Your face shows stress in more ways than one. Besides your expression, you can also be plagued with acne and other complexion imperfections.

For years, high school junior Elizabeth Hall has struggled with complexion imperfections. "It made me feel a little awkward around my friends," she said.

Elizabeth works hard to zap pimples year round, but says this time of year can leave its mark on her face and back. "My acne seems to pop up more often during the beginning of the school year and when exams start, when I'm more stressed out about my grades," she admitted.

Dr. Diane Madfes, a dermatologist with the American Academy of Dermatology, said there is a link between stress and acne, particularly in teens and young adults. In her own practice, she sees a 20% increase in those patients at the beginning of the school year.

"Dr. Diane Madfes is a spokesperson with the American Academy of Dermatology. "When your stress levels go up, you get a little bit of an elevation of a hormone called cortisol. And what that does is it turns on the sebaceous glands in your skin that triggers the acne," she explained the phenomenon.

Facing the problem is an important first step, but following the prescribed treatment plan can be tough work.

Dermatologist Julie C. Harper says often patients need to know acne treatments take time.

"I would say it takes two months to see a 40 to 50% improvement in acne, and it really takes four months to see 80 to 90% improvement," she told us frankly.

And problems can occur if patients apply too much or too little of a treatment…or scrub too hard.

"They see acne. They see bumps. They think they can somehow scrub those down," she said. "You're not going to get better faster. You're going to get more irritation and dryness," Dr. Harper added.

Many older acne medications have also been linked to irritation and dryness.

It typically occurs within the first few weeks of use. That's what happened to Elizabeth.

"It cracked my skin, especially right here on my nose, because that's where most of my acne was. And that hurt pretty bad," she showed us.

In cases like Elizabeth's, our experts say teens or young adults may lose patience and put away the prescriptions for good. And that can lead to scarring.

So…how do you get your child to stick to an acne plan? Dr. Madfes recommends you make it part of a routine.

"If you put your acne medicines right next to your toothbrush, after you put your toothbrush down you can put on your acne medication," is one idea.

Also, speak in detail with your dermatologist. There are a slew of new treatments on the market designed to be more gentle.

"We have products now that are formulated to have moisturizers right into the base and they allow people to get improvement without having to go through so much of that irritation," she recommended.

Elizabeth now uses one. Every so often she forgets to apply, but overall…she says her skin now makes the grade.

Both doctors say there are effective over-the-counter medicines for early, mild acne. Look for ingredients like benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid. Of course, every case is different. If you are concerned, call your dermatologist.