As a quick round up - I recently turned 21 and I've had acne since I was around 11 (happy decade of gross!) I've been on Duac twice - worked the first time and failed the second - I didLymecycline for 6 months last year and it didn't seem to do anything. I'm currently trying kefir as a natural treatment that my mum has convinced me to try which I'm not sure is really doing anything itself but because I've had to change my diet a bit I've realised that dairy definitely makes things worse but doesn't seem to be the overall cause of the acne. I do also struggle with dermatillomania a bit which doesnt help, and anxiety seems to be a big trigger for my skin - bit of a struggle when it affects my self esteem so much and i end up in a spiral of stress. It's basically all on my face - i'll only get body acne from bra straps etc so I'm lucky in that regard but my skin is also super sensitive so I'm almost always red.
I'm back to uni in less than a month and my skin is the worst its been in a while, and honestly getting it under control finally would be a really good thing for me in my final year, I want to leave my undergrad with good skin and at this point it doesn't look like ill just grow out of it.Seeing as antibiotics aren't really helping me in primary care I was hoping I could get a dermatologist referral from my GP -I don't necessarily want to try roaccutanebut I'd really like to atleast have a more thorough assessment of my skin by a specialist and have a look at the scarring. However, I'm struggling to find much information about how this works in the Scottish system, as obviously its a separate health service. Does anyone have any experience with Scottish gp referrals? Any help would be wonderful! I'm based in Glasgow if that's helpful at all?