Zinc alone has not cleared my acne completely, but it has reduced the amount of pimples I get during a breakout. I usually get 5-6 pimples on a breakout w/out zinc. But while Im on zinc, I get 2-3 pimples. Be patient, any vitamin supplement takes about 2 weeks to flow through the body, to make a difference. Trust me if you stop using it after you have taken it for more than 2 weeks,you will notice that more pimples will surface during a breakout. I take 45mg a day, Im a 115lb female, I cant take anymore than that b/c it gives me a headache, even i take it on a full stomach. Good Luck!!

Well, Im not using a zinc supplement, but rather a zinc cream I found at the health food store. Its in a plain white box, I think the brand name is Margarite or something like that. But. This zinc cream is amazing! It works just as well if not better than benzoyl peroxide, but it doesnt burn or dry or irritate! And the upside - its tinted, so it evens out the redness of acne, so you could use it during the day as a concealer too. I had this ingrown hair on my jawline, and it would always get red and inflamed, and BP would not help it, and I tried for months. But using the zinc cream, and in 3 days (I only put it on at night before bed) it was healed. I also had dry flaky irritated skin on my nose, and def didnt want to put BP on it, since it would burn, and the zinc helped to clear that up too. And on actual pimples, it helps to clear them up without overdrying, burning or itching. the downside - its 10 bucks or so for a 1oz tube, but you use so little. You can find it on [link removed]

if you are serious about clear skin, you must get zink. I have been taking 300-450mg per day along with the clear skin regimen outlined on this site and it has helped out my acne tremendously. It takes about two weeks to work completely but it is absolutely amazing. For an extra kick, if you break up the zink tablets into powder and mix it with the 2.5% benzoil peroxide gel and apply it to your skin before you go to bed, it will also really help. Trust me, you should definately try this technique if you can. But if you cant, YOU MUST at least take zink as a supplement because it works very well and is very cheap. make sure that you take at least 300 mg a day and MAKE SURE YOU TAKE IT AFTER A MEAL. If you dont, you WILL throw up. It makes you very sick to your stomach. But please try it. It will help you

I am 40 years old and am currently going through peri-menopause. I rarely had acne as a teen, but now have serious cystic acne that tends to flare up more excessively during my monthly cycle. I have tried just about every treatment available...even antibiotics with little or no success. I have been taking zinc for about 3 weeks now and have noticed a slight improvement. During my cycle this month my acne did not flare up as bad, and the outbreaks seem to be clearing up faster. I understand it takes a month to two months to really be effective, so I am very hopeful. I also take omega-3 fish oil, which dilutes the sebum. These two things together are supposed to be very effective for hormonal related acne.

Well, I did my absolute best to give the zinc time to work. It has been 2 months now since I have been taking it continuously without missing a day, and I can say with certainty that my skin is not any clearer. In fact, I think the zinc has worsened it. I was virtually acne free from simply using The Regimen alone (and this is coming from someone who had cystic acne). I would only get an occasional flare-up every once in awhile but since starting the zinc, my breakouts while still few in number, are more frequent. And an odd thing that has happened is my acne staying for a longer period of time - we’re talking weeks when my breakouts were lasting 3-4 days max. And I already know that some of you will reply by saying that I am probably just breaking out before the real clearing that this vitamin provides, but I know my skin, and 2 months of continuous breakouts is very uncommon for me since I have been on The Regimen. However, if that is indeed the case (which I highly doubt), the benefits do not outweigh the long wait necessary.

By the way, I have been taking 75mg per day. Zinc just does not work. I think that those who have had success with it should probably attribute it to something else. I would say to go ahead and try it anyway though as zinc is extremely affordable. But go into it with the mindset of, "if it works it works, and if it doesn’t, no big deal." Just don’t get your hopes up too high by the reviews here and keep looking for additional alternatives in the instance that it does not work for you.

I have been using zinc-supplements for about 6 months now. During that time, my skin has been less irritated then before I started using it. But still it is hard to tell if this improvement is actually caused by this zinc-supplement (opti-L-zinc, 60mg a day including additional copper), or it is just due to me growing out of puberty.

So last week I decided to take the test, I ran out of pills and tried a week without. That was not a good idea, my skin broke out like it did before I used zinc, and my acne on my back, which completely dissappeared during the usage returned!

So, no I can say without any doubt, zinc DOES work. Although it does not make me 100% clear. However, I'm going to increase my dose now, in the hope that will be the solution.

Good luck you all!

Beautiful and supple skin after a month! I started taking the 50mg of Zinc I got from walmart and it's only 5 bucks for 100 tabs, I'm in love! My skin has never looked better! And without foundation too! It has cleared up my acne and redness! I love it!

I'm taking Zinc 45 mg a day after dinner since 4 weeks and it seems working good. But I'm still using my topical products:
benz peroxide 10% in the morning plus clyndamicine, differin and clyndamicine at night and a cleaning gel pased on salycilic acid and a morning scrub. Zinc helps the Vitamin A absorbtion so people using retinoids ( Accutane, Retin A or Differin ) will have greater benefits that taking the Zinc alone.

This definetly helps! After only a week, no new pimples have formed and my skin looks heaps better. I used Herron Zinc Complex which was very cheap only $13 australian for a bottle of 120 tablets. I recommed trying it, I wasn't too keen but I am very glad I did.

Dont ever take more than the bottle recommends though. But try it, its cheap and you have nothing to lose except your acne!

I have been taking 15mg of Zinc supplement for about a month now and I have already seen an improvement in my skin- It's not a huge change but its SLOWLY getting better. I am also taking 1500mg of Evening Primrose Oil too which I think seems to help a bit too. Never been sick when I have taken Zinc on an empty stomach but it did make me feel dizzy. Worth trying it though.