Anyone have any teen kids that...

have had really bad acne? What worked the best for them? My son has been struggling for a while with acne and it just seems to be getting worse. He washes his face a couple times a day, he doesn't eat greasy, junky stuff (i don't buy chips and soda and crap). I know that his doctor might be willing to prescribe him something, but I don't think MaineCare would pay for it, and I can't afford an expensive prescription right now. I can't do proactiv, first of all because I don't really know if it works, and I don't like the idea that they automatically bill every month (those things are usually impossible to cancel. So does anyone know of any reasonably priced over the counter product that works really well? I have bought the occasional tube of Benzyl Peroxide for him a few times before, but it doesn't really seem to do much for him. Even any type of home/natural remedies that may work, or that may help a little even?

DD uses( when she is not pregnant_ a System by Neutrogena, worked as well as proactiv, and was not real expensive. There is also one I like called "Acne Free" it works well also.
Proactiv DOES work, it is just too expensive.

My 11yo uses an RX called Benzomycin, not really expensive, but if you end up getting it make sure they mix it with Everclear and not alcohol....works better that way.

hey, I had my share of everclear in HS and your right.. I didnt get bad pimples till I got older.. after I outgrew my wild partying.. I never knew.. But since I get it now, I might just have to find sme purple passion..



Proactive is supposed to work really well. AND you can get it off ebay.

My kids use the wal-mart generic of oxy. It works fairly well when they remember to use it every day. Of course, they forget from time to time, which is how I know it works. Cause when they go to grandma's for the weekend and forget the acne stuff at home you can tell!

I'd call the pharmacy and see if Mainecare will pay for it. My kids are on KCHIP and it covers everything. It's the best insurance you could possibly get.

I remember when I was 13 yrs old, I was crying to my older brother about when the acne would go away on me.

I finally found something that helped. Tea Tree Oil. The Body Shop has a really nice face wash that helped. After I got the acne to start to go away, I kept at it, and now have soft, smooth skin. Neutrogena makes really good face washes. Or Clean and Clear. They also have an acne remover product that can be put on before bed and it will help with the clearing.
Good luck to your son and I remember the pain all too well.

red clover is good for all types of skin eruptions. It takes a while .. but it is a mild system cleanser.. and helps to rid the body of the nasty things that cause acne among other things.

I have to agree with Kath on the system cleansing. First, lots of water but no more than the recommended 8 glasses per day.

But the fact that hormones are involved is a fact too. I didn't have acne until menopause. Not horribly bad but I still had skin eruptions for a while. But I believe keeping the system clear will help tremendously.

I used EVERYTHING< proactive, differin, every version of retin-A ever imagainable I even did 2300 worth of laser treatment. Nothing helped. I now use cetaphil, plain old ordinary cetaphil, I stopped with all the RX's and everything else that promised results and started just using that and applying tea tree oil, which seemed way to strong so now I just add a couple drops to the bottle of cleanser and honestly my face is better than ever- I still breakout before my period but by that I mean one maybe two pimples. Nothing like the 20-30 at a time and no more cystic painful ugly acne at all. If it's really hot and I have on sunscreen and I have been sweating a lot I may get one or two.

Soda and food have absolutely nothing to do with acne. It's a fact. Eating well is best for your body all over but a chocolate bar does not cause acne. Environmental stuff however.... change pillowcases daily until it's under control- if not you are just putting your face done in the same oil and bacteria, avoid smoke, it can aggravate skin, camp fires are the worse for me, limit makeup use and be sure to ALWAYS ALWAYS wash it off before bed.

My DD & I use the Clean & Clear Advantage Acne Control Kit.