As part of our education we talk about how important it is to stay infection-free and how devastating some infections can be. But as in a lot of other conditions, children, in particular adolescents don't usually think beyond tomorrow and its difficult to get them to understand that the future means something. So what you are doing now with respect to treatment is to try and ensure a better future - sometimes that's very difficult. They see the now but don't really see the long-term gains. Looking good is sometimes more important at this age than long-term health problems.
Maintenance is also a hard thing to sell.
I have some people who are constantly looking for an end to the problem - a solution that is lasting. It is a problem with any chronic condition to understand that this is for life. At this point in time we do not have a good solution. Surgery can bring bigger problems with it. We try to make it quite clear that this can be done but frequently it brings on more problems.