For many people who are starting university and are closing the book on high school, one unexpected benefit they often receive is the end of chronically oily skin. While puberty in both boys and girls usually is well over by 16, lingering oily skin conditions that can often lead to large pimples tend to stick around for a bit longer. For the overwhelming majority of folks, the early 20’s mean a final escape from hormone hell and the terrible skin conditions that came with it.

But for those that are still fighting the acne monster, how can you win the battle for good? The unfortunate answer is that everyone reacts differently to different treatment. For some teenagers, they may never get a serious acne outbreak their entire lives, for others, even prescription medication isn’t enough for them to stave off every pimple and blackhead. So, let’s take a look at the most common treatments out there and the pros and cons involved.

First, the most common treatment of all, simple soap and water. Every teenager has leaned over a bathroom sink, washcloth in hand and scrubbed their face, all the while praying that any pimples be delayed until after the big date or upcoming dance. For generations, this was the only real treatment out there.

These days, not only do teens have to decide if they want to take this route, but once they do, they have to decide what type of soap they want to use (regular, moisturizing, organic), what kind of water they want to use (hot tap, cold tap, warm tap, filtered) and if they should use a soft cloth or an exfoliating one! Needless to say, this once simple approach has gotten pretty complicated!

The best course of action here is trial and error. Try simple Ivory soap and warm water, scrub twice a day and see what happens. The main problem you face here is that you could encounter triggers that cause an outbreak that have nothing to do with your current cleaning regimen. That’s why when you choose a course of action to clean your face with, you should stick with it for at least two weeks to see if any temporary outbreaks go away. If not, move on to another strategy.

The next step that most kids take is a trip to the drug store for a purchase of one of the many over-the-counter treatments like Stridex, Oxy or one of their competitors. The biggest problem with these products is not that they don’t work, it is the fact that many, many teens over use them to the point where they end up hurting their skin, causing serious dry skin and causing more breakouts! It is very important that if you are using medicine to keep your pimples at bay, that you follow the directions listed by the manufacturer each time, every time.

With the powerful active ingredients found in many of these products, you can harm your skin very badly if you don’t follow directions.

A final and dreaded step for many teenagers is a visit to a dermatologist for some professional help. There are a slew of medications that can be prescribed by a doctor to treat acne, the biggest problem that many teens face is the fact that even the doctor has trouble pinpointing the cause of your acne, so he or she will likely prescribe several different medications before finding one that really works well for you.

It can be an extremely frustrating process since these medications are seldom cheap and some of them can even come with less than desirable side effects. But since the science on acne is still so poor, treating it really is a case of trial and error, even for professionals.

For most kids, the teens years are a time of high school parties, homework and friendships that will last a lifetime. But for a growing number of teens, both male and female, socially crippling acne is becoming the norm. Treating it can be a chore, but with the right doctor and a little good luck, you’ll be blemish free in no time flat.