oxgirl Report post Posted January 14, 2011 I'm having trouble with my lad, who is 17, in that he point blank refuses to look at himself in mirrors. He has very bad acne at the moment and I bought him a cream to try and help but he won't look in the mirror to apply it. He says it makes him feel bad about himself so he'd rather avoid the issue and pretend it isn't there than try to make it better. He looks a real scruff a lot of the time. He walks around with a face full of whiskers because he doesn't notice he needs a shave. I have to prompt him to shave, which he will do, but he misses a lot of areas because he's not watching himself. Now the issue with the acne, which is getting worse, because he's not willing to face up to himself and try to help it. I gave him a bit of cream this morning and showed him how much to put it on and how much to use and he just smeared it haphazardly around for a bit and left it, he even put it under his eyes, which could really hurt his eyes. Then he left it, he looked like a clown with two white circles on his face and because he wasn't looking at himself he would have gone out like that if I hadn't made him rub it in. Then he got very bad tempered and furiously scrubbed away at his skin instead of taking the time to do it properly. I'm not sure what to do to help him really. He won't face up to the problem and help himself sensibly but, if I let him, he'd look a proper sight walking around. Of course, he wouldn't know it and would be in ignorant bliss about his appearance. ~ Mel ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bid Report post Posted January 14, 2011 (edited) What about giving him one of those tiny mirrors you keep in a make-up bag or handbag so that he only sees a small area of his face at a time when he applies the cream? It is difficult: one of mine has acne, and I've had real problems getting her to even see the GP because she found it all so embarassing. She actually said she'd rather have the acne than see the GP! But once she saw that the gel was really improving things she felt a bit better. Good luck! Bid Edited January 14, 2011 by bid Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oxgirl Report post Posted January 14, 2011 What about giving him one of those tiny mirrors you keep in a make-up bag or handbag so that he only sees a small area of his face at a time when he applies the cream? That's a good idea, bid, thanks I'll try that. I've made an appointment to see the doctor in a couple of weeks. Wish I'd done it sooner really, I'm so worried that he'll be terribly scarred and end up very pock-marked. Poor kids. ~ Mel ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
emmasmum Report post Posted January 15, 2011 In our experience GPs are very understanding about this problem and there are lots of solutions out there. My son had quite bad acne and ended up being prescribed roaccutane - it's completely cleared up now and there is very little scarring. HTH Carol Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lizj Report post Posted January 17, 2011 Been through all this with my 19 year old, who got acne like I have never seen from the age of 9. Like your son, he would not rub anything on because it hurt him, and he still won't shave for the same reason You might not believe what I am about to say, but it's honest truth! Nothing helped (creams, lotions, antibiotics) and I didn't want him to try roaccutane because I read it could cause depression, which we didn't need on top of ASD and MLD, social and behavioural issues. What did work was cod liver oil capsules, one a day, high strength from the local health food shop. His skin improved and cleared up in about three months. I have NO idea why it worked, it may have been co-incidence, but it did. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oxgirl Report post Posted January 17, 2011 What did work was cod liver oil capsules, one a day, high strength from the local health food shop. His skin improved and cleared up in about three months. I have NO idea why it worked, it may have been co-incidence, but it did. Interesting, I might try that. Thanks. We've been having a bit of a crisis with the skin actually and I'm feeling very bad and neglectful. Last week he came home from college and he had very red raw patches of skin under his eyes and on his chin and cheeks. I thought he might be coming down with something or had had an alergic reaction to something. Anyway, as the week went on it got worse and worse, the skin under his eyes cracked and his skin was peeling off like he'd been burnt. I gave him a cream to use, but didn't supervise him and thought he would be okay, but when I saw him putting it on the following day he proved he hadn't done a thorough job and just furiously scrubbed away at this skin. I finally got him to show me what he'd been doing and he'd been using far too much very strong facial wash without any water and not rinsing it off and it had been burning his face and making the skin slough off. I feel so terrible, I shouldn't have trusted him with it to do it properly and should have shown him how to do it and demonstrated rather than just leave it with him. I rushed out and got some E45 cream and I've been rubbing that on him myself twice a day and it's finally cleared up, but I've been so worried that he'd burnt his skin and he'd end up scarred. Now we've got the dryness and peeling over with we have to deal with the acne, which is now ten times worse than before. But if we get something from the GP to use I'm going to have to supervise him or do it for him rather than let him loose with it himself. Trouble is, he hates me doing it but he won't take the time or responsibility to do it properly himself. ~ Mel ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
