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I was standing with my DS today in sunlight and was looking at him. He turned a certain way and I could see he has acne on his little nose! He's only 10! Does this sound normal?

I don't remember getting this until 14/15 years old. This has completely blown my mind because I didn't think pre-teens developed this.

Any recommendations??

Clearasil for him and some tissue for you.

I had acne around that age. I was a HUGE milk drinker, which aggravates acne. Thank God for Proactiv, which came out sometime when I was a teen.

[This message edited by Dark Inertia at 8:55 PM, March 19th (Wednesday)]

Does he have acne or just a few pimples? I never had acne but I did have plenty of pimples when I was a teenager. I consider it to be a difference in persistence of blemishes, quantity of blemishes, and sometimes size or depth of blemishes (which can indicate cystic acne) Either way you need to teach him to wash his face every day with a cleansing face soap and how to use OTC treatments.

My DD started to get acne at about 11 or 12. I had to really stay on her to wash her face every day and to use OTC creams. Once I knew she was consistently washing her face and she still had acne, I brought her to a dermatologist. He put her on a antibiotic specific for acne for a couple of months and also prescribed a topical antibiotic and topical retinoid. Note that the antibiotics really helped, but also made her very tired and cranky so we stopped that once I realized it was a side effect (took a while...). And the retinoid is harsh on the skin so she only used that sparingly and only for a few months. The topical antibiotic really helped.

She is 16 now and still has break outs but it is under control. It took a few years of trial and error to find OTC products that work best for her. Note that Proactive did not work for her, but I have heard others who love it. I thought it was a waste of money. Neutragena soaps work for her (she uses one that exfoilates). She also uses a mask (not sure what) and Oxy 10 as needed. The key is to try different things until you find a combination that works.

Good luck!

Yes it's time. Both my kids started with it at that time.

Make sure he is washing his face with salicylic acid product am and pm. This should clear him up if it's simple acne.

He is probably growing man hair in places too.

Welcome to puberty.

If the face wash doesn't do it, then you need to go to a proactive, or proactive like routine. If that doesn't do it, then to the Dr. They can rx stronger creams.

My 17yo son is bad about staying on track with it, and he has major flares. My DD on the other hand had to go to a Rx cream last year, and her skin is beautiful.

My son's dr won't prescribe something, because it takes vigilance to clear things up first. If he isn't doing the washing the Rx meds won't work.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply. Why in the world am I so sad over this? I know it's all part of growing up but it's going so fast.

He's a sensitive little guy and when he saw it he said he was ugly. It broke my heart. I made him feel better by saying that when I don't remove my makeup, I'll get a small breakout and that doesn't make me ugly. In fact if I complain about it, he says I still am pretty. That made him feel much better. I told him it was all part of growing up. I gently reminded him that he has to keep up on washing his face in the morning and at night. He's not good at remembering but he's only 10 so of course he needs a nudge here and there.

I'll take him shopping and let him see what's out there for his face wash. I'll let him pick out "boy" wash clothes to wash his face so maybe that will perk him up a bit to want to wash.

Purplejacket-thank you for the comment. You made me laugh and I needed that (and the tissue).

Dreamboat-he has just a few little bumps (not whiteheads) and he has some blackheads already too! Sorry for tmi!

Tushnurse-I'm SO not ready for his "man hair".