Best route for a 20 year old girl to treat her Acne

[uhuh]

Sheryl is right,  but 20yo village girls are usually very reluctant to see a doctor for acne.

Here is what she can do herself:

 

1. Stop damaging your skin by putting all kinds of chemicals on it.

NO cosmetics

NO make-up

NO whitening products

NO scented soaps and NOTHING that "smells good". Use eg Seba Med soap (widely available, eg BigC) and water,  nothing else may touch your skin. Don't use liquid soaps, use a bar of soap (less preservatives).

NO SmoothE

NO cheap cosmetics from the night market

NO anti-acne products from 7/11

NO means zero, zilch, absolutely nothing - not just a little but less than before. If she cannot do this,  no need to waste money on doctors and medication. And she has to do this for many months,  if possible forever. 

Unfortunately, this will probably be impossible for her. Then just forget about it. 

Are there other harmful things that can be avoided? I know girls who always get acne in the village and never in Bangkok,  never could figure out the reason. 

 

2. Don't press out the pimples.  Not by yourself,  not by your friend, not by your grandma. Not with fingers,  not with tools.

 

3. Panoxyl (Benzoylperoxide) 2.5% after washing the face in the evening,  not a lot, just a little bit. Follow the instructions. Shop around, it is available in many pharmacies, maybe 200 baht. 

Differin afterwards. Follow the instructions. About 420 baht in most pharmacies. 

Clindalin gel 3 times daily only on fresh, red pimples. Less than 100 baht in most pharmacies.

 

4. The pill as described by others, it often helps but many girls don't like this. 

 

5. If no improvement after 1-2 months see a doctor according to Sheryl's advice. He might prescribe oral antibiotics, neither you nor the girl sound like she could do this by herself.

 

[torturedsole]

Excellent OP and equally positive responses.

 

I've suffered from acne / spots / infections since my mid-teens and I'm now early 50s and nothing much ever changed.  I don't get so depressed about it now but a big deal for a youngster.  

 

I wish the young lady well.  

[bwpage3]

last place to trust any medical advice. 

A professional dermatologist can make the correct diagnosis and prescription.

our friends daughter went to see a dermatologist here in the US and her prescription cost was US $600 a month.

After 4 months completely clear

[bbi1]

On 6/23/2020 at 2:44 PM, BritManToo said:

Contraceptive pill usually helps, and is fairly cheap (or free).

Where can Thai people get the pill for free? All brands of it or just one brand?

[BritManToo]

2 minutes ago, bbi1 said:

Where can Thai people get the pill for free? All brands of it or just one brand?

Hospital, women's clinic, Red Cross, hooker welfare NGOs .....

[BritManToo]

On 6/24/2020 at 3:30 AM, bwpage3 said:

last place to trust any medical advice. 
A professional dermatologist can make the correct diagnosis and prescription.
our friends daughter went to see a dermatologist here in the US and her prescription cost was US $600 a month.
After 4 months completely clear

Not really helpful as the OP doesn't have $2400 or the air fare to visit a doctor in the US.

Why not find a forum more local to troll.

Edited June 25, 2020 by BritManToo

[AlfHuy]

Try pure Aloe Vera, mixed with honey.

[bwpage3]

10 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Not really helpful as the OP doesn't have $2400 or the air fare to visit a doctor in the US.

Why not find a forum more local to troll.

What's helpful to know, is there is a REAL cure in the form of a doctors prescription.

 

Same prescription is probably MUCH cheaper in Thailand.

 

You can spend all you want on foolish ideas as mentioned in this post and never cure it, or you can go to the professionals for a real cure.

 

A Thai doctor can write the same prescription.

 

You should have some experience before calling someone a troll.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bender Rodriguez]

On 6/23/2020 at 5:33 PM, how241 said:

My Thai lady,  who had similar acne,  switched from the strong Thai birth control pills to 'Yasmin' brand  and this permanently cleared it up after a few months.  'Yasmin' cost more than Thai brand birth control pills but it was worth it. I think the Thai brands are too strong. 

I am the alternative guy on this forum

 

Yasmin, just heard something from my expert

 

google

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=yasmin+lawsuit

 

Bayer has announced that the giant pharmaceutical manufacturer has paid out $142 million in the first round of Yasmin lawsuits

 

 

[uhuh]

3 hours ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

I am the alternative guy on this forum

 

Yasmin, just heard something from my expert

 

google

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=yasmin+lawsuit

 

Bayer has announced that the giant pharmaceutical manufacturer has paid out $142 million in the first round of Yasmin lawsuits

 

 

Yasmin is expensive because it's new.

It's designed so that the woman should not put on weight when talking the pill, which usually happens with the older pills.  

It does have about 3 times more thromboembolic complications than first generation pills. Young perfectly healthy women do die from the pill - even though the chance is about as big as winning the lottery. 

 

The lawsuits, of course,  are very American.

[how241]

If you read and believe every side effect from every pill you would never take anything.  All have side effects BUT  most people don't get the majority of listed side effects. Life is a gamble. 

[Bender Rodriguez]

2 minutes ago, how241 said:

If you read and believe every side effect from every pill you would never take anything.  All have side effects BUT  most people don't get the majority of listed side effects. Life is a gamble. 

the new normal is that every human should be addicted to one, two, five, twelve pills

 

to function normally right ?

 

the best is PREVENTION so you don't need any

 

the craziness of Md's prescribing insulin injections and other pills tills to lower blood sugar level in patients, in stead of telling them :   your cells are full of sugar, you are sugar intolerant,  injecting insulin will make you FAT as your body has no choice....   

 

most type 2 diabetics could stop medication, if they fasted ONCE for 10-14 days

 

but most of them, even with 40 kg belly fat hanging, think they will die if they skip 1 meal

[Sheryl]

Please stay on topic

[WaveHunter]

I had severe acne in my teens.  Fortunately I had a really good and very wise family doctor.  After querying me on my diet (which was horrible, even by teen standards) he told me to quit eating junk food, especially sugar based foods.  If your friend's daughter works at 7-11, I would guess she eats a lot of what's sold in the store which is almost entirely junk food.

 

I had a hard time giving up all the junky stuff I was eating though I tried.  In retrospect, my doctor was quite ahead of his time.  It's now been proven that a poor diet (excessive carbohydrates, especially the processed snack type foods) wreak havoc on hormonal balance which in turn effects skin (especially during the developmental teen years) in the form of advanced glycation end-products (AGE's).

 

In addition, he prescribed tretinoin gel (Retin-A).  I used it as prescribed religiously (and I also used a soap that he recommended called Cetaphil.  After abut 6 months there was a significant improvement, and I mean a VERY significant improvement!  Now I don't know for sure if it was the change in diet, the tretinoin, or the soap, or all three that were responsible, but my acne was under control.

 

In retrospect, I think the Tretinoin probably had the biggest effect.  Unfortunately it is not cheap.  Retin-A is really the only topical treatment that is clinically proven to be effective against acne.  There is one other more economical product called Adapalene (Differin) that a lot of dermatologist seem very positive about (though there are not yet many clinical studies out on it yet) that might also be effective, and the lower strength versions can be purchased over the counter (saw it on Lazada).

 

Even though my acne years are behind me now, years of outdoor sports and activities have seriously aged my skin so I still use Retin-A and it does a good job as an anti-aging regime.  My prescription was for the strongest preparation (which is 0.01%) and I use the "time-released" version the gel referred to as "microsphere".  It is not inexpensive.  The regular gel or cream is less costly, but still not cheap.  Efficacy is nearly the same IMO.  The pharmacy I purchase from is online and my cost is around $10 USD for 15g tubes; the regular Retin-A goes for around $7.50 USD for a 20g tube.  While kind of pricey, you really use very little per application; a pea sized drab is all it takes, applied nightly before bedtime. 

 

Anyway, my advice: start out by modifying diet (cut processed junky food entirely and replace unhealthy carbs with healthy fats), use a gentle cleansing soap like Cetaphil, and if it can be afforded, Retin-A, and if not give Differen a try.  For a teen (especially a girl), acne can seem like the end of the world.  I hope what I'v said is of some help.

Edited August 22, 2020 by WaveHunter

[Bender Rodriguez]

On 6/26/2020 at 3:40 PM, how241 said:

If you read and believe every side effect from every pill you would never take anything.  All have side effects BUT  most people don't get the majority of listed side effects. Life is a gamble. 

if the REAL cause if junk food, not one pill will fix that

 

I prefer to be on ZERO chemical pills if the ROOT cause is known, it takes some effort and most people just don't care to even try, their problem

 

skipping breakfast (and or lunch) might be a good beginning for a better life (lower insulin -> causing acne, and others)