Success with Proativ etc?

[Brian SD]

Has anyone here gone from a pretty severe body/face acne to completely clear using Proactiv or other such treatments? If not Proactiv, what other non prescription acne treatments are out there? Or is it basically prescription or SOL situation?

Thanks in advance

 

[willpower]

Retin A is really, really effective if it's compatible with you. Takes about 2 months for the effects to show.

 

[otc]

I used a few sets of proactive back when I as in high school...

I wasn't really a dire case and I probably would have been ok with other options but they seemed to work for me...

I had a friend who went on accutane during college and it definitely worked...but it kind of sucked since you can't really drink (and need to try to avoid a lot of sun exposure) when you are on it.

 

[Hollywars]

I have mild acne, and showering every day and using the Proactiv acne wipe things work for me.
Accutane works, my friend's brother used it and almost went blind haha, but once he stopped taking it he was fine and the acne never came back.

 

[indesertum]

go to your doctor and ask for both duac and a retin A cream.

proactiv is just expensive benzoyl peroxide. you can get that **** anywhere.

duac has both clindamycin (an antibacterial) and benzoyl peroxide. its very synergistic especially with retin A



i had pretty severe acne on my cheeks and I dont get acne anymore. What kinda sucks is that I went so long without treatment uv rays permanently darkened my acne scars. sounds kinda gross, but its much less than it used to be after duac and retin A

 

[pseudonym]

Use Proactiv and remember not to touch your face with your hands.

I use Proactiv for about 2 years and it worked great.

 

[jarude]

Same deal, I had mild acne, used proactiv and it worked, but I attribute that mostly to actually washing my face regularly - not so much proactiv being the magic solution.

 

[ShayaEXQT]

Originally Posted by pseudonym

Use Proactiv and remember not to touch your face with your hands.

I use Proactiv for about 2 years and it worked great.

+1

 

[impolyt_one]

Originally Posted by indesertum

go to your doctor and ask for both duac and a retin A cream.

proactiv is just expensive benzoyl peroxide. you can get that **** anywhere.

duac has both clindamycin (an antibacterial) and benzoyl peroxide. its very synergistic especially with retin A



i had pretty severe acne on my cheeks and I dont get acne anymore. What kinda sucks is that I went so long without treatment uv rays permanently darkened my acne scars. sounds kinda gross, but its much less than it used to be after duac and retin A

your hyperpigmentation will fade if you use SPF50 regularly and stay out of the sun. It might take a couple years but it'll fade naturally. I have also used Duac and had mixed results, sometimes it seemed to work, sometimes it did not. For the past few years I mainly apply Differin once or twice a week and do a good exfoliation the day or two after. It's kinda slow but I feel it's generating new layers of skin.

 

[indesertum]

ivee been using spf 85 and it has been fading. did not realize it was cuz of sunblock


how do you exfoliate?

 

[nystyle86]

Acne is a difficult condition to treat/control. This is why you have many prescription retinoids creams, different percentages of bezoyl peroxide, and various oral medications. If a specific product worked for someone, it doesn't mean that it will work for you, but the secret is to never give up hope and continue trying new stuff until you find something that controls your acne. Proactive is just plain bezoyl peroxide with good marketing campaign. If it was a miracle solution then expensive prescription creams would go out of business. If you want to try benzyol peroxide approach, I would suggest you trying acne.org products, it's cheaper, you get more in the bottle and even better because it is not scented like Proactive products.

I'm allergic to bezoyl peroxide as it only irritates me no matter how small percentage I try. I tried Proactive, Murad, Acne.org and everything in the pharmacy isle. Then I took the dermatologist approach. After trying Differin, Retin A, 2 antibiotics, and topical antibiotics creams which did work to some degree, my dermatologist was finally able to find a prescription combination that has worked for me for many years now. I use Tazorac 0.1% retinoid cream (considered a strong retinoid) and I used sulfur and sodium solfacetamide combination topicals like Klaron and Sulfacet R. Retinoid creams work very slow over months, but they are best at preventing future breakouts as long as you consistently use it and don't stop. For me sulfur products were always a miracle cause it shrank the zits fast. I think best over the counter sulfur mask is DDF 10%. For severe acne, I'd go the dermatologist route because there are more options available. Just have patients when using new products.

 

[impolyt_one]

Originally Posted by indesertum

ivee been using spf 85 and it has been fading. did not realize it was cuz of sunblock how do you exfoliate?
I don't even remember what my skin was like exactly, at what age, but acne tends to move down the face from the forehead in your teens to your chin in your 30's, I mainly have mild folliculitis around my beard area but had acne on my cheeks when I was in my early 20's and I have some small scarring there and had hyperpigmentation I didn't address til later - sunblock and a regenerative (retinoid?) cream help here. If you're still dealing with infection, you need care from the inside out, there is little you can do from the outside besides drying yourself out and patting a fraction of artificial moisture back in. Your body needs to have a natural lipid/hydration balance to keep dirt and bacteria on the surface of the skin and not let infections build in the pores. It can be difficult if you have large pores or large whiskers - I don't even shave because the pressure on a follicle usually resulted in at least one shaving pimple, or it did 5 or 6 years ago when I shaved more regularly, so I quit and just trim with scissors, gently. For exfoliation, I just sleep with an invisible dry layer of Differin gel on my face one night, a few times a week or so, and then ether once or twice a week, what is ready to peel off will have started already - if your skin is fairly clean and it's just dead skin, you can just wash and scrub to knock that off. I use one of those Korean plastic net body towels usually, they're a little more abrasive than a loofah and easier to rinse out clean after use. If you do this once or twice a week it's enough after a year or two that your pores will have re-shaped, with SPF your hyperpigmentation will have faded, and if you need inside care, a couple rounds of mild antibiotics will stop your acne and you can focus on the surface care. It's a two-part thing. Differin can be expensive like Duac though, so I wouldn't buy it unless I had good health insurance. It's like $200+ for a tube in America. About 1/3rd of the cost elsewhere.

 

[steviecakes]

Freshman year of high school when I had a pizza face, my dermatologist prescribed me Doryx. Within two weeks my face was almost spotless. No exaggeration. Since then I use Differen when I see a pimple.

 

[Patrick James]

Originally Posted by petermark78

Accutane works, my friend's brother used it and almost went blind haha, but once he stopped taking it he was fine and the acne never came back.

^ Do NOT use Accutane. That is about as intense an acne treatment as you can find and, truthfully, with all the potential side effects that come with using this product, I would not recommend you even consider this treatment as an option. I was on Accutane for what amounts to two years and according to the people who surrounded me on a regular basis the change in my personality was like night and day.

I was as fed up with getting annoying pimples as anyone else and, although I have not had issues with my skin since I discontinued the treatment, I would still say it was not worth the dry, crusty eyes, bleeding lips, lifeless skin, thinning of the hair and bouts of depression that resulted from its usage.

Seriously, wait that **** out. Stop touching your face and avoid washing it with anything but the water from your morning shower.

 

[1969]