Finacea : Azelaic Acid (15%) Gel

I started using Finacea last night and a HUGE patch of hyper-pigmentation has pretty dramatically toned down. It has amazing ant-inflammatory properties AND is an anti-bacterial. It will itch at first, but it has not flaked/irritated my horribly sensitive skin. In fact, after I apply it my skin calms down in minutes. If you are worried about buying a whole bottle's worth of this stuff, ask you derm for samples! That's what I did, and I'm hooked! I also want to mention that tretenoin (.025%) destroys my skin, causes inflamed purging, and even makes me red. This is what I will use now, and only use the retinol once or twice a week.

Update 3/27/16: still working well. I am still breaking out but definitely not as much. Some red marks on my chin have faded but I still have a couple darker ones that haven't improved at all. I have one under the skin pimple that has been there for 3 months and hasn't budged, I've never had one like this before. You can't see it but I can feel it under the skin. I would still recommend. Hopefully will see more improvement soon and will update at the 4 month mark. Update 2/25/16: amazing results. No longer breaking out as much. Maybe 1 small pimple a week that goes away in 1-2 days. Haven't really noticed a difference in red marks, maybe a little lighter. Texture of my skin is amazing now. Highly recommend. Will update again at 3 month mark I've been using this for 4 weeks so far. I have maybe 3-4 active pimples right now and then a lot of red marks on my chin. I was hoping to have better results by now but I know it takes time. The active pimples are new since I've been using this so I'm not sure if this is causing the breakouts. No change in red marks. The first 2 weeks or so it caused a lot of stinging but now that has died down. My skin was also extremely flakey and dry and no amount of moisturizer was fixing it. It looked horrible whenever I wore make up. I added cerave hydrating cleanser 3 days ago and no longer dry. Let's hope that doesn't cause even more breakouts! I will update again in another month.

I have had mild acne since I was 11 years old (I'm now 17 years old), and that has ruined so much for me, even though it isn't "that bad" - small bumps and pimples on my forehead and blackheads on my nose and chin. Until August 2014 I lived on the countryside where the air was fresh and not as polluted as it is in a city, and when I moved to a city, my skin reacted immediately. Before the move my skin type was normal to dry, which was way easier to cope with than the oily skin that I now have. I think it has something to do with the polluted air, because when I go back to the countryside it always gets better. Anyway, I got Finacea prescribed for me four months ago and I can definitely say that it has made a difference. Almost all the pimples and bumps on my forehead are gone! Still not completely smooth and clear, somehow, but I'm very pleased with the results. The blackheads are still there on my nose and chin, though. The doctor who prescribed it for me suggested that I should use it until September this year, so maybe the skin on my forehead will look even clearer then. It took me a while to figure out how to use it, though - for the first two months I just washed my face with water before I put the gel on (I thought washing it with a cleanser would be too harsh for my skin), and that didn't do much, but then I started washing it with a cleanser instead and I think that is what made the difference. It is a little harsh, but it's okay. However, it makes my skin very dry and sometimes even a little itchy, if I use it in the morning and before I go to bed every day for more than one week. I have tried to put on more moisturizer and I have tried taking short breaks from it, but the moisturizer that I'm currently using doesn't seem to make a difference and in that short time of the break I will get bumps and pimples, and that worries me a bit, thinking about when I will stop using the gel entirely, but I will talk to my doctor about that next time I have an appointment. I will change the cleanser and see what happens.

So I started using Finacea last night after I stopped using Clingadel, which I was using for the past couple months but didn't really see any results. Now started using finacea gel, I hope my clears my acne up because I have been struggling with acne since I was 16, now am 22. I been through so many topical, antibiotics, and even two round of accutane, and nothing seems to keep my acne at bay. I just hope this will be the one that clears my acne once and for all!!!

On its own is not enough to cure acne, but as a complementary treatment either for acne or acne scars is very good and not-irritating. In one month you'll see a clear difference. It is the only treatment by prescription I use on my skin and I am acne-free. Give it a try!

The ONLY thing that has helped my acne for the past 10 years, has been birth control, but for health reasons I had to stop taking them last year and I was petrified of the horror to come. I tried Salicylic acid, then benzyl peroxide and zinc. SA didn't do much, BP tore my skin apart (I have very dry and sensitive skin), and Zinc only made my hair grow like crazy. I decided to take this matter to a doctor, who prescribed Finacea and told that it has great effects but takes about 2 weeks to work. I'm now 4 weeks in (I was patience as hell), and the real difference has happened now. So I wouldn't give up on this after a week. My extremely dry skin is smooth as a baby's butt, I have some scarring left but only get about one or two small pimples per week. But it's the texture of the skin that's the most impressive part! This also works great under make-up, just make sure you blend it well. A little goes a long way, it might itch a little bit but it's not too bad (for me it means, it's working). Apply it before your moisturizer (I did it the other way before). For me this is the closest equivalent what birth control would do to acne.

I'm one of those "tried absolutely everything you can think of" acne sufferers, and just began Finacea several days ago after seeing another dermatologist. It seems to clear up cystic pimples and whiteheads pretty quickly overnight, but I still have bad hyper-pigmentation and many blackheads under the skin. I'm hoping it will help but not sure of the best cleanser to use with this or any other tips... the dermo I went to said no cleanser (unrealistic considering I'm a chick and need to wear makeup to cover these mounds) and just SPF protection. It burns and stings a little after a minute of being on your skin but will go away in about 5 minutes or so, and worth it for the morning.

Hi there, A specialist prescribed this as I have been recently diagnosed with rosacea and at a loss of which products and treatments to try. This product burnt my face. The next morning I woke up with more spots than before, redness and extremely sensitive, dry skin. Do not use or at least test on the inside of your elbow.

My derm told me to use it all over the face, even on the area that has no acne. Days later, my whole face broke out even worse than before. And I'm getting pimple on the areas I didn't have pimples before. It also stings and itches really bad. I felt like I wanted to rip my face off and scratch it. I don't think the right thing for my skin.

I have used Finacea as part of my morning regimen for about a year. I love it!! My breakouts clear much more quickly, it smooths out my skin tone, and eases redness from current breakouts. One of my favorite parts--it wears fantastically under makeup! Other topicals I have used in the morning look greasy, cause peeling, or make my make up look just plain gross. But I have found that finacea works somewhat like a makeup primer as far as smoothing out skin and giving a good canvas for foundation application, it controls oiliness due to its matte finish, and it fights acne at the same time so its a win-win in my book. Even after a year of use, my face does sometimes itch for a few minutes after application, but it is very bearable and worth it. That is the only side effect--no peeling, red, raw feeling skin like some of the harsher topicals cause. I have found that it works best on the smaller pimples and does not do too much for cysts. However, I generally have many small pimples and only 1-2 cysts a month that clear somewhat quickly, so it is a great product for me. I have very problematic skin and moderate acne, so even though it has not completely cleared my skin or anything, I am very pleased with the results and would hate to see my skin without it!