Let's work out what to ask for.

A few minutes. At the end you get the treatment that fits your answers, named — free, before you decide anything. What you do with it is up to you.

Read this first

CLĀR doesn't diagnose you and it doesn't prescribe. It works out which options in the national guideline your GP follows are likely to fit, so you can have a shorter, better conversation. Your GP decides what you're actually prescribed.

Your answers stay in this browser. Nothing is sent anywhere, and we can't see them.

Why you can trust the answer

We don't sell the medicine. The other acne services recommend a treatment and then sell you that treatment. We never touch yours — it stays a normal NHS prescription from your own GP, and we earn exactly the same whichever of the four we point you at. There is nothing we can steer you towards that pays us more.

Started this on another phone? .

Question 3 of 14

How old are you?

Some treatments have a minimum age.

Question 4 of 14

Are you pregnant, breastfeeding, or trying to conceive?

This rules several treatments out, so it changes the answer completely.

Question 3 of 14

Do you have periods?

Only asked because it opens up an option the guideline includes, and because a couple of hormonal things are worth flagging. Skip if you’d rather not say.

Question 4 of 14

What are you using for contraception?

The combined pill is in the guideline as an option that can help acne. The progestogen-only kinds sometimes make it worse. Worth knowing either way.

Last question

This is the one that decides your answer.

No counting. Look in good light, take in everywhere it appears — face, chest, back, shoulders — and pick the band that fits. NICE splits acne here, and the treatments either side of the line are different.

Inflamed spotsRaised and red. Sore to touch. May have a white head.

Deep lumpsBig, under the skin, no head. Tender. Lasts weeks. Different thing — answer separately.

Three or more deep lumps, or inflamed spots widespread enough to run together, puts you in the moderate-to-severe band — where the guideline adds antibiotic tablets to the topical. Below it, a topical on its own is the starting point.

NICE NG198, recommendation 1.5.1

Question 6 of 14

Where is it?

Tick everywhere. This changes what size and format to ask for — a 30g tube will not cover a back.

Question 7 of 14

How long have you had it?

Roughly, in years. Scarring risk rises with how long acne has been active, not just how bad it is — so this is worth your GP knowing. Under a year, leave it at zero.

YearsSince it first became a regular thing, not since your worst month.

0years

Question 8 of 14

Do any of these apply?

Tick anything true. Two of these change what your GP can offer you.

Question 10 of 14

Have you ever been prescribed any of these?

These are the treatments the guideline puts first. Tick anything you’ve had, even briefly. If you’ve had something else for acne, tick that too.

Question 7 of 11

Did you use it for a full twelve weeks?

Most days, without long gaps. This matters more than it sounds — a course that was stopped at week four hasn’t actually been tested.

Question 11 of 14

Does any of this apply to you?

Some medicines and conditions cause or worsen acne. If one of these is behind it, treating the acne alone will not get you far — and your GP can only act on it if it’s raised.

Question 12 of 14

Allergies and anything else going on?

Tick anything true. These are the things that change whether a treatment is safe for you, and they are the questions a prescribing service would ask before it gave you anything.

Question 13 of 14

How much is it affecting how you feel?

The guideline treats this as a clinical fact, not a side note. Answer honestly.

Question 14 of 14

Which of these matters most to you?

All of these routes are in the guideline. They trade off against each other, so this is a genuine choice rather than a right answer.

Question 14 of 14

How does your skin usually react to new products?

This changes how you start, not what you ask for.

Nearly done

Where in the UK are you?

This decides whether your prescription costs anything at all.

Last one

Do any of these apply to you?

England charges per prescription item, but a lot of people don’t pay. Worth thirty seconds to check.

Pick up where you left off

Bring your twelve weeks across.

Your email and the six-character code you were given when you signed up. That restores your answers, your treatment and every night you have logged.

EmailThe one you used.

Recovery code or passwordWhichever you set. The code is six characters with a dash, and case does not matter.

Photos stay on the phone that took them — they are never uploaded, so they cannot be restored. Everything else comes back.

Week six check

Is this the purge, or is your skin reacting?

Around now most people conclude it isn’t working. Usually they’re wrong. Occasionally they aren’t, and it matters that we tell those apart. Which is closer?

Checkpoint

Count it again.

Same area, same light, same way you did on day one. Don’t look at your old number first — count it clean, then compare.

Inflamed spotsRed, sore, raised, or with a white head.

0in that area

Blackheads and whiteheadsBlocked pores, flat or barely raised.

0in that area