Dealing with acne emotionally and physically

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Dealing with acne emotionally and physically

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Acne can be one of the most difficult parts of puberty because it's so obvious. It tends to cover the face, which is the one part of the body that kids cannot hide with clothing. And so they feel very, very vulnerable about it. Acne can also go down the neck onto the upper chest and onto the back. My best advice is to, first of all, tell your kids it's not their fault. It's not what they ate that caused the acne. It's hormones, and it's the same hormones that have made them go through puberty that is changing the way that their skin produces oils. Number two, they really need to get into a good skin cleaning regime. Sometimes the acne can be so significant that you need a pediatrician or dermatologist to give you prescription medicines to deal with it, but at the very least, your child should be using a gentle cleanser once or twice a day, washing then rinsing well with water, and there should be some moisturizer or some sunscreen put on the skin. And then number three, most important, no picking. When kids pop pimples, what they do is they create little holes in their skin and the bacteria that live on their skin can climb in and cause infections. That can make the skin look a lot worse and can scar. So, kids have control over this. They know that they can stop picking, and if you give them something to have control over, they feel a little bit better, so good face washing, no picking, acknowledge it's an issue, take them to a doctor if it really is bad.

View Cara Natterson, MD's video on Dealing with acne emotionally and physically...

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Cara Natterson, MD

Pediatrician & Author

Cara Natterson, MD has treated thousands of children and guided their parents as well. She was a partner at Tenth Street Pediatrics in Santa Monica, California, a large group practice serving infants, children and teenagers. She now runs Worry Proof Consulting, the first of its kind pediatric practice that offers parents open-ended time to review everything from medical questions and biology basics to child development and parenting issues. Cara is also the author of several books on parenting and child health. She has a unique ability to translate cutting edge research into understandable terms for parents and their kids. More recently, Cara’s consulting has extended beyond individual families to include fortune 500 companies seeking expert advice on safety issues, child health, and crisis management.

Cara has appeared on television, in print, and on the web. She is a graduate of Harvard College and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and she trained in pediatrics at the University of California at San Francisco. Cara is a Board certified pediatrician and a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. And anyone who knows her knows that Cara is, by nature, one of the most risk-averse people on earth. She lives in California with her husband and two children.

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