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Should I Go To The Doctor?

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(@ross2012)

Posted : 09/30/2012 12:32 pm

Hi guys. I'm a 22-year-old male. 23 in December. I live in the UK. I started having breakouts when I was about 13-14 and they've never really stopped. Every morning I will wake up with at least one new spot; some days maybe 5 or more.

 

I've tried a variety of different face washes, creams and treatments over the years and nothing has really worked. Sometimes they may lay off for a while - notably when I go on holiday and tan/burn by accident. I don't know if this really clears them up or just makes them seem less visible.

 

I recently decided to just start using water to wash my face - this seemed to work well for a good few weeks when my breakouts slowed or stopped completely, but now they've started back up again in a pretty bad way.

 

My diet is healthy. I don't eat a lot of bad foods. I don't exercise as much as I should though and I don't get a great deal of daylight due to working inside all day.

 

It's got to a point where I really want to stop these breakouts...being nearly 23, it's kind of embarrassing, as some of you here will know.

 

I've heard some people have gone to their doctor and he's given them tablets that have cleared up their spots. Do you think this is something I should do?

 

Sorry for the essay - I just wanted to give you guys as much info as possible.

 

Thank you for your time.

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(@cleardreaming)

Posted : 09/30/2012 12:56 pm

Yes, it sounds like its time to go to the Drs. Nothing they will give you is a massive miracle, however if you want to go onto accutane (which you can research on here) it can take a long time as the Drs will go through all the options before referring you, and then there can be a long wait (in the UK).

 

I would go now, and start the process. Any other advice from people on here about diet etc will be beneficial, but like I said, it's a long process in the UK and you may as well start it incase you decide to want to just give it all up and try accutane later.

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(@jim-bean)

Posted : 09/30/2012 1:33 pm

I think the doctors office is the last thing you want to do. They will only hand you over a prescription; antibiotics, cream, etc... You may want to attempt to cure your acne naturally through diet and supplementation. Also, you definitely want to get some sunlight every day. As little as 10-15min is all you need: The sun not only gives vitamin D, but it's like a hormone. It builds your immune system, and is just essential for human health.

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(@kam08)

Posted : 09/30/2012 7:06 pm

you should see a doctor if it is bothersome. acne is a medical condition, that if you are breaking out on a daily basis you need to seea doctor. i have been seeing a doctor for over a year and have seen great improvements in my acne. its the best decision i ever made. i also advise to limit your intake of dairy products and sugary foods. all of which can cause hormone levels to surge in turn causing an increase in acne.

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(@ross2012)

Posted : 09/30/2012 7:10 pm

Yes, it sounds like its time to go to the Drs. Nothing they will give you is a massive miracle, however if you want to go onto accutane (which you can research on here) it can take a long time as the Drs will go through all the options before referring you, and then there can be a long wait (in the UK).

I would go now, and start the process. Any other advice from people on here about diet etc will be beneficial, but like I said, it's a long process in the UK and you may as well start it incase you decide to want to just give it all up and try accutane later.

 

Thank you. Maybe I should book an appointment then!

I think the doctors office is the last thing you want to do. They will only hand you over a prescription; antibiotics, cream, etc... You may want to attempt to cure your acne naturally through diet and supplementation. Also, you definitely want to get some sunlight every day. As little as 10-15min is all you need: The sun not only gives vitamin D, but it's like a hormone. It builds your immune system, and is just essential for human health.

 

Yeah, I need to make sure I get outside more. I'm going to make sure of it. Thanks!

you should see a doctor if it is bothersome. acne is a medical condition, that if you are breaking out on a daily basis you need to seea doctor. i have been seeing a doctor for over a year and have seen great improvements in my acne. its the best decision i ever made. i also advise to limit your intake of dairy products and sugary foods. all of which can cause hormone levels to surge in turn causing an increase in acne.

 

Thank you, I probably will go to see a doc then. I'll also watch the sugar/dairy intakes :).

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(@ross2012)

Posted : 09/30/2012 8:21 pm

One more thing: what do you guys think of me just using water to wash my face, too? It seemed to work well for a good few weeks. I wondered if washes just make matters worse.

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(@armadillo)

Posted : 10/06/2012 10:01 am

Yes, it sounds like its time to go to the Drs. Nothing they will give you is a massive miracle, however if you want to go onto accutane (which you can research on here) it can take a long time as the Drs will go through all the options before referring you, and then there can be a long wait (in the UK).

I would go now, and start the process. Any other advice from people on here about diet etc will be beneficial, but like I said, it's a long process in the UK and you may as well start it incase you decide to want to just give it all up and try accutane later.

 

In the UK, only certain licensed dermatologists can prescribe Accutane, and it's very rare that they do prescribe it at all. Your acne has to be extremely severe and you have to tell them it's making you depressed.

Here's a link to how acne is treated by the NHS:

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Acne/Pages/Treatment.aspx

Hope this page helps as to what you can expect from your doctor's visit. The first thing you are most likely to be prescribed is Duac once a daily gel, or just plain benzoyl peroxide. If there's a lot inflammation, they might also give you antibiotics. If that doesn't work, they will normally give you Zynerit, and if that doesn't work, topical retinoids. If none of these work, they will refer you to a dermatologist. This process might take up to a year.

Fortunately my GP was able to treat my acne without me having to see a dermatologist, the waiting list can be as long 4 months, depending on where you live.

So in short, yes, you need to see your GP.

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(@ross2012)

Posted : 10/24/2012 9:20 pm

Yes, it sounds like its time to go to the Drs. Nothing they will give you is a massive miracle, however if you want to go onto accutane (which you can research on here) it can take a long time as the Drs will go through all the options before referring you, and then there can be a long wait (in the UK).

I would go now, and start the process. Any other advice from people on here about diet etc will be beneficial, but like I said, it's a long process in the UK and you may as well start it incase you decide to want to just give it all up and try accutane later.

 

In the UK, only certain licensed dermatologists can prescribe Accutane, and it's very rare that they do prescribe it at all. Your acne has to be extremely severe and you have to tell them it's making you depressed.

Here's a link to how acne is treated by the NHS:

http://www.nhs.uk/Co.../Treatment.aspx

Hope this page helps as to what you can expect from your doctor's visit. The first thing you are most likely to be prescribed is Duac once a daily gel, or just plain benzoyl peroxide. If there's a lot inflammation, they might also give you antibiotics. If that doesn't work, they will normally give you Zynerit, and if that doesn't work, topical retinoids. If none of these work, they will refer you to a dermatologist. This process might take up to a year.

Fortunately my GP was able to treat my acne without me having to see a dermatologist, the waiting list can be as long 4 months, depending on where you live.

So in short, yes, you need to see your GP.

 

Okay, thank you! I don't think my acne is that severe, I just seem to get a fair amount of breakouts/whiteheads.

Thanks!

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(@freddyharte)

Posted : 10/28/2012 2:43 pm

where do you get your bad skin? all over your face or just around the mouth?

 

have you tried the basic regimen offered on here?

 

cleanser + benzoyle perozide product + moisturiser.

 

sometimes its good to simplify what you do to your skin so that you know what products your skin reacts postivily to.

 

seeing as you are in the UK you may as well go to the doc and see what they say. its freeeeee!

 

if you have not tried a benzoyle peroxide product + moisturiser then you probably should!

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(@takenick)

Posted : 11/02/2012 10:20 pm

Doctors are idiots. Same with people telling you to "drink more water and rub dog poo on your face twice a day" etc. They can't help you. You can only help yourself by learning from experience. I learned from experience. Check my recent thread.

 

You definitely need to at least clean your face with a gentle liquid cleanser before bed. Besides that, your hormones are fucked. Fix the root cause.

 

You could also take accutane. Seriously just don't listen to people telling you to use external products.

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(@beer)

Posted : 11/04/2012 4:51 pm

Doctors are idiots. Same with people telling you to "drink more water and rub dog poo on your face twice a day" etc. They can't help you. You can only help yourself by learning from experience. I learned from experience. Check my recent thread.

You definitely need to at least clean your face with a gentle liquid cleanser before bed. Besides that, your hormones are fucked. Fix the root cause.

You could also take accutane. Seriously just don't listen to people telling you to use external products.

 

Doctors aren't idiots. They go to school for five years, or more so they can treat illness and save lives. Medical students work harder than pretty much any other student for good reason.

Acne isn't understood, or if it is it's constantly clouded because acne medication is a multi-billion dollar business and any cure would lessen those profits.

It's not understood by doctors, but that doesn't make them idiots. And I'd rather trust a doctor than some anonymous user on an internet forum with no proof and no credentials. A PhD on the wall of a doctors office means a million times more than some badly constructed sentences and empty promises online.

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(@jim-bean)

Posted : 11/05/2012 2:52 am

Doctors are idiots. Same with people telling you to "drink more water and rub dog poo on your face twice a day" etc. They can't help you. You can only help yourself by learning from experience. I learned from experience. Check my recent thread.

You definitely need to at least clean your face with a gentle liquid cleanser before bed. Besides that, your hormones are fucked. Fix the root cause.

You could also take accutane. Seriously just don't listen to people telling you to use external products.

 

Doctors aren't idiots. They go to school for five years, or more so they can treat illness and save lives. Medical students work harder than pretty much any other student for good reason.

Acne isn't understood, or if it is it's constantly clouded because acne medication is a multi-billion dollar business and any cure would lessen those profits.

It's not understood by doctors, but that doesn't make them idiots. And I'd rather trust a doctor than some anonymous user on an internet forum with no proof and no credentials. A PhD on the wall of a doctors office means a million times more than some badly constructed sentences and empty promises online.

 

Doctors don't treat illness, they only prescribe drugs. Doctors are idiots in the sense that they aren't really helping a patients actual well-being. So called modern doctors only have one short nutrition course throughout their entire education. Their only education is how to administer drugs; they're essentially salesmen for the big pharmaceutical companies.

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(@ross2012)

Posted : 12/14/2012 4:24 pm

where do you get your bad skin? all over your face or just around the mouth?

have you tried the basic regimen offered on here?

cleanser + benzoyle perozide product + moisturiser.

sometimes its good to simplify what you do to your skin so that you know what products your skin reacts postivily to.

seeing as you are in the UK you may as well go to the doc and see what they say. its freeeeee!

if you have not tried a benzoyle peroxide product + moisturiser then you probably should!

 

I haven't tried bezoyle peroxide but I have tried numerous washes/moisturisers over the years.

I went on holiday last month for two weeks to Miami and the Caribbean. I got a tan and my spots almost completely dried up. Some days, I wouldn't get any. Some days, maybe I'd get a couple of whiteheads.

This continued once I got home for a while - the odd spot appearing, but mostly, a clear face.

Now, I've been back almost a month, I've lost pretty much all of the tan and my spots are coming back. This morning I woke up with about 7-10 new "whitehead" breakouts. I haven't changed the way I wash/cleanse my face.

Any ideas why this is happening?! Thanks.

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(@ross2012)

Posted : 06/09/2013 6:34 pm

Well, I finally did it and went to the doctors. I felt like I may be wasting my time and theirs but they were very helpful.

Last week, my doctor prescribed me with Dalacin T Topical Lotion and a wash. However, when I went to collect the wash from the pharmacy, they said that the manufacturer has stopped making it, so I had to get in contact with my doctors again via phone.

The doctor and my pharmacy are corresponding between them to sort out a wash - not sure what's taking so long - but I got the lotion the day after I visited the doctor and started using it while using my regular wash, Neutrogena's oil-free wash.

Basically, I've used the wash/lotion once a day now for 5 days and my acne has improvement tenfold. This morning I only woke up with only a minor breakout (very unlike me!) and the redness all over my face has reduced dramatically.

It's still early days, but I'm going to stick with the Neutrogena wash and the prescribed lotion for now - if the acne flares up again, I'll get the wash from the pharmacy, if not, I'll continue with this and see how it goes.

Hope this is helpful for some people thinking of going to the doctors about their acne. I'll post again in a week or two and we'll see where we are then...

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(@like-moonlight)

Posted : 06/09/2013 6:48 pm

Another thing. You said that while you were on vacation that your acne cleared up a bit.. That could mean you are low on vitamin D. You should spend 10-15 mins in the sunlight a day to get the needed vitamin D also you could take a supplement of vitamin d and see if that helps you. If you low on D then your hormone levels can get screwed up and cause you to break out. It's a thought anyways. Just thought I might chime in after I read that part in your post since no one else touched on that topic.

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(@ross2012)

Posted : 09/21/2013 9:32 pm

Another thing. You said that while you were on vacation that your acne cleared up a bit.. That could mean you are low on vitamin D. You should spend 10-15 mins in the sunlight a day to get the needed vitamin D also you could take a supplement of vitamin d and see if that helps you. If you low on D then your hormone levels can get screwed up and cause you to break out. It's a thought anyways. Just thought I might chime in after I read that part in your post since no one else touched on that topic.

Thanks! I have been taking a vitamin d supplement (extra strength cod liver oil tablets) and have been outside a lot during the summer, but sadly it doesn't seem to make a difference.

I had to go back to the doctor after my spots cleared up really well and then came back worse than ever a couple of months into the treatment. I am now a month in to taking Erythromycin tablets (500mg twice daily) and I'm hoping for the best, but they have yet to make a real difference...the doctor says I should be on these for about three months, so two more to go and we'll see.

I'm just really hoping this will get solved pretty soon. I'm closing in on my 24th birthday and sometimes find myself staying in at night etc as I don't want to go out due to the spots/acne. Having a clear face for a good few weeks during the first treatment was amazing...hoping to get back to that...

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