I recentely emailed one of the leading manuka honey researchers, and found out that p. acnes is indeed "very sensitive" to honey.

here is part of my email and his response:

you can learn more about manuka honey here:
http://bio.waikato.ac.nz/honey/contents.shtml

manuka honey works for me. Now i throw away all the prescription topicals, like benzamycin, and i only use manuka honey to treat my occassional zits.

Some really great products for acne are: Living Nature's "Manuka oil and honey gel", and pure manuka oil. You can get them at: http://www.allnaturalcosmetics.com/

The manuka oil and honey gel is one of the best products on the planet for acne. Really, really, a fantastic "must have" product. The honey in it isn't sticky and sinks into your face.

I second that recommendation, Denise - I absolutely love that product. (manuka oil and honey antiseptic gel) Although it is reasonably expensive, I believe it to be worth every penny. Fantastic.

I don't like the smell of that gel from Living Nature. Pee-Yew!!

Isn't it better to just use regular, natural manuka honey?

The gel feels better on the face, but my personal results have been better with regular manuka honey than with the gel. The gel is an okay product, I guess great for some people, but it's not a preference for me.

The honey is sticky; the gel has aloe, vitamin e, and the manuka oil, and isn't sticky, but sinks right in and tones and tightens the face as well.

You cannot function a normal life with honey all over your face, nor can you sleep with it on. I suppose if you are home every day, it would be alright.

question for fans of manuka honey....

does it work better as a preventive measure (meaning you have to apply it all over your face all the time) or does it work better as a SPOT treeatment? or both.? i'm really just looking for a good SPOT treatment, as i've been controlling my acne with diet (low simple carb, low sugar, low dairy), so the only time i get blemishes is when i eat too much sweets or simple carbs (which, unfortunately i LOVE, a can't get to eliminating completely). thanks!

That gel may not be STICKY, Denise, however, it sure is STINKY!! I'd hate to walk around on a daily basis with the stench of living nature's gel on my skin. It's disgusting.

I am home on a daily basis.

Same here.
I don't wear the honey every day though. In fact I haven't been putting anything on my face while I'm at home lately and I'm liking that for a change.
And the manuka gel does have a strange, funky kind of smell... kind of like antiseptic snail slime or something.. hard to desribe.

You guys are crackin' me up about this smell thang....the smell has never bothered me at all. It's a bit antiseptic, but I never found it offensive......

Well it's better than rotten eggs I guess.

I typically don't put anything on my face during the daytime. I've put regular, raw, unheated honey on it a few times though. I have to try the manuka, but I don't feel like spending the money right now. I just bought a lot of make-up.

Maybe you've got a bum beak and it's not as sensitive as it should be to certain smells cause, for real.....that stuff reeks!

i think the anticeptic gel is a great product but it probably doesnt give much benefit from the manuka honey... for one thing, we dont know the UMF or if there even is a UMF... secondly, there is probably not any hydrogen peroxide activity because of processing and over-dilution... and thirdly, there is hardly any honey in the product because its not sticky at all. so the main benefit from manuka anticeptic gel is from the manuka oil, which is a strong antibacterial agent.

true, its probably not a good idea to leave the house with honey on your face (you might get attacked by bees), but i think it could be used overnight under a dressing.

my idea is to apply the manuka honey at night and cover with a thin damp cloth, with eye/nose/mouth holes/ and a strap, like a mask. the damp cloth should help dilute the honey and raise the pH so that glucose oxidase can begin the slow hydrogen peroxide release. the non-peroxide activity should go to work immediately. this will create a moist environment, which is much better for healing the skin. the anti-inflammatory effects should also help improve healing.

oh, and about the smell of manuka oil... whats the point of arguing... some like it, some dont... just as some people like the smell of garlic (me) and some people would rather smell their own ass

Sounds interesting. Keep us abreast of your results. One tip: Use distilled H20 on the cloth. Also, the cloth will dry during the night...

Flipside: The product has other ingredients and isn't heated or "processed". The Living Nature products are all not processed at all. All the live enzymes and whatnot are intact. I'm not sure about the strength of the honey, but the product has the manuka OIL, which has fantastic antibacterial activity.

Tracy: I dunno.....I always thought I had a good smeller.....

by "processed", i just meant all the mixing, stirring , and interaction between ingredients... that will probably reduce the active chemicals like glucose oxidase and whatever the UMF is (still unknown i believe). then there's the storage and shipping conditions to worry about... sitting in a hot mail truck all day cant be a good thing... i think i worry too much