It's been a torment for most of us as self-conscious teens, but acne can actually be effectively treated depending on the side effects you're willing to endure.
TVNZ 1 Breakfast's resident GP, Dr John Cameron, has given a quick run down of the different medications and cleansing techniques which best prevent the skin disease.
"There are lots of things we can do for it. Simple over the counter cleanses and washes, yes you can do that for a bit but don't persist if it's not working," Dr Cameron says.
The next step is prescription medication - of which there are two main options.
"One is with long-term antibiotic therapy, and the antibiotics we use are not working as antibacterial agents, they're actually working as anti-skin inflammatory agents. So they're shutting down the inflammatory process in your skin," Dr Cameron says.
Females have the treatment option of an oral contraceptive pill which shuts down the male hormone activity, testosterone, which is the root cause of acne.
A final option for severe acne is a drug called Isotretinoin, which used to only be prescribable by a dermatologist, but is now available via specialist GPs.
"What they do is change the way your skin works and dries it out. You'll have cracked dry lips, you'll have blood noses, you'll potentially have muscle aches," Dr Cameron says.
This treatment will take eight to nine months, and at the end of that doctors can guarantee an 80-90 per cent probability you will never have acne again.
But beyond the more serious treatments, what about the old acne myths?
The old theory the diet doesn't affect your skin is also wrong, with high sugar foods considered to exacerbate acne.
And cleaning you skin can also potentially make your acne worse.
"You should be cleaning your skin very gently with a very mild cleanser once, maximum twice a day, anything else starts to hyper stimulate the wax producing glands in your skin,"
And on a side note, Dr Cameron says it's actually not a bad thing to squeeze the pustules.
One final, 100 per cent effective, treatment option for acne Dr Cameron floated was castration - but he says he's never had any takers for it.
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