Taking a teen with acne to dermatologist?

[DawnCt1]

My DS had problems with acne and we tried many OTC's and different precriptions from the derm nothing really helped so he was precribed Accutane last year. It cleared him up beautiful with no harsh side effects, he only had dry lips. It has been almost a year since his treatment and his skin is completely clear. .

We had the same experience with DS#1. Unfortunately acne strikes teens when they are most self conscious. To rule out the use of a drug that can totall change their lives is indeed a mistake. Observation, monitoring and follow up are required but the results were worth the risks. He also had dry lips, but no other side effects.

 

[claudia]

When DS was about 14 his acne became bad, so off to the derm we went. He did a course in antibiotics, but the acne returned and continued to get much worse. After discussing the accutane we decided that would be the best for him....didn't want to have his face scarred....he did one course of treatment and he did get the dry lips and his mouth was a bit dry as well....used balm for his mouth and would use vitamin c drops to help when the dry mouth bothered him. Best thing we ever did....his skin cleared up and looks wonderful....5 years later he has never had another pimple.

 

[dcentity2000]

Quinoderm is a good if a little strong cream. Minocin is a tablet that works very well



Rich::

 

[Savanah'sMom]

Some of ya'll have mentioned antibiotics, why do they put them it?

My babies are only 6 and 1, and my acne isn't bad so I don't have any experience with this. I just want to be as prepared as possible for the years that are coming up.

 

[pozey]

One of my good friends is a PA for a dermatologist. My 13 year old DS started going to him about 2 months ago.

He has mild acne, and he was prescribed Doryx, Benzoyl Peroxide, and something else I can't think of right now.

My PA friend says people expect their skin to clear up overnight, but it takes time.

My son's skin looks much better, but will still take another few months to really clear up all the way.

 

[m&m's mom]

I asked my Dermo about DD's light acne
I asked about ProActiv and my Dermatologist said it was just a combination of an OTC wash w/ Salycic acid and another one with Benzoyl peroxide. She told me to go to Target and look at the ingredients and buy one of each and try those.
For under $10 if cleared it completely up.
For more severe I have seen miraclous changes with people using Accutane. If either of my DD's needed it I would do it as a last ditch effort.

 

[bumbershoot]

It's interesting that his skin clears up in the summer when he's swimming a lot!

And the fact that he swims a lot will be important if they want to put him on retinA, because you have to stay out of the sun.


Looks like Proactiv is basically benzoyl peroxide.

And BP is what my mom's derm gave us, but he gave us a very very high percentage of BP in a cream. Too bad he's not in practice anymore, b/c 20% solution worked beautifully! It did dry out the skin, but after about a week of using it, our skin (mom's, brother's, mine) evened out and wasn't dry anymore. What's weird is that our skin is very very sensitive, and you wouldn't have thought such a relatively harsh solution would have been OK, but it was MORE than OK.

Good luck finding someone who will prescribe that, though; that doc was the only one who would that my mom could find. And he's retired to become a successful wine maker now, drat!


I can't imagine messing up my system by taking antibiotics for acne (benzoyl peroxide is my limit), and nothing my friends with truly severe acne did could clear it up...just took time and becoming an adult to do that.

 

[punkin]

We had the same experience with DS#1. Unfortunately acne strikes teens when they are most self conscious. To rule out the use of a drug that can totall change their lives is indeed a mistake. Observation, monitoring and follow up are required but the results were worth the risks. He also had dry lips, but no other side effects.

Depends on how severe the acne is. My DD's acne is not bad enough to risk acutane. She does have a friend with HORRIBLE acne whose mother put her on acutane and she looks great.

 

[terri01p]

 

[Handbag Lady]

OP, since the dermatologist doesn't have an opening for two months, does their office have nurse practitioners?

I just went to mine on Tuesday. I had a skin discoloration and because my dad has skin cancer, I needed to get it checked right away. My dermatologist was booked solid for months so the receptionist suggested the NP.

It went well and I don't have skin cancer!

 

[Darsa]

I wish like crazy that we had health insurance; my DD has terrible acne, not all over her face but what she does have is cystic. She has one right at the end of her nose right now that's HUGE She's tried ProActiv with no luck, and the OTC stuff only works for a week or two before she's back to the same ol' thing... it's so frustrating!

Some of ya'll have mentioned antibiotics, why do they put them it?

Because a pimple is basically an infection, according to DD's doctor.

 

[Irin997]

I have dealt with acne issues since I was a late teen/early 20's. I've tried every OTC meds you can think of, a lot of prescriptions, and even expensive cosmetic lasers.

Finally 2 years ago after getting some mild success with Proactiv, I went back to the Dr's yet again and was determined to find a solution. She put me on Retin-A Micro. I'd used RAM before but never long enough to actually get it to work. It takes MONTHS, not weeks, for a vitamin A cream to start working and your skin gets worse before it gets better. It took me at least 4-6 months to see an improvement. When I still wasn't completely clear about 10 months into treatment, she upped the % strength and gave me a topical antibiotic for inflammed skin. It worked wonders.

I've been using RAM for over 2 years now and my scarring is almost completely gone and I'm clear almost 100% of the time. The only time anything pops up is if I forget to use my meds for too many days in a row.

I highly recommend the forum at acne.org. They are incredibly helpful and supportive because everyone else is going through the same thing.

BTW, I'm 28, 29 in 2 months. So it is not necessarily something you "grow out of".

Oh and if DD8 every has as much of a problem as I did I will not hesitate to put her on Accutane.

 

[Luvmy4boys]

My dd has developed terrible acne, she has never had acne until she became ill and was put in a feeding tube, 3 months later whenever she came off the feeding tube, I guess it must have really messed with her system because she has had really bad acne ever since. Any suggestions???

She didn't happen to be on steriods? I was treated for a serious medical condition and part of the treatment was steriods. It caused terrible acne that nothing could help.

Retin-A Micro. I'd used RAM before but never long enough to actually get it to work. It takes MONTHS, not weeks, for a vitamin A cream to start working and your skin gets worse before it gets better. It took me at least 4-6 months to see an improvement. When I still wasn't completely clear about 10 months into treatment, she upped the % strength and gave me a topical antibiotic for inflammed skin. It worked wonders.

My son has been using Retin-A for 2 months with a little improvement. I called, left a message with the Dr. today that I didn't think it was helping. Maybe we need to give it more time.

 

[iwrbnd]

My son battled acne for years. Dermotologist put him on accutane which helped a lot. He did have a scary personality change on it, though. Moody, irritable and pretty much horrible to be around. About the time we were wondering if he needed an antidepressant he finished the accutane and turned back into his old self! So, be careful on it!

 

[louey]

I have two nephews who took Accutane with excellent results it works. They didn't have any of the mood side affects from it.

 

[heartsy77]

My DD 14 went to Derm for moderate acne.

She was put on Doxycyline, retina a, and benz. peroxide, she did all this for the first week maybe.
Since I started giving her reminders about taking the pills consistently she has cleared up 75%! She has ADHD and getting her take her pills is all can I convince her do everyday!

My brother wason Accuntane when it first came out and it worked so well! He has very little scaring now that he's 28.

I am thinking about going to see DD derm this summer; I have adult acne and it drives me nuts.

 

[TW27]

I have suffered from horrible cystic acne since I was 14 until I was 27 - even at 30 I still get flare ups. I never tried accutane - I was too worried about the side effects!

I have taken tons of different meds - between my eczema and my acne, I'm surprised that I have any skin left at all. I found that taking a combination of soladyne (sp?), a retin-a derivative in the morning, and some sort of topical sulfa drug at night worked best for me. I also change my pillow cases every day! However, everybody has a different body chemistry - so finding what will work will take some time. Also waiting for the drugs to fully work will take some time. Using this combination (which has kept me relatively clear for the past 2 years *knock on wood*), I finally saw the desired results after 12 weeks. Also, with many of these drugs, my derm told me that I would clear slightly, flare up big time, and then start to clear completely. So, flaring up after a week or two after starting is normal - it will take time to see the desired results. I would have to echo what everybody has said about the message boards at acne.org - they let me know that there were other people out there who were going through the same thing.

In addition, I know that many dermatologists will have "emergency appointments" set aside for people who have terrible acne. They understand how people can suffer from acne and if you explain over the phone that you or your child have large cysts covering your face, they will want to get you in there and help you out. They sometimes will even give cortisone shots in the cysts to reduce the swelling (they will not do this on a regular basis, but if you have a prom or wedding coming up, this is the time to do it.)

 

[Captain Brain]

I'm on Accutane for it. The first month almost killed me, but it's a miracle drug after that. It is well worth it. I saw results in less than three weeks.

 

[Irin997]

My son has been using Retin-A for 2 months with a little improvement. I called, left a message with the Dr. today that I didn't think it was helping. Maybe we need to give it more time.

Please please please give it at least 4 months total to even start working. The derm should have told you this but maybe he/she didn't.

The usual course for a vitamin A cream like Retin-A or Tazorac are to see slight clearing after a couple weeks, a fairly monster flare up at around 1-2 months, and then gradual clearing by the 4th month OR longer. Remember I said my experience was that I wasn't quite happy at the lower % RAM and upped it after about 9 months on it. That cleared me completely. I was on 0.04% and increased to the 0.1% strength.

 

[Stephanie218]

My DS had problems with acne and we tried many OTC's and different precriptions from the derm nothing really helped so he was precribed Accutane last year. It cleared him up beautiful with no harsh side effects, he only had dry lips. It has been almost a year since his treatment and his skin is completely clear. I know that Accutane is a last resort for many because of the side effects and many people refuse to try it however there are millions of people who do use it every year with great success and little to no side effects. We never seem to hear about the positive stories of successful accutane users only the negative. I know atleast 20 people who have used accutane with no negative side effects and it cleared all of them up wonderfully. In fact our derm told us out of all the patients he has treated with accutane he has only had to remove 1 person from it because of side effects. Accutane is a serious acne drug that does work however it does need to be monitored every month to make sure it is not causing any bad side effects. I know that Accutane is not for everyone and it should be carefully weighed before making a decision to use it but I just wanted to point out that for all the negative stories on accutane there are thousands of success stories that are never heard.

I just wanted to echo this. I tried practically every cream in the drug store, tetracyclin, minocyclin, benzaclin (sorry, probably butchered spelling on those..) and more before I went to a dermatologist and got on Accutane. Within 6 months or so, my terrible skin was clear. It was absolutely a miracle drug for me. I had acne not only on my face, but also on my upper back - which is really hard during the summer at that age with tank tops, swim suits, dresses...I used to try and cover it with makeup.

The increase in my self-esteem after using Accutane was amazing. 2 of my friends were also on it concurrently with me - one had to take another round of it, but all of us (6 years later) are still acne-free. I get pimples once in a while, but nothing like I used to.