Teenage Skin

[unknownrebelbang]

DS has an outbreak of spots, what's the best thing for him to use?

Sorry, I'm sure this will have been done before, but I'm rushing off to work, will check back later.

TIA

zinc and castor oil cream (nappy cream) or sudocream works well - the spots are definately much better the next day - works well overnight. Also has the benefit of masking the redness - and is nice and cheap! My three teenagers often use it.

Funnily enough, I did wonder about Sudocrem.

Thanks.

My 14 y o son has pretty bad spots. Several things are helping to improve them -
He found out himself that milk products make it worse. This is commonly accepted as bad for skin, apparently.
I checked the internet and found a site that has made a difference: acne.org: they sell the cream, cleanser, wash AND have videos to show what to do ( I was able to show him again when he used the wash cream instead of the spot cream - much easier than telling him that I am right!) Based in US, but not too expensive - I bought the starter pack - It makes a big difference if he does it twice a day, but he is 14 with a suddenly exiting life...
We did acupuncture a month ago with a really good acupuncturist/TCM herbalist, and got Chinese herbs in capsule form(specifically mixed to prescription), plus some "food state" vitamins. Plus 3 WEEKS ONLY of echinaecia tablets.
That really makes a difference, too, with redness as well, but summer holidays lack of structure has affected the regularity of twice daily pill-popping. next term I think will be easier.
The Chinese herb/vitamin mix works on the spleen and liver etc, so this helps the root cause, and possibly assists the teenage body crisis in other ways, I imagine.

If your ds's spots aren't too bad, try a dab of tcp. It's what my ds uses, but only at bed time as it smells weird.

Hi, try neat lemon juice makes the skin acidic and kills the bacteria (google acid mantle) my dd's cleared in 2 weeks

DS uses good old fashioned clearasil, which seems to work, with a dab of sudocreme for a bad spot.

DS is not a teen until saturday and he has quite bad spots forehead and nose. We tried clearasil and sudocrem which helps a bit. Chemist advised Freederm which is not cheap but seems to have helped. His skin looks dryer and less sore.It's only been a few days so we will see.

Also used one of those Tzone nose pore strips which seem to help with the black heads

I used to use Sudocreme and put it on everynight my pillow was a bit of a mess but it seemed to work on spots. They were not really bad like some forms of Acne can be but I would say normal teenage skin.

DS uses this but he doesn't really have any acne yet

My son is 14 and has incredibly oily skin which in turn leads to lots of blackheads and those really painful spots under the skin, poor chap.

In the past he's found a little resolve in using clearisil but as soon as he's treated the skin the oil (and the spots return!)

However, I recently found a new male grooming range from Oxy in my local Boots and thought it's worth a go so I bought it. Fantastic results - less oil = less spots = confidence back!

The best product from the range was the Oxy Emergency Zit Blitz Pads which he just dabs on twice a day.

Vichy Normaderm is wonderful. It's pricey but you only need to use a tiny drop so it ends up costing the same as any cheaper product.

If you are prepared to go to GP get a prescription for Duac. It has antibiotic in it and peroxide stuff. My son swears by it. But use sparingly as it can make skin red.

Also, keep an eye out for impetigo. DD had a large spot that hurt, and she squeezed it - then realised it was not a normal spot! Had to have antibiotics to clear it up in the end.

Some Teens get prone to this apparently.

clearasil and oxy 10 are still the best

He needs to wash his face twice a day with a clean (ie freshly laundered) face flannel and Dove soap, and to scrub gently at his skin to exfoliate. He might need a very light moisturiser after this. The best thing he can do is shower twice daily and wash his face while doing this. Washing his hair daily will help, too.

And then he need to use a 5% benzoyl peroxide ointment on his spots. You can get this by asking at any pharmacist's counter.