My 14 year old son has acne; is it his age or should I take him to see a dr?

[samanthajane269]

Hi I have a 14 year old son (15 in October) he has acne on his face, is it his age/hormones etc? At what point should I take him to the doctor to get treatment?  I worry about it because I am 31 and have suffered with acne since the age of 10 but I did not start to get any treatment for it till I was 16. I was just told it was my age and hormones and it will all settle once puberty was done with. Since then I have had oral antibiotics, topical antibiotics, benzoyl peroxide and nothing really has seemed to work.I am currently on a 6 month course of oral antibiotics and benzoyl peroxide cream and I wash with a benzoyl peroxide face wash. My son also uses the face wash, which seems to do nothing for him.
I would hate to leave it too late for treatment and for him to suffer like I have for the next 16 years (so far!)
Any advice given would be greatly appreciated.
Sam

[tracey123]

Hi My son is 17 and was getting pretty bad acne. He started on the benzoyl peroxide wash and he still seemed to be breaking out often. Then the doctor put him on minocycline oral antiobiotics once a day and then he uses clyndamycin gel at night. His face looks a lot better. You should take him to a dermotologist and she might be able to get him on a stronger topical treatment that might help much better then just benzoyl peroxide. I also suffer from acne as an adult and I am also on doxycycline and metrogel for my topical it seems to be working pretty well. It can't hurt for him to try and get in resolved now so he doesn't have scars from it as an adult. Hope this helps

[samanthajane269]

Thanks very much for you post, it's nice to know that I'm not the only one this situation.  I'll take him to the dermatologist as soon as I can.