Good evening
I am a father of a daughter who has acne. She has had acne for almost 9 months now. As a parent it is hard to understand how something that a lot of teenagers get can have such a crippling affect on a child.
There is no manual on how this can affect your daughter or son. No manual on how to be prepared if it does affect your child to such an extent they do not want to go out or meet friends or go to school.
When the acne first started my daughter tried all sorts of creams and treatments. I just assumed that this was part of the change from a child to adulthood and would naturally clear up. We did recommend some treatments or things to try to help clear the skin. What we did not realise was how much this was affecting her emotionally and her self confidence.
After about 7 months at this stage my daughter was very unhappy and as parents we did not know what to recommend or use the clear the skin. We had visited the doctor who prescibed some anti botics and my daughter went on the pill. None of these seemed to help and my daughter was unhappy and depressed. This is when we got an appointment with a dermatologist.
He recommend differin. My daughter was still on the anti biotic and using Duac. We now use differin at night and duac in the morning. It has been almost 4 weeks now and we think she has had a IB. This has knocked her confidence even more as she was hoping that she would have seen some improvement after week 3.
I know it is a long hard road to get her clear skin. For the parents out there with children who are suffering with acne and their kids are unhappy and depressed I say to hang in there. I have had many late nights comforting my daughter who cries herself to sleep it is hard seeing your child like that.
It will put a strain on you as a parent. They will push you to the limit but they are hurting. They feel like the world is against them. I have had times where it is hard to comfort and talk to her when she is so down and emotional however you have to be as supportive as best you can during this time.
I am hoping the 4 week breakout is all it is for her. She had such high hopes and the IB has dented her confidence. I know it can take 12 weeks plus and have spoken to her about it. I have said she needs patience and to be strong and push through this part.
For all those people out there, those that have acne and the parents supporting their children I wish you all the best in achieving your goal. Keep strong and push through those tough times.
Half of the dermatologists (the public health care one in my country) are idiots that don't asses the psychological effect on the patient. Moreover they can be so idiotic that don't event understand the (moderate/severe) acne can have devastating psychological effect. And the medical books suggest aggressive treatment in case the patient is impacted a lot from the disease. And by that it is not meant increase the dose or number of topical medications, which is not beneficial to the skin, but to go to antibiotics and (perhaps low dose) Accutane.
For me Minocycline (+ small amount of tretinoin creme) and Accutane (without any topicals!) helps clear perfectly (and I really mean perfectly).
But you must be aware the disease can return some time after the treatment (4-5 months) as happens to be in my case. No cure, just endless repetition of treatments and disease.
I also really hate my mother for not helping me with treatments, moreover she sabotaged my treatment as she opposes pills.
Which antibiotic is your daughter using? If tetracycline family antibiotic didn't solve, no topicals will help this is for sure. Accutane is needed.
It is important not to use more topicals then directed.