01:12 pp: it is absolutely not true that good skin is "all about good hygiene" and you're insulting lots of people by saying that. My DD washed her face religiously but still needed accutane. It worked beautifully, by the way.

Personal hygiene is 90% of it. We're financially secure, take our kids to the dermatologist, have good healthcare insurance, buy prescription medicines, and we nag, but sometimes they don't wash they're faces before going to bed at night.

When their personal hygiene is good their complexions are also good; nice and clear. However, if they play sports and then don't wash until they shower before going to school the next morning the skin on their faces and backs begin looking like bloody war zones. I nag, but they just don't get it. You'd think if not their parents then peer pressure would influence them, but it doesn't. Clear skin is all about good hygiene several times each day, not just a quick shower in the morning before school.

It's not about money, it's about common sense and sometimes my kids don't seem to have any.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yesterday I was at an event at the most expensive private school in my area (not in DC and not my child’s school) and noticed that none of the tweens or teenagers had any acne. 195 boys & girls from 11-17 years old and not a pimple in sight and no noticeable cover-up on the girls. At my child's public school most kids have some sort of acne, including him. Are the medical treatments really that effective now for those that can afford the best. Were they that good 20-30 years ago and it just wasn’t done in my middle-class social circle? Also, we live in a smaller community, not really suggesting inbreeding (haha) but could it just be cream of the crop genes?

Maybe public verses private. Plenty of teens with acne at Longfellow and McLean High School.

It's not a public vs private school thing. it depends on whether parents are invested in eliminating acne. Some aren't. My parents took my brother to a dermatologist and refused (I asked) to do the same for me. We were both in private schools. I had terrible cystic acne, too.

Why did they refuse to take you but did take your brother?

Anonymous wrote:Roche pulled Accutane from the US in 2009 but is still selling it elsewhere. Generic isotretinoin is available by prescription in the US.

Yikes, really?! I took it in the mid to late 90s. Is there anything I should know about?

Anonymous wrote:I loved Accutane. No side effects; worked brilliantly.

It does have side effects severe birth defects if a kid gets pregnant. No one should think it is risk free.

DS in private school and he has acne. It's bad, not terrible, but he is self conscious about it. We have been to dermatologist but prescription topical creams haven't worked. DS is religious about his face washes but doesn't want to take accutane or try any other prescription meds. Any time I suggest another trip to dermatologist, DS looks offended and says he doesn't think it looks so bad, so I let it go. Hopefully he will outgrow it without any scars.

If they have the money for private school, they have the money for a dermatologist and the Rxs needed to combat acne.

I loved Accutane. No side effects; worked brilliantly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yesterday I was at an event at the most expensive private school in my area (not in DC and not my child’s school) and noticed that none of the tweens or teenagers had any acne. 195 boys & girls from 11-17 years old and not a pimple in sight and no noticeable cover-up on the girls. At my child's public school most kids have some sort of acne, including him. Are the medical treatments really that effective now for those that can afford the best. Were they that good 20-30 years ago and it just wasn’t done in my middle-class social circle? Also, we live in a smaller community, not really suggesting inbreeding (haha) but could it just be cream of the crop genes?

Maybe public verses private. Plenty of teens with acne at Longfellow and McLean High School.

It's not a public vs private school thing. it depends on whether parents are invested in eliminating acne. Some aren't. My parents took my brother to a dermatologist and refused (I asked) to do the same for me. We were both in private schools. I had terrible cystic acne, too.

Anonymous wrote:Yesterday I was at an event at the most expensive private school in my area (not in DC and not my child’s school) and noticed that none of the tweens or teenagers had any acne. 195 boys & girls from 11-17 years old and not a pimple in sight and no noticeable cover-up on the girls. At my child's public school most kids have some sort of acne, including him. Are the medical treatments really that effective now for those that can afford the best. Were they that good 20-30 years ago and it just wasn’t done in my middle-class social circle? Also, we live in a smaller community, not really suggesting inbreeding (haha) but could it just be cream of the crop genes?

Maybe public verses private. Plenty of teens with acne at Longfellow and McLean High School.

For all the people who say "they'll grow out of it, I did" consider scarring. My mom was self conscious of her large pores and pock marked cheeks because her parents refused to take her to the Derm. Once I was 13 or so, she took me b/c our insurance covered it and got me on Retin A and BC pills.

Facials and accutane.

Possibly better nutrition, but that is probably far-fetched.

Accutane isn't off the market -- it's now made in generic form by several companies. DS is taking it now. His skin looks amazing.

DD took Accutane about 4 years ago. It's been off the market again?

Accutane was pulled? I found it a godsend.