Acne and older teen

[Skin trouble]

Hi
Just wanted to post anon for privacy reasons
My ds is 19 and is suffering with acne since earlier teens , gp referred him to dermatologist for roaccutane but my ds wont take it. Dermatologist spoke to him and ds said hes worried it can affect testertone and worried it could affect fertility down the line and also from reading all the negative news online about it.
His skin isnt particularly very bad, but it flairs up and he does have white pus spots on his face.
The dermatologist prescribed some other antibiotics but its not doing enough.
He really needs to take the roaccutane but won't and no matter what stories i tell him it doesnt matter.
Ive told him if hes not going to take it then hes just going to have to get on with it.

But its ruling his life. His skin is a major problem for him. Its holding him back. He says hes only happy when hes skin is good and he says that been about 10 days in the whole year. Im worried for his mental health but otherwise he does seem ok, i think.
But he wont get a part time job, he doesnt socialise, he spends his time at home working out and reading.
He hids away from people because of his skin.
He will back in college soon but doesnt interact with anyone because of his skin. He missed an assignment as it was a video one because of his skin and cancelled out of activities on holidays too.

Im at a loss what to do, but he wont admit up to this and i dont want to lay it all out in one go and totally overwhelm him.

Any advise please.
Thanks.

[carina]

I was doing some research for DD last week, who has bad facial acne.She has tried various other options and we were looking at roaccutane as well, but she is very hesitant to take it also.
I came across another medicine called Lymecline and will make an appointment with the doctor next week to see if that is an option for her.
https://www.zavamed.com/ie/lymecycline.html

There is a thread on here which was posted or updated not too long ago on roaccutane if you do a search.

[Apple]

God I’d find that incredibly frustrating to watch! Could your gp or someone else his age do a better job of convincing him?

[Sep08]

My DD's acne improved greatly with skin peels and LED light therapy in a beauticians that specialises in skin care. She also has an excellent skincare routine which she is very good to stick to.
She had quite severe acne. She would still get outbreaks but they are stress and hormone related.

Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk

[Cinquecento]

Why did he agree to visit a dermatologist if he won’t go with their advice? They are the experts, not randomers on Google who haven’t a notion. I’d find that really frustrating too and I wouldn’t be listening to moaning if he won’t follow advice given.

[Skin trouble]

Yeah i know. He went to see if they would do bloods to see whats causing the acne which they did without asking. He is liw is vitamin d too but wont even take a bloody vitamin.
They prescribed him antibiotics which helped a bit but nor enough and then he stopped taking for a few days by accident at holiday time and he thought hmit improved so stopped taking it all together and restarted his face wash he was meant to be using all the time and had a big flare up.
He has restarted the rest of the pack of the antibiotic he has but they are not getting him to a stage he is comfortable with his skin.
Its holding him back from everything and he is just waiting for his skin to improve before he will do xyz.

He watches too much things on line and is skeptical of everything. Im not sure whether it a mental health issue either or his skin is causing him to hold backbor visa versa.

Im not sure what else to do. Do i just leave him to it or what.

[Gerbera]

There are of course side effects to the medicine & some quite serious ones too. So his concern is not without foundation & maybe he's just scared? My DS was stubborn & nervous at first too & so he tried a year of antibiotics first. It didn't help enough so he agreed to the Roaccutane. He's had some hard times on it & I check in regularly to see if the bad is outweighing the good results, it hasn't so far.


Would it help him to read the full patient information leaflet? It gives the statistics of how rare or not each side effect is, they are super rare. Also, tell him to look up Isotretinoin, that's the name of the medicine now, I think they discontinued Roaccutane & any information he has might be out of date. The other thing is, could you find any peers that are on it? A friend of DS is on it & that really helped DS through the hard parts, because he could see how well it worked for his friend.

It's prescribed on a month by month basis with blood tests & monitoring so he can be assured too that he will be under a watchful eye.

Surely he can see it's not right to be limiting his life in such a drastic way when there's a pretty good solution, albeit not perfect. Maybe listen to his concerns, no matter how mad they might seem & break them down with him, see if you can help debunk them. He is only half living & it's such a shame.

[callso]

We are one week in (DS is 17) on Roaccutane, so I can't comment yet on the side effects. But I do know the impact the Acne is having on his confidence so we are prepared to give this a try - even if there are side effects.
Some good suggestions - including talking to someone who has taken the drug first hand might help. Hope he gets on a path to resolving it soon

[honeybell]

Many dermotologists perscribe it for their own kids and they would be well aware of the extent of side effects. It can be stopped right away if there are problems. Self esteem can be harmed for life by acne. My DD found it effective.

[Mrs chic]

@skintrouble just read your original post. If your DS is in college he should get an appointment with the college Doctor in the student health centre.Its possibly free but also he needs the college to know how his skin is affecting his studies.
I'm sure they will help support him.
My 18 year old had cleared his acne but now after exams he has 2 spots . He is really angry and nasty to us all. I just wish it would clear fully.

[HeyJude]

Where is he getting his information? A quick Google shows that a month off it and any possible side effects (and they are talking foetus,not the lack of ability to make one) are gone?

Does he take other medications, even a paracetamol? Because everything has side effects and everything has that 1 in a million side effect.

He's 19 so an adult and sounds a little immature, in that he's had professional advice, but won't take it, is avoiding potential partners because of his condition but is magically expecting a solution to be conjured up.

I would be quite straight with him(unless underlying issues) and tell him straight out that he's had advice and been offered a solution, and that there's no point in worrying about fertility if he's never going to meet someone anyway due to his skin.

[honeybell]

Tell him if he starts it and it doesn't agree with him he can stop. The stuff online is so misleading. Like I said, doctors give it to their own kids. Could he be subconsciously using acne as an reason for deeper anxiety? That's prob a stretch but maybe worth a consideration.

[SarahBC]

Wonder would a little bit of counselling help him? Might deal with the associated self esteem issues and also weighing up treatment options and about taking control. Might be no harm. Maybe the college have a counselling service.