Acne

[JazzyAmbs]

How do they treat acne these days? I am from the era of Dianette and Roctutane which are clearly out of favour. What type of treatment is given now? Thanks

May I ask how much it has been for those who went private and prescribed roaccutane? My son has private healthcare but it doesn’t cover the prescription. He currently has a topical cream and is taking lymclycline but it isn’t working unfortunately.

@naughtynance

We are paying £250 consultation fee. Arranged blood tests for feee through gp. Not sure how much prescription is yet.

roacutane made no difference for me.

I saw a thread somewhere else where someone said their dermatologist recommended washing your face with head and shoulders because of the zinc in it. They said it was better than all the expensive creams they had tried. I e not tried it myself yet but it’s on my shopping list

I took Roaccutane in the 80’s and my acne cleared up never to return. My DM had to fight for it for me which I only found out recently.

my DD has been on Roaccutane the last 2/3 months, privately, and it’s starting to finally properly clear up. It purged badly for a couple of weeks but she kept at it and she’s being kept a close eye on by the dermatologist. I can’t wait for her sake for it to be gone.

Who do you recommend?

Dr Rao at Parkside or New Victoria. Very friendly and kind, talked to my daughter directly not just through me.

I also had adult acne and was on roaccutane in my late 20s. I only ever get a spot or two now and again around my period. It was a total game changer! Son has only been on lymecycline for about 3-4 weeks so I guess I need to give it some time…

Its been 2-3 years since ds had it. He had 6 weeks of 60mg get used to it, then 8 + 10 weeks of 80mg (he is a well built 6ft 3in and the dose goes by weight so his might be slightly more expensive than a lighter person) and all in it came to £530 for the three prescriptions to be filled (I just went to local pharmacy, never thought to shop around to check prices).

My work paid for the consultations, they said blood tests were not necessary.

@WeAllHaveWingsthats interesting. Thank you. We have private health so that would cover consultation fees, it’s just the prescription we’d have to pay for. I will wait for this medication to finish and see his GP for the next steps. If it’s not too long of a wait I’ll just go via NHS. I’m not sure how long the wait is these days!!

Hope it continues to go well. For ds his acne started reducing around 10-15 weeks, but the worst of the side effects didn't start until around week 18 of 26.

His lips were dry, huge/swollen and infected in the corners. He looked like The Joker on a very bad day. Aquaphor really helped the dryness to begin with, but the consultant then suggested asking for a nystatin and chlorhexidine cream (think they come with hydrocortisone too) from the chemist and that really helped with the swelling and discomfort (worth taking a note for later in case it is needed)

I was really proud of him for getting through those last few weeks without giving up, especially as it was right when he was starting uni, was meeting lots of new people and frankly looked horrific.

After the acne was gone he was left with red dots on his face/neck for what felt like a long time after, but they have all completely faded now and at 22 he has lovely skin.

It was around 10 months wait before ds got his NHS phone call (we are in Scotland and it was the year after covid so maybe a bigger backlog).

By the time they called we'd waited 4 weeks for a private appointment (originally estimated 6 weeks as so many people go private now for these things, but got a cancellation), had 6 months of treatment and he'd been clear 2-3 months so he didn't need the NHS appointment.

His acne was terrible though, it just exploded on his face, neck and upper torso in the space of 3-4 months - there was barely an inch of skin clear (after GP switched him from DUAC which was working to cheaper Epiduo 🤬) so we/he didn't want to wait and risk scarring.

Yes, my sons is awful on his back. It came out of no where and so fast too!

My daughter is on the combined pill which has helped a lot. She was also diagnosed with PCOS so going on the pill has helped with her periods too.

Could you share which mask it was please?

It’s a Shark Cyro mask. I’ve been using since Christmas. I’ve had one small hormonal breakout since whilst previously, they were continuous. My acne has been described as mild but persistent. I’ve not been blemish free since my 20s! My skin is now completely clear.

Zineryt! It is a topical liquid. I was prescribed it 20 odd years ago but have recently had it prescribed for my 16 year old and it has worked wonders