my 15yr old has severe acne on his face, chest, back, shoulders and arms. He has long hair over his face which obviously doesnt help as it gets greasy really quickly - though he does wash it and showers every day  He has been applying a topical antibiotic lotion (zineryt) for 4 months and it didnt really help, although when he stopped using it his face resembled bubblewrap his skin was so bad.

anyhow, the dochas prescribed an initial 3 month course of oral antiobiotics, tetralysal, and obviously i am not keen to go down this route; but, my son is fed up with the acne and just wants to see some improvement.

any ideas/advice/help gratefully received  ???

I have seen many very bad cases of teenage acne in my role as a boarding school matron. The drs is always the last resort, but I have found that the antibiotic route does really help those children that really need it.

They have nothing to do with diet or hygiene. Genetics does seem to play a big role though.

Personally, in the case you are describing I would use the tetralysal.

I have suffered with slight acne since being a teenager,and what I found helped is to stay off tap water and drink spring or minnerial. I think theres something in the chemical proccessing of the water that irritates my skin.  Notticed the change when went to look after my friends house which was feed through a spring system, dh was ammazed by the change in my skin when I came home, You could try him on bottled water for a week see if it makes any differance it only took a few days for it to have effect on my skin.
Lorna   

I've suffered from acne since teenage years, did try the antibiotic route in my early 20s which did help while I was on them, but it returned when I came off. Maybe your son is one of those whose acne will go when he's past his teens and maybe it might be worth considering the antibiotics to get him past the worst. It can really dent the confidence for years to come, I've found. But a few things I have found to help a bit ahve been: garlic and vitamin C (especially strawberries, kiwi and oranges) in the diet, rose hip oil applied on the face to help with scarring, wash flannels and pillow cases every week at least on a hot wash, tie hair back in bed.
My heart goes out to him, it's an awful thing to ahve to endure, especially right at the most vulnerable time of life.

With the greatest respect to Lilypond's experience, I would take your son for a food intolerance test as I beloieve diet can have a big part to play. Even with the healthiest diet in the world, sometimes we are inadvertantly eating things that just don't agree with us as individuals.
I would also use colloidal silver both topically and internally.

People with sensitive skin are often helped by zinc and EFAs supplements too.

And I expect you are staying away from harsh products that he uses on his skin and in the washing machine already, but I found just recently that even Ecover washing powder was causing irritation for me because I had swtiched to a 'quick wash' programme and I guess there aren't as many rinses and spins  :o That surely was a learning curve for me.

Hennahead, your experiences with the tap water are utterly amazing. I have a real 'thing' about tap water; ok, so we are much more fortunate than some people in the world, but I wonder if it is all its cracked up to be…........

Lots of ideas for treating acne on this page:
http://houseofstrauss.co.uk/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=24

Starchild x

My husband suffered from really bad acne all over his back from teenage years right up until 2 years ago when it completely went (he still has a lot of scarring) during this time he tried many treatments including antibiotics which helped a little, however two years ago not in any way linked to this we cut dairy from our diet and within a few weeks all the spots had gone! he was completely amazed and so pleased after all the years of embarrassment etc and not to mention discomfort. I know Lilypond says they have nothing to do with diet and i am no expert on food intolerances or diet etc but i can only say what i saw! my husband used to really like milk and drink a pint most days aswell as on cereal tea/coffee etc…...........make of it what you will  ;D

Lucyx

I've just posted this on another thread, but I find the first aid lotion and lemon and tea tree facial wash really helpful for oily spotty skin. It won't work a miracle but it might be helpful.

http://www.essential-care.co.uk/

Omega 3,6 and 9(you can buy a bottle of plant based omegas which I am using)
zinc
lots of filtered water
a good diet
and a daily smoothie with a spoon of wheatgerm and pumpkin seeds in(both are renowned for balancing hormones)

I still suffer even now, but the above has made a dramatic improvement, also when I was younger I had the antibiotics doxycyclin(sp?) and they worked far better than any of the topical solutions and pills I used.
Hope this helps its a dreadful thing to have to go through, try to avoid all the facewashes etc as they always made mine worse!

Thanks for all this guys,  ;D

[quote author=Lilypond link=topic=463.msg5330#msg5330 date=1190191536]
I have seen many very bad cases of teenage acne in my role as a boarding school matron. The drs is always the last resort, but I have found that the antibiotic route does really help those children that really need it.

They have nothing to do with diet or hygiene. Genetics does seem to play a big role though.

Personally, in the case you are describing I would use the tetralysal.

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