I use walgreen's calamine lotion with zinc oxide (the one with the fewest ingredients), and the combination of calamine and zinc oxide works on my stubborn skin. My acne doesn't usually respond to acne topicals, so I thought I would try something different. I saw noticeable improvement the first time I used it overnight, but after a while the improvement slowed down because my skin is getting used to it. So now I use it once every few days to avoid dryness. Use it topically, not all over your face because it will dry you out.

I left the cap off the bottle by accident but turns out it turns into more of a thick consistency which makes it less messy to apply

Folks, the magic ingredient in the calamine lotion is zinc oxide.

When I was in my teens and twenties, I had terrible cystic acne. Nothing worked, and my heavy alcohol and white bread diet didn't help. I was a sad young lady who hid behind a layer of thick makeup. In my 30s and 40s my acne improved, as did my diet (see any correlation here?) and cutting out alcohol. Also, I began to see a pattern: after I went through a week of eating chocolate and/or desserts and/or loads of starches, I'd get rows of massive, golfball cysts, usually on my chin, jawline, and cheekbone. They would hurt so much, when I smiled or talked or chewed...well, you know how it goes. Throbbing cysts. Bacne. It took me awhile, but finally I learned: don't screw around with the food!

However, during those times--like holidays---when I do overeat on sugary/starchy foods, I've learned that calamine, applied to the cleansed (erupted) area at night will shrink that ball. The following morning I again cleanse the area, reapply the calamine--if you rub it in the pink fades, leaving a pale whitish area and then cover with a light water-based nude tone. After about 2 days the cysts have shrunk to the size of a grape seed. The only negative is that the top layer of skin is a bit dry, but that's nothing I can't deal with.

There is a tremendous amount of scientific and medical literature out there which indicates most acne (bacterial infection) is generated from gut imbalance. I will encourage anyone who wants to improve their complexion to read about gut health and skin. Through diet changes, a short-term round of antifungal medication (for Candida), followed by a complete reestablishment of the intestines with probiotics and homebrewed kefir, and jump-starting the "elimination system", there will be a massive improvement.

Please, educate yourself on the gut-skin-brain triangle, well-researched since the 1920s. Sadly, it has been ignored.

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When you start the regimen USE THIS. My face when I started the regimen was SUPER red and itchy. I started using this and my skin calmed down a lot. I think it helped with acne a bit too

I've tried basically every face wash/acne cream available and nothing has ever worked, including proactiv, a friend at work told me about using calamine lotion as a mask overnight and it worked! It took about three weeks but my skin is totally clear now

We used to use this whenever we got bad sunburn as children. My mom mixed corn starch and rose water whenever we ran out of calamine.

I am 30 now and fighting severe acne. Again , my mom tells me to use calamine ..but didn't until I got this monstrous zit that was red , painful and so ugly that I had to cover it with ban-aid when I leave the house . My friend said she has gotten a similar one and the dermatologist in injected cortisone in it and drained it. I thought I'd give calamine a try before going to see a doctor . Second day , zit was dried up and quarter it's size! Eventullay it drained . But I used it on other acne and helped too! ....PS: if its too messy, shake bottle first and use q-tips.

I love this stuff, I read about this stuff on a website called [link removed] or something like that and it actually does work very good. Of course it does not get rid of acne scars, but it does help with redness and with new acne. I highly recommend this product for people

I have mild acne, especially around the time of my period, and have tried everything under the sun to prevent/get rid of it. I was using prescription topical lotion, but I read somewhere that Calamine can be really good for your face. I tried it, and its wonderful!! I don't break out nearly as often, and it's actually really good to use underneath my makeup.

Thumbs up for me. :)

Note: I also take an oral antibiotic, and use toner every night.

Definitely worth your time. Try it. I noticed that other experimenters had issues... don't leave the lotion on overnight! Bad, bad idea! You're clogging your pores even more! Here's what I did.

Procedure:

1. Wash face with soap, dry thoroughly.

2. Apply thin, even layer over face.

3. Wait 15 minutes with your *lovely* pink (why did it have to be pink?) calamine lotion mask. Go read a book, kick your brother, whatever , just be patient!

4. Wash mask off with water and more soap.

5. Dry face.

6. Moisturize your face- unless you were using Dove soap. That already moisturizes for you.

Do procedure twice a day- when you wake up, and right before you go to bed.

Tips:

DO NOT TOUCH YOUR FACE! It ruins all your efforts! I cannot stress this enough. Do NOT touch your face! Notice how NOT is all in capital letters!

Be PATIENT. Patience is a virtue, good things come to those who wait, etc. etc. It'll take a few weeks before you notice a real difference.

If you have a flare up, try spot treating each bump with the lotion. Just leave it on till it dries up and then wash it off.

After reading lots of reviews I was excited to try this stuff. I bought the CVS brand and while it seemed to work well at first, I developed little bumps on my cheeks after about a week. Over he past 3 weeks all these bumps have been coming to the surface, giving me the worst acne I have ever had. I went back to my usual regimen of vigil coconut oil and feel that works much better.