OT - Question on acne for my DD17

andtckrtoo

andtckrtoo

Cathlete
My DD17 suddenly, and I do mean suddenly - it happened in the past 5 weeks - has developed a severe case of acne. She takes very good care of her skin, has not changed her eating habits, drinks plenty of water... I don't see a reason for this change. We've taken her to the doctor and he gave her medicine that does not seem to be working. And I'm uncomfortable with her popping pills for acne. She has red bumps that flake and her skin seems almost dry, even though she's getting white heads on her cheeks, chin and forehead. Has anyone run into anything like this? And if so, what worked?!

Thanks so much - the poor thing is so miserable about it.
 
If she's not on the BCP she could try that since 9 out of 10 times acne is caused by a hormone imbalance. Once I went off of the pill I broke out terribly (not fun for a 29 year old), so my dr. gave me a prescription for a topical antibiotic and Retin A. Retin A is an acid that is applied before bed every other day. ETA - it has worked really well for me, now I only need to use the Retin A a couple weeks before TTOM.

Good luck to her, I know how self conscious she must feel.
 
Marietta - no no changes in hair care products - I buy them so I know. :)

I don't know her exact skin care routine, but I know she was using a topical treatment - I think it is Retin A - for a while and that was working. She's on BCP (and has been for a year, which is one of the reasons I was shocked at how bad it is. She's never had problems like this before.

Now the only thing I can think of is allergies - could allergies cause something like that to happen? It's worse than it ever has been here in California with all of the rains.
 
They are saying that the allergies are really bad this year. I don't know if it's the case in your part of the country. In the mid-west they say it is because the winter was so mild. Maybe you can look up some information on allergies and see what you can find out.

Also, ProActive has helped me tremendously. For some reason I had a bad outbreak...it's the only thing the helped.

Good luck...I know this is devastating to her.
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(fitxme)
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Thank you so much Marietta! You're wonderful as usual!

Allergies here are horrible as we had basically 2 months straight of rain (very unusual here in California) and everything is in bloom. I'm living on psuedafed, or I can't function. I'll look that up - thanks! The internet is wonderful, isn't it?
 
Hey Marietta - I may have found the cause! Thanks for telling me to look on line. DD17 has been sunbathing frequently for oh, about 5-6 weeks. She uses sunscreen. I just read that the exact kind of acne that she is suffering from can be caused by sun screen!! I mean, it lists her symptoms specifically. To a T... I just txt'd her to let her know.
 
Christine -

Paula's Choice has a sunscreen that works well on acne prone skin, that uses a different type of sunscreen in it. It is the Essential Non-greasy sunscreen.

Also, if that doesn't work, she might want to reconsider her skin care routine. I know that Retin-A did not work for me when I was a teen. I used oral antibiotics, as well as perscription benzyol peroxide, when I was a teen and that cleared up my skin. I now use Paula's Choice products for combinatin skin as well as Benzaclin, a prescription which is a combo of benzyol peroxide and clyndamycin. I have been using it for years and it works really well. Every time I try to go off of it, my skin flares up.
 
Great thread, I am 40 and I have acne so bad and I have spent $100's on just about everything out there for acne and some of that being prescriptions stuff and NOTHING is working for me! I am so desperate that I am willing to try acutain a try, I am going broke trying everything that comes out, has anyone tried Acutain?
 
My DH uses Proactive. It cleared his skin very well. They also have a great oil free moisturizer.
It could just be hormones.

I hate to hear about a young girl suffering about her looks. With the way the world is looks are so over valued. Remind her (inconspicuously)of her other great qualites.
 
This past year, my face has been so red, blotchy, and filled with acne, i finally went to a dermatologist, and he said I have rosacea. I am 38. He gave me rx for oral antibiotics, Avar skin cleanser, and metrogel for night use . What a difference, my skin is smooth, the acne is going away, and it is less red. I have only been on meds since Monday! The cleanser is amazing. I am glad I went, as I was starting to feel really terrible! I never had skin issues before.
Ann Marie
 
Another vote for Proactiv. I use the basic kit and also the clarifying night cream with great results. My face still breaks out but not as bad. I also LUVVV their eye cream and use it as well.

I did try Murad but my face was horrible with that. Don't know why.

btw, I am 42 and my skin looks better now than when I was 20.

Kim

edited to add I also use their sunscreen in the summer.
 
Lesliemarie -

I am about to try Accutane. I'm prepping for the treatment -- just went on the pill again. Funny part, of course my skin starts to clear when I decide to go the Accutane route!

I've done the topical and oral antibiotics mentioned above for a couple years, but I just really feel that Accutane will help get to the "root" of the problem. My dermatologist said she's been on it and liked it, so that helped my decisions a bit. I see my derm May 31...I'll try to remember to keep you posted...Let me know what you decide.

;-)

(Thx to the original poster for bringing up the skin issue! Can be very mysterious; Obviously, no black/white answer for teens, to 20s, 30s, 40s, etc....sometimes it's just trial and error. Best to all of you!)
 
I feel like a broken recored b/c I've said this so much but Paula's Choice has cleared me up like nothing else I've tried. At one point in my life I even considered Accutane...got the blood work done and had the prescription in my hand, but the potential side effects bothered me alot and I wouldn't go through with it. I still suffered from acne as an adult in my 30's. I was shocked at how well my skin responded to Paula's Choice (and I've tried everything). It is clear most of the time now and when I do break out it is so minor and manageable. I've gotten several compliments on my skin since using Paula's Choice which I've never gotten before. Anyway, it sounds like you found out a cause to your daughter's break out but if she ever wants to look at her skin care routine, I highly recommend Paula's Choice.
Angela
 
I tried proactive and it didn't help nothing at all for me, just made me break out MORE, everything makes me break out MORE, I use oil free moisturizer so nothing has oil base to it, even my makeup is oilfree. so I can't figure the root to my acne. just very frustrating.
 
Maybe she needs to cleanse her body on the inside...I know that the
products used on the outside are great but maybe something is
going on in the inside. Also your omega's 3,6and 9 are suportive to
the skin and the gamma linolenic acid [gla] also. I know that we are
talking about acne but I have skin issues and when I use flax oil
it seems to help keep it in check.
 
My daughter was suffering with acne for a while. We tried everything and nothing seemed to work. Our last resort was Accutane. The doctor first prescribed Orthotrycline, a birth control, because of the serious birth defects associated with Accutane and, although she wasn't sexually active (only 16 and didn't go out at all), the doctor wasn't hearing any of it.

To make a long story short, she never did have to go on the Acutane because the Orthtrycline worked so well. I believe that there was a commercial on television that advertised that this birth control helped clear acne. It worked for my daughter.

My other daughter had blemishes - I would never call it acne - and Proactiv works great for her.

Acne is a nightmare especially at this tender age. They have so much else to cope with about body image.

Nancy
 
Hi leslie
I've used proactive for 4 years. And when i first started using it, it helped me a little and then somebody told me it could be my makeup. So she introduced me to bare essentials %100 pure minerals nothing else! It is so good for your skin you can sleep in it! And i will never go back to any liquid or pressed powder makeup again. Combination of bare essentials and proactive has made my skin look flawless!
 
that sounds great, but one thing, since my acne is so bad, I only wear makeup when I go to family events and that is like once in a great while. so I know it can't be my makeup, I also buy it from Clinic also, but again I wear makeup like once every few months, I don't want to aggrivate my acne anymore than it already is. Tried birth control years ago and nothing helped, I have dealt with low self esteem because of this, I want to one day have nice face with NO pimples and the ones I get are horrible, they are the deep ones that never really go full blown so I have these bumps that are deep, More cystic type acne and nothing gets rid of those, will accutane get rid of those?
 
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