St. Ives : Blemish Control Green Tea Gel Cleanser

I have had issues with hormone-driven acne for many years. St. Ives Blemish Control Green Tea Gel Cleanser applied at night followed by Clean & Clear Continuous Control Benzoyl Peroxide wash in the morning kept me clear 90 percent of the time until early last year when I began experiencing "breakthrough" cystic acne. When my OTC methods began to fail, I consulted a dermatologist for the problem for the first time since my 20s, when I went on Accutane and largely eliminated the problem until I hit my 40s. The dermatologist placed me on Differen gel to no apparent benefit whatsoever. When that didn't work, she proposed a stronger dose of Differen and added a daily, prolonged regimen of antibiotics. All the while, she told me not to use Salicylic acid products so I switched over to a non-medicated facial cleaner. I began breaking out worse after I began to use a "gentle" cleaner and it didn't quit. Nonetheless, I was unable to tolerate a stronger dose of Differen and the antibiotics were leaving me with other "problems" that women can get from antibiotic overuse. This product was the intermediate solution for me between too-strong Differen and too-weak Differen. As luck would have it, I stocked up on a bunch of these blemish control green tea facial cleaners prior to use of the Differen and so in lieu of embarking on the antibiotic over-use route I added this cleanser back in to my thus-far ineffectual Differen routine. Between the re-introduction of this OTC cleanser and the Rx, I have acne control without antibiotic over-reliance. Unfortunately, my stash of St. Ives Blemish Control Green Tea Gel Cleanser is about to run out and I know of no other comparable product to stand in for the fact that THE MANUFACTURER HAS DISCONTINUED THIS FACIAL CLEANER :-(. I do believe the synergistic aspects of this formula, which includes green tea, olive extracts and Salcylic acid, will be difficult to duplicate. If anybody knows of a substitute for this facial cleaner, I'd like to hear about it. With the sole exception of Clean & Clear's Continuous Control facial wash, I've never had such good success with an OTC blemish-control product. It's too bad St. Ives didn't consider running a proper advertising campaign before they discontinued it. Without this product, I will be left with antibiotic use and the unpleasant side effects of being on too much Doxycycline for too long.

Should not use it during winter seasons because it dries out the skin. When weather is hot though, My skin becomes oilier. Nevertheless, It helps my skin redness and small red bumps. I tried using it as medication for huge inflammations/cysts by putting it with a q-tip and leave it for a while after steaming a face and it works quite well

This cleanser is my favourite it works perfectly on my skin and has controlled my pimples perfectly. I have been using it just over a year and i won't be changing!

Not a fantastic product. Does nothing for inflamed acne at all. Didint really see any improvements after a 2 month use. Discontinued for something else. It does, however, smell nice, and the green tea element is good, however green tea by its self is a much better option :)

No doubt its refreshing after washing my face with this unfortunately this didnt help my acne problem, my face oiled up after less than 30mins

My mom bought a Saint Ives care package for me in my first year of university, and the green tea cleanser was in the package. I was a little skeptic about trying it out - I'm allergic to green tea! - but I found that with daily use, I broke out less and less. It does absolutely NOTHING for my blackheads however, and I find that my face gets really warm and red after I use it, but it may just be my skin reacting to the tea.

I was in a different city visiting family, and the only facial cleanser at their house was this one. I decided to give it a quick try and loved the results. I'm about to try it again with the regimen this time around.

DO NOT BUY . it f**ks ur face UP

See, I had used St.Ives products before and loved them. So the other day at Target I had to get some more and they were out so i got the green tea cleanser (which I had never used). The next day i woke up, and had these weird bumps that were weird on my face and more pimples, My face was also turned slightly red! The bottle said it was supposed to clear redness and my face was never red then turned red! I am never EVER buying this product again!!!!!!!!!

It wasn't the best product for me. It worked for a while than i started to get more small bumps. Then when i didn't use it for one night i grew like 5 bumps.