My D bought a few star-shaped acne patches when she wanted to try something before she was in a wedding party. They were fairly inexpensive and it made her feel she was doing SOMETHING for little blemishes that popped up. They came in a box and I think she bought them online or at pharmacy. She wore them at bedtime and around the house.
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I do see kids wearing these star stickers at school. I like the self-confidence it projects. At first, I thought it was just a weird teen fad to wear star stickers, and didn’t realize they were medical in nature!
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Both of my kids did Accutane after all else failed. Both did it when they were about 21 or 22. Both regretted waiting so long. For my son, it was really affecting his mental health as it was very severe on his back. He still has horrendous scars. It was so bad that the doctor used him for before and after photos.
Be the squeaky wheel. A loud squeeky wheel.
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In my experience (data point of one) accutane makes the face worse initially before it will look better. Patchy dry red flaking…it is not a tried and true solution for quick results. And definitely not the best treatment for a kid in a hurry since the first two months yield a rosacea looking face!
It’s one thing to advocate for your kid. It’s another to insist on a treatment the physician is reluctant to prescribe due to side effects…
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I didn’t insist on anything my son didn’t want, and to be clear, all else had failed and it was very severe. The insistence came more from dealing with the insurance company and the doctor’s office. If the doctor had ultimately refused, my son would have found a different dermatologist.
I view acne as more than just a few pimples. There isn’t really a quick fix.
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Acne is a condition that needs to be managed, and managed well, it can seem to be pretty minor. And for many, while it’s not being managed, it can be truly dismaying.
Fwiw, I had a friend who was making a living as an actor, and I recall a few times when she rushed off to the dermatologist to get a newly appeared pimple "disappeared " before an audtion. Her skin was enviably clear and beautiful most of the time. But if this is what OP is pursuing – elimination of one or two blemishes on otherwise flawless skin, yes – it can happen.
A whole skin care regime around chronic acne, no.
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The original poster was simply looking for a quick way to treat a couple of cystic acne lesions, which are notoriously difficult to shrink without an injection. Her daughter is about to go through sorority rush—an already stressful experience—so she hoped for a fast solution.
I’ve personally dealt with cystic acne once or twice a year for about 20 years, well into my 50s, even though I never had acne growing up. Cystic acne is a very different type of acne, and a steroid injection can dramatically reduce a cyst almost overnight. Without treatment, these lesions can remain painful and unsightly for weeks.
In practice, doctors typically use a very low-dose mixture—about a 10:1 dilution of saline to triamcinolone—with each injection being only 0.01 to 0.05 ml. This is not the kind of high-dose steroid injection that people often worry about; it’s a small, localized treatment with excellent results.
I hope the OP is able to get a dermatology appointment quickly. The wait time for a dermatology appointment here is three months. Luckily, I have an MD husband who can do it for me as needed.
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Good news, everybody! She went to her telehealth appointment on Monday. Although I was sitting in the room out of sight, she successfully advocated for herself and got the right results. This is huge for her since she wants to be sweet and pretend everything is okay to everyone but her mom and dad! She got antibiotics (doxycycline) prescribed–when she first encountered a really bad patch a few years ago, the antibiotics worked when the topicals had failed. Hopefully, we won’t even get into spironolactone and accutane (or even the injections). Many thanks for all of your support, and I hope those of you with kids (or yourselves) going through the same or worse get great results from the doctors.
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Good for you D!
My SisIL often has prescribed doxycycline for acne as a dermatologist and it does work for mild acne, which S has sometimes been plagued with.
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