A teenage nightmare, but with a happy outcome
As we all know teenagers tackle many obstacles in life but one that is quite overwhelming is acne.
We can hide our arms, legs and other areas of the body but when it comes to the face, this is something that can spin a teenager into low self esteem and for some, anxiety.
Parents may notice that their teen is starting to get acne, and think it’ll run its course, as I did. But after months I realized this is more than just a couple of pimples, this was becoming more like cystic acne.
In the beginning, I was providing my son with essential oils, off the shelf cleansing products, face masks, and nothing was helping. I was trying to limit the dairy in his diet and explain to him about certain foods, but again this is butting heads against walls.
He stopped using hair conditioner to help reduce oil in his hair, but with a high amount of sport, this kid was not cutting a break on his outbreaks.
We headed to the doctors (much to my dismay) to see what could be done, and of course it was a referral to a dermatologist and a script for doxycycline to be filled until we could get into the skin specialist.
That’s when the breakthrough happened…
a friend of mine lives around the corner from a very smart lady, Hannah @beautybyhannah.lee and introduced my son to her and she produced a bag full of some quality cleansers, serums and sunscreen, plus a very funky green mask to apply for 20 mins whenever we needed.
This gave him a focus and he was on point using these products morning and night, this also switched the focus on his diet, we reduced dairy, included zinc and probiotics to help skin and gut health.
The inflammation was still present, so he went on one cycle of doxycycline (4 weeks) – a tablet in the morning, and a probiotic at night to help his gut health.
I also introduced him to blue/red light therapy LED (blue for bacteria and red for skin rejuvenation), we had a home mask he’d use each day for 20 mins and also had the help of Hannah’s high strength one a couple of times a week for a few weeks. (She would also extract the pimple’s in these sessions)
After a couple of months this all started to heal and his skin started to clear. The pimples stopped popping up. He was ready for the next step to clear up the scars that had appeared on his face from all the pimple picking. (He now knows not to use his finger nails to squeeze them, using a sterilized needle is more appropriate).
Hannah started the needling process on his face and due to teenage skin healing so quickly the treatment responded very well.
My son is so pleased with his skin, he is very consistent with cleansing protocol and looking after his skin.
I highly recommend seeing a skin specialist that offers a variety of options to help heal your skin. We don’t always have to revert to high dose medication. Other alternative methods such as light therapy, diet, lifestyle, cleansing regimes, all go to helping teens battle the acne years.
So much of our food, environmental toxins and off the shelf products still have ingredients that can aggravate our teenagers sensitive skin.
I am so pleased with my sons current skin health and Hannah’s expertise has been appreciated. And we never had to see the dermatologist.
