305 replies to this topic

[PLONKER]

thanks Ian. He is wise.

[jh8414]

I thought I would give you guys an update: I have been using this treatment for exactly a month:

(morning and evening): Wash gently with water followed by gently using a Simple 'oil balancing' wipe. Then I apply, originally 4 drops, now 7 drops of 15% TTO to Simple moisturiser in my palm. once rubbed in I then apply a thin layer of boots 5% Ibuprofen gel to everywhere on my face/neck where I get acne.

I also take a multivitamin, cod liver oil, and zinc daily - good general practice I think!

My diet is not brilliant, and I should drink more water than I do.

Stress is dialling up somewhat - looming essay deadlines.

For the first two weeks I was very impressed with the results, everything seemed calmer and spots were going away quicker than I have seen them do for some time. The other great thing was it 'felt' like it was working. Things havn't really been as good for the last 10 days. My skin looks irritated, and I have noticed more of the little blighters coming up.

Temp has been a star and given a highly logical explanation why this may be in a previos post: not enough TTO. Consequently I've upped the dosage - it is too early to say what is happening.

I'm going to echo what has been said before: Any treatment will take a while to 'kick in', persistence and patience are required.

In order to humanise the whole process, I like to think of the whole ordeal as a war (forgive me, I'm an Global Security student) and more specifically a counter-insurgency campaign. It gives me no end of amusement to catch someone examining my jawline, and guaging their reaction when I say "I know...I'm being flanked".

Best of luck to you all

[temp123]

I thought I would give you guys an update: I have been using this treatment for exactly a month:

(morning and evening): Wash gently with water followed by gently using a Simple 'oil balancing' wipe. Then I apply, originally 4 drops, now 7 drops of 15% TTO to Simple moisturiser in my palm. once rubbed in I then apply a thin layer of boots 5% Ibuprofen gel to everywhere on my face/neck where I get acne.

I'm still wondering if you might be a bit under on the TTO. If it's 15% TTO then you need at least a 1:2 ratio 15% TTO to moisturiser to achieve 5%. So that would be 7 drops to 14 drops of moisturiser.

Incidentally, you don't need to rub it in much, just slap it on. TTO penetrates brilliantly, as does ibuprofen, this really is the lazy (wo)mans regimen!

I also take a multivitamin, cod liver oil, and zinc daily - good general practice I think!

My diet is not brilliant, and I should drink more water than I do.

Yeah, you should try for that brilliant diet if possible If nothing else make 100% sure you're getting enough vitamin A (both beta carotene as in leafy vegetables and carrots and retinoid form as found in liver). There is evidence that people with acne are deficient in that, vitamin A helps maintain your skin, and I shouldn't need to draw you a picture.

For the first two weeks I was very impressed with the results, everything seemed calmer and spots were going away quicker than I have seen them do for some time. The other great thing was it 'felt' like it was working. Things havn't really been as good for the last 10 days. My skin looks irritated, and I have noticed more of the little blighters coming up.

That does sound like the TTO isn't strong enough. Either that or your moisturiser is irritating. I must confess I don't trust the Simple range. The problem is that they use simple chemicals that normal skinned people can handle just fine, but may be comedogenic; let's just say I'm suspicious. Any idea what the first few ingredients in the moisturiser are?

[jh8414]

Yes they are:

Aqua, Glycerin, Paraffinum, Liquidum, Polyglyceryl-3, Methyglucose Distearate, Cetyl Palminate, Dimethicone, Cetyl Alcohol...

Percentages not given.

What has been the best moisturiser used so far? I only have a max 5 min tolerance level of being in a shop, so consequently have not thoroughly searched.

Once again...thanks

[temp123]

Actually, come to think of it, you're doing something else differently to me also. I always put the ibuprofen on first. The reason is that it dries quickly, and the moisturiser I use then goes on over the top nice and evenly. I tried doing it the other way around, and the ibuprofen didn't seem to stick to the layer of moisturiser so it didn't go on very well; it was very hard to judge.

Of the two, the ibuprofen probably penetrates less well, and may be harder to apply, so putting it on first lets you get a nice even layer on dry skin.

Anyway I probably seem like a total now.

[temp123]

Yes they are:

Aqua, Glycerin, Paraffinum, Liquidum, Polyglyceryl-3, Methyglucose Distearate, Cetyl Palminate, Dimethicone, Cetyl Alcohol...

Yeah, I don't trust the paraffin and that's 3rd there, it's a bit comedogenic. That's what Johnsons Baby Lotion is, pure paraffin oil, it gradually broke me out. The other ingredients look OK.

I've tried Lotil cream, that was OK, but a bit heavy, reasonably good value for money. I'm currently using Sainsbury's Skin Therapy Moisturising day cream. It seems very good indeed, but slightly expensive at about £4.5 for 50 ml; but it's quite light and goes a long way. I only bought it because I thought it was £4.5 for 100ml, until I read it when I got it home.

[PLONKER]

I started using Boots Botanics Pore Perfecting Day Moisture Lotion (oil free) but it broke me out badly. I'm at a loss what do use now as this constantly happens.

[jimmyjammy]

Hi guys I use a moisturiser by aknicare that seems to work really well with this regime; it hasn't caused me to break out and it dries really quickly. By the way i've been using the ibuprofen/tea tree oil combo for about two wks now and things are going really well. Early days still..... but will keep you updated.

[PLONKER]

I used Aknicare 5 years ago when it came out. It's one of the better moisturisers which suited me (most break me out!) but it was the price that put me off as I was at Uni at the time!

You've given me an idea and I'm off to my local chemist to investigate!

[Charliezoo]

I tried putting some Ibuprofen gel on a couple of nights ago and even though I still had the same spots the next day, my skin was glowing in a way it hasn't for ages!

Last night I used Boots Tea Tree Cream followed by the Ibuprofen gel and I haven't got any new spots this morning and the old ones seem to be healing nicely.

I did try and 'spot treat' using the gel but its not good for girls as you cant put make-up on it without it going all funny and peeling off.

But so far so good!

xx

[temp123]

When I use coverup on spots I go, ibuprofen, tto, coverup.

I apply the coverup when the tto is still wet. At the moment I'm using those sort of lipstick-style dispenser coverup. When I use brush coverup, I mix the TTO into the coverup.

I haven't had any problems with peeling.

[jimmyjammy]

I did try and 'spot treat' using the gel but its not good for girls as you cant put make-up on it without it going all funny and peeling off.

I find one of the major advantages of this regime is that it is much easier to apply cover up compared to using benzoyl peroxide which caused no end of peeling. Which cover up are you using??

[Charliezoo]

I did try and 'spot treat' using the gel but its not good for girls as you cant put make-up on it without it going all funny and peeling off.

I find one of the major advantages of this regime is that it is much easier to apply cover up compared to using benzoyl peroxide which caused no end of peeling. Which cover up are you using??

Its not my skin that's peeling, the Ibuprofen gel itself seems to go all funny when I put make-up on. It goes all 'rubbery' and comes off in bits.

Maybe I need a different Ibuprofen gel? This stuff is Morrisons own 5%.

[jimmyjammy]

try using boots own that works well and make sure you moisturise!!

[temp123]

Status check. My skin has mostly recovered from a slight bad patch from when I was using JBL as my moisturiser. It's been going from strength to strength since then. I've got one miniscule pustule today, but I think it will be gone in the next day or two. I had one threatening-looking bump last week, but it never came to a head and it's fading now, and it's almost invisible with cover-up on. A few days it should be gone I think. That's the thing with this, I'm finding that spots sort of appear, and sort of change their mind and disappear again in just a day or two, where often they would have lasted for weeks or months.

How's everyone else doing?

[jimmyjammy]

At the moment my acne sounds very similar to yours; just a few small spots that claer up very quickly and others that just go before causing any problems. Still loving this regime,lets hope it carries on.

[PLONKER]

I lost my ibuprofen gel for a week or two and my spots returned. BP didn't work as well leaving lingering red marks (and bleached clothes). I'm back on it - onwards and up!

Thank you so much Temp123, what initially gave you the ibuprofen idea? It's way better than anything Dan is promoting. Are you still doing light therapy or have you ditched that?

[temp123]

I lost my ibuprofen gel for a week or two and my spots returned. BP didn't work as well leaving lingering red marks (and bleached clothes). I'm back on it - onwards and up!

Thank you so much Temp123, what initially gave you the ibuprofen idea?

I used to be on minocycline. It worked pretty well, except that you have to cycle minocycline and I would break out every 14 weeks and the effect of that would last about 9 or 10 weeks. Worse than that, the doctor would want to see me at week 12, he would take one look at my face, tell me I didn't need such a powerful drug and promptly refuse to represcribe me. Then I would go back about 8 weeks later, and he would pale and write out a new prescription more or less without me asking. But he wouldn't write one out before that, "well your acne is bad... but it's not that bad..." only he would get progressively more hesitant. Then it would take 3-4 months to recover. That's 6 months. So mino on the whole kinda sucked.

Minocycline is primarily an antibiotic/antibacterial but it works better than topical antibacterials, because it also has an anti-inflammatory effect.

Tea tree oil on its own was OK, but didn't seem to work quite as well, presumably because it lacks the anti-inflammatory bit, but I was walking through a shop and spotted the ibuprofen gel... and... well nothing is stronger than a purpose-built anti-inflammatory. I was a bit nervous at first that I might poison myself until I calculated how much was absorbed, but it's really quite a small amount; but I checked with the pharmacist and I even pulled the research findings on it; and I found the combination worked pretty well.

It took a while to work out, because acne takes several weeks to respond, and I wasn't sure how much I needed to use and stuff but eventually I decided it really did work.

I might try nicotinamide next instead of the ibuprofen, that has got reasonably good reputation.

[jh8414]

Hi all,

Just a quick update to say that I am very happy with this routine. It's the best I've used in my 6 year battle with acne.

Like everything it takes a little fiddling to get the best arrangement for your skin. And there are times where you have to be careful. E.g. shaving etc.

I'm finding it a little difficult to get the balance between what is good for my face (which can tolerate slightly stronger concentrations) and my neck. My face is now effectively the clearest it has been. My neck is still a little fiery, the irritated areas are still red and obvious, but overall I'm delighted

I'm also taking more vitamin A and D than I did before this treatment, this must also be helping.

Temp - cheers

J

[gdog]

Hi there,

I've been using the regimen for about three months now and my acne is a lot better (but still not perfect!)

Since everyone has been raving about the ibuprofen gel I figure I should try it out.

Does anyone have any advice for when I should put the ibuprofen gel on in conjunction with Dan's BP?

Cheers,
Tom.