Thursday, 8 March 2007

Acne

My son has terrible pimples, and no creams seem to cure or prevent them. His confidence is down, as are his school grades and his self-esteem. He thinks he is ugly and that he’ll never attract girls. Can they be cured, and what can I do to help his emotional problems?

I feel sorry for your son – many of us can remember how miserable pimples made us feel. As you’ve found, creams and ointments are next to useless. He should not squeeze his pimples as this leads to more pimples forming.

Because of the psychological problems you describe, further treatment is needed. Ask your doctor to consider prescribing a daily antibiotic for your son. If that is not successful, ask for a referral to a dermatologist because there is a very effective (but expensive) medication that he/she can prescribe.

Usually, effectively treating the acne (as pimples are called) will improve his psychological health. It may help to have an adult who suffered bad acne talk to your son, especially if he has a photo showing his pimples. He will be able to assure your son that he will eventually grow out of the problem.

3 comments:

Bastet said...

For some of us, acne--or at least oily skin--doesn't leave with adolescence. I'm in my early 50s and I STILL have oily skin. I break out once in a while and can never wear moisturizers, even the kind that say they are for oily skin. The absolute worst things are sunblock lotions. I have to buy the acohol-based gels or I will break out for sure.

I do use Retin-A at night and it helps. But the insurance company won't pay for it because it doesn't believe that anyone over 30 gets acne.

Do you have any words for those of us who have oily skin at such an advanced age. At least it keeps the wrinkles at bay!

David Robinson said...

All adults suffer the occasional pimple but it sounds as if your problem is more than that.
Assuming that you don't have fertility problems nor had irregular menstruation, you are probably producing more activated testosterone than the average woman.
Women make testosterone in their adrenal glands, their ovaries and even in the hair follicles themselves.Both in males and females testosterone is converted to a more active form by an enzyme.A slight excess of this mechanism may be giving you your oily skin and tendency to pimples.
Unfortunately the only treatment is that outlined in adolescent acne. You might like to ask a dermatologist to supply your Retin-A in an oral form. In any form Retin-A is expensive.

Unknown said...

Many people feel that their acne is overly embarrassing and unmanageable. I have read story after story of heartache, especially from teens that endure heartless bullying from schoolmates. There are so many different remedies and medications. What most people fail to realise is that each individual has a different biological makeup and what works for one person may not work for everyone. In some cases certain acne treatment can adversely affect already irritated skin. This further causes unnecessary embarrassment and frustration to an already uncomfortable situation. Propaganda fuels misconceptions about different so-called remedies and even causes. The idea that chocolate and oily food causes acne is unfounded. When in truth, makeup, unhealthy skin and even perspiration can cause acne. All of these factors affect the skin. But even your skin makeup can affect your skin and create back acne, scalp acne, large assesses or ingrown hair. There is an acne treatment questionnaire (just navigate to it on the right hand side) done by a company called SkinMed that will help to diagnose acne problems through a series of questions, and then it recommends the best acne treatment for each individual. Teen acne is typically the most difficult to diagnose because of hormonal considerations, but there is a special area meant just for teen acne that has a completely different set of rules when running the formula that determines the best medications or treatments. In some cases simple changes in hygiene and daily washing is all that it takes. The site also has a free offer on an acne facial cleanser that is made up of a three step process. The primary reason most teens, especially boys tend to have more problems with chronic acne is because of a lack of simply washing their face regularly. So this treatment is free and is a way to create a healthy daily routine, while gently healing the skin to prevent acne scarring brought on as a result of squeezing the sores. Once daily cleaning is practiced, and hormonal issues are taken into consideration, a proper treatment regiment can be highly effective. At the end of the day most acne, even teen acne , can be eliminated quickly and permanently with the right motivation. After all, we all want to be beautiful don’t we?

Thanks For Reading - Burnface Rovers