I've heard about the Tea tree oil gel + ibuprofen topical combination. It makes sense because the TTO helps control the bacteria while the ibuprofen prevents inflammation. I've actually been taking ibuprofen orally for the past 2 weeks almost everyday...I know it's bad and I'm not sure if it is majorly beneficial but a lot of my acne is inflammed, albeit not cysts after 2 trials of Tane.

I'm wondering if I can get it around here though...

There's a product called emuprofen. It's a bit heavy on the ibuprofen, it's 10%, but it should be OK. If you stirred in some pure tea tree oil (about 5-10ml, or 1/4 ounce), then just slap on twice a day in the thinnest layer you can manage.

Nobody has tried it though- Americans are pioneers right?

I've got a breakout at the moment, but it's looking a lot better today.

It's probably because I wasn't putting the treatment on first thing- I find it's important to treat as early as possible in the day for some reason, as well as last thing at night.

I think I might give this a shot,

Presumably you simply use a standard no frills moisturiser and add tea tree oil?

I had a quick scan on Boots' website, they have a 'max strength' Ibuprofen gel which is 10%, do you think it would be better to stick to the 5%?

I'm new to this site, but I'll let you know how I get on in a month or so

Yes, pretty much anything, provided it's non comedogenic. At the moment I'm using Johnsons Baby lotion, but that's somewhat comedogenic, and I was doing rather better with other moisturisers, but JBL still just about works, but I'm not recommending it.

10% should work better if anything. The only thing is that the higher the strength, the higher the total ibuprofen dose; but the dose here is very low anyway.

Temp123 - could you give me the name of the tea tree cream that you are using. All i could find in Boots was a witch hazel and tea tree gel (only cosy 99p which was a bargin lol) but i dont know if this is it or not.
Ta

I usually just stir Tea Tree oil into a moisturiser cream, but if you want an off-the-shelf product, I've successfully used Nelson's Tea tree natural first aid antiseptic cream. It's a reasonably good product as, although it doesn't list the percentage, it has tea tree oil as the second ingredient, so the concentration is probably quite high, and it seems to work.

http://www.nelsonshomoeopathy.co.uk/coffee...991764920.shtml

It's a bit pricey for the quantity I think, but it should last a few weeks maybe.

Just an update on my use of ibuprofen gel and tea tree, but im afraid im beggining to have problems. I have recently broke out pretty badly, for the the last two weeks or so ive had constant blemishes occuring, each day a new bump and unfortunatly i'd say at a most inopportune moment ; ive just relocated city's and need to go for various job interviews...which im tending to shy away from because of my pretty terrible complexion at present. I did wonder maybe ive become 'immune' to the treatment - my regime which worked well to begin with has not changed; thus im thinking of upping the ibuprofen gel to 10% and probably changing my tea tree to a stronger dose also. Im praying it will work but will update this board on my progress. Anyhow, how's everyone else getting on?? Let us know your results!

My skin has been going through a slightly rough patch, but I've changed moisturisers and it's doing a lot better (paraffin is not a non comedogenic ingredient, after a couple of months on it it seemed to break me out more often). But it's never really been truly bad.

The acne I have had has lasted a few days, stayed flat, was easy to camouflage and the red marks rapidly disappear in less than a week. This compares with when I'm not on this regime where they literally can last months.

I've had a couple of pustules, but they lasted about 2 days, and then they were red marks for two days, and then they were pretty much gone.

In your case, I suspect it's the stress more than anything.

I was doing really well til I added the tea tree oil! Got break outs

What are you doing for/with your tea tree oil?

I applied it with a cotton wool pad. Smelt foul! ;p

Ibuprofen definately works wonders, both orally and topically. I make my own "gel" which is magnificent for inflamed spots and reducing redness. I grate one 200mg pill with a knife into a fine fine fine powder, as flour. A little bit of honey, alcohol, and a drop of tto. And ibuprofen is not nearly as dangerous/unhealthy as paracetamol and aspirin. I will try adding ibuprofen and tto to my basic moisturizer and see what happens.

100% strength TTO broke me out both times I've tried it, after about two weeks. It's very irritating you must mix it in an oil or a cream or buy one of the premixed preparations.

The rate that TTO goes into a cell is determined by the concentration- the higher the concentration, the faster it diffuses in.

The trick with all antibacterial medications is to use stuff that your skin can handle, but the bugs can't. At 5-10% strength, nearly everyone's skin can handle it, but none of the bugs can. At 100% strength, most people's skin can't either (as in pure TTO on a cotton bud).

So you must dilute it in some kind of cream or oil; then it diffuses in slowly enough that your skin can detoxify it; but the bugs can't.

Thanks for the informative and helpful info. Do you recommend I add a few drops directly into my jar of moisturiser or just add it onto the palm whilst applying it?

Yeah, definitely add it to your moisturiser. You need to mix it fairly strong, a few drops isn't enough.

It must be more than 4% strength to work properly (if you go below that it will seem to work initially, but your skin will worsen in the long run), so 5-10ml in 100ml or 1/4-1/2 fluid ounce mixed into 4 fluid ounces of moisturiser. You can measure it by eye, just make sure you overdo the TTO rather than underdoing it.

When you add it, it will probably sit on top, you need to fold it in with a knife or something for a couple of minutes, taking great care not to splash it everywhere. Once it's folded in, it's stable for weeks and won't separate, but you need to leave the top on to avoid it evaporating.

I have simply been adding 3 drops of 10% TTO to a good dollop of moisturiser in my palm each time I apply, once the moisturiser/TTO is on I rub a thin layer of 10% Ibuprofen gel over it. I havn't been so careful about measuring the quantities. I have been using for almost 3 weeks now, I had a breakout 3-4 days ago, but overall I'm pleased with it so far. It's still early days though...

jh8414 it seems to be working.

One thing though, when you dissolve a few drops of 10% in your palm, you're really making 1% or something.

TTO will kill bugs down to about 1% strength, and you will see improvement, particularly at the beginning.

The problem is, some percentage of the bugs can survive at 1%. They will multiply up on your face due to lack of competition, and then the TTO will stop working.

That might be why you broke out, but probably not; you'd expect breakouts particularly in the first few weeks anyway.

4% or stronger can kill all the bugs, and as I understand it, it's believed that the bugs can't evolve around it. Some species are already immune, but not the ones associated with acne.

So I recommend that you should at least try to use pure TTO with your face cream, or just slap on some of that 10% stuff occasionally just on its own, leave it to stew to kill the stragglers, and then add the moisturiser.

How much gel do you use and do you apply it to your whole face or just infected areas? Thanks.

Just follow the instructions on the medication- just a thin layer. Apply it where you tend to get spots, not just where the spots are right now. Apply it even if you have no spots right now.

The thing to remember with all acne treatments is that it can take a good 3 months to respond completely; persistence and consistency is the key.