Adolescent Agony

Self-conscious adolescents and worried parents know that a bad case of acne can cause more misery than many a more painful ailment; it can also end in serious psychological damage. Youthful victims are easy prey to misconceptions about acne, sometimes worry themselves into trying quack cures.

This week U.S. youngsters, most of whom sooner or later have to face the problems of acne's unsightly pimples and blackheads, could find helpful advice in the first book on the subject for laymen readers. Challenging wild-eyed advertisements and "sure cures," Dr. Herbert Lawrence, San Francisco dermatologist, discusses acne simply and thoroughly in The Skin Problem Facing Young Men and Women (Timely Publications; $1.50).

Popular errors that Dr. Lawrence dispels include the notion that acne comes from too much or too little sexual activity (acne victims sometimes rush into marriage as a curative measure), too rich blood, venereal diseases, bacterial infections ; that it can be cured by sulphur & molasses or other home remedies, or by medicated soaps, hormone creams, special massages and packs, cleansing creams and oily lotions, kidney or liver pills, tonics, or special herbs.

What Lawrence advises is consultation with a qualified physician, then faithful following of the course he prescribes. Effective treatment usually takes a long time, includes a combination of processes: the removal of excessive oil from the skin by the gentle application of soap and hot water, proper extraction of blackheads, plenty of sunlight, proper diet with a firm limit on starches, sweets and fats, adequate exercise and rest.

More specific treatments, which are sometimes effective but should be overseen by a competent doctor, are glandular extracts, vitamin A, drying lotions for the skin, X rays and ultraviolet lamps.

Most important, says Lawrence, is the realization by doctors and parents that acne can have serious psychic consequences, that it is often intimately connected with the emotional upsets and tensions of early adulthood and that, unless properly handled, "severe acne brands as much of a scar on the personality as on the skin."

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