Well over 80% of the UK population will suffer from acne at some point in their lives, for teens the condition can seem so serious that it leads to low confidence, low self esteem, shyness and even depression.

In light of this, the recently founded Acne Academy has undertaken the largest survey of its kind in the UK to provide a valuable insight into just how teenagers with acne are perceived by adults and their peers.   The results provide a valuable insight in to the extent to which teenagers with acne are negatively perceived and aims to highlight the long term psychological impact acne can have if it is not managed properly.

But it seems the preoccupation with social media could be making the issue of acne so much worse for today’s teenagers than previous generations as teens obsess over photos like never before and the research unveils some staggering lengths teenagers would go to to get rid of their acne forever.

But are parents taking these concerns seriously? The actual reality of how a teenager feels and how a parent thinks they feel may be very different. Many parents may assume it is just something they’ll ‘grow out of’ yet this might not be the case. Consequently, it is especially important to recognise the signs if your teen is not coping well with acne worries; acne is a very common problem that can cause a great deal of distress, but the long- term consequences that can result from it, including scarring and confidence issues, need consideration also.

Are you worried about your teenager? Are you concerned about their condition? Log onto our live show where Dr Hilary Jones from The Acne Academy and parenting expert Judy Reith will be on hand to answer all your questions. They will be joined by an acne sufferer herself.

Dr Hilary Jones, Parenting Expert Judy Reith and an acne sufferer is joining us live online to discuss the issue of acne and talk about The Acne Academy, which has been set up to help teens and their parents cope with the condition.

For more information visit www.acneacademy.org  

H: Jayne Constantinis, host

A: Dr Hilary Jones

B: Judy Reith, parenting expert

C: Isabelle Mason, model and acne sufferer

H: We all know that being a teenager can be a difficult time, and for parents too it can be equally challenging. But stay watching because help is at hand.

Titles

H: Hello and welcome to the Parenting Show I’m Jayne Constantinis. Now then with raging hormones we all know teenage life can be a tough experience. In fact preoccupation and unhappiness in their appearance has become so prevalent that over a million of our nation’s teenagers are suffering from depression because of what they perceive as flaws with their appearance. A significant factor is of course the subject of acne and skin problems. Well just how informed are parents of the situation? Joining me today to discuss this is parenting expert Judy Reith, Dr Hilary Jones and model and former – we should say former – acne sufferer – Isabelle Mason, welcome all of you, thank you for coming in. Coming up on the show today, understanding the modern day teenager. Emotional support and practical advice for supporting our teens and of course we’ll tackle all of your questions live. So if you do want to put a question to us here in the studio then type it in the box on your screen and send it to us with your name of course and we’ll get through as many as we can during the course of the show, and if you’re Tweeting then please use the #Studiotalktv. Now let’s begin if we may by looking at this research because the findings are rather worrying aren’t they? Tell us about that Dr Hilary?

A: Well the survey was the biggest of its kind in the UK and they showed that up to 25% of teenagers with acne feel clinically depressed. Their self-esteem is low, their confidence is shot, they avoid social networking and one in two of them said that they’d be prepared to forgo Face book altogether for a year if they could get rid of their acne full-time. They also said that it was an issue with bullying at school, they felt less likely to get a job in the future, less likely to form a relationship with somebody, and more likely to be excluded on a – from society on an ongoing basis. They were also fearful about the physical effects of scarring that could last life-long. So it’s a major issue, not just physically but psychologically as well

H: Pretty depressing reading. Judy do you think parents are aware of what their teenagers are going through?

B: Well what this survey showed is that parents are aware but the teenagers are twice as aware, and it is quite sad that parents are not taking it seriously and there is that prevailing thought that what their view is that oh get over it, you’ll grow out of it, I got over it – that kind of thing, and that’s not very helpful to teenagers who are going through so many pressures in their life at this point. Everything from will I get a boyfriend or girlfriend, will I pass my exams, what will I do with my life? And the last thing they need is unsupportive parents when it comes to their appearance

H: Isabelle are there echoes in the research of what you went through? Tell us about your experience

C: Yes well I was 19 when my acne first started. I’d always had clear skin and then all of a sudden got spots and you know it completely changed me as a person and I wasn’t sociable I didn’t want to go out, I was constantly thinking it was what I ate which obviously isn’t true, and just completely changed the way I was as a person. I’m not confident luckily, I’ve got no scarring and it just goes to show if you go and you know get the right medication it sorts itself out

H: And how were your parents? Did you think at the time they were supportive and were they taking it seriously?

C: Yes I mean my mum was incredibly supportive, she knew it was really affecting me, but I mean I couldn’t even look my mum in the eye when I had my bad skin because I thought she was going to look at me and think oh no, you know, all those spots. But luckily you know she was right behind me and helped me get the treatment that I needed

H: We’ll come back to how you got treatment and so on in a minute but I just want to ask Dr Hilary to dispel the myths for us. Tell us what acne is, what actually causes it? You’ve got an illustrative slide up there for us

A: I’ve got a slide here showing fairly severe acne, not just the redness and the spots that are active below the ear there but in front of the ear some quite deep pits and scars from previous spots, and this is a lifelong condition of this boy’s skin. There’s clearly you know scarring there which is going to last a long time and probably be quite distressing for him, even the most hardened person psychologically with the best self-esteem is going to be affected by that

H: Is that scarring caused by something that he’s done to try to get rid of the spots?

A: No, not at all

H: It’s perfectly natural?

A: He’s blameless; there is no truth in the fact that what you eat causes acne. This myth, old wives’ tale that if you eat greasy food or if you eat fizzy drinks and chocolate that that’s going to cause it, that’s a myth. It’s not true. Nor is it true that the people who get acne don’t wash, it’s nothing to do with hygiene either, it’s just constitutionally what your skin is like, and the fact that when you go through puberty testosterone kicks in and makes you produce more of the oil that your skin needs as a lubricant. This is a less severe form of acne with the redness and the white spots and the blackheads that are classic in this condition, and unless that’s treated it could get worse and lead to some scarring and pitting, otherwise it’s just going to be an unsightly skin condition that’s probably going to disappear in that person sort of late teenage years or early 20s

H: And should you leave them alone?

A: No you should get it treated

H: No what I mean is, sorry, picking the spots, is that really bad?

A: Well it actually depends. It can be harmful if the spot is not ripe and you try to squeeze it when it’s not ready to, you just push the infected material deeper into the skin and causing a redness and more likely, you’re more likely to get scarring, so you need to draw the oil away by taking off the top layer of skin with the treatments and with the correct treatment we know that the vast majority of people can get better

H: So Judy what’s your advice to parents then about how to deal with this issue? Should they be initiating conversations with the teenagers or waiting for them to come – how – because you’re walking on eggshells with teenagers a lot of the time aren’t you?

B: You really are yes

H: The door slamming and everything

B: Well you’ve hit on a great point, I think try and get your relationship into a really good place with your teenager in the first place, and that can be tricky but see if you can get alongside them. I’m a great believer in what I call sideways conversations which is when you can get your teenager to open up a bit, and you’ll know when that is. It might be a car journey, it might be watching telly together but it might be too much for a teenager if you sit down with them and say come on let’s –

H: Yes let’s chat about –

B: Talk about those spots then!

H: Yes

B: It’s the last thing for many teenagers, but it might be that you could leave literature lying around or it could be that the conversation does come up and I would say to parents you might put your foot in it but it’s better to have a go, and if your intention is really positive and you’re saying look this might be hard for you, I remember when I had spots too. But there’s some amazing things, I’ve found some information, would you like to have a look, do you want me to make you an appointment? You decide, but I’m here as your parent and I want to help you with this. You let me know what’s the best way I can help you

H: And the website that we’re going to be suggesting people go to is the acneacademy.org, acneacademy.org where there’s lots of really information for parents and sufferers. Isabelle, how did did you come then to get clearly some very effective treatment? Did you say let’s go to the GP, did your mum say come on let’s go?

C: It was kind of me that was asking to go really for a while and I first went to my GP and tried different things, it took a few go’s before I found the right medication, I was transferred to a specialist as well, and eventually got the right medication which cured it, but it was purely me saying to my mum let’s go, let’s go but I think you know rather than parents just sort of say not – tread on eggshells, that’s just a – do it and encourage them to go

H: And how long did it take to clear up once you did have the right medication? It’s hard to believe that you ever had a single spot in your life

C: I think I was really lucky because I, you know, got it sorted quite quickly, I’ve not got any scarring or anything which is why I suppose it was important to make sure you do something about it, but yes I know I’m very, very grateful

H: And you’re smiling which presumably you weren’t doing before?

C: Oh not at all, I’d walk round, burst into tears all the time, think everyone was looking at me, thinking oh look at that dirty, horrible face and spots and you know even if it’s not the first thing that they saw, that’s what I thought they were looking at straight away

H: So Dr Hilary what kinds of treatments are available?

A: Well there are many and listening to Isabelle it’s really interesting, I think girls are much more likely to go to the doctor than boys because they are in the – they’re used to talking about beauty products and they see this as a fashion thing, as a beauty thing, much more than boys do and if you look at films all the villains that are portrayed often have pot mark faces – Vinnie Jones, Tommy Lee Jones – not all named Jones but you know they are the two that spring to mind. So we have this stigma attached to acne. As far as treatments are concerned, there are the over-the-counter remedies of which there are many

H: And do they work, some of them?

A: Some will work for mild to moderate acne, some will be applied too much too often, on the basis that teenagers think that if a little works a lot will work a lot better, it’s not always that case, you can get side-effects of reddening of the skin. So if they haven’t worked and it’s worth trying them first, then I would encourage people to go and see a specialist, a GP or a dermatologist if it’s really bad because the treatments that we have available on prescription are more potent and much more effective

H: Yes. Well great to hear that help is at hand and in a few moments we’re going to tackle the questions that are coming in live, so stay with us

Break

H: So we’re talking about teenagers and those who suffer from spots and acne and the psychological effect that it can have on them, and we’re – since we’ve been on air we’ve got lots of questions in so let’s tackle some of those. Jane from Suffolk says “my daughter’s starting her GCSEs and is feeling really low as all her friends are starting to get boyfriends and she says that she’s being teased for her problem skin. We’ve tried Clearasil and other over-the-counter products – where can we go for stronger solutions?” that must be a very typical case. First of all what can the mum do to help her psychologically?

B: Well I think it’s great that her mum is taking care here, it’s a real act of care to want to support her daughter and not just try and minimise what her daughter’s going through, so well done to that mum first of all, and just to be open and to listen . I’m a big fan of parents listening more than they’re talking, so if her daughter does want to talk about it, just sit there be kind and engage in what her daughter is saying, and support her, and if she wants to go to the doctor with her, fantastic, she might want to help with extra washing products, all sorts of things, but what’s coming across is an interested mum and I think that’s a really great thing

H: And this idea that it’s a very important time in her life, others getting boyfriends and so on, I mean it couldn’t come at a worse time could it?

A: Absolutely but there’s nothing we could do about that, but what she could do now is go and see the GP and say that what she’s tried already so that they can go onto the next step and the doctor needs to say look this will get better, we will get this better, concentrate on your exams, I’ll concentrate on your skin, let me take the worry off you for the skin, give it a few months, don’t be too impatient with it but I’ll get it right for you. And they can go step-by-step and one thing at a time

H: I think this is a really important message because I must say my perception is you just have to live through it

A: And that’s absolutely wrong

H: And wait for it to come out, and that is wrong

A: No you don’t because you don’t want the damage that it causes

H: Yes

A: You know you can go from this and this is Isabelle – sorry this is not Isabelle at all – this is Isabelle, it’s not in focus terribly, you can see the redness and the soreness as her skin was and very brave of you to show us the before pictures, because that’s the after picture and I think it looks gorgeous, if I may say so

H: No shortage of boyfriends now!

A: Absolutely

H: And we’ve got another question here from Corrinne, again calling about her son, “my son’s 17, has had acne since he was 13, he’s tried 3 different types of oral antibiotics and different types of lotion prescribed by the doctor interestingly, what is the best treatment?” Obviously you haven’t seen him so you can’t really say but it’s severely affecting his teenage years. That’s a long time to be suffering isn’t it?

A: Sounds like he’s had the antibiotic lotions and the antibiotic tablets and capsules on a rotational basis which is fine, but antibiotics aren’t the be all and end all here. The bacteria that make acne worse only make it worse, they don’t cause it. It’s caused by the testosterone and the oil is produced in increasing amounts, so the next step is to use perhaps a traternoin, which is a preparation that can take the outer layers of skin away, exfoliate those outer layers opening up the pores and not allowing the bacteria in so much, so that combined with something like benzyl peroxide in combination could be a very effective treatment for him. So what I’m saying is that might be the best treatment, not necessarily but it might be the next step after the antibiotics have been tried

H: And of course boys have the added problem of starting to shave

A: Sure, sure

H: Which must make it even more difficult for them to deal with

A: Well often it’s getting in the way because you’re taking the tops off any spots you’ve already got but equally it can help, because you’re almost exfoliating when you shave, so for some people that can paradoxically help

H: Ah interesting, yes. Now here’s an interesting one from David – “my wife and I have just had a baby who’s one month old. A recent trip to the doctor found the baby has acne. Is that normal?”

A: No won’t be acne, it will be either milia which are tiny little white spots that babies develop quite commonly and they’ll grow out of, or it’s a form of eczema and you can get an oily eczema in children, but it’s similar, it looks very similar to acne but it actually it isn’t true acne

H: Ah interesting

A: because it’s nothing to do with testosterone there, not in a little baby

H: Because it is related to hormonal

A: It’s similar

H: Change

A: You get little whiteheads

H: That produces the extra sebum. Just tell us about this website now

A: Sure

H: The acne academy – what is that offering for sufferers?

A: We wanted to create a website that was reliable, independent, impartial, practical, that could give people a run-down of various treatments available and a kind of check list and how to be supported psychologically. So a group of independent healthcare professionals got together, dermatologists, specialist nurses, GPS and pharmacists and they’ve created this website that anybody can go to – it’s called acneacademy.org and it’s well worth a visit

H: And good for teenagers who are feeling so vulnerable and so exposed to be able to look at that quietly in their bedroom and read all about it and hopefully dispel all those myths

A: Absolutely

B: And for parents too, it’s a parent resource

H: Fantastic. I’m afraid sadly we’re out of time. Thank you very much for coming in to talk to us, really interesting subject. I hope we’ve answered some of your questions but if not do go to acneacademy.org. Thanks for joining us. Bye bye