Hey all,

I'm a 24 year old guy and have had acne since i was about 16. I started using BP 5% and found that it worked reasonably well, but it made my skin really dry and red, so i used it on and off, hoping that i would grow over the acne.

After 5 years nothing had changed, so my GP send me to a derm who immediately suggested accutane (pretty weird in hindsight since i had never tried other medications like retinoids and/or antibiotics). I knew about the risks associated with accutane, but accepted the course since acne made such a big impact on my life. I took accutane for 10 months (!). The first two months at 20 mg/day and the remainder of the course 40mg/day. At 75 kg this brings me to a cummulative dose of about 144 mg/kg, more then enough for a long-term remission i thought. I was wrong.

My acne returned within a few months after finishing my course and very gradually became worse. At first, a little BP at night kept me completely clear, but as my acne got worse, I had to use more and more BP which of course caused more dryness and redness.

So that's where i am now. I attached some pictures where you can see my acne and the redness from the BP. I tried to stop using BP a few months ago, but broke out horribly, so i'm scared to stop it again, but the dryness and redness is really annoying too....talk about a catch 22!

So that's where i am now. I'm really not sure what to do now. Should i continue or stop using the BP? I still have and unopened tube of differin which i haven't used because i'm scared about the IB, should i give that i try? Should i stop all medication and just live with it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi There, I can only speak from my personal experiences of using BP, my Derm prescribed the 5% lotion last Nov and within 4-6 weeks I had seen positive results and a reduction in the number of deeper cysts I was getting. Being encouraged by the results I continued using the BP, but after a couple of months things began to gradually worsen and my outbreaks of smaller superficial spots got more widespread & frequent. As the BP seemed to work initially I reasoned that was unlikely to be the cause of these outbreaks and continued using it but adapting other parts of my regimen. To cut a long story short, after months I decided to cut out the BP as it was excessively drying and (hey presto !) things began to improve. I can only reason that any benefit the BP initially offered was counteracted by the overdrying effect, which seem to exasperate matters. I was disappointed that this seemed to be the case, as it seems to be a tried and tested successful treatment for many suffers but unfortunately didn't suit me.

I now use a combination of SA wash (AM) and Glycolic wash (PM) which has by now means cured my acne but has made it easier to manage. Good luck....

Hi there

I'm a 26 year old male, or will be in a week, and have struggled with acne from the age of 16/17. Too damn long.

I went on a course of accutane back in Dec 05 for 8 months, although it was 40mg for first 4 months and 20mg thereafter. Cleared me up perfectly. I did a couple of tane short courses at 20mg per day for 2-3 months in Oct 06 and June 07 just to keep the acne at bay as it started to creep back.

Fast forward to today and about 2 months ago I started getting a few spots. I started applying BP and spot treatments and using a cleanser and I started to get a few more spots. I haven't cleansed or applied BP in the last 10 days and I haven't had a single spot arise and have no actives, no red marks.

Have you just tried giving your skin a break and washing with water? Of course, you may experience a small (i hope) breakout as you leave the various products on the shelf and let your skin readjust, but you could be causing way too much irritation. It worked for me and it may work for you too mate.

Best of luck.

Greg

in my opinion, there is a fair chance that you are acne prone because you do not have an acid mantle on your face, nor have you had one since you were 16. your acid mantle is able to fight bacteria on its own (look it up). cleansers and topicals strip the acid mantle from your skin. your 24 year old male friends no longer have acne because they no longer use products. what bp does is that it kills bacteria.yeh thats great but your skin, if given the opportunity to do it, can kill bacteria on its own!! you broke out after getting off bp because it was an interval when you were unprotected so to speak. you had no bp to fight the bacteria, nor was your acid mantle developed enough to fight the bacteria. Using products will not help your situation in the long run.

For me, BP is not enough to stop the acne - I have to use topical isotretinoin (eg. retin-a) cream .025% also. Using both in combination is very effective. It takes some time before you get the effects of the isotretinoin but you may find it is very effective.