products for teenage acne

aliasojo

I haven't read all of this thread but it rang a bell with me as my son had a bad time with acne. It affected his confidence to the point where he would truant sometimes.

Anyway, he tried EVERYTHING for years, including prescription drugs which did help a bit but not completely.

He read online somewhere one day that green veg were a source of something or other so he started eating steamed broccoli every day. We got so sick of it at every dinner time that we couldn't face it anymore but still made it for him. He was convinced it was helping him. His face did seem a bit better but I kind poo poohed the idea and thought it was coincidence.

He stopped eating it for a while and his face flared up again and got better when he restarted eating it again.

I now completely accept that eating broccoli every day has (and still is) helped him.

I dont know why. Although research has since discovered that broccoli can help men avoid prostate cancer problems so I suppose it's not too much of a leap to believe it could help against the humble plook.

It's very boring making broccoli almost every day for 2 years on the trot though. :rolleyes:

misscomickat

You're meant to go naked outside every day at lunch time? It's not really practical is it?

I had horrible acne in my teens. I spent the summer working in Spain and was outside in the sun quite a bit. Didn't make the slightest bit of difference.

Ted_Hutchinson

misscomickat wrote: »

You're meant to go naked outside every day at lunch time? It's not really practical is it?

No that is why the amount of Vit d3 needed to raise status to over 50ng 125nmol/l has to be so high. We get around 2000iu/daily from all sources at the moment.
Each 100iu/daily/d3 extra raises status by 2.5nmol/l therefore it's just simple maths to work out how much you need.
to reach 125nmol/l from the current level of 50nmol/l requires a further 75nmol/l raise and that on average takes 3000iu, going a little above that ensures everyone is on the safe side.

I had horrible acne in my teens. I spent the summer working in Spain and was outside in the sun quite a bit. Didn't make the slightest bit of difference.

But as I have pointed out a skin that has not become acclimatised to strong sunlight will not be as efficient as a skin that has become hardened to it. If you didn't raise your omega 3/vitd/magnesium status prior to going out to Spain your skin would not have it's natural means of photoprotection, and as I have already pointed out you may need to use more that one approach to succeed.

Just because you used one approach once does not invalidate the theory.

If you have more than one problem on your car/pc fixing just one of those problems may still leave you with a dud pc/car.

Ted_Hutchinson

aliasojo wrote: »

It's very boring making broccoli almost every day for 2 years on the trot though. :rolleyes:

Maybe if he had read this article he would have had a greater source of veggies to try.

However a pubmed search for broccoli acne doesn't throw up anything interesting. But that's not to say that increasing low carb veggies isn't going to help the problem. It will reduce the pro inflammatory inputs and so be some help. But why not go the whole hog and improve your natural anti inflammatory status at the same time.

For those who want an update on Vitamin D and the skin: an ancient friend, revisitedThe full text of this on online and reasonably accessible. If you have any problems PM me.

Penny-Pincher!!

My DD is 13 and she has spots/acne/blackheads for about a year. They just appeared overnight and she was horrified. She eats well and drinks loads of water etc. We tried EVERYTHING and they would ease a little then get bad again especially on her forehead, nose and chin.

About 4 months ago I bought her the new Freederm cream advertised on TV and its brilliant! You buy over the counter at a chemist and it is around £8 but this has lasted and she needs another tube. She washes her face twice a day then dabs any spots etc and it literally dries them out. Her face is almost clear now and the only time it flares a little is when its the wrong time of the month.

I would definitely recomend it and so would DD.

PP
xx

aliasojo

He ate all of those anyway Ted. It's just that the broccoli was much more intensive iyswim.

pennyocs

i have had spots not severe but enough to stop me wanting to go out and to get bullied about when at school since i was 12 im now 36 and have tried hundreds of different washes,creams,masks from the doctor nothing worked until i finally gave up trying.
i started to use cidal soap bar and superdrug tea tree wash and since then about 5 years ago my skin has been almost clear. i think that i gave into the fact my skin was never going to be perfect actually helped it clear,stress is a big factor.

beautyscientist

The active ingredient in Freederm is Vitamin D3. Ted has referred to this a dietary suplement. I have a feeling Ted will be along in a minute......

I am assuming from the way it is marketed and the claims it makes that Freederm is a proper licensed pharmaceutical and therefore has been clinically tested. If someone has a pack and could look at it, there should be a number preceded with PL on it somewhere.

Incidentally I noticed that someone was querying Ted's credentials. For what it is worth I am a scientist and I have worked on acne products - but do remember this is an internet forum and I could claim to be the Caliph of Bagdad if I wanted.

Ted_Hutchinson

beautyscientist wrote: »

The active ingredient in Freederm is Vitamin D3.

While you can buy a D3 ointment it isn't sold as Freederm. As far as I am aware the active ingredient in Freederm is Nicotinamide 4% w/w

Ted has referred to this a dietary suplement.

Apart from sun exposure (apart from this year) supplements are the most effective way of raising D3 status. You could of course invest in a sunbed with high UVB output tubes but when you can get adequate D3 for around 4p daily it's not really worth the time or hassle. When you raise your D3 status to optimal it does affect your skin. Most people find having optimal D3 status not only enables them to tan faster in the summer (I had a good tan by the end of April this year) but also improves photoprotection (I don't ever need to use sunscreens (not that we had enough strong sun this year to cause concern)

beautyscientist

Whoops! Quite right Ted. I meant vitamin B3, but even that wasn't quite right. Apologies to everyone. I should have checked before posting.