Fixation on spots and poor skin

Hi all

I have a 16 year old totally fixating on his skin. He has very few spots and has greatly improved skin after 6 months of antibiotics. He is struggling mentally and is in a really low place today. He hates himself and has started to spit. Is there anything I can do to help him? He has not touched dairy or sugar for 2 years and says his poor skin is ruining his life and makes him 'not normal' I feel inept and don't know what to do for the best. Feeling lonely and tearful

Parents
  • When I first started university (age 18), I also suffered from acne and it totally obliterated my self-esteem and formed some part of why I dropped out of my degree (connected with things like isolation and alienation which weren't helped by acne). After taking a course of antibiotics, I was then able to start to rebuild my confidence in other ways. I should say that I was on acne antibiotics for a long time just to keep my skin under control. It's hard to give any specific advice because what works for me might not work for your son because of all the other circumstances and variables that are different in his life.

    To this day, I use the Clinique facial soap to keep my skin under control. Thankfully, they have a version for oily skin such as mine which last for a surprisingly long time (the foam doesn't last very long but the soap bars do!). It's a bit of a gruelling process to find out what soaps work for you though.

    Could definitely look into dietary factors as Juniper has suggested but I know too little about this to be able to comment.

    -Sp. Oc.

Reply
  • When I first started university (age 18), I also suffered from acne and it totally obliterated my self-esteem and formed some part of why I dropped out of my degree (connected with things like isolation and alienation which weren't helped by acne). After taking a course of antibiotics, I was then able to start to rebuild my confidence in other ways. I should say that I was on acne antibiotics for a long time just to keep my skin under control. It's hard to give any specific advice because what works for me might not work for your son because of all the other circumstances and variables that are different in his life.

    To this day, I use the Clinique facial soap to keep my skin under control. Thankfully, they have a version for oily skin such as mine which last for a surprisingly long time (the foam doesn't last very long but the soap bars do!). It's a bit of a gruelling process to find out what soaps work for you though.

    Could definitely look into dietary factors as Juniper has suggested but I know too little about this to be able to comment.

    -Sp. Oc.

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