Professor Bill Cunliffe from the British Skin Foundation replies: It is difficult to treat acne without medicines. Attention to lifestyles can sometimes help. For example, it's likely stress will aggravate the condition. Excessive sweating can also be a problem by blocking the pores with grease (an important factor in causing acne). But, contrary to popular belief, diet doesn't cause acne.
Natural sunlight improves acne for some, although it's only a temporary effect and too much sun can cause skin cancer. Unfortunately, alternative therapies have not really been shown to work well either. If any treatment works in acne, be it applied to the skin or taken by mouth, it must be doing something to the body and some alternative medicines have been discovered to contain compounds such as steroids.
Visit your GP and perhaps they can refer you to a dermatologist who would be happy to discuss all the safe treatments available. Such therapies include topical retinoids, topical antibiotics, oral antibiotics and oral zinc, each with many years of experience of clinical usage behind them.
If you did change your mind and following consultation opted for medical treatment, it is possible to achieve an 80 per cent improvement in acne in about eight months.
Although in many patients acne clears by the age of 25, it can be even more persistent in others and sometimes scar. Unfortunately, there are very few treatments for scarring.