I'm bringing my DS as a check in and follow on script once my tube of differin runs out . There is no way I'm waiting for him to go through the heart ache spots bring on a teen. Just my tuppence !

My elder DD has done wonderfully well on accutane, hence my comment.

Differin gel (adapalene) is a topical retinoid gel that works brilliantly, but it’s only on prescription here.

Exactly @radywardyou need to get in and treat it as the medical problem that it is, instead of trying different food combinations and various lotions and potions that have not come from a Dr.

Duac prescribed by GP worked wonders for my ds.

Duac.

Panoxyl cream wash, can be used on face and body like back and chest.

As above though, salycilic acid wash- cerave is very good. Use in the evening with a light moisturise after. Gentle wash in the morning
.

Ds has had lymecycline + epiduo, then switched to oxycycline (when lymecycline stopped working) and is now using Azaleic acid instead of Epiduo.

Definitely go to a GP. It's been a bit up and down but we are hopeful Azaleic acid will work as it's on to a Derm after that.

My dd uses epiduo prescribed initially by a dermatologist but now just gets repeats through the gp. It took around 3 months to kick in but it’s all she uses now to keep hers under control.

I’ve been a sufferer of cystic acne since I was a teenager (I’m 30 now), I have found Niacinamide by The Ordinary has helped greatly.

Couldn't agree more. The whole "cutting out sugar" thing puts the blame on the sufferer and makes out it's their fault re diet, when there's specific pathophysiology for acne that is treated by prescription topical treatments. You don't want them to end up scarred so treat properly early.

Acne won’t be cured by an occasional face wash or cutting sugar/dairy etc. It sounds like time to take him to the GP to start the various treatments they offer. My DS had intermittent success with various prescription creams and antibiotics and we persisted with that for nearly two years (he was only just 13 when we started) The only thing that actually worked was Roaccutane prescribed by the dermatologist. I was very hesitant but she pointed out that he was scarring and it wouldn’t go away on its own. 6 months did the trick and he’s now 19, with hardly a pimple in six months . I’m very glad now that he wasn’t left with noticeable scars.

That's useful Kiwiblue and thank you. Ds is using azaleic acid and antibiotics as the acne has got worse. GP has mentioned derm referral and Isotretinoin as next step if it doesn't help but I'm nervous. Something to think about - I'm worried about scarring.

He's in the purging stage at the moment but things are beginning to clear so fingers crossed.

Genuinely, your first stop should be the GP. DS had acne all across his cheeks and it was starting to scar. He had a 3 month course of duac from the doctor which has almost completely sorted it. Be prepared for wrecked towels though, no matter how careful he is it will leave bleached marks.

Wrecked pajama tops too 😁 ds seems to get duac everywhere

Don't be nervous of isotretinoin if it comes to that. I went on it in my 20s and it was the best thing I did. My mum was really against it and I regretted not going on it earlier as I'd had years of struggling with my acne. It was so effective at curing it that I wished I'd done it sooner. Plus I had some scarring/erythema (did eventually go) which also made me wish I hadn't put it off for as long.

We tried Acnecide gel, salicylic acid cleansers from Boots etc. with DS16. There was some improvement but not much.

In the end we went for a skincare subscription with Skin + Me at the start of this year. I uploaded photos of his face (forehead, cheeks, nose, chin area) for them to assess. I’d say it took a couple of months to see it was working and now his skin is completely clear without any blemishes.

Basically he started receiving a bespoke night cream every month consisting of tretinoin, clindamycin and azelaic acid (so it’s easy to apply as one single product). The composition and % strength of each component changed over time and right now it consists of tretinoin, niacinamide and azelaic acid. On top of that we also ordered and use the Skin + Me moisturiser and cleanser. In the daytime, a sunscreen (I gave him one of mine, Evidens) goes on top of the moisturiser. It’s a simple system and with the subscription everything arrives by post so you don’t have to think about it too much. I would say it takes the guesswork out of his skincare and definitely recommend them given the results.

We’ve changed nothing with his diet (in any case he’s not much into sugar, chocolate or dairy [apart from cheese] and doesn’t like fizzy drinks or juice). Just made sure DS got enough sleep and that he was consistently using the Skin + Me products.

Another vote for the GP. I wish I’d taken ours sooner.

Roaccutane worked for my son after the obligatory potions (didn't work) and antibiotics (didn't work, made him sick) he was forced to try out first.