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Hi Everyone,
I am a mom to two teenage boys who both have moderate acne. They are 15 and 14 years old and their acne started when they were about 12. My older son's acne has always been slightly worse. It has been a real roller coaster for the past few years trying to clear their acne, and I have felt every bit of their frustration and pain. We are in it together and I am determined to help them. This is what they have tried: salicylic acid, Clindamycin, Differin, and most recently, Retin A, all with no success or limited success. We gave the Retin A 1% over a year and though it may have helped somewhat, it was probably about a 30-50% improvement. It never fully cleared their faces and new zits were always popping up. Also, their skin never really tolerated the Retin A well and their faces always looked red and irritated. So I started looking for other factors that could be causing their acne.
I decided to put their diet under the microscope. For teenage boys, they actually had a really good diet; never any soda in the house, they drank lots of water, not much chips and sweets, almond milk instead of cow's milk, limited cheese, salads with dinner, salmon, etc. But I decided to get more strict. I started making them fruit/kale smoothies each day and cutting out any food that I thought could be a culprit. Their skin appeared to be clearing and I thought for sure I was on the right track. I was really proud of my strict diet rules. Well, unfortunately a few weeks into it, new pimples popped up and I felt so defeated. I also felt like I had become this crazy mom who would freak out if their kid ate a slice of pizza or had a soda with friends. I'm all for a good, healthy diet, but going to extremes clearly wasn't the solution.
So they both started the regimen on Sunday. I have high hopes for them and they've got a real positive outlook! I did use the regimen on my older son's back about a year ago and it cleared his back very quickly and quite dramatically (his back acne was worse than his face, he honestly looked like he had chicken pox on his back). I really don't know why they never started the regimen for the face, I guess we just kept hoping the Retin A would finally kick-in and work.
For now, they are just doing the regimen once per day for the first week, and then if their skin tolerates it well, they'll ramp up to twice per day. I have looked at pages and pages of people's pictures and stories on here and the success stories really warm my heart. The genuine concern and encouragement on here is so awesome. So, thanks in advance to Dan for starting this whole thing and please cross your fingers for my boys that they have success! Thanks for reading.
Hi KAMANDA. You're such good mom for looking out for your kids. Most moms don't give an f about their kids nowadays. Anyhow, I'm going to have to disagree on your one a days. I think the skin needs to be properly cleanse, treated and moisturized. I don't think doing it once per day is adequate enough. If I washed my face, put on BP and moisturizer only once per day, my face would explode with pimples. I wasn't quite sure what you meant when you said once per day. Do you mean applying BP once per day? Because if that's the case, then can I kindly suggest splitting the BP in halves so that your sons can get adequate BP on their faces? Because from what I understand, BP is the heart and soul of this operation. And to restrict the main ingredient doesn't sound logical to me.
Atn...
My boys both have skin on the sensitive side, they've also been on Retin A for quite awhile, which makes skin even more sensitive. I want to ease them into the regimen so they don't get irritated and inflamed skin too early on and then want to quit the whole thing. Dan recommends starting with 1x per day for people with sensitive skin so for now we are just applying BP at night. Once their skin tolerates it well, they will go to 2x per day. Their acne is moderate, sometimes even leaning towards mild, and they don't get cystic acne, so this routine seems to be ok so far.
Thanks for your kind words, nicmic! Your Before and After pics are some of the most amazing ones on here, so you are among the ones who have inspired me to try the regimen. My kids are really good kids who do well in school and play sports, they don't brood over their acne or feel sorry for themselves. I feel blessed to have kids like that so I'll gladly do whatever I can to help them.
One question that maybe you can answer for me... Do you feel that the regimen made any scarring worse for you? So many people post on here that the red marks last longer using BP, but do you think it increased chances of any indented scarring? That really scares me.
PS- I hope you are well in the Philippines! I was happy to see you posting on here after the terrible typhoon.
I forgot to quote you earlier so wanted to make sure you would see my above post. Thanks again for your help!
I'm glad there are moms out there that really do all they can with their kid's acne situation. Other moms just blame hormones and say it will go away. So kudos to you, Kamanda.
Thanks for your kind words, nicmic! Your Before and After pics are some of the most amazing ones on here, so you are among the ones who have inspired me to try the regimen. My kids are really good kids who do well in school and play sports, they don't brood over their acne or feel sorry for themselves. I feel blessed to have kids like that so I'll gladly do whatever I can to help them.
One question that maybe you can answer for me... Do you feel that the regimen made any scarring worse for you? So many people post on here that the red marks last longer using BP, but do you think it increased chances of any indented scarring? That really scares me.
PS- I hope you are well in the Philippines! I was happy to see you posting on here after the terrible typhoon.
It is so great that your kids don't let it get to them. They shouldn't have to at that age. 
Scarring for me has been very minimal, I have very slight scarring because I admit it did used to pick at my cystic acne. The regimen did nothing for my scarring, it didn't make it worse or better...just prolonged the red marks. But those things go away in time.
As for the Philippines, we are still coping with all the devastation it left. It has been hard to see and look at first hand, but I'm very happy that my friends and family are safe and that everyone I know has been pretty proactive in helping those who were really affected.
Just wanted to follow-up... My sons have been on the regimen for over 5 days now and have bumped up to the 2x per day application. It's amazing how much improvement they are seeing in just a short time. A couple new pimples did pop up but they have dried up very quickly. Their skin also seems so much less bumpy and their skin texture seems to be improving. Not only are the pimples flattening out but so are all the colorless under-skin bumps. The regimen seems to be doing in one week what the Retin A couldn't do in a year! I really kick myself for not stopping that sooner!
They are also continuing to limit dairy and high amounts of sugar, and eat healthy in general, just because it makes good sense, but no crazy-strict diets anymore! They are happy about that !