Teenage Acne

Supporting Your Teen Through Acne and Treatment

Acne in any form isn’t fun. When it’s your teen suffering from the common skin condition, it’s worse. From personal experience, as many parents had acne as teenagers and a rising number now deal with adult acne, parents know the teasing that accompanies teens with acne at every turn. Add in that teens and adults with acne suffer from low self esteem and the picture of acne is not a rite of passage that any parent wants their teen to experience.

Since acne can continue into adult years, it isn’t advisable to console your teenager with promises that they will outgrow the condition.  The majority of teens with acne that experience the condition in later years are girls as hormonal changes continue to occur with each menstrual cycle and pregnancy. With this in mind, the best thing a parent can do is to reinforce that acne does not define a person. Continue to listen, offer support and a hug whenever your teen needs it. The impact of acne on self esteem can be dramatic and it is important to reassure your teen that acne does not reflect upon their personal self worth.

There are many remedies for acne that range from the chemical sort to the natural acne remedies that are provided through the abundance of nature and her fauna. Chemical solutions to combat acne vary dramatically for teens and adults. As such, it is important that adult acne medications are not used indiscriminately among the two affected age groups. Natural acne remedies often do not share the difficulties of age restrictions that the chemical solutions experience. With this in mind, refrain from running to the drugstore to grab the first remedy on the shelf when you or your teen experiences an outbreak of acne. Do a little research and save yourself some money and heartache over the disasters that can occur when haste is the main objective.

Teenage acne often occurs as early as the preteen years and coincides with hormonal changes that begin puberty. Both boys and girls are affected by acne, although boys tend to have fewer problems with acne in the adult years.  Acne does not always occur just on the face and often shows up on the chest area as well as the back. Back acne treatments may be harder for your teen to medicate and manage on their own unless they are versed in the art of contortionism. Therefore, a parent can help control a teen’s acne by applying the remedy of choice to the affected area while spending some quality time with their teen. Since teens prefer to avoid parental concern much of the time, these stolen moments offer a time that you can talk to your teen and give advice in a conversational tone that doesn’t necessarily have to center on acne. These moments offer a way for you to ask questions about dating, school, friends, and other things your teen may have interests in, bringing you closer together as you learn more about your teen. (I use this time with my daughters to discuss their dreams as well. Afterward, they’ve even let me help with their hair, even though both still claim that I’m embarrassingly old fashioned.)

Many parents mistakenly list myths as reasons for acne and advise their teen to avoid certain foods and activities while experiencing an acne outbreak. While a healthy diet is a great goal to have as well as being able to offer multiple health benefit, there isn’t enough evidence scientifically yet to claim diet is a cure for acne. Chocolate and a myriad of other foods have never been proven to be a cause of acne, although it is a popular social belief with grounds in old wives’ tales. Along with food, generations past have tried rubbing alcohol, harsh scrubs, and abstinence from any sexual behavior as acne cures. However, none of these are true. Rubbing alcohol dries and damages the skin, making acne worse. Scrubs also create friction and irritation to the skin and increase acne. And, no research has ever linked sexual activity or the lack of it to acne in any way.

Acne is actually caused by subcutaneous oils over producing in the hair follicles, which become blocked. There is no known conclusive reason for this activity other than the connection between hormonal changes and heredity. This results in what is commonly known as blackheads and whiteheads. These can become inflamed, which produces what many call a zit (bacteria begins to create a small pus pocket). In some cases, the inflammation is only the beginning and infection sets in. Then, the sore is very tender and red with a pus filled center. Scarring can occur during the last two stages of acne with the most severe scarring occurring in the infected cysts that are extremely painful to the touch. It is not recommended to touch or “pop” the zit, since this can create more problems than it solves. Normal acne will clear itself. The Mayo Clinic confirms that the acne most often experienced by teens, except in extreme cases, is mild to moderate and doesn’t require medical treatment at all. Once cysts have formed, medical attention may be necessary to combat the infection with antibiotics.

No matter the decision on how to help your teen treat and combat acne, the most important things for a parent to do is to remain supportive and to become educated. Acne treatments have changed in the past few years as discoveries to long term effects of treatments we used 20 years ago are becoming available. Nature has changed, but her ingredients have remained the same, giving parents a choice that wasn’t encouraged in our own teenage years. More research has allowed us to realize the potential in the natural methods of acne treatment and the medicinal purposes of plants. Armed with this type of information, we can help our teens make informed and healthy choices that weren’t available to us with confidence.