IS this appropriate? Acne inquiries You had acne, post please.

So basically several of my friends deal with acne I never have but apparently it runs in the family. A truly horrible thing to have happen to you. The tragedy, I'm 24, and so are my friends and they've dealt with it, but I have a little 10 year old sister that is just tortured from this.

I wanted to know what everyone whose had acne has tried at a young age.

So that this is a unique piece of information let me eliminate a few of the generics that I understand...

Dont eat fatty foods
Hygiene - quite regularly
Dont pop em unless you wash your hands in between pops
benzoyl peroxide at least a 5% concentrate topical
Vitimin A a regular dose two times a day
Fluoride toothpaste topical when needed
And please, dont suggest proactive for a 10 year old. She likes her facial skin and doesnt wish to burn it off.

With that criteria please, anyone on here have any advice? My family and myself are digging. Been to every medical website in existence, seen the dermatologist(got an oral rx and a topical rx with no luck). I know its out on a limb but why not ask in the chit chat of my favorite forum? hell 115 thousand users maybe someone has some advice.

Thank you all.

I had it bad for a while, and in the end had to go to a hospital to pick up the medication to sort it out.

On my visits there I found out a few things from the specialist, including that there are apparently two main "families" of causes - and unfortunately the kind of cause is important, because sometimes the cure for one group is a curse for the other.


It all went away, and I've never had anything bad since (just one or two at most, and rarely).

The way I sort it out now is from advice that the specialist gave me - stop using soap, and instead just use water by itself.

That may sound odd, by my cause is based on extra oils from the skin, and water removes them - whereas soap (with water) adds to them.

I had it when I was a teen. Drinking plenty of water (more than 3 liters a day) seemed to get rid of it.

There's an old sandalwood paste mixed with turmeric remedy. That's completely herbal. That's also known to work very well. If you cannot mix it yourself, I suggest you find out if you can get this.

Fuller's Earth with rose water.

Though it is all-natural product, but my suggestion would be to give it a try on a little portion of effected skin, and check if it works okay.

Indigestion, bad eating habits, tension (or hypertension) also increases the risk of acnes and other skin problems.

I don't recommend experimenting with strong topical stuff like glycolic or retinol based products unless you're sure that your skin can tolerate them. Plus it takes months to see an improvement. Having Vit. A supplements is definitely good but the higher doses are not sold over the counter for a reason (Read that Vit. A should only be as therapy, like only have it for a month and see results, etc). I find that lots of Vit. C helps. Lastly, find out what stuff causes breakouts, these could be weather, food, hormones or other factors (stress?) and then avoid or lessen these triggers.

Weird thing is, your sister is 10 years old. I haven't heard of any 10 year old having acne problems... Maybe your sister is maturing earlier so it's probably just a hormonal phase and if she's lucky it will go away. Also, the sun can aggravate and age the skin. I used to be out in the sun all day so much that the daily sunburn didn't bother me at all and so now I suffer.

Stay out of sugars (chocolate, caramel, peanuts... mmmmm yumm), definitely.

Skinceuticals line is quite nice. I especially love Phyto+

Don't go overboard with Vitamin A. That's one of the fat soluble vitamins, which means that it will accumulate in your tissues rather than being excreted as water soluble vitamins (like C) will. That build up can become toxic.

you know I was really questioning weather or not Id get responses for a query like this in a programming forum. Thank you!! Make me feel a little better about asking about it. I can do only so much research before it becomes redundant. Personal experience is what will help at this point. thank you guys for the responses! I really appreciate the pointers with vit A Ocean, I didnt realize that.

Acne is particularly distressing if you're a coyote.

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Originally Posted by Nicelydone

you know I was really questioning weather or not Id get responses for a query like this in a programming forum. Thank you!! Make me feel a little better about asking about it. I can do only so much research before it becomes redundant. Personal experience is what will help at this point. thank you guys for the responses! I really appreciate the pointers with vit A Ocean, I didnt realize that.

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Yea, hard to imagine a bunch of computer geeks with knowledge of acne. Guess you just got lucky.

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Originally Posted by demotivater

Yea, hard to imagine a bunch of computer geeks with knowledge of acne. Guess you just got lucky.

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LOL Yea no kidding...:eek2:

Im sure some didnt have acne...

I'm surprised I haven't gotten it. I guess I can assume my lack of chicken pox is from not going out and socialising enough. It seems being a hermit/computer geek (which ever way you want to put it ;)) has its advantages!

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Originally Posted by Nicelydone

So basically several of my friends deal with acne I never have but apparently it runs in the family. A truly horrible thing to have happen to you. The tragedy, I'm 24, and so are my friends and they've dealt with it, but I have a little 10 year old sister that is just tortured from this.

I wanted to know what everyone whose had acne has tried at a young age.

So that this is a unique piece of information let me eliminate a few of the generics that I understand...

Dont eat fatty foods
Hygiene - quite regularly
Dont pop em unless you wash your hands in between pops
benzoyl peroxide at least a 5% concentrate topical
Vitimin A a regular dose two times a day
Fluoride toothpaste topical when needed
And please, dont suggest proactive for a 10 year old. She likes her facial skin and doesnt wish to burn it off.

With that criteria please, anyone on here have any advice? My family and myself are digging. Been to every medical website in existence, seen the dermatologist(got an oral rx and a topical rx with no luck). I know its out on a limb but why not ask in the chit chat of my favorite forum? hell 115 thousand users maybe someone has some advice.

Thank you all.

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Maybe she's eating too many acidic foods that's inflamming her skin.

I suggest eating more watermelon (the most basic food), eating less fried foods and meat.

More activity and sweating to clean out the pores.

If all else fails, go get Accutane.

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Originally Posted by mendhak

Acne is particularly distressing if you're a coyote.

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... Acme... not Acne...

For me, (No soap) just (Hot water).

accutane... Isnt that that medicine that stops all oil production in the body?

I knew someone who had acne problems that said it's good to shave everyday to clear away the dead skin cells and keep the pores clear. I tend to prefer remedies that steer clear of drugs.

Imagine the talk I would have to have with my 10 year old sister about how to use a razor and why. "well you put shaving cream... I know you dont have facial hair hun but, No! sweety I'm not saying THAT! But you need to lather...No no, there is no hair on your face trust me!...Listen, after you lather you need to use the razor to scrap a layer of skin off your face...Ok?...Jenny? Where did you go?"

^
:lol:

(No soap/shaving cream!).
Hot water and a ruff flannel, the Hot water opens the pores, the flannel will clear away the dead skin cells and oil.

How about sandpaper?

Whenever I shave I never use shaving cream. I just use water and that's it and I don't get cuts unless I'm not careful. What if it did help though would you say oh well that's too difficult might as well just let the acne remain. Probably anything that clears away the dead skin cells daily and keeps the pores clear could replace shaving.

Well of course I took the suggestion as the dead skin needs to be removed, I just though Id try and be funny about the comment regarding using a razor for something other than shaving. However, I have passed on the information that its really important to scrub the hell out of her face with a cloth to remove an unwanted layer of dead skin cells, among the many other very appreciated tid bits of information. Thank you.

I'm surprised you didn't find what you were looking for on the web. There are a lot of sites like this one that talk about it. Other than that the best advice I can give is to try to not let your sister be effected emotionally by it, because while unfortunately I had acne from the age of 13 to well into my 40s, it normally clears up well before that and you don't want her to be psychologically damaged by it. BTW I'd be curious to know what the doctor said about a 10 year old prepubescent child having acne. That seems pretty young.

Shes had acne since she was 9... And I did and do my research online, I just wanted to get some personal opinions on the subject. From what I hear, the doctor didn't have a whole lot to say, and was quick to throw a couple of Rx's at her and send her on her way. Im sure her mother will get her in for a second opinion in the near future.

Different doctors have different solutions... But the solutions tend to be the products that they endorse/sell themselves.

The first time I saw a dermatologist for my allergy stricken skin, I asked for topical solution only and she did give me that plus a course of vitamin A and C, which worked until I went to Japan and had no access to the creams.

The next time (a year after) I went to see another dermatologist because of overdue breakouts, she immediately recommended I do a course of glycolic peel(only did 2 because it was freaking painful) and gave me a PHP12,000 pack topical treatment. The treatment worked until I came to UK and had no access to the creams again.

A third time I went to see an aesthetician, they recommented a full course of glycolic peels(6x) and topical products which I kept on doing for almost a year to no avail (£600-£800 wasted). They also recommended that I see their dermatologist who will give me hormone pills or something but that's against my belief that there must be a topical solution to all my problems.

Finally settled with experimenting with strong and mild topical solutions related to the recommendation of the 1st and 2nd dermatologist and now my face is clear. Downside is it's quite expensive.

Anyways the morale is be patient and try to get as many expert opinion on the matter. I'm sure there are ways to battle acne without having to drink all weird prescription medicine. :\

Also, Doctors like GPs tend to recommend a different solution compared to that of Specialist Dermatologist. GPs tend to stick to whatever is established but does not have a wider option. Dermatologist and aestheticians, tend to stick to the topical solutions that they are selling (I haven't asked them of any prescription drugs ever, scared of it).

If I remember correctly however, the prescription drugs the doctors described [not prescribe] to me are hormone controlling pills which also act as child-control pills. :|

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Originally Posted by oceanebelle

If I remember correctly however, the prescription drugs the doctors described [not prescribe] to me are hormone controlling pills which also act as child-control pills. :|

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It's not unheard-of to prescribe those for cosmetic reasons. They don't have the same effect on everyone though.

In late middle school and most of high school I had it pretty bad, my family doctor ended up prescribing a pill and some kind of cream that I did daily and it worked really well, for me at least.

Up until I was about 15 I could always watch the doctors give me shots and/or draw blood with no problems. One day however I went to a dermatologists for my acne and he gave me some sort of hormone shot. That was fine expect as I was walking out of his office I passed out and fell flat on my face. That incident has caused me to have psychosomatic reactions to shots, etc. where I would pass out if not lying down. I've had desensitivity training which has helped but the memory of that shot is still with me 50+ years later.

50 years ago? Didn't they give you ether first?

Or at least a shot of whiskey and a bullet to bite.